Careers, Jobs and Education Resources for: India

Economic Overview

India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of india's output with less than one third of its labor force. about three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture, leading the united progressive alliance (upa) government to articulate an economic reform program that includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. the government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. however, tariff spikes in sensitive categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reforms still hinder foreign access to india's vast and growing market. privatization of government-owned industries remains stalled and continues to generate political debate; populist pressure from within the upa government and from its left front allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. the economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. india achieved 8.5% gdp growth in 2006, and again in 2007, significantly expanding production of manufactures. india is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the english language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. economic expansion has helped new delhi continue to make progress in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. however, strong growth combined with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom fueled inflation concerns in 2006 and 2007, leading to a series of central bank interest rate hikes that have slowed credit growth and eased inflation concerns. the huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem.

Environmental Issues

Deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

Government Type

Federal republic

Population

1,147,995,904 (july 2008 est.)

Location

Southern asia, bordering the arabian sea and the bay of bengal, between burma and pakistan

Area

Total: 3,287,590 sq km land: 2,973,190 sq km water: 314,400 sq km

Slightly more than one-third the size of the us

Country Aliases

Conventional long form: republic of india conventional short form: india local long form: republic of india/bharatiya ganarajya local short form: india/bharat

Capital

Name: new delhi geographic coordinates: 28 36 n, 77 12 e time difference: utc+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time)

Military Service

16 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women officers allowed in noncombat roles only (2008)

International Disputes

Since china and india launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, indian claims that china transferred missiles to pakistan, and other matters continue; various talks and confidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defuse tensions over kashmir, particularly since the october 2005 earthquake in the region; kashmir nevertheless remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of china (aksai chin), india (jammu and kashmir), and pakistan (azad kashmir and northern areas); india and pakistan have maintained the 2004 cease fire in kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the siachen glacier region; pakistan protests india's fencing the highly militarized line of control and construction of the baglihar dam on the chenab river in jammu and kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the indus river and its tributaries; un military observer group in india and pakistan (unmogip) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; india does not recognize pakistan's ceding historic kashmir lands to china in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, india and pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in sir creek estuary at the mouth of the rann of kutch in the arabian sea; pakistani maps continue to show its junagadh claim in indian gujarat state; discussions with bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, to exchange territory for 51 bangladeshi exclaves in india and 111 indian exclaves in bangladesh, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; bangladesh protests india's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the border; dispute with bangladesh over new moore/south talpatty/purbasha island in the bay of bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; india seeks cooperation from bhutan and burma to keep indian nagaland and assam separatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; joint border committee with nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the kalapani river; india maintains a strict border regime to keep out maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from nepal