India is the largest democracy in the world and is the second most populous nation. Located in South Asia, India has an estimated population of 1.15 billion which is second only to the People’s Republic of China. Indians make up nearly 17% of the total world population! India is declared as a “Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic”. The other names for India are Bharat and Hindustan. India is a peninsular country which is surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the South, the Arabian Sea on the West and the Bay of Bengal on the East. This country shares its borders with Pakistan to the West, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the North East and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the East. India is a secular country with Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and other religions practiced liberally by its citizens. Hinduism is the Majority religion in India with over 80% of the population practicing it while a little over 13% are Muslims practicing Islam. India happens to be the third-largest Muslim population in the world. India is not only diverse in the religions that are followed by its people but also the languages that are spoken by them which are mainly around 29. Hindi is the most spoken language in India. The Capital of India is New Delhi while the largest City is Mumbai which is located in the west coast of the country.
India had attained independence on August 15th, 1947 from the British Empire’s colonial rule (1858-1947) and had become Republic on 26th January, 1950. The President of India is the head of state and is the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces. The President of India in turn appoints a Prime Minister (P.M) who heads a Council of Ministers to lead the functioning and exercise of authority of the Government of India. The Prime Minister is recognized as the leader of the majority party in the two Houses of the Parliament of India. The current President of India is Smt. Pratibha Patil, who became the first ever woman to hold the Presidential office. She is the 12th person to become the President of India. The current Prime Minister is Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is the 17th P.M of India. He belongs to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is a coalition of various political parties led by the Indian National Congress (INC).
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