Branches:
no armed forces; Police, Coast Guard; Iceland's defense is provided by the
US-manned Icelandic Defense Force (IDF) headquartered at Keflavik
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, 69,072; 61,556 fit for military service; no conscription or
compulsory military service
Defense expenditures:
none
:India Geography
Total area:
3,287,590 km2
Land area:
2,973,190 km2
Comparative area:
slightly more than one-third the size of the US
Land boundaries:
14,103 km; Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380,
Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km
Coastline:
7,000 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone:
24 nm
Continental shelf:
edge of continental margin or 200 nm
Exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
boundaries with Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan; water sharing problems with
downstream riparians, Bangladesh over the Ganges and Pakistan over the Indus
Climate:
varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
Terrain:
upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the
Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north
Natural resources:
coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica,
bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, crude oil, limestone
Land use:
arable land 55%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 4%; forest and
woodland 23%; other 17%; includes irrigated 13%
Environment:
droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common; deforestation; soil
erosion; overgrazing; air and water pollution; desertification
Note:
dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes
:India People
Population:
886,362,180 (July 1992), growth rate 1.9% (1992)
Birth rate:
30 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
11 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
0 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
81 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
57 years male, 58 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
3.7 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Indian(s); adjective - Indian
Ethnic divisions:
Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%
Religions:
Hindu 82.6%, Muslim 11.4%, Christian 2.4%, Sikh 2.0%, Buddhist 0.7%, Jains
0.5%, other 0.4%
Languages:
Hindi, English, and 14 other official languages - Bengali, Telugu, Marathi,
Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese,
Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; 24 languages spoken by a million or more
persons each; numerous other languages and dialects, for the most part
mutually unintelligible; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue
of 30% of the people; English enjoys associate status but is the most
important language for national, political, and commercial communication;
Hindustani, a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu, is spoken widely throughout
northern India
Literacy:
48% (male 62%, female 34%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force:
284,400,000; 67% agriculture (FY85)
Organized labor:
less than 5% of the labor force
:India Government
Long-form name:
Republic of India
Type:
federal republic
Capital:
New Delhi
Administrative divisions:
25 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra
Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Dadra and Nagar
Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry*,
Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
Independence:
15 August 1947 (from UK)
Constitution:
26 January 1950
Legal system:
based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday:
Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic, 26 January (1950)
Executive branch:
president, vice president, prime minister, Council of Ministers
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament (Sansad) consists of an upper house or Council of
States (Rajya Sabha) and a lower house or People's Assembly (Lok Sabha)
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court
Leaders:
Chief of State:
President Ramaswamy Iyer VENKATARAMAN (since 25 July 1987); Vice President
Dr. Shankar Dayal SHARMA (since 3 September 1987)
Head of Government:
Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha RAO (since 21 June 1991)
Political parties and leaders:
Congress (I) Party, P. V. Narasimha RAO, president; Bharatiya Janata Party,
L. K. ADVANI; Janata Dal Party, V. P. SINGH; Communist Party of
India/Marxist (CPI/M), Harkishan Singh SURJEET; Communist Party of India
(CPI), C. Rajeswara RAO; Telugu Desam (a regional party in Andhra Pradesh),
N. T. Rama RAO; All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK; a regional
party in Tamil Nadu), JAYALALITHA; Samajwadi Janata Party, CHANDRA SHEKHAR;
Shiv Sena, Bal THACKERAY; Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Tridip
CHOWDHURY; Bahujana Samaj Party (BSP), Kanshi RAM; Congress (S) Party,
leader NA; Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist (CPI/ML), Satyanarayan
SINGH; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (a regional party in Tamil Nadu), M.
KARUNANIDHI; Akali Dal factions representing Sikh religious community in the
Punjab; National Conference (NC; a regional party in Jammu and Kashmir),
Farooq ABDULLAH; Asom Gana Parishad (a regional party in Assam), Prafulla
MAHANTA
Suffrage:
universal at age 18
:India Government
Elections:
People's Assembly:
last held 21 May, 12 and 15 June 1991 (next to be held by November 1996);
results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (545 total), 520 elected -
Congress (I) Party 231, Bharatiya Janata Party 119, Janata Dal Party 59,
CPI/M 35, CPI 14, Telugu Desam 13, AIADMK 11, Samajwadi Janata Party 5, Shiv
Sena 4, RSP 4, BSP 1, Congress (S) Party 1, other 23; note - second and
third rounds of voting were delayed because of the assassination of Congress
President Rajiv GANDHI on 21 May 1991
Communists:
466,000 members claimed by CPI, 361,000 members claimed by CPI/M; Communist
extremist groups, about 15,000 members
Other political or pressure groups:
various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy;
numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including Adam
Sena, Ananda Marg, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Member of:
AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-6, G-15, G-19, G-24,
G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO,
INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, PCA, SAARC, UN,
UNAVEM, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation:
Ambassador Abid HUSSEIN; Chancery at 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20008; telephone (202) 939-7000; there are Indian Consulates
General in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco
US:
Ambassador William CLARK, Jr.; Embassy at Shanti Path, Chanakyapuri 110021,
New Delhi; telephone [91] (11) 600651; FAX [91] (11) 687-2028, 687-2391;
there are US Consulates General in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras
Flag:
three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white, and green with a blue
chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; similar to the flag of
Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band
:India Economy