INDIA

I N D I A 

1. Flag of India



2. Shield of India



 3. Anthem of India

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 4. Maps of India











5. Something about india

India, is a state located in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country and the second most populous in the world. It borders the Indian Ocean on the south by the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal to the east, along a coastline of over 7517 kilometers. India also borders Pakistan to the west; note 2 to the north with China, Nepal and Bhutan and east by Bangladesh and Burma. Moreover, India is located near the islands of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia. Its capital is New Delhi and its largest city is Mumbai. Home to the Indus Valley culture and a region of historic trade routes and empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified by its commercial and cultural wealth for most of its long history. Four of the world's major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while other religions like Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium, shaping various cultures of the region. Gradually annexed by the British Company of the West Indies from the early eighteenth century and colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence which was marked by a movement of nonviolence. India is a republic consisting of 28 states and seven union territories with a parliamentary system of democracy. It has the 11th largest economy in the world in nominal terms, in addition to the fourth world GDP in terms of purchasing power parity. 1991 Economic reforms have transformed it into one of the fastest growing economies, 16 however, still suffer from problems such as high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition 17 pandemics. In addition to a pluralistic, multilingual, multiethnic, India also has a diverse flora and fauna in different habitats.

6. Etymology

The name India is derived from the word Indus, which comes from the Persian word Hindu, from Sanskrit Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi ( Ινδοί), the people of the Indus. The Constitution of India and various languages spoken in the country also recognize Bharat (pronounced [b rʌt̪ ʱ ɑ ː]) as the official state name. Bharat is derived from the name of the legendary king Bharata in Hindu mythology. Hindustan, originally a Persian word to designate the "Land of the Hindus" referring to northern India, is also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India.

7. History

The paintings of the Stone Age in the shelters of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first permanent settlements appeared over 9,000 years ago and gradually developed into what is now known as the Indus Valley culture, which had its flowering circa 3300. C., in the west of the current territory of India. After his fall, began a Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, a period which ended in 500. C. Around the year 550. C. were established throughout the country many independent kingdoms and other states known as "Mahajanapadas".

B rihadeeswarar Temple, built by the Chola Empire during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In the third century. C., most of South Asia was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya Maurya to unite the Empire, which flourished under the rule of Asoka the Great. From the third century. C., the Gupta dynasty rule led to a period of prosperity known as the former "Golden Age of India". Furthermore, the empires of chalukia, the Chola and the nagara viyaia developed in the southern part of India. Science, technological, engineering, art, logic, language, literary, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy had a period of prosperity and development under the patronage of these kings. Following invasions from Central Asia between the tenth and twelfth centuries, much of north India came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire. Under the reign of Akbar the Great, India enjoyed a broad cultural and economic progress as well as a time of religious harmony. Gradually, the Mughal emperors expanded their empires to cover large parts of the subcontinent. However, the dominant power in Northeast India was the Ahom kingdom of Assam, one of the few who resisted the rule of the Mughals. During the fourteenth century, the first major threat to Mughal imperial power came from the Rajput king Maha Rana Pratap of Mewar, and later from a Hindu state known as the Maratha empire (or Maratha Confederation), which in the eighteenth century dominated much of the territory of India. Since the sixteenth century, several European powers such as Portugal, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom established trading posts and later took advantage of internal conflicts to establish colonies in the country. By 1856, most of India was under the control of the British Company of the East Indies. A year later, a nationwide insurrection of rebel military units and kingdoms, known as the "First War of Indian Independence" or "Sepoy Mutiny", seriously challenged the control of the company, but ultimately were defeated. As a result of the instability, India was brought under the direct control of the British Crown.

