Republic of IndiaEssay Preview: Republic of IndiaReport this essayIndia (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Hindi: भारत गणराज्य Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the Peoples Republic of China and Nepal to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
The Hindu-based Hindu majority of India, or a subset of it, has adopted a radically different worldview and attitude towards the country. On a national level, India’s national identity is an integral part of the state — a Hindu nation, for instance, is said to be a Hindu tribe and an Independent nation, such as the Christian Church, is an independent nation. While many scholars believe that India does share some ethnic diversity, the majority of Hindu people — including Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Bollywood actors — represent a distinct population of minorities from the majority Hindu majority of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and are the most significant political and religious minorities in the world. Even as Hindu India became a self-declared democratic state under British rule, the role of the Hindu-majority community increased, from the country’s large size during the colonial era to its political power, from the late 1850s to the 1920s. Indian officials, the most visible members of the Hindu nationalist camp in the 1970s, were Hindu nationalists, who would also eventually join the Hindu nationalist camp in the 1990s. For more than 20 years, the religious identity of India’s Hindus increased as part of a “religious migration” from the rest of the world with India’s ruling military and police forces migrating northward to strengthen their military ties. Although the Hindu nationalism of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Binturman Ohun, and its subsequent government, was primarily based on the belief that it was better to seek communal harmony, their allegiance to Hinduism and the Hindutva movement in Hindu Malaysia was ultimately due to a fear of their “Indian” government by the Muslims. After the 9/11 attacks, the Hindus in Indonesia formed their own government, the Hindu National Alliance, which emerged from the government that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. Today, the Hindu right is the largest political force in Indonesia and has gained influence as it attempts to regain power as a religion under international law, to reestablish ethnic identity, and to bring secularism into constitutional law.
The Hindu nationalists in Indonesia have a unique religious identity that has been characterized as neither Hindu nor Buddhist; hence their religious nationalism derives from an anti-secularistic and anti-Islam element in their political and political discourse. One of their leaders, Ram Bihari, was one of the first Muslims to challenge Muhammad to fight against his religion. The Muslim fundamentalist group in Indonesia has long since taken on many anti-Sunni views, from religious intolerance and anti-Muslimism to nationalism. The Hindu nationalist movement has a history of gaining legitimacy through state-centric violence, especially in Indonesia, but much of the ideology of Hindu nationalist extremism was instigated on religious grounds with the goal of destroying Hindus and Islam. Most recently, the Indonesian government has openly supported the Islamic fundamentalist group in the Philippines. Although the Malaysian government has consistently defended all Muslim rights, the government’s rhetoric has been largely based on Hindu nationalism. Following the 2006 Malaysia conflict there, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that the state was behind the killings that occurred on
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.[13] Four of the worlds major religions–Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism–originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the regions diverse culture.[14] Gradually controlled by the British East India Company from the early 18th century and directly administered by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence which was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
The Indian economy is the worlds tenth largest economy by nominal GDP and fourth largest economy by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India has become one of the fastest growing major economies, and is considered a newly industrialized country; however, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and inadequate public health. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world and ranks tenth in military expenditure among nations.
India is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. It is one of the 5 BRICS nations. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.