1. Modern India

2. Country Facts Capital: New Delhi Population: 1,210,193,422
Official Languages: Hindi and English
Currency: Rupee

3. Diversity 5 Major Religions:
Languages
Religions
There are 2 official languages and 20 official regional languages:
Bengali
Sanskrit
Tamil
Urdu
Punjabi
Nepali
Kashmiri
5 Major Religions:
Hinduism
Islam
Sikhism
Buddhism
Jainism

4. Government Type of Government: Federal Parliament
Upper House: Rajya Sabha
Lower House: Lok Sabha

5. Holidays Public Holidays: 1/26: Republic Day 8/15: Independence Day
10/2: Gandhi’s Birthday

6. Holdiays Religious Holidays: Hinduism: Holi; March 6th
Holi is the Hindu festival for the arrival of spring. They celebrate by going through the streets and spraying colors on others.
Buddhism: Vesak; May 4th
Buddha’s Birthday

7. Food
There are many regional cuisines in India and they are by both region and religion.
Most Hindus are vegetarians while most Muslims eat meat except for pork.

8. Music
Traditional Indian classical music as well as newer pop music are popular across the population.
Tradition music became popular to Western audiences in the 1960s when rock and psychedelic music utilized an Indian stringed instrument called the sitar.
Traditional Sitar Music:
Punjabi Pop Music:

9. Film
India has an extremely popular film industry much in the way that Hollywood is popular in the US.
Outside of India their film industry is known as Bollywood which combines the name of Bombay (current name: New Delhi) and Hollywood.
Most of their films consist of numerous song and dance scenes and last longer than Western films. Many include an intermission in the middle of the film.

10. Scene from a Bollywood Film
Jodhaa Akbar (2008)

11. Sports Popular sports in India include:
Cricket:
Field Hockey
Soccer
Kabaddi

12. Conflicts
Ever since the 1947 there have been numerous incidents between India and Pakistan.
Both nations have nuclear weapons and India has received terrorist attacks from Pakistan.
In 2008 there was an attack in Mumbai, India in which terrorists shot and bombed twelve locations in the city for a four day period (November 26-29).
Tensions between Hindus and Muslims are still strained as well with reports of vandalism to each other’s places of worship and other holy sites.
Despite that, there are moments of friendly conflict between the two nations: