This document provides an overview of India's culture, geography, history, and languages. It notes that India has an ancient and diverse culture stretching back over 5,000 years that has been enriched by successive waves of migration. The geography of India, including the Himalayas and seas, has influenced its climate and given rise to regional cultures and crops. India has a long history as a meeting place of east and west and has absorbed many invaders into its culture. The document also discusses India's official languages at the central and state levels.

2. • "So far as I am able to judge,
nothing has been left undone,
either by man or nature, to
make India the most extra
ordinary
country that the sun visits
on his rounds. Nothing seems to have
been forgotten, nothing over looked." --
Mark Twain, from Following
the Equator
•

3. • .
It is impossible not to be astonished by
India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity
present itself in such a dizzying, creative
burst of cultures and religions, races
and tongues. Every aspect of the
country presents itself on a massive,
exaggerated scale, worthy in
comparison only to the superlative
mountains that overshadow it. Perhaps
the only thing more difficult
than to be indifferent to India
would be to describe or
understand India completely.

4. Few countries in the world have
such an ancient and diverse
culture as India's. Stretching back
in an unbroken sweep over 5000
years, India's culture has been enriched by
successive waves of migration which were
absorbed into the Indian way of life. It is this
variety which is a special hallmark of India. Its
physical, religious and racial variety is as
immense as its linguistic diversity. Underneath
this diversity lies the continuity of Indian
civilization and social structure from the very

5. Modern India presents a
picture of unity in diversity
to which history provides
no parallel. Here is a
catalogue of every thing
Indian. Indian religions, festivals, rituals,
artifacts, monuments,
costumes, music and dance,
language and literature. Come
and discover a little more of
India's culture by selecting any of the
topics listed below.

6. India economy, the third
largest economy in the world,
in terms of purchasing power,
is going to touch new heights
in coming years. As predicted by
Goldman Sachs, the Global Investment
Bank, by 2035 India would be the third
largest economy of the world just after
US and China. It will grow to 60% of

7. This booming economy
of today has to pass
through many phases
before it can achieve
the current milestone
of 9% GDP.
The history of Indian
economy can be broadly
divided into three
phases: Pre- Colonial,
Colonial and Post Colonial.

8. The adverse conditions in the
geographical conditions in India
itself have influenced the
conditions in India a lot. The
various cultures, the state of
living, the calamities, the overall
fauna and flora, climate, weather
etc. has been influenced by the geographical
conditions of India. The Himalayas in the North help
the cold winds from entering the cultivable and
fertile lands in the north as well as the middle
regions

9. The sea on three sides of the
country has given rise to
the humid weather in various
regions, which are helpful for
the development of
various specific crops grown
in that region. Also, the
geography of India has
given rise to a various
cultures, languages,
cultivation of particular crops etc.

10. History of India and its civilization
dates back to at least 6500 BC
which perhaps makes the oldest
surviving civilization in the world.
India has been a meeting ground
between the East and the West.
Through out its history many
invaders have come to India but
Indian religions allowed it to adapt
to and absorb all of them.

11. All the while, these
local dynasties built
upon the roots of a
culture well
established. India has
always been simply
too big, too
complicated, and too
culturally subtle to
let any one empire
dominate it for long.

12. The different states of India have
different official languages, some
of them not recognized by the
central government. Some states
have more then one official
language. Bihar in east India has
three official languages - Hindi,
Urdu and Bengali - which are all
recognized by the central government. But
Sikkim, also in east India, has four official
languages of which only Nepali is recognized
by the central government.

13. Besides the languages officially
recognized by central or state
governments, there are other
languages which don't have
this recognition and their
speakers are running political
struggles to get this recognition.
Central government decided
that Hindi was to be the official
language of India and therefore
it also has the status of official
language in the states.

14. Today, India ranks second
worldwide in farm output.
Agriculture and allied sectors like
forestry and logging accounted for
16.6% of the GDP in 2007, employed
52% of the total workforce and
despite a steady decline of its share
in the GDP, is still the largest
economic sector and plays a
significant role in the overall
social-economic development of
India.

15. Agriculture in India, the
preeminent sector of the
economy, is the source of
livelihood of almost two thirds
of the workforce in the country.
The contribution of agriculture
and allied activities to India's
economic growth in recent
years has been no less
significant than that of
industry and services. The
importance of agriculture to
the country is best summed up by this state-
ment: "If agriculture survives, India survives"