Geography
This large, triangular-shaped country in southern Asia is the seventh largest country in the world, with a total land area of approximately 3,287,000 sq km. It is bordered by Pakistan to the north-west, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka is the teardrop-shaped island hanging off its southern tip. To the west lies the Arabian Sea, to the east the Bay of Bengal and to the south the Indian Ocean.

The Himalayan mountain range to the north and the Indus River (west) and Ganga River (east) form a physical barrier between India and the rest of Asia. The country can be divided into five regions, namely Western, Central, Northern (including Kashmir and Rajasthan), Eastern and Southern.

Climate
India's climate varies greatly but basically has a three-season year, the hot, the wet and the cool. The heat starts to build up on the northern plains around February and by April it becomes unbearable. In May, monsoon appears with high humidity, short rainstorms and violent electrical storms and cover the whole country by early July. The weather gets comfortably warm, rather than hot in the far south.

People
India's population as of 1997 is 936,000,000. Of these, about 72% of them are Indo-Aryans, 25% are Dravidians while the rest are Mongoloids.

Language
The official language is Hindi which is spoken by about 30% of the population. There are other regional dialects recognized by the Constitution, some of which are Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit and Hindustani. English is also used for official or commercial purposes. The Indian upper class uses English as the shared language of the educated elite, championing it as both a badge of their status and as a passport to the world of international business. However, only about 3% of Indians have a firm grasp of the language.

Administration
India is a federal republic with certain powers reserved to the 25 states. There are seven Union Territories which are governed from Delhi - Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Chandigarh; Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Delhi; Goa, Daman and Diu; Lakshadweep; and Pondicherry. The central government is made up of a bicameral parliament and cabinet. The head of state is the president, while executive power is vested in the prime minister.

Religion
India's predominant religion is Hinduism, practiced by approximately 80% of the population. The Hindu religion has three basic practices. They are puja or worship, the cremation of the dead, and the rules and regulations of the caste system.

India is one of the largest Muslims nations on earth with its more than 100 millions believers, which accounts for about 15% of the population. There are a minority of Christians and Sikhs. The Sikhs in India are predominantly located in the Punjab. It was originally intended to bring together the best of Hinduism and Islam and most importantly, the Sikhs are opposed to caste distinctions.

Although the number is not big, Buddhism and Jainism are also followed in India. Buddhism was originally founded in northern India in about 500BC, and spread rapidly when emperor Ashoka embraced it but was gradually reabsorbed into Hinduism. The Jain religion also began life as an attempt to reform Brahminical Hinduism and emerged at the same time as Buddhism.