All About INDIA
All About INDIA
All About INDIA
At the age of 13, Mahatma Gandhi wed Kasturba Makanji, a merchant’s daughter, in
an arranged marriage. In 1885, he endured the passing of his father and shortly after that the
death of his young baby. In 1888, Gandhi’s wife gave birth to the first of four surviving sons.
A second son was born in India 1893; Kasturba would give birth to two more sons while
living in South Africa, one in 1897 and one in 1900.
Although Gandhi was interested in becoming a doctor, his father had hoped he would
also become a government minister, so his family steered him to enter the legal profession.
In 1888, 18-year-old Gandhi sailed for London, England, to study law. The young Indian
struggled with the transition to Western culture.
Upon returning to India in 1891, Gandhi learned that his mother had died just weeks
earlier. He struggled to gain his footing as a lawyer. In his first courtroom case, a nervous
Gandhi blanked when the time came to cross-examine a witness. He immediately fled the
courtroom after reimbursing his client for his legal fees
During Gandhi’s first stay in London, from 1888 to 1891, he became more committed
to a meatless diet, joining the executive committee of the London Vegetarian Society, and
started to read a variety of sacred texts to learn more about world religions.
Living in South Africa, Gandhi continued to study world religions. “The religious
spirit within me became a living force,” he wrote of his time there. He immersed himself in
sacred Hindu spiritual texts and adopted a life of simplicity, austerity, fasting and celibacy
that was free of material goods.
A seminal moment in Gandhi’s life occurred days later on June 7, 1893, during a train
trip to Pretoria, South Africa, when a white man objected to his presence in the first-class
railway compartment, although he had a ticket. Refusing to move to the back of the train,
Gandhi was forcibly removed and thrown off the train at a station in Pietermaritzburg. His
act of civil disobedience awoke in him a determination to devote himself to fighting the
“deep disease of color prejudice.” He vowed that night to “try, if possible, to root out the
disease and suffer hardships in the process.” From that night forward, the small, unassuming
man would grow into a giant force for civil rights. Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress
in 1894 to fight discrimination.
At the end of his year-long contract, Gandhi prepared to return to India until he
learned, at his farewell party, of a bill before the Natal Legislative Assembly that would
deprive Indians of the right to vote. Fellow immigrants convinced Gandhi to stay and lead
the fight against the legislation. Although Gandhi could not prevent the law’s passage, he
drew international attention to the injustice.
After a brief trip to India in late 1896 and early 1897, Gandhi returned to South Africa
with his wife and children. Gandhi ran a thriving legal practice, and at the outbreak of the
Boer War, he raised an all-Indian ambulance corps of 1,100 volunteers to support the British
cause, arguing that if Indians expected to have full rights of citizenship in the British Empire,
they also needed to shoulder their responsibilities as well.
Gandhi became a leading figure in the Indian home-rule movement. Calling for mass
boycotts, he urged government officials to stop working for the Crown, students to stop
attending government schools, soldiers to leave their posts and citizens to stop paying taxes
and purchasing British goods. Rather than buy British-manufactured clothes, he began to use
a portable spinning wheel to produce his own cloth, and the spinning wheel soon became a
symbol of Indian independence and self-reliance. Gandhi assumed the leadership of the
Indian National Congress and advocated a policy of non-violence and non-cooperation to
achieve home rule.
After British authorities arrested Gandhi in 1922, he pleaded guilty to three counts of
sedition. Although sentenced to a six-year imprisonment, Gandhi was released in February
1924 after appendicitis surgery. He discovered upon his release that relations between
India’s Hindus and Muslims had devolved during his time in jail, and when violence
between the two religious groups flared again, Gandhi began a three-week fast in the autumn
of 1924 to urge unity. He remained away from active politics during much of the latter
1920s.
The Salt March sparked similar protests, and mass civil disobedience swept across
India. Approximately 60,000 Indians were jailed for breaking the Salt Acts, including
Gandhi, who was imprisoned in May 1930. Still, the protests against the Salt Acts elevated
Gandhi into a transcendent figure around the world, and he was named Time magazine’s
“Man of the Year” for 1930.