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<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Mahatma Gandhi (right) with Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937. Ten years later, Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In the twentieth century, a nationwide struggle for independence was encouraged by the Indian National Congress and other political organizations. The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi concentrated million people in several national campaigns of civil disobedience under a policy of non-violence. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">On 15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, while Muslim-majority areas were separated to form an independent state, Pakistan. On January 26, 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into force. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Since independence, India has faced several problems of religious violence, classism, Naxalite movement, terrorism and insurgencies in the separatist regions, especially in Jammu, Kashmir and northeastern India. Since the 1990s, the terrorist attacks have affected many Indian cities. The country has been unable to resolve the territorial disputes with China, which in 1962 led to the Sino-Indian War, and with Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. India was one of the founders of the United Nations (as British India) and the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test and five more tests in 1998, making it a nuclear state. Since early 1991, significant economic reforms have transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies in the world, increasing its global influence.

8. Governament

The Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950, three years after the declaration of independence.

The Constitution of India, the longest of any independent nation in the world, came into force on January 26, 1950. The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic. India has a bicameral parliament, which is governed under the Westminster system. Its form of government was traditionally described as "quasi-federalist" with a strong tendency to centralization, states having weaker power, but since the late 1990s, has grown increasingly federalism, as a result of the political, economic and social. The President of India is the head of state and is elected indirectly by an electoral college for a five-year term. The prime minister is the head of government and exercises most of the functions of the ejecutivo.Nombrado by the president, the prime minister is usually sympathetic to the party or political alliance that has the most seats in the lower house of parliament. The executive branch consists of the President, the Vice President and the Council of Ministers (the cabinet being its executive committee) headed by the prime minister. Any minister of the Council must be a member of either house of parliament. In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature, the prime minister and his council are monitored directly by the lower house of parliament. Legislative power in India is represented by the bicameral parliament, consisting of the upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the lower house called the Lok Sabha (House of People). The Rajya Sabha, a permanent body, has 245 members serving for terms of six years. Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures, by proportional representation. 543 of the 545 members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by popular vote to represent particular social groups for periods of five years. The other two members are appointed by the president of the Anglo-Indian community. India has a unitary judiciary three levels, consisting of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, twenty-one High Courts, and a large number of trial courts. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between the state and federal governments, as well as jurisdiction over appeals in higher courts. It is judicially independent and has the power to make and pass laws and overturn any state laws that are seen as unconstitutional. The paper serves as the best interpreter of the Constitution, is one of the most important functions of the Supreme Court.

9. Territorial organization

The Republic of India has 28 states and 7 union territories. All states and two union territories of Pondicherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, choose the pattern of their legislatures and governments using the Westminster model. The remaining five union territories are ruled directly by the federal government, through various appointed administrators. In 1956, under the Reorganization Act of the States, the territory of India was divided on linguistic basis. Since then, this structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or territory of the Union is divided into administrative districts. The districts in turn are divided into tehsils and ultimately into villages. India is divided into:



States and territories of India. 28 states:

1-Andhra Pradesh 2-Arunachal Pradesh 3-Assam 4-Bihar 5-Chhattisgarh 6-Goa 7-Gujarat 8-Hariana 9-Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir 10 11 Jharkhand 12-Karnataka 13-Kerala 14-Madhya Pradesh 15-Maharastra 16-Manipur 17-Meghalaya 18-Mizoram 19-Nagaland 20-Orissa 21-Punjab 22-Rajasthan 23-Sikkim 24 Tamil Nadu 25-Tripura 26-Uttar Pradesh 27-Uttaranchal 28 West Bengal 6 Union Territories A. Andaman and Nicobar Islands B. Chandigarh C. Dadra and Nagar Haveli D. Daman and Diu E. Lakshadweep G. Pondicherry National Capital Territory F. Delhi

