India “We can do no great things; only small things with great love.” -Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Population: 1,189,172,906 (July 2011 est.) Largest Democracy in the world 2 nd most populous country 30% Urban 70% Rural 1.344% growth rate

Language in India The official languages are Hindi and English 22 official ‘scheduled’ languages spoken in over 1600 dialects: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.

Ethnicity 72% Indo-Aryan 25% Dravidian 3% Mongoloid or other including Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic

Religion Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8% unspecified 0.1% (2001 census) For Hindus, cows are considered sacred and are seen roaming the sidewalks, stopping traffic, helping themselves to food and inviting themselves into shops.

Government Independence from British Raj in August of 1947 Common law legal system based on British model Federal democracy with numerous private parties and separate personal law codes based on religious values Judicial, executive, and legislative branches; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is Head of government Ongoing war with Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir Above: India’s single border crossing into Pakistan in Amritsar, Punjab State. The border closes nightly with an extensive performance given by guards on both sides. The bleachers are never anything short of crowded.

Economy GDP (purchasing power parity): $4.06 trillion GDP per capita (PPP): $3,500 Labor force: million 52% agriculture, 14% industry, 34% services (2010) Household income or consumption by percentage share: Lowest 10%: 3.6% Highest 10%: 31.1% (2005) 25% of people live below poverty line(2007 est.) Sanitation facility access unimproved : urban: 46% rural: 79% total: 69% of population (2008)

Child Labor 1986 – Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act stating that no child under the age of 14 can legally work in hazardous conditions that prevent health and education UN Convention on the Rights of the Child There are still 12.4 million child laborers officially recorded and an estimated million altogether

Caste System (ancient Hindu social stratification) Discrimination based on caste is illegal, but is still widely accepted, especially in rural areas. There is a direct correlation between caste, poverty, and illiteracy.

Refugees There are over 1 million refugees from other countries including Tibet, Myanmar, and Afghanistan There are a substantial number of Indian refugees, who are displaced from their homes and forced to settle in other regions looking for work opportunities. Often times these people live in slums and are forced to accept very little pay for hard labor and long hours. Above: Rajastani slum in Dharamsala, Himachelpradesh

Education in India Funded and controlled by Union government, State government and private sector. Constitution provides free and compulsory education to children up to 14 years old. Although there has been a lot of improvement in literacy rates and attendance, only 15% of students reach high school and a mere 7% graduate. 25% of teaching jobs are vacant and 57% of college professors do not hold a masters or Ph.D

Literacy rate: 61%; males 73.4%, females 47.8% (2001 census) In 1947, the literacy rate was at 14%; Female literacy rate was at 8%

Strengths * Women's motivation and participation was high; * The project approach to management adopted for adult education programme is feasible; * The quality of teaching-learning materials prepared by National Resource Centre and the State Resource Centres were found to be good; *The programme worked well where special recruitment procedures were adopted. *Coverage of weaker sections of the society (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) was higher than target; Weaknesses * Quality of training of the functionaries was poor; * The learning environment was poor. * Mass media did not provide appreciable support; * Achievement levels of literacy were below the desired level; * Voluntary agencies did not receive willing cooperation from State Governments. * The existing procedures for their involvement was discouraging. * There was no linkage between basic literacy, post literacy, follow- up and continuing education, resulting in the relapse of large number of neo-literates into illiteracy; * Training of adult education functionaries at all levels lacked participatory and communicative techniques; * Political and administrative support of the State Goverments and the Panchayati Raj institutions were not forthcoming. National Adult Education Project (launched 10/2/78) (evaluated between )

Above: children eating a midday meal. Their school was built with black plastic, sheet metal, and bamboo, and children walk to the nearby river to use the bathroom Other literacy/retention efforts Mid-day Meals Scheme- schools provide free food for children who attend school. At 43.5%, India has the highest rate in the world of underweight children under 5 (2005) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan- Partners with state government to build adequate school facilities in rural areas where there are none. This includes teacher improvement, toilets, drinking water, and in some cases, computer education. SSA has special programs for girls and special needs students.

Resources Photography by Holly Claire Nollman (2010) Other images from Google Images