Gandhi was released from prison in January 1931, and two months later he made an
agreement with Lord Irwin to end the Salt Satyagraha in exchange for concessions that
included the release of thousands of political prisoners. The agreement, however, largely
kept the Salt Acts intact, but it did give those who lived on the coasts the right to harvest salt
from the sea. Hoping that the agreement would be a stepping-stone to home rule, Gandhi
attended the London Round Table Conference on Indian constitutional reform in August
1931 as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference, however,
proved fruitless.
After the Labour Party defeated Churchill’s Conservatives in the British general
election of 1945, it began negotiations for Indian independence with the Indian National
Congress and Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League. Gandhi played an active role in the
negotiations, but he could not prevail in his hope for a unified India. Instead, the final plan
called for the partition of the subcontinent along religious lines into two independent states—
predominantly Hindu India and predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
Violence between Hindus and Muslims flared even before independence took effect
on August 15, 1947. Afterwards, the killings multiplied. Gandhi toured riot-torn areas in an
appeal for peace and fasted in an attempt to end the bloodshed. Some Hindus, however,
increasingly viewed Gandhi as a traitor for expressing sympathy toward Muslims.
Legacy
Even after Gandhi’s assassination, his commitment to nonviolence and his belief in
simple living — making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet and using fasts for self-
purification as well as a means of protest — have been a beacon of hope for oppressed and
marginalized people throughout the world. Satyagraha remains one of the most potent
philosophies in freedom struggles throughout the world today, and Gandhi’s actions inspired
future human rights movements around the globe, including those of civil rights
leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States and Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
Religion in India
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices.
India is a secular state with no state religion. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of
the world's major religions; namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. According to the 2011
census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism, 14.2% adheres to Islam, 2.3% adheres
to Christianity, and 1.7% adheres to Sikhism. Zoroastrianism and Judaism also have an ancient history
in India, and each has several thousands of Indian adherents. India has the largest population of people
adhering to Zoroastrianism (i.e. Parsis and Iranis) and Bahá'í Faith in the world, even though these
religions are not native to India. Many other world religions also have a relationship with Indian
spirituality, such as the Baha'i faith which recognises the Buddha and Krishna as manifestations of the
God Almighty. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of the country's culture.
Religious diversity and religious tolerance are both established in the country by the law and custom;
the Constitution of India has declared the right to freedom of religion to be a fundamental right.
Hinduism
Is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life, widely practised in the Indian
subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in
the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the
eternal tradition", or the "eternal way", beyond human history. Scholars regard Hinduism
as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no
founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE after
the end of the Vedic period (1500 BCE to 500 BCE), and flourished in the medieval
period, with the decline of Buddhism in India
Buddhism
Is the world's fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7%
of the global population, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompasses a variety
of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed
to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies. Buddhism originated in ancient
India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, spreading
through much of Asia. Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized
by scholars: Theravada (Pali: "The School of the Elders") and Mahayana (Sanskrit: "The
Great Vehicle").
Most Buddhist traditions share the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of
death and rebirth, either by the attainment of Nirvana or through the path of
Buddhahood. Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the path to liberation, the
relative importance and canonicity assigned to the various Buddhist texts, and their
specific teachings and practices. Widely observed practices include taking refuge in
the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, observance of moral
precepts, monasticism, meditation, and the cultivation of the Paramitas (virtues).
Jainism
Traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient, non-theistic, Indian
religion, founded by Jina Mahavira in the 5th century BCE. Followers of Jainism are
called "Jains", a word derived from the Sanskrit word jina (victor) and connoting the path
of victory in crossing over life's stream of rebirths through an ethical and spiritual
life. Jains trace their history through a succession of 24 victorious saviours and teachers
known as tirthankaras, with the first being Rishabhanatha, who according to Jain
tradition lived millions of years ago, twenty-third being Parshvanatha in 8th century BC
and twenty-fourth being the Mahāvīra around 500 BCE. Jains believe that Jainism is an
eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every cycle of the Jain cosmology.
The main religious premises of Jainism are ahiṃsā (non-
violence), anekāntavāda (many-sidedness), aparigraha (non-attachment) and asceticism.
