is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, from Sanskrit ?????? Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River.[31] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (??d??), the people of the Indus.[32] The Constitution of India and common usage in various Indian languages also recognise Bharat (pronounced ['b???r?t?]  ( listen)) as an official name of equal status.[33] The name Bharat is derived from the name of the legendary king Bharata in Hindu scriptures. Hindustan ([h?nd??'st??n]  ( listen)), originally a Persian word for “Land of the Hindus” referring to northern India, is also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India.[34] History Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh are the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared about 8,500 years ago and gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[35] dating back to 3400 BCE in western India. It was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 500s BCE. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were established across the country.[36] Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, sixth century In the third century BCE, most of South Asia was united into the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great.[37] From the third century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient "India's Golden Age".[38][39] Empires in Southern India included those of the Chalukyas, the Cholas and the Vijayanagara Empire. Science, technology, engineering, art, logic, language, literature, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Following invasions from Central Asia between the 10th and 12th centuries, much of North India came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire. Under the rule of Akbar the Great, India enjoyed much cultural and economic progress as well as religious harmony.[40][41] Mughal emperors gradually expanded their empires to cover large parts of the subcontinent. However, in North-Eastern India, the dominant power was the Ahom kingdom of Assam, among the few kingdoms to have resisted Mughal subjugation. The first major threat to Mughal imperial power came from a Hindu Rajput king Maha Rana Pratap of Mewar in the 16th century and later from a Hindu state known as the Maratha confederacy, that ruled much of India in the mid-18th century.[42] From the 16th century, European powers such as Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain established trading posts and later took advantage of internal conflicts to establish colonies in the country. By 1856, most of India was under the control of the British East India Company.[43] A year later, a nationwide insurrection of rebelling military units and kingdoms, known as India's First War of Independence or the Sepoy Mutiny, seriously challenged the Company's control but eventually failed. As a result of the instability, India was brought under the direct rule of the British Crown. Mahatma Gandhi (right) with Jawaharlal Nehru, 1937. Nehru would go on to become India's first prime minister in 1947. In the 20th century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other political organisations.[44] Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi led millions of people in several national campaigns of non-violent civil disobedience.[21] On 15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but at the same time the Muslim-majority areas were partitioned to form a separate state of Pakistan.[45] On 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect.[46] Since independence, India has faced challenges from religious violence, casteism, naxalism, terrorism and regional separatist insurgencies, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India. Since the 1990s terrorist attacks have affected many Indian cities. India has unresolved territorial disputes with the People's Republic of China, which, in 1962, escalated into the Sino-Indian War, and with Pakistan, which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. India is a founding member of the United Nations (as British India) and the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test[47] and five more tests in 1998, making India a nuclear state.[47] Beginning in 1991, significant economic reforms[48] have transformed India into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, increasing its global clout.[22] Government Main article: Government of India National Symbols of India[49][50] Flag Tricolour Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital Anthem Jana Gana Mana Song Vande Mataram Animal Royal Bengal Tiger Bird Indian Peacock Aquatic animal Dolphin Flower Lotus Tree Banyan Fruit Mango Sport Field hockey Calendar Saka River Ganges India is federation with a parliamentary form of government, governed under the Constitution of India.[51] It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law." Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the centre and the states. The government is regulated by a checks and balances defined by Indian Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. Constitution Main article: Constitution of India The Constitution of India, the longest and the most exhaustive among constitutions of independent nations in the world, came into force on 26 January 1950.[52] The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.[53] India has a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. Its form of government was traditionally described as being 'quasi-federal' with a strong centre and weaker states,[54] but it has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic and social changes.[55] President and Prime Minister The President of India is the head of state[56] elected indirectly by an electoral college[57] for a five-year term.[58][59] The Prime Minister is the head of government and exercises most executive power.[56] Appointed by the President,[60] the Prime Minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament.[56] 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.[61] Legislature 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).[62] The Rajya Sabha, a permanent body, has 245 members serving staggered six year terms.[63] Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures in proportion to the state's population.[63] 543 of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote to represent individual constituencies for five year terms.[63] The other two members are nominated by the President from the Anglo-Indian community if the President is of the opinion that the community is not adequately represented.[63] Judiciary India has a unitary three-tier judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 21 High Courts, and a large number of trial courts.[64] 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.[65] It is judicially independent,[64] and has the power to declare the law and to strike down Union or State laws which contravene the Constitution.[66] The role as the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution is one of the most important functions of the Supreme Court.[67] Administrative divisions Main article: Administrative divisions of India India consists of 28 states and seven Union Territories.[68] All states, and the two union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments patterned on the Westminster model. The other five union territories are directly ruled by the Centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were formed on a linguistic basis.[69] Since then, this structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts.