INDIA 

India, officially the Republic of India ( Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia.

India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed in a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to 1.211 billion in 2011. During the same time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64 annually to US$1,498, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951, India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class. It has a space programme which includes several planned or completed extraterrestrial missions. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture. India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality. India is a nuclear-weapon state, which ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century. Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition, and rising levels of air pollution. India's land is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots. Its forest cover comprises 21.7% of its area. India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture, is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats

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Republic of India Bhārat Gaṇarājya (see other local names)
Flag State emblem
Motto: "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit) "Truth Alone Triumphs"
Anthem: "Jana Gana Mana" "Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People" The saving of all people waits in thy hand, MENU 0:35
National song "Vande Mataram" (Sanskrit) "I Bow to Thee, Mother"

Capital	New Delhi 28°36′50″N 77°12′30″E
Largest city	Mumbai (city proper) Delhi (metropolitan area)
Official languages	Hindi, English
Recognised national languages	None
Recognised regional languages	State level and Eighth Schedule
Native languages	447 languages
Religion  (2011)	79.8% Hinduism 14.2% Islam 2.3% Christianity 1.7% Sikhism 0.7% Buddhism 0.4% Jainism 0.23% Unaffiliated 0.65% Others
Demonym(s)	Indian
Membership	UN Commonwealth of Nations WTO BRICS SAARC SCO G4 nations Group of Five G8+5 G20
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional republic
• President	Ram Nath Kovind
• Vice President	Venkaiah Naidu
• Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
• Chief Justice	N. V. Ramana
• Lok Sabha Speaker	Om Birla
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Rajya Sabha
• Lower house	Lok Sabha
Independence  from the United Kingdom
• Dominion	15 August 1947
• Republic	26 January 1950
Area
• Total	3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)(7th)
• Water (%)	9.6
Population
• 2018 estimate	1,352,642,280 (2nd)
• 2011 census	1,210,854,977 (2nd)
• Density	413.3/km2 (1,070.4/sq mi) (19th)

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (third edition 2009), the name "India" is derived from the Classical Latin India, a reference to South Asia and an uncertain region to its east; and in turn derived successively from: Hellenistic Greek India; ancient Greek Indos; Old Persian Hindush, an eastern province of the Achaemenid empire; and ultimately its cognate, the Sanskrit Sindhu, or "river," specifically the Indus River and, by implication, its well-settled southern basin. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi which translates as "The people of the Indus".

The term Bharat, mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India, is used in its variations by many Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied originally to northern India Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.

Hindustan is a Middle Persian name for India, introduced during the Mughal Empire and used widely since. Its meaning has varied, referring to a region encompassing present-day northern India and Pakistan or to India in its near entirety.

Administrative divisions

India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. All states, as well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.

STATES

A clickable map of the 28 states and 8 union territories of India

1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Arunachal Pradesh
3. Assam
4. Bihar
5. Chhattisgarh
6. Goa
7. Gujarat
8. Haryana
9. Himachal Pradesh
10. Jharkhand
11. Karnataka
12. Kerala
13. Madhya Pradesh
14. Maharashtra
15. Manipur
16. Meghalaya
17. Mizoram
18. Nagaland
19. Odisha
20. Punjab
21. Rajasthan
22. Sikkim
23. Tamil Nadu
24. Telangana
25. Tripura
26. Uttar Pradesh
27. Uttarakhand
28. West Bengal

UNION TERRITORIES

1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
2. Chandigarh
3. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
4. Jammu and Kashmir
5. Ladakh
6. Lakshadweep
7. National Capital Territory of Delhi
8. Puducherry