Devout Jains take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not
stealing), brahmacharya(celibacy or chastity), and aparigraha (non-attachment). These
principles have impacted Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly
vegetarian lifestyle that avoids harm to animals and their life cycles. Parasparopagraho
Jīvānām (the function of souls is to help one another) is the motto of Jainism. Ṇamōkāra
mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism
Sikhism
Is a religion that originated in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian
subcontinent around the end of the 15th century, and has variously been defined
as monotheistic, monistic and panentheistic. It is one of the youngest of the major world
religions, and the world's fifth largest organized religion, as well as being the world's
ninth-largest overall religion. The fundamental beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the
sacred scripture Guru Granth Sahib, include faith and meditation on the name of the one
creator, divine unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in selfless service, striving
for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all, and honest conduct and livelihood while
living a householder's life. In the early 21st century there were nearly 25 million Sikhs
worldwide, the great majority of them living in Punjab, according to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica.
Sikhism is based on the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru (1469–
1539), and the nine Sikh gurus that succeeded him. The Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh,
named the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as his successor, terminating the line of
human Gurus and making the scripture the eternal, religious spiritual guide for Sikhs.
The Guru Granth Sahib is notable for actually being written by the founders of the
religion, and for including works by members of other religions. Sikhism rejects claims
that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute Truth.
Languages of India
The southern Indian languages are from the Dravidian family. The Dravidian languages are
indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. Proto-Dravidian languages were spoken in India in the 4th
millennium BCE and started disintegrating into various branches around 3rd millennium BCE. The
Dravidian languages are classified in four groups: North, Central (Kolami–Parji), South-Central (Telugu–
Kui), and South Dravidian (Tamil-Kannada).
The northern Indian languages from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family evolved from
Old Indic by way of the Middle Indic Prakrit languages and Apabhraṃśa of the Middle Ages. The Indo-
Aryan languages developed and emerged in three stages — Old Indo-Aryan (1500 BCE to 600 BCE),
Middle Indo-Aryan stage (600 BCE and 1000 CE) and New Indo-Aryan (between 1000 CE and 1300 CE).
The modern north Indian Indo-Aryan languages all evolved into distinct, recognisable languages in the New
Indo-Aryan Age.[24]
Persian or Farsi was brought into India by the Ghaznavids and other Turko-Afghan dynasties as the court
language. Culturally Persianized, they, in combination with the later Mughal dynasty (of Turco-
Mongol origin), influenced the art, history and literature of the region for more than 500 years, resulting in
the Persianisation of many Indian tongues, mainly lexically. In 1837, the British replaced Persian with
English and Hindustani in Perso-Arabic script for administrative purposes, and the Hindi movement of the
19th Century replaced Persianised vocabulary with Sanskrit derivations and replaced or supplemented the
use of Perso-Arabic script for administrative purposes with Devanagari.
Each of the northern Indian languages had different influences. For example, Hindustani was strongly
influenced by Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic, leading to the emergence of Modern Standard
Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu as registers of the Hindustani language.
Language Families
Rank Language Family Population (2018)
1 Indo-Aryan language family 1,045,000,000 (78.05%)
2 Dravidian language family 265,000,000 (19.64%)
3 Austroasiatic language family Unknown
4 Sino-Tibetan language family Unknown
5 Tai–Kadai language family Unknown
6 Great Andamanese languages Unknown
Total Languages of India 1,340,000,000
Indo-Aryan language family
Indo-Aryan language subgroups (Urdu is included under Hindi)
The largest of the language families represented in India, in terms of speakers, is the Indo-Aryan
language family, a branch of the Indo-Iranian family, itself the easternmost, extant subfamily of
the Indo-European language family. This language family predominates, accounting for some 1035
million speakers, or over 76.5 of the population, as per 2018 estimate. The most widely spoken
languages of this group
are Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Assamese
(Asamiya), Maithili and Odia. Aside from the Indo-Aryan languages, other Indo-European languages
are also spoken in India, the most prominent of which is English, as a lingua franca.
Dravidian language family
The second largest language family is the Dravidian language family, accounting for some 277
million speakers, or approximately 20.5% as per 2018 estimate The Dravidian languages are spoken
mainly in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in parts of northeastern Sri
Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Dravidian languages with the most speakers
are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. Besides the mainstream population, Dravidian
languages are also spoken by small scheduled tribe communities, such as
the Oraon and Gond tribes. Only two Dravidian languages are exclusively spoken outside
India, Brahui in Pakistan and Dhangar, a dialect of Kurukh, in Nepal.