10. Politic The "North Block", in New Delhi, houses the government offices in the country. India is the most populous democracy in the world. For much of the independent life of the country, the federal government has been led by the Indian National Congress (INC). The policy states is dominated by several national parties including the INC, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) and other regional parties. From 1950 to 1990, except for two brief periods, the INC enjoyed a parliamentary majority. The INC out of power between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party won the election, due in part to the general discontent with the state of emergency declaration by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1989, a National Front coalition led by the Janata Dal party, in alliance with the Left Front coalition won the elections but managed to stay in power for only two years. In the 1991 elections no political party won an absolute majority, so the INC formed a minority government under the leadership of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, who remained in power for five years. The years between 1996 and 1998 were a period of turmoil in the federal government with several short-lived alliances trying to stabilize the country. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996, followed by the United Front coalition that excluded both the BJP and the INC. In 1998, the BJP formed with other smaller parties the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which was victorious and became the first non-government congressman who completed a full term of five years. In the 2004 general elections, the INC won the most seats in the Lok Sabha and formed a government with a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), supported by various left parties and members of the opposition BJP. The UPA again came to power in the 2009 general election, however, the representation of the left parties in the coalition are significantly reduced. Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister to be re-elected after completing a full term of five years since the 1962 elections, in which Jawaharlal Nehru was re-elected in office.

11. Foreign affairs and military

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI "Flanker" is the most advanced aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

Since independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial relations with most nations. Was prominent in the 1950s, when he was in favor of the independence of European colonies in Africa and Asia. India was involved in two brief military interventions in neighboring: Force India peacekeeping in Sri Lanka and Operation Cactus in Maldives. India is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. After the Sino-Indian and Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, relations between India and the Soviet Union fell, and continued in this way until the end of the Cold War. India has fought two wars with Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute. A third war between India and Pakistan in 1971 resulted in the creation of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Rods and additional conflicts have taken place between the two nations over the Siachen Glacier. In 1999, India and Pakistan fought an undeclared war in Kargil. India and Russia share an extensive economic relationship and tecnológica.Aquí Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at the 34th. ª G8 Summit.

In recent years, India has played an influential role in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). India has provided about 55,000 Indian military and police personnel to serve in 35 Indian peacekeeping operations of the UN across four continents. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has consistently refused to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test (CTBT) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), preferring to maintain sovereignty over its nuclear program. Recent Openings Indian government have strengthened relations with the United States, China and Pakistan. In the economic sphere, India has close relationships with other developing nations of South America, Asia and Africa. India maintains the third largest military force in the world, consisting of the army, navy, aérea31 force and auxiliary forces such as the Paramilitary Forces, the Coast Guard, and the Strategic Forces Command, has an active staff of 1,325. 000 soldiers and an active reserve of 1.747 million in total armed forces have an amount of 3,072,000 soldiers. The President of India is the supreme commander of the armed forces. India maintains close defense cooperation with Russia and France, which are its main arms suppliers. The Organization for Research and Development of the Defence of India (DRDO) oversees the Indian development of sophisticated weapons and military equipment, including ballistic missiles, fighter jets and tanks, to reduce India's dependence to foreign imports. In 1974, India became a nuclear power, after making initial nuclear test, Operation Smiling Buddha, and subsequently several underground testing in 1998. India maintains a nuclear policy of "no first use". On October 10, 2008, the Agreement was signed Indo-US Civil Nuclear, to end the restrictions on trade in nuclear technology, which India became the sixth country in greater de facto nuclear power in the world.

12. Geography

Topographic map of India.

India occupies most of the Indian subcontinent, which sits atop the Indian tectonic plate, a minor plate within the Indo-Australian Plate. Geological processes that defined the current geographical location of India began seventy-five million years ago when the Indian subcontinent, then part of the supercontinent Gondwana, began moving toward the northeast, through what later became in the Indian Ocean. The subcontinent's subsequent collision with the Eurasian Plate and subduction under it gave rise to the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world, now is the border of India in the north and northwest. In ancient seabed that emerged just south of the Himalayas, plate movement created a great depression, which was gradually filled with river-borne sediments, and presently the Indo-Gangetic plain. To the west of this plain, and separated from it by the Aravalli Range, lies the Thar Desert. The original Indian plate now survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable of India, which extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel ranges ranging from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat state, to the coal-rich plateau of Chota Nagpur in the state of Jharkhand.Hacia the south, the remaining peninsular, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the left and right by two coastal ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats mountains, the plateau contains the oldest rock formations in India, some over one billion years old. The extreme points of India are located at 6 ° 44 'and 35 ° 30' N nortenota 3 and 68 ° 7 'and 97 ° 25' east longitude. The coastline of India is 7517 miles long, from this distance, 5,423 kilometers belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometers to the Andaman, Nicobar and Laquedivas.13 According to naval hydrographic lists of India, the coast Continental is 43% sandy beaches, 11% rocky coast including cliffs, and 46% mudflats or marshy coast.

