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Fact sheet India
Population | 1,147,995,898 (2008 est.) | Population growth | 1.578 % (2008 est.) | Land area | 3.3 Million sq km | Currency | Indian rupee (INR) | GDP (official exchange rate) | $1.09 trillion (2007 est.) | GDP per capita | $2,700 (2007 est.) | Official name | Republic of India | Form of state | Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic with a Parliamentary system of Government. | Head of State | The President of India is the Head of the State, while the Prime Minister is the Head of the Government, and runs office with the support of the Council of Ministers who form the Cabinet Ministry. The current President is Mrs. Pratibha Devi Patil and the Prime Minister is Dr. Manmohan Singh. | Higher education students | Approx. 10 million | Proportion of relevant age group in higher education | 11% (UNESCO 2008) | Higher education institutions | Approx. 17,000 HEI including Universities and Colleges | Number of students abroad | Approx. 156,000 | Major study destinations | USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore and Germany | Popular fields of studies | Economy, Business and Administration, Engineering, IT, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Medical and Health/Natural Sciences |
Sources: Introduction India is one of the oldest civilisations in the world with akaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved multifacetedsocio-economic progress during the last 59 years of its Independence. India hasbecome self-sufficient in agricultural production, and is now the tenthindustrialised country in the world and the sixth nation to have gone intoouter space to conquer nature for the benefit of the people. It covers an areaof 32,87,263 sq km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to thetropical rain forests of the south. As the seventh largest country in theworld, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is bymountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity.Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at theTropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal onthe east and the Arabian Sea on the west.
Boarder with neighboring countries:
Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km,Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km
Main cities
- New Delhi, the capital city is the political centre of India.
- Mumbai, located on the eastern coast, is commercial hub.
- Bangalore is the Indian version of Silicon Valley.
- Other important cities are Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
Population
The total population in 2007 is estimated at114.7 million. According to age structure, the population composition is: 0-14 years: 31.5%
15-64 years: 63.3%
65 years and over: 5.2% The current estimated population growth rateis 1.578%(2008 est.). Sources: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-fact-book/ www.india.gov.in
Political system India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a SovereignSocialist Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. TheRepublic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted bythe Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949 and came into forceon 26th January 1950. The Constitution provides for a Parliamentary form of government whichis federal in structure with certain unitary features. The constitutional headof the Executive of the Union is the President. As per Article 79 of theConstitution of India, the council of the Parliament of the Union consists ofthe President and two Houses known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) andthe House of the People (Lok Sabha). Article 74(1) of the Constitution providesthat there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its headto aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his functions in accordanceto the advice. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministerswith the Prime Minister as its head. The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the House of thePeople (Lok Sabha). Every State has a Legislative Assembly. Certain States havean upper House also called State Legislative Council. There is a Governor foreach state who is appointed by the President. Governor is the Head of the Stateand the executive power of the State is vested in him. The Council of Ministerswith the Chief Minister as its head advises the Governor in the discharge of theexecutive functions. The Council of the Ministers of a state is collectivelyresponsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State. The Constitution distributes legislative powers between Parliament andState legislatures as per the lists of entries in the Seventh Schedule to theConstitution. The residuary powers vest in the Parliament. The centrallyadministered territories are called Union Territories. Parliament is the supreme legislative body of India. The IndianParliament comprises of the President and the two Houses - Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The President has the power tosummon and prorogue either House of Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha. Source: http://india.gov.in/govt/constitutions_india.php
Economy India''s diverse economy encompassestraditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range ofmodern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major sourceof economic growth, accounting for more than half of India''s output with lessthan one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is inagriculture, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government toarticulate an economic reform program that includes developing basicinfrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economicperformance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade andinvestment. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a fewkey sectors, such as telecommunications. However, tariff spikes in sensitivecategories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reformsstill hinder foreign access to India''s vast and growing market. Privatization ofgovernment-owned industries remains stalled and continues to generate politicaldebate; populist pressure from within the UPA government and from its LeftFront allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has postedan average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducingpoverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006,and again in 2007, significantly expanding production of manufactures. India iscapitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in theEnglish language to become a major exporter of software services and softwareworkers. Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress inreducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth combined with easyconsumer credit and a real estate boom fueled inflation concerns in 2006 and2007, leading to a series of central bank interest rate hikes that have slowedcredit growth and eased inflation concerns. The huge and growing population isthe fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem. Sources: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.htm
Higher education system Higher Educationin India has evolved in distinct and divergent streams with each streammonitored by an apex body, indirectly controlled by the Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment. The 415 universities/ institutionsare mostly funded by the state governments. However, there are 20 importantuniversities called Central universities, which are maintained by the UnionGovernment and because of relatively large funding, they have an edge over theothers. The engineering education and business schools are monitored andaccredited by the AllIndia Council for Technical Education (AICTE) while medicaleducation is monitored and accredited by the MedicalCouncil of India (MCI). Like-wise, agriculture education and researchis monitored by the IndianCouncil for Agriculture Research. Apart from these,National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) controls all the teacher traininginstitutions in the country. The country has some ace engineering,management and medical education institutions which are directly funded by theMinistry of Human Resource Development of the Union Government. Admission toall professional education colleges is done through all-India common admissiontests of which the IIT-JEE, AIEEE, CAT and CPMT are the most popular ones. Mostof the institutions reserve a small percentage of seats for foreign students. Sinceeducation is on the Concurrent List of the Indian Constitution, the states playa very important role in Education. The AllIndia Council for Technical Education andthe MedicalCouncil of India are the apex monitoring bodies of technical educationand medical education respectively. The teaching, examination andadministration is left to the state governments who invariably appoint a competentauthority in their respective state to admit students to medical, dental,management, pharmacy, computer application and engineering courses. Somestate governments assign their technical education and medical educationdirectorates to conduct entrance tests while some constitute a special body toadmit students. Source: www.academics-india.com
Types ofrecognized higher education institutions India has a large andcomplex higher education system. This comprises of nearly 310 universities.Universities in India are either set up by an Act of Parliament or the StateLegislatures. In addition, some institutions are also conferred deemed to beUniversity status by the Central Government. Universities are either unitary oraffiliating. - Universities: about 300
- Unitary universities and affiliating universities (about 230)
- Deemed Universities (96)
- Institutions of National Importance (13)
- Colleges: about 17,000
Source: http://www.ugc.ac.in/
Most popular studydestinations:
- United States (80,000 students)
- Australia (16,000 students)
- UK (15,000 students)
- Germany (4,237 students)
- New Zealand (1,345 students)
- Canada (below 1,000 students)
- France (below 1,000 students)
- Singapore (below 1,000 students)
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