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Extensible Markup Language | 1995-06-15 | 9KB | 19 lines

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE card PUBLIC "-//Apple, Inc.//DTD card V 2.0//EN" "" > <card> <id>23114</id> <filler1>0</filler1> <cantDelete> <false /> </cantDelete> <showPict> <true /> </showPict> <dontSearch> <false /> </dontSearch> <owner>5472</owner> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet_3106.css" /> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>31</id> <text>INDIAOfficial name: Bharat (Republic of India)Member of: UN, CommonwealthArea: 3287263 km2 (1269219 sq mi) ΓÇô including 121667 km2 (44976 sq mi) of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by India but occupied by Pakistan and ChinaPopulation: 896570000 (1993 est)Capital: Delhi 8419000 (city 7207000; 1991 census)Other major cities: Bombay 12596000 (city 9926000; Kalyan 1014000), Calcutta 11022000 (city 4388000), Madras 5422000 (city 3841000), Hyderabad 4254000 (city 3146000), Bangalore 4130000 (city 3303000), Ahmedabad 3298000 (city 2873000), Poona (Pune) 2485000 (city 1560000), Kanpur 2111000 (city 1958000), Nagpur 1661000 (city 1622000), Lucknow 1642000 (city 1592000), Surat 1517000 (1497000), Jaipur 1514000 (city 1455000); 10 other cities with over 1 million inhabitants (1991 census)Languages: Hindi (30%; official), English (official), Bengali (8%), Telugu (8%), Marathi (8%), Tamil (7%), Urdu (5%), Gujarati (5%); over 1600 other languagesReligions: Hindu (83%), Sunni Islam (11%), Christian (mainly Roman Catholic) (nearly 3%)GOVERNMENTThe upper house of the federal parliament ΓÇô the 250-member Council of States (Rajya Sabha) ΓÇô consists of 12 members nominated by the President and 238 members elected by state assemblies. One third of the Council retires every two years. The lower house ΓÇô the House of the People (Lok Sabha) ΓÇô consists of 542 members elected for a five-year term by universal adult suffrage, plus two nominated members. The President ΓÇô who serves for five years ΓÇô is elected by the federal parliament and the state assemblies. The President appoints a Prime Minister ΓÇô who has a majority in the House ΓÇô and a Council of Ministers, who are responsible to the House. Each of the 25 states has its own legislature.GEOGRAPHYThe Himalaya cut the Indian subcontinent off from the rest of Asia. Several Himalayan peaks within India rise to over 7000 m (23000 ft), including Kangchenjunga on the Nepal-Sikkim border at 8598 m (28208 ft). South of the Himalaya, the basins of the Rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra and their tributaries are intensively farmed and densely populated. The Thar Desert is along the border with Pakistan. In south India, the Deccan ΓÇô a large plateau of hard rocks ΓÇô is bordered in the east and west by the Ghats, discontinuous ranges of hills descending to coastal plains. Natural vegetation ranges from tropical rain forest on the west coast and monsoon forest in the northeast and far south, through dry tropical scrub and thorn forest in the Deccan to Alpine and temperate vegetation in the Himalaya. Principal rivers: Ganges (Ganga) 2510 km (1560 mi), Brahmaputra 2900 km (1800 mi), Sutlej 1450 km (900 mi). Climate: India has three distinct seasons: a hot season from March to June, a wet season (when the southwest monsoon brings heavy rain) from June to October, and a cooler drier season from November to March. Temperatures range from the cool of the Himalaya to the tropical heat in the south.ECONOMYTwo thirds of the labor force are involved in subsistence farming, with rice and wheat as the principal crops. Cash crops tend to come from large plantations and include tea, cotton, jute and sugar cane ΓÇô all grown for export. The monsoon rains and irrigation make cultivation possible in many areas, but drought and floods are common. India is a major industrial power. Major coal reserves provide the power base for industry. Other mineral deposits include diamonds, bauxite, and titanium, copper and iron ore, as well as substantial reserves of natural gas and petroleum. The textile, vehicle, iron and steel, pharmaceutical and electrical industries make important contributions to the economy, but India has balance-of-payment difficulties