MY INDIA

India facts
India, a peninsular nation in South Asia, has been, for centuries, a region of attraction for many a traveler, researcher and business man around the world. India Geography sketches the spectrum of topographical features, climatic conditions based on India location, disaster prone regions as well as flora and fauna, which stretch along different India States. In India, weather conditions show marked difference with the difference in regions and seasons. In India winter season is from November to mid-March and India summer from mid-April to June. Intensity and amount of Monsoon varies from region to region. Indian Meteorological Department regularly does the India weather forecast with the help of images from satellites like INSAT, Meteosat, World (Intellicast), etc. Indian National Anthem also articulates the names of various regions of India like Sindh, Punjab, Gujarat as well as Vindhyas and the Himalayas, among others. The Indian National Anthem was originally composed by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali and sung for the first time in 1911, the same year when British shifted the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi. Modern India history is a tale of colonization of the region by the Portuguese, Dutch, French and finally, the British. For India, independence came much late when compared to other developed countries of the world. With the formation of a sovereign India government under the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, India entered a new phase in its history. The primary challenge before this newly independent country was to bring opportunities of development to its masses and build a prosperous nation under democracy and rule of law. Hindi was given the status of national language and 14 others were considered India official language. India education has not been given much attention by changing governments as is evident from the budget share allocated to this sector till 2006. However, the percentage share allocated to this sector went up to 34.2% in 2007-08 Union Budget India universities are moribund, recent reports say. A face lift to India university should come along in the form of updated curriculum, efficient faculty, increased funds for labs, library and other infrastructure as well as competitive financial support for full-time researchers. Marginalized sections of the country need also be given equal opportunities for education. And, if years of underdevelopment and social segregation has pushed them to a disadvantageous position in competitive fields, then seats need to be reserved for them in all higher education institutions of the country. In India, untouchables were a group of people in society who were not allowed to enter public spaces visited by high caste people. Caste system in India continues to be a social evil in many of its States where Dalits (as the lower caste people are officially represented) are not given equal opportunities in social, religious and political spheres. The present day India is an economic power house of the future with its large chunk of under-30 workforce, advances in IT, open market policies since the nation's economic liberalization in 1990s, and for many other reasons. India population, at present, stands at 1.136 billion (approximate). India time zone is 5 hrs 30 minutes ahead of GMT. Standard India Time is the local time along 82.5 degree E longitude, which falls slightly west to Mirzapur town near Allahabad.