15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but was partitioned with independent governments for the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in accordance to wishes of the Muslim League, along the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation state of Pakistan.[30] Three years later, on 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect.[8] Since independence, India has suffered from religious violence, casteism and insurgencies in various parts, but has been able to control them through tolerance and constitutional reforms. It has unresolved territorial disputes with China, which in 1962 escalated into the brief Sino-Indian War; and with Pakistan, which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations (as part of British India). In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test.[31] This was followed by five more tests in 1998, making India a nuclear state.[31] Beginning in 1991, significant economic reforms[32] have transformed India into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, adding to its global and regional clout.[17] Government Main article: Government of India National Symbols of India[33] Flag Tricolour Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital Anthem Jana Gana Mana Song Vande Mataram Animal Royal Bengal Tiger Bird Indian Peafowl Flower Lotus Tree Banyan Fruit Mango Sport Field hockey Calendar Saka The Constitution of India, the longest and the most exhaustive constitution of any independent nation in the world, came into force on January 26, 1950.[34] The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.[35] India has a quasi-federal form of government[36] and a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has three branches of governance: the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary. The President of India is the official head of state[37] elected indirectly by an electoral college[38] for a five-year term.[39][40] The current President is Pratibha Patil. The Prime Minister is, however, the de facto head of government and exercises most executive powers.[37] The Prime Minister is appointed by the President[41] and, by convention, is the candidate supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament.[37] The current Prime Minister is Manmohan Singh. The legislature of India is the bicameral Parliament, which consists of the upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the lower house called the Lok Sabha (House of People).[42] The Rajya Sabha, a permanent body, has 245 members serving staggered six year terms.[43] Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures in proportion to the state's population.[43] The 543 of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote to represent individual constituencies for five year terms.[43] The other two members are nominated by the President from the Anglo-Indian community if, in his opinion, the community is not adequately represented.[43] The executive branch consists of the President, Vice-President, and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet being its executive committee) headed by the Prime Minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of either house of parliament. In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature, with the Prime Minister and his Council being directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament.[44] India has a unitary three-tier judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, twenty-one High Courts, and a large number of trial courts.[45] The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the Centre, and appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts.[46] It is judicially independent,[45] and has the power to declare the law and to strike down union or state laws which contravene the Constitution.[47] The role as the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution is one of the most important functions of the Supreme Court.[48] Politics Main article: Politics of India The North Block, in New Delhi, houses key government offices. India is the largest democracy in the world.[13][49] For most of its democratic history, the federal government has been led by the Indian National Congress (INC).[50] State politics have been dominated by several national parties including the INC, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), and various regional parties. From 1950 to 1990, barring two brief periods, the INC enjoyed a parliamentary majority. The INC was out of power between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party won the election owing to public discontent with the "Emergency" declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1989, a Janata Dal-led National Front coalition in alliance with the Left Front coalition won the elections but managed to stay in power for only two years.[51] The years 1996–1998 were a period of turmoil in the federal government with several short-lived alliances holding sway. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996, followed by the United Front coalition. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with several regional parties and became the first non-Congress government to complete a full five-year term.[52] In the 2004 Indian elections, the INC won the largest number of Lok Sabha seats and formed a government with a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), supported by various left-leaning parties and members opposed to the BJP.[53] Foreign relations and military Main articles: Foreign relations of India and Indian Armed Forces The Sukhoi-30 MKI is part of the Indian Air Force. Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial relationships with most nations. It took a leading role in the 1950s by advocating the independence of European colonies in Africa and Asia.[54] India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement.[55] After the Sino-Indian War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, India's relationship with the Soviet Union warmed at the expense of ties with the United States and continued to remain so until the end of the Cold War. India has fought four wars with Pakistan, primarily over Kashmir. India also fought and won an additional war with Pakistan for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. In recent years, India has played an influential role in the ASEAN, SAARC, and the WTO.[citation needed] India is a founding member and long time supporter of the United Nations, with over 55,000 Indian military and police personnel having served in thirty-five UN peace keeping operations deployed across four continents.[56] Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has consistently refused to sign the CTBT and the NPT, preferring instead to maintain sovereignty over its nuclear program. Recent overtures by the Indian government have strengthened relations with the United States, China, and Pakistan. In the economic sphere, India has close relationships with other developing nations in South America, Asia, and Africa. India maintains the third largest military force in the world by number of active troops, which consists of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force.[8] Auxiliary forces such as the Paramilitary Forces, the Coast Guard, and the Strategic Forces Command also come under the military's purview. The President of India is the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces. India became a nuclear power in 1974 after conducting an initial nuclear test, Operation Smiling Buddha. Further underground testing in 1998 led to international military sanctions against India, which were gradually withdrawn after September 2001. India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy[57] and has a "strong nuclear non-proliferation record" according to the White House,[58] despite not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Subdivisions Main article: Subdivisions of India India is a federal republic of twenty-eight states and seven Union Territories.[50] All states, the union territory of Puducherry, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi have elected governments. The other five union territories have centrally appointed administrators and hence are under direct rule of the President. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were formed on a linguistic basis.[59] Since then, this structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is divided into basic units of government and administration called districts. There are nearly 600 districts in India.[60] The districts in turn are further divided into tehsils and eventually into villages. Administrative divisions of India, including 28 states and 7 union territories. States: Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Union Territories: Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli Daman and Diu Lakshadweep National Capital Territory of Delhi Puducherry Major Cities:[61] Mumbai • Delhi • Bangalore • Kolkata • Chennai • Ahmedabad • Hyderabad • (others) Geography Main article: Geography of India See also: Geological history of India and Climate of India Topographic map of India. India, the major portion of the Indian subcontinent, sits atop the Indian tectonic plate, a minor plate within the Indo-Australian Plate.