India- A Profile
Facts and figures
General Information Population 1027 million (2001 Census) Area 3.3 million square kilometers Geographical location Lies between latitudes 8 ° 4' and 37 ° 6 ' north and longitudes 68 ° 7 ' and 97 ° 25' east Coastline length 7,600 km Languages 18 major languages, 844 dialects Major religions Hinduism, Islam, Christianity,
Buddhism, Sikhism, JainismNational anthem Jan gana mana written by Rabindranath Tagore National emblem Replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath National flag Horizontal tricolor in equal proportion of deep
saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark
green at the bottom. In the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue colour.National animal Tiger, Panthera tigris National bird Peacock National flower Lotus National tree Banyan National fruit Mango National currency Rupees (One Rupees=100 paise) Political structure India Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic The Indian Union 28 States and seven centrally administered
Union TerritoriesForm of government Parliamentary, based on universal adult franchise Legislature Parliament, consists of President and the two
Houses, known as Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People )Executive Consists of President, Vice-President and Council
of Ministers led by the Prime MinisterJudiciary Independent of executive Economic indicators Growth of exports 28.8 per cent in 1995-96 Power generation 104917.50 mega-watt hour in 2001-2002 Coal production 322.63 million tonnes in 2001-2002 Crude oil production 32.03 million tonnes in 2001-2002 Railway passenger traffic 4833 million in 2001-2002 Railway freight traffic 473.5 million in 2000-2001 Total road length 3.3 million km in 2002 Telephone connections 44.96 million in 2002 Iron ore export 26.0 million tonnes in 1994-95 Exports of electronics, computer software Rs 24,340 million in 1994-95 Exports of decentralised cotton cloth 949 million sq. meters in 1994-95 Foodgrains production 191.1 million tonnes in 1994-95 Sugarcane production 258.4 million tonnes in 1994-95 Cotton production 156 lakh bales in 2001-2002 Oil seed production 21.4 million tonnes in 1994-95 Cement production 106.90 million tonnes in 2001-2002 Nitrogenous fertilizer production 7.95 million tonnes in 1994-95 Nuclear energy generation 8 billion kilo-watt hour in 1994-95 The Indian Economy is in transition. After a major thrust to Reforms, India is experiencing a spell of sound GDP growth at an average annual rate of 6% during 1994-95 to 1996-97.
At the sectoral level, significant progress is taking place : a steady growth of the agriculture sector, but its modernisation is moving at a halting pace; a resurgence in industry, but a sudden blip of deceleration is causing concern; a growing external trade intensity of the economy, but exports have yet to gather a sustained momentum. The services sector has been performing quite remarkably, specially after the reforms of the financial sector, but much still remains to be done. The prolonged phase of despondency in the capital market is the most worrisome feature.
At this critical stage, infrastructure development, with its multiple backward and forward linkages, has to be places at the centre-stage. With a little more push to to reforms and more effective techno-managerial efforts, it is not difficult to secure a sustainable high growth profile of the economy.
The following topics have been reproduced from the Statistical Outline of India, 1996-97, Tata Services Ltd.