India, officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya),
is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the
second-most populous country with more than 1.2 billion people.
And the most populous
democratic republic in the world. Bound by the Indian Ocean on the south, the
Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it
shares land borders with Pakistan to the west China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the
north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is
in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and
Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region
of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was
identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long
history.[8] Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism,
and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam
arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse
culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the
British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered
directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an
independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by
non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
The Indian economy is the world's eleventh-largest by
nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following
market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing
major economies; it is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it
continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption,
malnutrition, and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and a
regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world and ranks
eighth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal constitutional
republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7
union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic
society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected
habitats.
There are many popular cities and states
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi
(NCT) that includes the Indian capital is the second largest metropolis of
India after Mumbai. With the population of 16.7 million in 2011, the city is
the 2nd most populous metropolis in India and 8th most populous metropolis in
the world.[1] The NCT and its urban region has been given the special status of
National Capital Region (NCR) under the Indian constitution's 69th amendment
act of 1991. There are nearly 22.2 million residents in the greater NCR urban
area, which includes the neighboring cities of Baghpat, Gurgaon, Sonepat,
Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida along with other smaller nearby
towns.[2]
Delhi is known to have been continuously inhabited since 6th
century BC.[3] Through most period of its history, Delhi has served as a
capital of kingdoms and empires. It has been invaded, ransacked and rebuilt
several times, particularly during the Medieval era, and therefore today's city
of Delhi is a cluster of many capital cities scattered across the city's
dimensions. Delhi is also widely believed to have been the site of Indraprastha
(the legendary capital of the Pandavas during the times of the Mahabharata).[4]
Delhi re-emerged as a major political, cultural and commercial city along the
trade routes between northwest India and the Gangetic plain after the rise of
the Delhi sultanates.[5][6] It houses many ancient and medieval monuments,
archaeological sites and remains.
In 1639 AD, the Mughal emperor Shahjahan built a new walled
city in Delhi which served as a capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 until
1857.[7][8] The British had captured Delhi by 1803 and George V announced in
1911 that the capital of British controlled parts of India would be Delhi.[9]
So a new capital city, New Delhi, was built to the south of the old city during
the 1920s.[10] When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New
Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government.
The name Delhi is often also used to include urban areas
near the NCT, as well as to refer to New Delhi, the capital of India, which
lies within the metropolis. Although technically a federally administered union
territory, the political administration of the NCT of Delhi today more closely
resembles that of a state of India with its own legislature, high court and an
executive council of ministers headed by a Chief Minister. New Delhi, jointly
administered by both the federal Government of India and the local Government
of Delhi, is also the capital of the NCT of Delhi.
Rājasthān the land of
Rajasthanis, ("the land of kings"), is the largest state of the Republic
of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most
of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert (Thar Desert), which
has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with
Pakistan. The state is bordered by Pakistan to the west, Gujarat to the
southwest, Madhya Pradesh to the southeast, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to the
northeast and Punjab to the north. Rajasthan covers 10.4% of India, an area of
342,269 square kilometres (132,151 sq mi).
Jaipur is the capital and the largest city of the state.
Geographical features include the Thar Desert along north-western Rajasthan and
the termination of the Ghaggar River near the archaeological ruins at Kalibanga
of the Indus Valley Civilization, which are the oldest in the Indian
subcontinent discovered so far.
One of the world's oldest mountain ranges, the Aravalli
Range, cradles the only hill station of Rajasthan, Mount Abu, famous for
Dilwara Temples, a sacred pilgrimage for Jains. Eastern Rajasthan has the world
famous Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur, a World Heritage Site[1] known
for its bird life. It also has two national tiger reserves, Ranthambore and
Sariska Tiger Reserve, and a famous temple in Khatu, Sikar district, dedicated
to Khatu Shyam Ji. Rajasthan was formed on 30 March 1949, when the region known
until then as Rajputana, consisting of erstwhile princely states ruled mainly
by Rajputs.