[70] The districts in turn are further divided into tehsils and eventually into villages. The 28 states and 7 union territories of India 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 Politics Main article: Politics of India The Secretariat Building, in New Delhi, houses key government offices. India is the most populous democracy in the world.[16][17] It has operated under a multi-party system for most of its history. For most of the years since independence, the federal government has been led by the Indian National Congress (INC).[68] Politics in the states have been dominated by national parties like the INC, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and various regional parties. From 1950 to 1990, barring two brief periods, the INC enjoyed a parliamentary majority. Within Indian political culture, the Indian National Congress is considered centre-left or "liberal" and the Bharatiya Janata Party is considered centre-right or "conservative". The INC was out of power between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party won the election owing to public discontent with the state of 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.[71] As the 1991 elections gave no political party a majority, the INC formed a minority government under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and was able to complete its five-year term.[72] 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 that excluded both the BJP and the INC. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with several other parties and became the first non-Congress government to complete a full five-year term.[73] 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. The UPA again came into power in the 2009 general election; however, the representation of the Left leaning parties within the coalition has significantly reduced.[74] Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.[75] Foreign relations and military Main articles: Foreign relations of India and Indian Armed Forces Jointly developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics, the Su-30 MKI "Flanker-H" is the Indian Air Force's prime air superiority fighter.[76] 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.[77] India is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement.[78] India was involved in two brief military interventions in neighbouring countries – Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka and Operation Cactus in Maldives. After the Sino-Indian War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, India's relationship with the Soviet Union warmed and continued to remain so until the end of the Cold War. India has fought two wars with Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute. A third war between India and Pakistan in 1971 resulted in the creation of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan).[79] Additional skirmishes have taken place between the two nations over the Siachen Glacier. In 1999, India and Pakistan fought an undeclared war over Kargil. In recent years, India has played an influential role in the SAARC and the WTO.[80] India has provided as many as 55,000 Indian military and police personnel to serve in thirty-five UN peacekeeping operations across four continents.[14] India is also an active participant in various mutlilateral forums, particularly the East Asia Summit[81] and the G8+5.[82] Recent overtures by the Indian government have strengthened relations with the United States and China. In the economic sphere, India has close relationships with other developing nations in South America, Asia and Africa. India and Russia share an extensive economic, defence and technological relationship.[83] Shown here is PM Manmohan Singh with President Dmitry Medvedev at the 34th G8 Summit. India maintains the third-largest military force in the world, which consists of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force[46] and auxiliary forces such as the Paramilitary Forces, the Coast Guard, and the Strategic Forces Command. The official Indian defence budget for 2010 stood at US$31.9 billion (or 2.12% of GDP).[84] According to a 2008 SIPRI report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of PPP stood at US$72.7 billion.[85] The President of India is the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. India maintains close defence cooperation with Russia, Israel and France, who are the chief suppliers of arms. Defence contractors, such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), oversee indigenous development of sophisticated arms and military equipment, including ballistic missiles, fighter aircraft and main battle tanks, to reduce India's dependence on foreign imports. India became a nuclear power in 1974 after conducting an initial nuclear test, known as the Operation Smiling Buddha, and carried out further underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has consistently refused to sign the CTBT and the NPT. India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy[86] and is developing nuclear triad capability as a part of its "minimum credible deterrence" doctrine.[86] On 10 October 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement between India and the United States was signed, prior to which India received waivers from the IAEA and the NSG which ended restrictions on nuclear technology commerce and recognised India as the world's de facto sixth nuclear weapons state.[87] On 12 March 2010, Russia signed with India a nuclear reactor deal which will build 16 nuclear reactors in India as part of defence and energy deals .[88] On 28 June 2010, Canada signs with India a nuclear co-operation deal to promote and develop co-operation in civilian nuclear energy .[89] 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.[90] 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.[90] 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.[90] In the former seabed immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough, which, having gradually been filled with river-borne sediment,[91] now forms the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[92] To the west of this plain, and cut off from it by the Aravalli Range, lies the Thar Desert.[93] The original Indian plate now survives as peninsular India, the oldest and most geologically stable part of India, and extends 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.[94] 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;[95] 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[96] and 68°7' and 97°25' east longitude.[97] India's coast is 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) long; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India, and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands.[19] 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.[19] The Himalayas form the mountainous landscape of Northern India. Seen here is Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir. Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges (Ganga) and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[98] 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;[99] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[100] 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.[101] 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.[102] India's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the monsoons.[103] The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian Katabatic wind from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes.[104][105] 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.[103] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[106] Flora and fauna Main articles: Flora of India and Fauna of India See also: List of ecoregions in India The Indian peacock is India's national bird and is found primarily in semi-deser