The Himalayas form the mountainous landscape of northern India. The main rivers that substantially flow through India originate in the Himalayas, and include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Among the most important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi, whose extremely low gradient causes disastrous floods every year. The major peninsular rivers whose steeper slopes prevent flooding are the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea. In addition, on the west coast of India are also marshes of the Rann of Kutch, while the east side is the Sundarbans delta, which India shares with Bangladesh. Additionally, India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls in the southwestern coast of India, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the Andaman Sea. In India's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, which favor the development of the monsoon. The Himalayas prevent entry of cold Central Asian katabatic winds, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations are located in similar latitudes. The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the monsoon winds laden with moisture from the southwest, which between June and October, provide the majority of the country's rainfall. The four main climate zones predominate in India are: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.

13. Flora and fauna

The Indian peacock, the Bengal tiger and the lotus are some of the national symbols of India.





The territory of India lies within the Indomalaya ecozone, thus offering a large sample of biodiversity. As one of eighteen megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of all birds, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all fish and 6% of existing seagrass in the world.In many of the ecoregions of the country there are extremely high levels of endemism, in general, 33% of Indian plant species are endemic. The forest cover in India ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and northeastern India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the moist deciduous forest of eastern India, the dry deciduous forest of central and southern India, and the dry woodland of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain. According to the latest report, less than 12% of India's landmass is covered by dense trees bosques.Entre most important in India is the medicinal neem, widely used in rural areas for the herbalist and development home remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, was the tree where, according to tradition, Buddha found enlightenment. Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, from which the Indian plate off. Further movement of the plate to the current peninsular India and collision with the Laurasian landmass, began a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic changes 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic species of India. Since then, several mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical steps on either side of the emerging Himalayas. Consequently, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians endemic. Among the most notable species are endemic monkey Nilgiri leaf and brown and crimson toad of the Western Ghats. Moreover, in India there are 172, or 2.9%, endangered species. In These include the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger and vulture Bengali, which reaches nearly to extinction after ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle. In recent decades, human encroachment created a threat to India's wildlife, in response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was expanded considerably. In 1972, the government of India enacted the Wildlife Protection and Project Tiger, to protect the critical habitat of these animals, also in 1980, the Law of conservation of forests. Along with more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries in India there are thirteen biosphere reserves, four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; besides that 25 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.

14. Economy

Building of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the main indicator of the Indian economy.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, the Indian economy had followed socialist tendencies. The economy was paralyzed by the rules and regulations imposed by the government, protectionism and public ownership, which led to widespread corruption and slow economic growth. It was in 1991 when the national economy became a market economy. This change in the economic policy of 1991 came shortly after an acute crisis in the balance of payments, so since the emphasis was on making foreign trade and foreign investment in a sector of the economy mainly in India. During the last decades the Indian economy has had an annual growth rate of GDP of around 5.8%, making it one of the world's economies fastest growing. Moreover, India has the largest workforce in the world, with little more than 516.3 million people. In terms of output, the agricultural sector accounts for 28% of GDP, the service sector and industry account for 54% and 18%, respectively. The main agricultural and livestock products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry and fish. The major industries are textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery and software trade. In 2006, India's trade had reached a relatively moderate proportion of GDP from 24% in 2006, growing about 6% since 1985. India's trade represents just over 1% of world trade. Major exports include petroleum products, certain textiles, gems, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and hides and skins. Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer and some chemicals. India's GDP totaled 1.237 trillion, 9 making it the 12th largest economy in the world and the fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. However, the nominal per capita income in India is U.S. $ 1,016, ranking 143rd in the world. In the late 2000s, the average economic growth of India is 7.5% per year, although it is thought that the next decade will grow at twice. Despite impressive economic growth in recent decades, India still has the largest concentration of poor people in the world and has a high rate of malnutrition among children under three years (46% in 2007). The percentage of people living below the international poverty line of the World Bank, $ 1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms Rp. 21.6 a day in urban areas and Rp. 14.3 in rural areas) decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005. Although in recent decades, India has avoided famines, half of children are underweight the world average, one of the highest rates in the world and nearly double the rate of Sub-Saharan Africa. A 2007 report by Goldman Sachs states that "from 2007 to 2020, the GDP per capita of India will quadruple," and that India's GDP will surpass that of the United States before 2050, but India "will remain a low-income country for several decades, with per capita incomes well below its other BRIC peers. ". Although in the last two decades the Indian economy has grown steadily, this growth has been uneven, especially when compared the quality of life in different social, economic, geographic regions and in different areas rural and urban areas. The World Bank says that the most important priorities for the Indian government should be public sector reform, infrastructure construction, agricultural and rural development, removal of labor regulations, reforms in lagging states and the fight HIV / AIDS.

