- The national flag of India was adopted in the year of Independence 1947. The physical appearance of the flag is of a combination of equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. And in the centre you will a chakra (wheel) blue in colour on the white stripe. All the three colours in the flag symbolises some aspects.
- The official currency of India is Indian Rupee is the official currency of India. The symbol of the Indian rupee is a beautiful blend of Devanagari letter “?” (ra) and the Latin capital letter “R”. There is a parallel lines at the top are symbolic of the tricolor Indian flag.
- 7th largest country in the world, India is also the largest democracy. It is spread across an area of 32, 87, 263 sq. km.
- The country has 28 states and the 7 Union Territories.
- India has 16 other official languages and about 800 dialects. The prominently used languages in the country are Hindi and English.
- The climatic conditions of India vary from Alpine to temperate to subtropical monsoon.
- India has mainly three kinds of ethnic groups namely Indo-Aryan (72%), Dravidian (25%), Mongoloid (2%) and many others.
- The country comprises of various religions which are Hindu (82.41%), Muslim (12%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%). There are other as well such as Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, etc.
- The country has a literacy rate of about 65.38%.
- The Infant mortality rate in the country is 61/1,000 and a life expectancy of 63 years.
- Currently, almost 50% of the residents are under 25 years old.
- The main are of work in the country are Agriculture (63%), industry and commerce (22%), services and government (11%) and transport and communications (4%).
- India gained independence on August 15, 1947 and is a Federal republic with a history as old as 100,000 years. However, in spite of that India has never invaded any other country. The country has the world’s largest and oldest, continuous civilization. Indus valley civilization took birth here.
- Before the invasion of British in 17th century and other colonisers before them, India used to be one of the richest countries in the world.
- India is the place where Algebra, Calculus, and Trigonometry were started. The value of “pi” used in mathematics was also first calculated in the 6th century by the Indian mathematician Budhayana.
- Takshashila is the World’s first university and was established in 700BC. In 4th century BC, the University of Nalanda was built. These two showcase ancient India’s excellence in education.
- India is home to the world’s largest pilgrimage destination. For instance, just one temple- the Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupati attracts an average of 30,000 people donating about $6 million US dollars, every day.
- Maximum numbers of mosques are in India. There are almost 300,000 mosques in India which are more in comparison to other Muslim countries of the world.
- India is the world’s 2nd largest importer of arms. In the last decade, it has spent $50 billion dollars on arms and other defense related material.
- One of the biggest movie markets, India’s movie market is larger than of America and Canada put together. The country sold around 3.2 billion movie tickets in just one year of 2010.
- Until 1986, India used to be the only place in the world where Diamonds could be found.
- Indian Railways is the biggest and the largest employer in the world. It employs over a million people.
- In the India the game of Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented.
- India’s Taj Mahal is among the Seven Wonders of the World.
- The highest bridge in the world is in India. The bridge is called as Bailey Bridge. It is situated in Ladakh between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayas.
- India boasts of nearly 1200 species of birds and various other exotic wildlife and flora.
- India has 96 national parks and over 500 wildlife sanctuaries.