[62] India's defining geological processes commenced seventy-five million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a northeastwards drift—lasting fifty million years—across the then unformed Indian Ocean.[63] The subcontinent's subsequent collision with the Eurasian Plate and subduction under it, gave rise to the Himalayas, the planet's highest mountains, which now abut India in the north and the north-east.[63] In the former seabed immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast through, which, having gradually been filled with river-borne sediment,[64] now forms the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[65] To the west of this plain, and cut off from it by the Aravalli Range, lies the Thar Desert.[66] The original Indian plate now survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India, and extending as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel ranges run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[67] To their south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the left and right by the coastal ranges, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats respectively;[68] the plateau contains the oldest rock formations in India, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6°44' and 35°30' north latitude[69] and 68°7' and 97°25' east longitude.[70] India's coast is 7,517 kilometers (4,671 mi) long; of this distance, 5,423 kilometers (3,370 mi) belong to peninsular India, and 2,094 kilometers (1,301 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands.[14] According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coast consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches, 11% rocky coast including cliffs, and 46% mudflats or marshy coast.[14] Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[71] Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi, whose extremely low gradient causes disastrous floods every year. Major peninsular rivers whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;[72] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[73] Among notable coastal features of India are the marshy Rann of Kutch in western India, and the alluvial Sundarbans delta, which India shares with Bangladesh.[74] India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[75] India's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the monsoons.[76] The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes.[77] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden southwest summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall.[76] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[78] Flora and fauna Main articles: Flora of India and Fauna of India The Bengal tiger, threatened by poachers and smugglers, faces declining population levels and possible extinction. India, which lies within the Indomalaya ecozone, displays significant biodiversity. One of eighteen megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of all avian, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all fish, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[79] Many ecoregions, such as the shola forests, exhibit extremely high rates of endemism; overall, 33% of Indian plant species are endemic.[80][81] India's forest cover ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and North-East India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the sal-dominated moist deciduous forest of eastern India; the teak-dominated dry deciduous forest of central and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain.[82] Important Indian trees include the medicinal neem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment. Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, to which India originally belonged. Peninsular India's subsequent movement towards, and collision with, the Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic changes 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.[83] Soon thereafter, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the emerging Himalaya.[82] Consequently, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians.[79] Notable endemics are the Nilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmine Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172, or 2.9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species.[84] These include the Asiatic Lion, the Bengal Tiger, and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which suffered a near-extinction from ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle. In recent decades, human encroachment has posed a threat to India's wildlife; in response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially expanded. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act[85] and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial habitat; in addition, the Forest Conservation Act[86] was enacted in 1980. Along with more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries, India hosts thirteen biosphere reserves,[87] four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[88] The President's House or Rashtrapati Bhavan has an annual exhibition of diverse flora in the Mughal Garden[89]. Economy Main article: Economy of India See also: Economic development in India The Bombay Stock Exchange, in Mumbai, is Asia's oldest and India's largest stock exchange. For most of its post-independence history, India adhered to a quasi-socialist approach with strict government control over private sector participation, foreign trade, and foreign direct investment. However, since 1991, India has gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms and reduced government controls on foreign trade and investment.[32] Foreign exchange reserves have risen from US$5.8 billion in March 1991 to US$300 billion in March, 2008,[90] while federal and state budget deficits have decreased.[91] Privatization of publicly-owned companies and the opening of certain sectors to private and foreign participation has continued amid political debate.[92] With a GDP growth rate of 9.4% in 2006-07, the economy is among the fastest growing in the world.[93] India's GDP in terms of USD exchange-rate is US$1.089 trillion. When measured in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), India has the world's fourth largest GDP at US$4.726 trillion. India's per capita income (nominal) is US$977, while its per capita (PPP) is US$2700. India has the world's second largest labour force, with 516.3 million people, 60% of whom are employed in agriculture and related industries; 28% in services and related industries; and 12% in industry.[94] Major agricultural crops include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes. The agricultural sector accounts for 28% of GDP; the service and industrial sectors make up 54% and 18% respectively. Major industries include automobiles, cement, chemicals, consumer electronics, food processing, machinery, mining, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, steel, transportation equipment, and textiles. Although the Indian economy has grown steadily over the last two decades; its growth has been uneven when comparing different social groups, economic groups, geographic regions, and rural and urban areas.[95] Income inequality in India is relatively small (Gini coefficient: 32.5 in year 1999–2000),[citation needed] though it has been increasing of late. Wealth distribution in India is fairly uneven, with the top 10% of income groups earning 33% of the income.[96] Despite significant economic progress, a quarter of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of $0.40 per day. In 2004–2005, 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line.[18] More recently, India has capitalised on its large pool of educated, English-speaking people, and trained professionals to become an important outsourcing destination for multinational corporations and a popular destination for medical tourism.[97] India has also become a major exporter of software as well as financial, research, and technological services. Its natural resources include arable land, bauxite, chromite, coal, diamonds, iron ore, limestone, manganese, mica, natural gas, petroleum, and titanium ore.[50] In 2007, estimated exports stood at US$140 billion and imports were around US$224.9 billion. Textiles, jewellery, engineering goods and software are major export commodities. While crude oil, machineries, fertilizers, and chemicals are major imports. India's most important trading partners are the United States, the European Union, and China. Transportation Road & Railways are the mainly used for transportation. All major cities are connected by rail. Bigger cities have there own Mass Rapid Transportation system like Metro in Delhi. Widening of all major national highways is underway and schemes like Golden Quadrilateral are under implementation. Rapid increase in air traf