Austroasiatic language family
Families with smaller numbers of speakers are Austroasiatic and numerous small Sino-Tibetan
languages, with some 10 and 6 million speakers, respectively, together 3% of the population.
The Austroasiatic language family (austro meaning South) is the autochthonous language in South
Asia and Southeast Asia, other language families having arrived by migration. Austroasiatic
languages of mainland India are the Khasi and Munda languages, including Santhali. The languages
of the Nicobar islands also form part of this language family. With the exceptions of Khasi and
Santhali, all Austroasiatic languages on Indian territory are endangered.
Sino-Tibetan language family
The Sino-Tibetan language family are well represented in India. However, their interrelationships are
not discernible, and the family has been described as "a patch of leaves on the forest floor" rather
than with the conventional metaphor of a "family tree".
Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken across the Himalayas in the regions of Ladakh, Himachal
Pradesh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, and also in the Indian states of West
Bengal, Assam (hills and autonomous
councils), Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram. Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in
India include the scheduled languages Meitei and Bodo, the non-scheduled languages
of Karbi, Lepcha, and many varieties of several related Tibetic, West
Himalayish, Tani, Brahmaputran, Angami–Pochuri, Tangkhul, Zeme, Kukish language groups,
amongst many others.
Tai-Kadai language family
Ahom language, a Southwestern Tai language, had been once the dominant language of the Ahom
Kingdom in modern-day Assam, but was later replaced by the Assamese language (known
as Kamrupi in ancient era which is the pre-form of the Kamrupi dialect of today). Nowadays, small
Tai communities and their languages remain in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh together with Sino-
Tibetans, e.g. Tai Phake, Tai Aiton and Tai Khamti, which are similar to the Shan language of Shan
State, Myanmar; the Dai language of Yunnan, China; the Lao language of Laos; the Thai
language of Thailand; and the Zhuang language in Guangxi, China.
Great Andamanese language family
The extinct and endangered languages of the Andaman Islands form a fifth Andamanese- ,
comprising two families, namely:
o The Great Andamanese, comprising a number of extinct languages apart from one highly
endangered language with a dwindling number of speakers.
o The Ongan family of the southern Andaman Islands, comprising two extant
languages, Önge and Jarawa, and one extinct language, Jangil.
In addition, Sentinelese, an unattested language of the Andaman Islands, is generally considered to
be related and part of the aerial group.
The legal framework governing the use of languages for official purpose currently includes
the Constitution, the Official Languages Act, 1963, Official Languages (Use for Official
Purpose of the Union) Rules, 1976, and various state laws, as well as rules and regulations made
by the central government and the states.
List of official languages of India
The Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution contains a list of 22 official languages.
The table below lists the 22 official languages of Republic of India set out in the Eighth
Schedule as of May 2008, together with the regions where they are widely spoken and used as
state's official language.
Basic structure
Modelled after the Westminster system for governing the state, the union government is
mainly composed of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, in which all powers are vested
by the constitution in the prime minister, parliament and the supreme court. The President of
India is the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces whilst
the elected minister acts as the head of the executive, and is responsible for running the union
government. The parliament is bicameral in nature, with the Lok Sabha being the lower house, and
the Rajya Sabha the upper house. The judiciary systematically contains an apex supreme court,
24 high courts, and several district courts, all inferior to the Supreme Court.
The basic civil and criminal laws governing the citizens of India are set down in major
parliamentary legislation, such as the civil procedure code, the penal code, and the criminal
procedure code. Similar to the union government, individual state governments each consist of
executive, legislative and judiciary. The legal system as applicable to the union and individual state
governments is based on the English Common and Statutory Law. The full name of the country is
the Republic of India. India and Bharat are equally official short names for the Republic of India in
the Constitution,and both names appears on legal banknotes, in treaties and in legal cases. The terms
"union government", "central government" and "Bhārata Sarakāra" are often used officially and
unofficially to refer to the Government of India. The term New Delhi is commonly used as
a metonym for the central government, as the seat of government is in New Delhi.
Legislature
Executive
The executive of government is the one that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily
administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government
is central to the republican idea of the separation of powers.
President
The executive power is vested mainly in the President of India, as per Article 53(1) of the
constitution. The president has all constitutional powers and exercises them directly or through
officers subordinate to him as per the aforesaid Article 53(1). The president is to act in accordance
with aid and advice tendered by the prime minister, who leads the council of ministers as described
in Article 74 of the Constitution of India.
