India is a relatively newly independent nation with great diversity within its borders. It is an extremely populous and quite large country. The following are some basic facts about India as a nation.
Total area: 3,287,590 sq km (this makes India the 7th largest country in world)
Border countries :
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
Burma,
China,
Nepal,
Pakistan.
Religion: There are several religious groups found in India and religion plays an important factor in many Indians’ daily lives. Most people in India are Hindu, but other groups include:
Muslims,
Sikhs,
Buddhists,
Christians,
Jains,
Parsis,
Jews.
Language: Hindi is the national language, but there are 14 other official languages including: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit.
Hindustani is a variation of Hindi and Urdu and is used widely in Northern India but it is not considered an official language. English is commonly used for political and commercial communication, but is not an official language either.
States & Territories: There are 28 states and 7 union territories that make up the country of India: The states include: 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, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.
The union territories include: Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Chandigarh,
Dadra and Nagar Haveli,
Daman and Diu,
Delhi,
Lakshadweep,
Pondicherry.
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