WITH A LAND MASS ABOUT 1/3rd the size of the United States, India is the seventh-largest country in the world.  Its population of 1.2 billion, second only to China’s, accounts for more than 15% of the world’s population, on 2.4% of the world’s land.  The country’s median age is 26.  Three in 10 Indians are 14 years old or younger.

 

ABOUT 81 PERCENT of Indians are Hindus, 13.4% Muslims, 2.3% Christians and 1.9% Sikhs.  The Indian government recognizes more than a dozen official languages.  About 41% of the population speaks Hindi.  English is widely spoken throughout the country.

 

INDIA’S ANNUAL per capita income of US$3,400 ranks 163rd among the world’s countries.  Twenty-five percent of the population lives below the poverty line, but India has the second-largest labor force, 478 million people.  About 52% of Indians work in agriculture, which accounts for 16% of the country’s gross domestic product.  About one-third of the people work in service industries, which accounts for 55% of GDP.  Fourteen percent work in industry, which represents 29% of GDP.

 

 

 

INDIA IS THE WORLD’S LARGEST PRODUCER of tea and milk.  It also exports computer software to 90 countries.

 

THE TAJ MAHAL, regarded as one of the most beautiful structure in the world, is located on the banks of the Yamuna River in the city of Agra in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.  Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built it in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died at childbirth in 1631.  The main white marble building is a mausoleum containing their tombs.  It is estimated to have taken 17 to 22 years to construct.

 

ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST of 911 sites of “outstanding universal valueIndia has 23 noteworthy for their cultural heritage and 5 for their natural heritage.

 

THE CITY OF MUMBAI is the center of India’s commercial film industry, known as Bollywood, a combination of Bombay (Mumbai’s former name) and Hollywood.  Bollywood produces an average of 1,000 movies a year, about twice as many as Hollywood.

 

TO MANY PEOPLE around the world, Mohandas K. Gandhi, the leader of the Indian national movement against British rule, is known by the name of Mahatma.  This is an honorific title that translates as “great soul” in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit.

 

INDIA HAS 3,048 ROTARY CLUBS with a total of 113,339 members, as of 31 March.  Indian Rotarians have contributed more than $7.1 million to Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge to eradicate polio.

-         Paul Engleman

the rotarian, Rotary’s Magazine

July 2011