The council of ministers remains in power during the 'pleasure' of the president. However, in
practice, the council of ministers must retain the support of the Lok Sabha. If a president were to
dismiss the council of ministers on his or her own initiative, it might trigger a constitutional crisis.
Thus, in practice, the council of ministers cannot be dismissed as long as it holds the support of a
majority in the Lok Sabha.
The president is responsible for appointing many high officials in India. These high officials
include the governors of the 29 states; the chief justice; other judges of the supreme courtand high
courts on the advice of other judges; the Attorney General; the Comptroller and Auditor General;
the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners; the chairman and members of
the Union Public Service Commission; the officers of the All India Services (IAS, IFoS and IPS)
and central civil services in group 'A'; and the ambassadors and high commissioners to other
countries on the recommendations of the cabinet.
The president, as the head of state, also receives the credentials of ambassadors from other
countries, whilst the prime minister, as head of government, receives credentials of high
commissioners from other members of the Commonwealth, in line with historical tradition.
The president is the de jure commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces.
The President of India can grant a pardon to or reduce the sentence of a convicted person for
one time, particularly in cases involving punishment of death. The decisions involving pardoning
and other rights by the president are independent of the opinion of the prime minister or the Lok
Sabha majority. In most other cases, however, the president exercises his or her executive powers
on the advice of the prime minister.
Vice President
The vice president is the second highest constitutional position in India after the president.
The vice president represents the nation in the absence of the president and takes charge as acting
president in the incident of resignation impeachment or removal of the president. The vice president
also has the legislative function of acting as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The vice president is
elected indirectly by members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both the houses
of the parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of
the single transferable vote and the voting is by secret ballot conducted by the election commission.
Prime Minister
The Prime Minister of India, as addressed in the Constitution of India, is the chief of the
government, chief adviser to the president, head of the council of ministers and the leader of the
majority party in the parliament. The prime minister leads the executive of the Government of India.
The prime minister is the senior member of cabinet in the executive of government in a
parliamentary system. The prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet;
allocates posts to members within the Government; is the presiding member and chairman of the
cabinet and is responsible for bringing a proposal of legislation. The resignation or death of the
prime minister dissolves the cabinet.
The prime minister is appointed by the president to assist the latter in the administration of the
affairs of the executive.
Cabinet, Ministries and agencies
The Cabinet of India includes the prime minister and his cabinet ministers. Each minister
must be a member of one of the houses of the parliament. The cabinet is headed by the prime
minister, and is advised by the cabinet secretary, who also acts as the head of the Indian
Administrative Service and other civil services. Other ministers are either as union cabinet
ministers, who are heads of the various ministries; or ministers of state, who are junior members
who report directly to one of the cabinet ministers, often overseeing a specific aspect of
government; or ministers of state (independent charges), who do not report to a cabinet minister. As
per article 88 of the constitution, every minister shall have the right to speak in, and to take part in
the proceedings of, either house, any joint sitting of the houses, and any committee of parliament of
which he may be named a member, but shall not be entitled to a vote in the house where he is not a
member.
Secretaries
A secretary to the Government of India, a civil servant, generally an Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer, is the administrative head of the ministry or department, and is the principal
adviser to the minister on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry/department.
Secretaries to the Government of India rank 23rd on Indian order of precedence. Secretaries at the
higher level are assisted by one or many additional secretaries, who are further assisted by joint
secretaries. At the middle they are assisted by directors/deputy secretaries and undersecretaries. At
the lower level, there are section officers, assistant section officers, upper division clerks, lower
division clerks and other secretarial staff.
Judiciary
India's independent union judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and
procedures resemble those of Anglo-Saxon countries. The Supreme Court of India consists of
the chief justice and 30 associate justices, all appointed by the president on the advice of the Chief
Justice of India. The jury trials were abolished in India in the early 1960s, after the famous case KM
Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra, for reasons of being vulnerable to media and public pressure, as
well as to being misled.
Unlike its United States counterpart, the Indian justice system consists of a unitary system at
both state and union level. The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of India, high courts at the
state level, and district courts and sessions courts at the district level.
Supreme Court