India A short journey Narasimha Reddy

Red Indians, West Indians…. So many different Indians!! Columbus went looking for India –Why? Found America –Birth of Modern America linked to India!!! About 2.5 million Indians now in USA –We have to prove Columbus Right!!

Some Facts Largest Democracy –1.1 Billion people – more than 70% rural Diverse population –25 States and 10 Union Territories –Many Languages 22 officially recognized Unofficially in hundreds –Many Religions Hinduism (82%), Islam(12%), Christianity(2%), Sikhism(2%), Buddhism(1%), Jainism(0.4%) –As diverse as Europe

Telugu Kannada Marathi Oriya Tamil Hindi

Diversity Prime Minister: Manmohan Singh (A sikh) Leader of the largest political party: Sonia Gandhi (An Italian born Catholic) President: A woman Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: Rajasekhar Reddy (A converted Christian)

Some Facts Multi-party Parliamentary Democracy –About 50 political parties Three branches –Parliament Lower House –popular vote, every 5 years Upper House –elected by lower house and State Legislators, elected for 6 years, with 1/3 elected every 2 years –President Elected by Parliament and State Legislators –Judiciary Lower courts presided by judges (no jury system)

Indian Flag Saffron: Piety and Patriotism White: Purity and Peace Green: Prosperity Wheel: Progress

Emblem on Indian currency From the period of Ashoka Stands for 24 hour justice Protection in 4 directions

India: A brief History Indus Civilization: one of the oldest civilizations –5000 BC and before Didn’t invade other countries Many Invaders, most settled and mixed Muslims from Middle East –Moghul Dynasty British Colony –Came as Traders (East India Company) Independent since 15 th August, 1947

India: Contributions Zero, Early Algebra, Decimal system, Early Trigonometry,Yoga, Chess Gave birth to four religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism Secular long before the West –Jews have been living in India longer than in Europe Non-violence, Peaceful means –Gandhi inspired many leaders elsewhere including Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela (South Africa) First University in Takshila in 700BC Sanskrit –considered the mother of all European languages

India: Economic Liberalization Started in early 1990s under severe economic crunch –$3 billion foreign currency reserves Economy is now resurgent –About $300 billion in reserves now Economy largely driven by domestic consumption

India: Economy numbers 5 th Largest in Dollar-exchange terms at $1.5 trillion, 4 th Largest in Purchasing parity terms $5.21 trillion –Per capita $1,089 or $4,542 4 in the top 25 richest people in the world: –Lakshmi Mittal (Steel), Ambani brothers (Telecom, Petrochemicals & others), Azim Premji (Software) Poverty rate: about 20% Growing Wealth, growing disparity

India: Other measures Life Expectancy: 64 (male), 67 (female) Population Density: 324 per sq.km –Roughly 10 times that of USA –Slightly lower than Japan Per-capita power consumption: 631 Kwh –Roughly 1/20 th of USA Grain consumption –Roughly 1/5 th of USA Meat consumption –About 1/20 th of USA

India/USA: Wealth Comparison

India and TAMU link In early 70s, food shortages Green Revolution –Norman Borlag, now at TAMU –Won Nobel Peace Prize Self-sufficient and exports food now

India in Images: Rich Culture

India: Architecture

India: Art

India in Images: Spanning many centuries at once

India in Images: Rapidly Modernizing

India in Images: Changing Social Practices

India in Images: Traditional/Western attire

Bollywood Facts Produces twice as many movies as Hollywood Popular in many parts of the World –Asia, Africa, Middle East –Europe and USA (Non Resident Indians -NRI) Movies now made with both Indian and NRI themes

Non Resident Indians About 20 million worldwide –USA: 2.5M, Canada: 800K, Middle East: 4.5M, UK:1.5M, Africa:3M, Malaysia:2.5M USA NRIs concentrated in few areas –Own 35-40% of hotels/motels –Roughly 1/3 of engineers in Silicon Valley –Doctors NRIs send back roughly $25 billion to India every year

India A vibrant democracy Resurgent economy Secular with many religions Diverse cultures and languages Rapidly modernizing