Population: 1,027,015,247
Size: 1,261,810 sq mi
Officially the Republic of India, republic S Asia. The second most populous country in the world, it is also sometimes called Bharat, its ancient name. India's land frontier stretches from the Arabian Sea on the west to the Bay of Bengal on the east and touches Pakistan; China, Nepal, and Bhutan; Bangladesh, which forms an enclave in the northeast; and Myanmar. New Delhi is India's capital and Bombay (Mumbai) its largest city.
People and Culture
 India is the world's second most populous nation (after China). Its ethnic composition is complex, but two major strains predominate: the Aryan, in the north, and the Dravidian, in the south. India is a land of great cultural diversity, as is evidenced by the enormous number of different languages spoken throughout the country. Although Hindi (spoken in the north) and English (the language of politics and commerce) are used officially, more than 1,500 languages and dialects are spoken. The Indian constitution recognizes 15 regional languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). Ten of the major states of India are generally organized along linguistic lines.
Economy
Economically, India often seems like two separate countries: village India, supported by primitive agriculture, and urban India, one of the most heavily industrialized areas in the world. Agriculture makes up some 30% of the gross domestic product and employs almost 70% of the Indian people. Vast quantities of rice are grown wherever the land is level and water plentiful; other crops are wheat, pulses, sugarcane, jowar (sorghum), bajra (a cereal), and corn. Cotton, tobacco, oilseeds, and jute are the principal nonfood crops. There are large tea plantations in Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu as well.
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