India: Present Day India

Since being given its freedom in 1947, India has become the second-most populated country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populated democracy in the world. It is the seventh largest country in the world, and has the world 10th largest economy and 4th largest economy in the world. India is the fastest growing major economy, and is considered a newly industrialized country. India’s government is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy and is one of the five BRICS nations and. Indians president today is Pratibha Patil and their prime minister is Manmohan Singh. Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained good relations with most nations, and as been an active member of global politics. Along with its political accolades, India also has the third-largest standing army, mainly due to the large number of people living in India and is armed with nuclear weaponry. As of now India is in a dispute with Pakistan over religious and territorial conflicts. The culture in India has a high degree of syncretism. For example, India is a very religious nation, with over 800 million Hindus in the country. They also have 13.4% Muslims, 2.3%Christians, and 1.9%Sikhs as of the 2001 census. India also takes pride in it’s growing film industry(bollywood), and impressive sports teams ( field hockey, 1975 world cup), and cricket(1983, 2011 world cups).

Need a quick recap? Above is a short recap of Indian Independence, for all the visual learners out there

Primary Sources

Bibliography

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1858-1947." BBC. N.p., 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 5 June 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/independence1947_01.shtml