and relies upon foreign aid for development. Over one third of the population is below the official poverty line. Privatization of some state enterprises began in the early 1990s. Currency: Rupee.HISTORYThe history of the kingdoms and empires of India to the colonial age ΓÇô and the expansion of Hindu culture and Islam in India ΓÇô is covered on pp. 384ΓÇô85. By the middle of the 18th century the British East India Company had established itself as the dominant power in India . After the Indian Mutiny (1857ΓÇô58) was put down, the Company ceded its rights in India to the British Crown. In 1877 the Indian Empire was proclaimed with Queen Victoria as Empress. The Empire included present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, and comprised the Crown Territories of British India and over 620 Indian protected states. The latter covered about 40% of India, and enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy under their traditional princes.From the middle of the 19th century the British cautiously encouraged Indian participation in the administration of British India. British institutions, the railways and the English language ΓÇô all imposed upon India by a modernizing imperial power ΓÇô fostered the growth of an Indian sense of identity beyond the divisions of caste and language. However, ultimately the divisions of religion proved stronger. The Indian National Congress ΓÇô the forerunner of the Congress Party ΓÇô was first convened in 1885, and the Muslim League first met in 1906. Nationalist demands grew after British troops fired without warning on a nationalist protest meeting ΓÇô the Amritsar Massacre (1919). The India Acts (1919 and 1935) granted limited autonomy and created an Indian federation, but the pace of reform did not satisfy Indian expectations. In 1920, Congress ΓÇô led by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi (1869ΓÇô1948) ΓÇô began a campaign of non-violence and non-cooperation with the British authorities. However relations between Hindus and Muslims steadily deteriorated. By 1940 the Muslim League was demanding a separate sovereign state.By 1945, war-weary Britain had accepted the inevitability of Indian independence. However, religious discord forced the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 into predominantly Hindu India ΓÇô under Jawaharlal (Pandit) Nehru (1889ΓÇô1964) of the Congress Party ΓÇô and Muslim Pakistan (including what is now Bangladesh) ΓÇô under Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876ΓÇô1948) of the Muslim League. Over 70 million Hindus and Muslims became refugees and crossed the new boundaries, and thousands were killed in communal violence. The frontiers remained disputed. India and Pakistan fought border wars in 1947ΓÇô49, 1965 (over Kashmir) and again in 1971 ΓÇô when Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan with Indian assistance. Kashmir is still divided along a cease-fire line. There were also border clashes with China in 1962.Under Nehru ΓÇô PM 1947ΓÇô64 ΓÇô India became one of the leaders of the nonaligned movement of Third World states. Under the premiership (1966ΓÇô77 and 1980ΓÇô84) of his daughter Indira Gandhi (1917ΓÇô84) India continued to assert itself as the dominant regional power. Although India remained the worldΓÇÖs largest democracy ΓÇô despite Mrs GandhiΓÇÖs brief imposition of emergency rule ΓÇô local separatism and communal unrest have threatened unity. The Sikhs have conducted an often violent campaign for an independent homeland ΓÇô Khalistan ΓÇô in the Punjab. In 1984 Mrs Gandhi ordered the storming of the Golden Temple of Amritsar, a Sikh holy place that extremists had turned into an arsenal. In the same year Mrs Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguard. Her son Rajiv Gandhi (PM 1984ΓÇô89) was assassinated in the 1991 election campaign. Tension and violence between Hindus and Muslims has increased since a campaign (1990ΓÇô ) to build a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque in the holy city of Ayodhya.# The once dominant Congress Party has split and a range of smaller parties, some regional in character, has flourished. Coalition government is now the norm in India.</text> </content> <name>India</name> <script></script> </card>