India has more than made an impact on the world, and rightfully so. Our country is indeed abundantly rich with culture, history, talent, personality, and charisma. India has broken multiple world records, made cinematic history, and has some of the best food you could possibly find in the world. No doubt all countries come with their downsides. But today we’re only going to talk about the positive or interesting traits that constitute a part of India’s personality. I think that this includes our size, both in terms of area and population. The latter is still growing exponentially.
1. The population of India is 1.3 billion or 1,350,438,098
Second, only to China, India has a lot of people. To be precise, the population of India accounts for a 1/6th of the population worldwide. Yet, India only occupies approximately 2.4% of the world’s land area.
2. India is predicted to pass China’s population by 2028
In fact, given the precipitous growth in population size, India is predicted to overtake China as the most populous country by 2028. The issue is that we’re not even close to as big as China. India is around three times smaller. So this could become a potential problem, probably a really bad one.
3. India is the 7th largest country and the largest democracy in the world
Excluding Kashmir, India’s area is 3.1 million square kilometers. India is also the largest democracy and has the sixth largest economy in the world.
4. There over 20 different official languages spoken in different parts of India
In 1961, there were over 1,500 different languages, if you include dialect as well. Now, in addition to English and Hindi, there are 21 different official languages in India. Individual state legislatures can adopt any regional language as the official language of that state.
The Constitution of India now recognizes 23 languages. English plus 22 Indian languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
5. The name ‘India’ is derived from Indus
The name India was indeed derived from Indus, which is actually further derived from Sindhu. Indus in old Persian is Hindush, which again is Sindhu in Sanskrit. And Sindhu was the name for Indus used by the Aryans. Anyway, early civilizations first settled in the valley around Indus. And finally, the Greeks referred to Indians as Indoi, which means “The people of the Indus.” Therefore, our country got the name of India.
6. According to The Guinness Book Of World Records, India has the third highest number of record applications in the world
In 2011, India made the third greatest number of record applications to Guinness World Records, behind only America and The United Kingdom. In the early 2000s, the number of actual record-holders from India grew over 250% in a period of five years. Here are a few of the Guinness Records that India holds.
Zee TV’s Dance India Dance earned its place in the record books with the largest Bollywood dance involving 4,428 people at Somaiyya College, Mumbai.
The record for the highest number of people dressed as Mahatma Gandhi, in the same place at the same time, was set by India at over 4000 apparently. They were all kids who got together for a peaceful demonstration in Kolkata, probably unaware that they were also setting a world record.
At 2’0.6″ (61.95 inches), Jyoti Amge, the worlds shortest woman is indeed Indian.
The worlds largest chapati was, of course, made in India. And it weighed nearly 64 kilograms! I’ll stop here but if your curiosity has been tickled, you can always check out the official Guinness Book of World Records website.
7. India is the only country that has a bill of rights for cows
Cows are believed to be holy in Hinduism. As such, in 2017 a Cow Protection Bill was introduced, preventing the sale and slaughter of cows. The fact itself is rather interesting and certainly sets India apart. Having said that, however, this bill caused a fair bit of debate with regards to its intentions. But let’s not get into that here.
8. India has the largest number of vegetarians in the world
38% of India’s population is vegetarian. A large part of this statistic can be attributed to India’s Buddhist and Jain populous, which means that India also has the lowest meat consumption rates, globally. Not following India closely at all is Israel, with 13% of its population being vegetarian.
9. India has the largest postal network in the world
You might have heard of this one before. It’s true, with 1,54,866 post offices, each of which individually serves over 7,000 people, India is far ahead of the world when it comes to postal networks. Nearly 89% of all these post offices are in rural areas.
10. India has the largest film industry in the world
In terms of quantity, India has the largest film industry in the world. Our country produces over 1,100 movies per year, which is more than any other film industry. Of course, Bollywood is not solely responsible for this. Bollywood itself only releases around 200 films a year, which is still a lot.
11. After the United States & China, India has the third largest active army
Another interesting point to add to this is that Bear Grills apparently wanted to join the Indian army after graduated from school. I suppose his intention was to something adventurous.