15. Demographics

Map of population density in India. With an estimated population of over 1,160 million people, India is the second most populous country. In the last fifty years have seen a rapid increase in urban population due largely to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity by the green revolution. The urban population of India increased eleven times during the twentieth century and is increasingly concentrated in large cities. In 2001 there were 35 cities with more than one million people, while the three largest cities (Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta), were more than ten million inhabitants each. However, in that same year over 70% of India's population lived in rural areas. India is the second largest geographical entity with cultural, linguistic and genetics in the world after Africa. India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic language families and Tibeto-Burman. Hindi has the largest number of speakers and is the official language of the republic. English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language; 'is also important in education, especially as a means to higher education. In addition, every state and union territory has its own official languages, and the constitution also recognizes 21 other languages as officers who either are spoken by a significant section of the population, or are part of the historical heritage and are termed india "classical languages". While Sanskrit and Tamil have been considered "classical languages" for many years, the Indian government has also granted the status of "classical language" in Kannada and Telugu using their own criteria. The number of dialects in India reaches over 1,652.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar, a Sikh temple. More than 800 million Indians (80.5% of the population) are Hindus. Other religious groups present in the country are Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4% ), Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha'is, and others. Adivasis constitute 8.1% of the population. India has the third largest Muslim population in the world and has the largest Muslim population for a non-Muslim majority country. The literacy rate in India is 64.8% (53.7% in women and 75.3% in men). The state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate at 91% while Bihar has the lowest with only 47% 134 135 The sex ratio in India is 944 women per 1000 men. The average age is 24.9 years, while the population growth rate is 1.38% per year: Each year there are 22.1 births per 1,000 people. According to the World Health Organization, 900,000 Indians die each year from drinking bad water and inhaling contaminated air. Malaria is endemic in India. There are about 60 physicians per 100,000 people in India.

16. Culture

In this painting by Ravi Varma Rja, there are several types of saris, traditional Indian clothing.

The culture of India is marked by a high degree of syncretism and pluralism. The Indians have managed to retain their previously established traditions while absorbing new customs, traditions and ideas from invaders and immigrants, while extending its cultural influence to other parts of Asia, mainly Indochina and the Far East. The traditional Indian society is defined by relatively strict social hierarchy. The caste system of India describes stratification and social restrictions in the Indian subcontinent, in addition to defining classes by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jatis or castes. The traditional values of Indian families are highly respected and model of multigenerational and patriarchal family was the most common for centuries, but recently the nuclear family is becoming the model for the urban population. An overwhelming majority of Indians have their marriages arranged by their parents and other respected family members, with the consent of the bride and groom. The marriage is planned for life, so the divorce rate is extremely low. The child marriage is still a common practice, since half of women in India are married before the legal age of 18. The cuisine of India is characterized by a variety of regional styles and sophisticated use of herbs and spices. Staple foods are made with rice (especially in the south and the east), wheat (predominantly in the north). Spices like black pepper that are now consumed worldwide, are originally native to the Indian subcontinent. The pepper, which was introduced by the Portuguese, is also widely used in Indian cuisine. The traditional Indian dress varies in its colors and styles according to region and depends on various factors, including climate. Popular styles of dress include simple garments such as sari for women and dhoti for men, are also popular as other garments salwar kameez for women and kurta-pajamas, European-style trousers and shirts for men. Many of the Indian celebrations have a religious origin, although some are celebrated irrespective of caste or creed. Some of the most popular holidays in the country are: Diwali, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Christmas and Vesak.Además of these, India has three national holidays: Day Republic, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Another series of holidays, varying between nine and twelve days, officially held in each of the states of the republic. Religious practices are an integral part of everyday life and are a matter of public record.

