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INDIA
Map of INDIA
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Location:
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Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan |
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Geographic coordinates:
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20 00 N, 77 00 E |
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Area:
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total: 3,287,590 sq km
land: 2,973,190 sq km
water: 314,400 sq km |
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Area - comparative:
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slightly more than one-third the size of the US |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 14,103 km
border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km |
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Coastline:
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7,000 km |
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin |
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Climate:
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varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north |
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Terrain:
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upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m |
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Natural resources:
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coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land |
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Land use:
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arable land: 48.83%
permanent crops: 2.8%
other: 48.37% (2005) |
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Irrigated land:
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558,080 sq km (2003) |
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Total renewable water resources:
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1,907.8 cu km (1999) |
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
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total: 645.84 cu km/yr (8%/5%/86%)
per capita: 585 cu m/yr (2000) |
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Natural hazards:
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droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes |
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Environment - current issues:
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deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources |
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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Population:
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1,147,995,898 (July 2008 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 31.5% (male 189,238,487/female 172,168,306)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 374,157,581/female 352,868,003)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 28,285,796/female 31,277,725) (2008 est.) |
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Nationality:
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noun: Indian(s)
adjective: Indian |
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Ethnic groups:
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Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000) |
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Religions:
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Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census) |
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Languages:
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Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%
note: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census) |
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 61%
male: 73.4%
female: 47.8% (2001 census) |
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Country name:
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conventional long form: Republic of India
conventional short form: India
local long form: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya
local short form: India/Bharat |
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Government type:
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federal republic |
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Capital:
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name: New Delhi
geographic coordinates: 28 36 N, 77 12 E
time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
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Administrative divisions:
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28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal |
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Independence:
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15 August 1947 (from UK) |
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National holiday:
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Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
Source: http://cia.gov
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