12. The gathering of Kumbh Mela is so large that is visible from the space
Indeed, over 75 million people gather at a sacred location on the Ganges River, 15 km from Allahabad, for more than a month of bathing rituals. The Kumbh Mela is supposedly held every 12 years. In 2011, this religious gathering was so huge that it was indeed visible from space through a satellite.
13. Mawsynram receives the highest recorded average rainfall in the world
Located on the Kashi Hills in Meghalaya, and known as the wettest village, Mawsynram gets about 11,873 millimeters of rain owing to its proximity to the Bay of Bengal. Every winter, the inhabitants of Mawsynram spend their time preparing for the six-month-long monsoon ahead.
14. India is the second largest English speaking country in the world with 125,226,449 English speakers
Yes everyone, over 125 million people in India speak English, and this is second only to the United States. This statistic is expected to quadruple in the next decade. So if anyone is ever ignorant towards our country in this sense, please correct them with this statistic.
15. India has 300,000 active mosques which is more than any Islamic nation
14.2% of India’s population is from the Muslim community. As such, India happens to have the most number of mosques in the world. A few famous ones you might have heard of are, Jama Masjid(New Delhi), Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad), Taj-Ul-Masjid (Bhopal).
16. We owe India the decimal number system and the number zero
Astronomer and mathematician, Aryabhata, devised a number system that included absolute zero. While he did not invent the number zero itself, the knowledge of zero was implicit in Aryabhata’s place-value system as a place holder for the powers of ten with null coefficients.
17. First Rocket made in India was Transported by a Cycle
In 1963, ISRO launched its first rocket from a church in Thumba, on the outskirts of modern-day Trivandrum. This rocket was small enough to be transported on a bicycle. The launching pad later came to be known as Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC).
18. Shampoo was invented in India
Not commercial liquid ones, but the method by use of herbs. The word shampoo comes from the Sanskrit word Champu, which means ‘to massage’
19. Switzerland celebrates science day on the 26th of May, honouring Abdul Kalam
Indeed, the whole day is set aside in honour of APJ Abdul Kalam, who studied physics and aerospace engineering. He was also called “The missile man” because of his development of ballistic missiles.
Interestingly, while he was president, he posted a question on yahoo asking the people what the best response to terrorism might be. Over 31,000 people submitted answers, tough.
20. Chess was invented in India before the 6th century AD
The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, which means “four members of an army.” This is probably in reference to four chess pieces, elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers.
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21. India is the world’s largest milk producer, with over 16% of global production
22. India’s road network is the second largest with 4,865,000 miles of roads constructed
23. The Highest Cricket Ground in the World, at a level of 2,144 meters above sea level in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.
24. In 1980, the first satellite of India was transported on a bullock cart for testing
25. Indian railways employ more than a million people
26. India was one of the richest countries in the world before the British invaded
27. The Himalayas Have 9 out of 10 World’s Highest Peaks
28. Water on the moon was discovered by India
29. The world’s highest rail bridge is in Jammu Kashmir, India (1,178 feet over the river Chenab)
30. USB was developed by an Indian-American computer architect
31. Bandra-Worli sea link (Mumbai) has steel wires equal to Earth’s circumference
32. The Indian national Kabaddi team has won all World Cups
33. India’s first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, only took 50% of his salary. Toward the end of his term, he only took 25%
34. Kerala consumes the most liquor out of any state in India
35. Only 3% of Indians pay their income tax
36. India has one of the world’s highest rates of abortion.
37. More than a million Indians are millionaires, yet most Indians live on less than two dollars a day. An estimated 35% of India’s population lives below the poverty line.