17. Art

The Taj Mahal in Agra was built by Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Page Mahabharata, depicting the battle of Kurukshetra. Chhatrapati Shivaji Station, in Mumbai, is a clear example of the mixture of European and Indian architecture. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2004.

The architecture of India also varies greatly regionally, besides containing influences Buddhist, Muslim and European. The stupa, pagoda outdoor sikhara the gopuram and are the most common types of architecture in India. Famous buildings in India, like the Taj Mahal, promote the development of tourism in the country. Indian music covers a wide range of traditions and regional styles. Much of Indian classical music encompasses two major genres: Carnatic music, found mainly in the south of the country, and Hindustani classical music, usually developed in the north. Own musical instruments of Indian music can be divided among the classics, folk and abroad. Like music, Indian dance too has diverse folk and classical forms. Among the best known Indian dances are the bhangra of the Punjab, the bihu of Assam, the chhau of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa Sambalpuri and ghoomar of Rajasthan. Eight dance forms, many with narrative and mythological elements, have been recognized with classical dance status by the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in India. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu, kathak of Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and Mohiniattam of Kerala, Kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of Manipur, Odissi of Orissa and the sattriya of Assam. Theatre in India often incorporates music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue. Often the plays are based on stories derived from Hindu mythology, but also deal with more mundane issues such as the epic stories of medieval romances, and news of recent political and social events. The Indian film industry is the largest in the mundo.Bollywood, a neighborhood in the city of Bombay which are made in Hindi films and commercials, has become the center of the most prolific film industry in the world, and recently equaled his importance to Hollywood. Also performed traditional film and commercial areas Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu are official languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were originally transmitted orally, and were compiled centuries later in writing. These works include texts of Sanskrit literature - such as the early Vedas, the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, the drama Abhijñanasakuntalam (Recognition of Sakuntala) and poetry as Mahakavya - and texts in Tamil Sangam literature. Among the major highlights contemporary Indian writers, Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.

18. Sports

A cricket match of the Indian Premier League, between the team Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. Officially, India's national sport is field hockey, which is administered by the Indian Hockey Federation. The hockey team won the Indian Championship 1975, also credited eight gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games. However, the most popular sport in the country is cricket, the national cricket team of India won the Cricket World Cup 1983 and the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in 2007, and he shared the Champions Trophy CPI 2002 with Sri Lanka. Cricket in India is administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and domestic competitions include the Ranji Cup, Copa Duleep, Deodhar Cup, Cup Challenger Series and Iranian. In addition, the Indian Cricket League and Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket competitions organized. Recently, tennis has become more popular because of the victories of the India team in the Davis Cup. Football is a popular sport in northeastern India, West Bengal, Goa and Kerala. The football team of India has won the Federation Cup Football in South Asia several times. Chess, commonly said to have originated in India, is also gaining popularity with the rise in the number of "Grand Masters" Indians. Traditional sports include kabaddi, kho kho, and gilli-danda, which are played nationwide. India is also home to many ancient martial arts, such as varma kalai kalaripayatu and. In India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards are the most prestigious awards that are given for achievements in sports, while the Dronacharya Award is awarded for excellence in training. India hosted or co-hosted the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982, Cricket World Cup 1987 and 1996. It is also planned to house the Commonwealth Games 2010 and the Cricket World Cup 2011.

19. Links about tourism

http://www.dmoz.org