This article is about the Republic of India. For other uses, see India (disambiguation).

Republic of India
भारत गणराज्य*
Bhārat Ganarājya

Flag Emblem

Motto: "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit)

सत्यमेव जयते  (Devanāgarī)
"Truth Alone Triumphs"[1]

Anthem: 

Jana Gana Mana

[2]
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people

National Song[4]
Vande Mataram
[3]
I bow to thee, Mother

Area controlled by India in dark green;

Claimed but uncontrolled territories in light green

Capital New Delhi

Largest city Mumbai

 Hindi, English
Hindi in the Devanagari script is the
Official language(s) official language of the Union[5] and
English the "subsidiary official
language".[6]
8th Schedule:
Assamese
Bengali
Bodo
Dogri
Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Maithili
Recognised
Malayalam
regional languages
Manipuri
Marathi
Nepali
Oriya
Punjabi
Sanskrit
Santali
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu[7]
None defined by the
National languages
constitution.[8]
Demonym Indian
Federal parliamentary
Government
constitutional republic[9]
 -  President Pratibha Patil
 -  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (INC)
Speaker of the
 -  Meira Kumar (INC)
House
 -  Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia
Legislature Sansad
 -  Upper House Rajya Sabha
 -  Lower House Lok Sabha
Independence from the United Kingdom 
 -  Declared 15 August 1947 
 -  Republic 26 January 1950 
Area
3,287,263 km2 ‡
  (7th)
 - 
1,269,219 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 9.56
Population
  -  2011 estimate 1,193,121,000[10] (2nd)
 -  2001 census 1,028,610,328[11] 
363/km2 (31st)
 -  Density
940/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2010 estimate
 -  Total $4.001 trillion[12] (4th)
 -  Per capita $3,290[12] (127th)
GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate
 -  Total $1.430 trillion[12] (11th)
 -  Per capita $1,176[12] (137th)
Gini (2004) 36.8[13] (79th)
HDI (2010) 0.519[14] (medium) (119th)
Currency Indian rupee ( ) (INR)
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
 -  Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+5:30)
Date formats dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drives on the left
ISO 3166 code IN
Internet TLD .in
Calling code 91
Non-numbered Footnotes:
* Bharat Ganarajya, that is, the Republic of India in Hindi,[9] written in the
Devanagari script. See also other official names
‡ This is the figure as per the United Nations though the Indian government lists the
total area as 3,287,260 km2 (1,269,220 sq mi).[15]

India ( i /ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: भारत गणराज्य Bhārat Gaṇarājya;
see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by
geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most
populous democracy in the world.[16] Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the
south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by
Pakistan to the west;[note 1] Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and
Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep
Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar
Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the
Andaman Sea.[17] India has a coastline of 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi).[18]

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast
empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much
of its long history.[19] Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and
Sikhism—originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the
first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture.[citation needed] Gradually annexed by the
British East India Company from the early 18th century and colonised by the United Kingdom
from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for
independence which was marked by a non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

India is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy consisting of 28 states

and seven union territories. A pluralistic, multilingual and multiethnic society where more than
400[20] languages are spoken, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected
habitats. The Indian economy is the world's eleventh largest economy by nominal GDP and the
fourth largest by purchasing power parity. Since the introduction of market-based economic
reforms in 1991, India has become one of the fastest growing major economies in the world;[21]
however, the country continues to face several poverty, illiteracy, corruption and public health
related challenges. India is classified as a newly industrialised country and is one of the four
BRIC nations.[22][23] It is the world's sixth de facto recognised nuclear weapons state and has the
third-largest standing armed force in the world, while its military expenditure ranks tenth in the
world.[24] India is a regional power in South Asia.[25]

It is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the World Trade
Organization, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the East Asia Summit, the
G20 and the G8+5; a member of the Commonwealth of Nations; and an observer state in the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Contents
 1 Etymology
 2 History
 3 Geography
o 3.1 Climate
o 3.2 Biodiversity
 4 Politics
o 4.1 Government
o 4.2 Judiciary
o 4.3 Administrative divisions
o 4.4 Foreign relations
o 4.5 Military
 5 Economy
 6 Demographics
o 6.1 Languages
 7 Culture
o 7.1 Society and traditions
o 7.2 Music, dance, theatre and cinema
o 7.3 Cuisine
o 7.4 Sport
 8 See also
 9 Notes
 10 References
 11 External links

Etymology
Main article: Names of India

The name India is derived from Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, from
Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River.[26] The ancient Greeks
referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ινδοί), the people of the Indus.[27] The Constitution of India and
common usage in various Indian languages also recognise Bharat (pronounced [ˈbʱaːrət̪]  (
listen)) as an official name of equal status.[28] The name Bharat is derived from the name of the
legendary king Bharata in Hindu scriptures. Hindustan ([ɦɪnd̪ʊˈst̪aːn]  ( listen)), originally a
Persian word for “Land of the Hindus” referring to northern India and Pakistan before 1947, is
also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India.[29]

History
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2011)
Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh are the
earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared
about 8,500 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[30] dating back
to 3400 BCE in western India. It was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations
of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 500s BCE. From
around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were
established across the country.[31]

Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, sixth century

In the th