38. Ganga is the longest river in India, flowing through a length of 2525 km
39. Calculus and Trigonometry came from India
40. The biggest family in the world is from India- 39 wives, 94 children, and 33 grandchildren. What?
41. India has been the largest troop contributor to the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions
42. Over 4700 daily newspapers in more than 300 languages are produced in India.
43. The largest wholesale spice market of Asia is in India – Khari Baoli, New Delhi.
44. India has a spa just for elephants, located in Kerala
45. Kanchenjunga, with an altitude of 8,586 meters, is the highest mountain peak in India
46. The Number of People Travelling in the Indian Railways Every Day is Equal to the Population of Australia
47. India has a mysterious anti-gravity hill, in Ladakh, called Magnetic Hill
48. Most historians agree that the first recorded account of plastic surgery is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts
49. Samosas, the much-loved Indian snack, are banned in Somalia
50. The City Montessori School in Lucknow is the world’s largest school in terms of the number of students- 9,437 students and 2,500 teachers, as of 2011
51. The human calculator, Shakuntla Devi, was given this title after she demonstrated the calculation of two 13 digit numbers: 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779, picked at random. She answered correctly within 28 seconds
52. Yoga originated from India and is still in existence for over 5000 years
53. Despite budgetary constraints, India’s space program is one of the top 5 space programs in the world
54. Actor Ben Kingsley’s birth name is Krishna Pandit Bhanji and he is of Indian descent
55. The Indian culture is one of the oldest in the world, going back to about 4,500 years
56. Rabindranath Tagore also wrote the national anthem for Bangladesh
57. Dhyan Chand was offered German citizenship- After defeating Germany 8-1 in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Major Dhyan Chand, the wizard of hockey, was summoned by Hitler
58. Only for India, KFC had to introduce a “vegetarian” menu
59. Snakes and ladders – the game, was invented in India in the 13th century by a poet saint Gyandev
60. Freddie Mercury was of Indian descent
61. Langar at the Golden Temple Amritsar feeds up to 100,000 people a day for free
62. The World’s First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite.
63. India was once the hub of Buddhism and emperor Ashoka helped spread it around the world, particularly South East Asia
64. Astronaut Rakesh Sharma said India looks saare jahaan se achcha from space
65. Coming second to New Zealand, India has the highest population of sheep in the world (75,000,000)
66. 90 countries from all over the world buy software from India
67. The river dolphins of the Ganges is the national aquatic animal of India.
68. The Himalayan blue sheep is found only in India
69. More than $6 million is donated to the Vishnu temple in the city of Tirupathi. It was built in the 10th century
70. The Pentium Chip was invented by an Indian
71. In the 100,000 years of Indian history, it has never invaded any other country
72. Havell’s is purely an Indian brand & named after its first owner
73. India is home to around 1300 species of beautiful birds
74. World’s First Hospital Train – the Lifeline Express a.k.a the Jeevan Rekha Express is the world’s first hospital train taking its services ranging from surgeries to cancer treatment to remote villages.
75. The world’s first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education
76. Diamonds were first mined in India
77. Back in the days, the India five-rupee coin was smuggled all the way to Bangladesh and was used to make razors
78. Benaras, now known as Varanasi is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Buddha had also visited it
79. The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘NAVGATIH’. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’
80. A special polling station is set up for a lone voter in the middle of Gir Forest
81. Banjaran was the first folk album of India that contained folk songs from Gujrat and Rajasthan
82. The veena is a beautiful instrument that was first made in India
83. The Ladybirds was the first India band that only had women
84. The tabla too is a musical instrument that was made first in India. Gandharva Mahavidyalaya was the first music school in India
85. Ganesh Chaturthi is held in reverence of Lord Ganesha and is a popular festival throughout India, more so in Mumba
86. Karwa Chauth is a festival that Hindu women in the North celebrate, where they pray for their husbands’ longevity
87. Karnataka is famous for its Bisi Bele bath and pulmonary
88. The state of Haryana produces over 60% of the basmati rice in India
89. Tamil Nadu is famous for its Pongal
90. Dum biryani was originally a money-saving dish that was engineered by the Nawab of Awadh to feed the poor
91. By volume of pills produced, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s second-largest after China
92. 100 of the Fortune 500 companies have R&D facilities in India
93. Two million people of Indian origin live in the U.S
94. India sends more students to U.S. colleges than any country in the world. In 2004-2005, over 80,000 Indian students entered the U.S. China sent only 65,000 students during the same time
95. The Bombay stock exchange lists more than 6,600 companies only after NYSE
96. Dolphins are treated as ‘non-human persons ‘ in India
97. Nearly 49% of the high-tech start-ups in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. are owned by Indians or Indian-Americans
98. There were no plastic bags in India before 1985
99. India is the world’s number one producer of vegetarian cheese
100. The longest station name on the Indian Railways is Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta
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