2. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation. The white, is meant for purity and truth. The green is for faith and fertility. The navy blue wheel denotes the continuity of the nation's progress which is deemed to be as boundless as the blue sky and as fathomless as the deep blue sea.

3. 5,000 year old civilization 325 languages spoken – 1,652 dialects 18 official languages 29 states, 5 union territories 3.28 million sq. kilometers - Area 7,516 kilometers - Coastline 1,000,000,000 people in 2000

4. Parliamentary form of Government Secular democratic constitution Worlds largest democracy since 55 years 4 th largest economy Fastest growing IT super power Indian Railways,the biggest employer in the world.

6. Mythology

7. AUM or OM The first sound of the Almighty Oneness with the supreme

8. G enerates- Brahma O bserves- Vishnu D estroys- Shiva Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva The Trinity

9. The Great Indian Epics RamayanaMahabharata Longest Epic in world literature with 100,000 two-line stanzas The first Indian epic

10. Indus Valley Civilization- one of the worlds first great urban civilizations. Harappa Civilization- 2700BC

11. Worlds first university in Takshila –700 B.C Sanskrit Language –most suitable for computer software Ayurveda- earliest school of medicine known to humans

12. Yoga - Made in India Origin –5000 BC Documented by 200 BC – 300 AD

13. Origin of Martial arts – 200 BC Kalarippayat

14. 1700s – British invasion

15. 15 th August, 1947 Indian Independence 26 th January, 1950 Republic-India

16. National Emblem Truth alone triumphs

17. National Animal - Tiger

18. National Bird - Peacock

19. National Flower - Lotus

20. Great Indian Personalities

21. Invented the Zero Aryabhatta

22. Mahatma Gandhi Father of the nation Embodiment of Non- Violence

23. Swami Vivekananda Champion of humanitarianism

24. Great Indian Mathematician Postulated and proved 3,542 theorems Ramanujam

25. Rabindranath Tagore 1913 – Nobel Prize in Literature

26. 1930 - Nobel Laureate in Physics Work on scattering of light and Raman effect C.V Raman

27. 1979 – Nobel Prize in Peace Mother Teresa

28. 1968 - Nobel Laureate in Medicine Work on interpretation of the genetic code Har Gobind Khorana

29. Subramanyan Chandrasekhar 1983 - Nobel Laureate in Physics Work on structure and evolution of stars

30. Dance forms

31. More than 45 folk dances

32. 7 Classical Dance forms

33. Bharata Natyam

34. Kathak

35. Kathakali

36. Kuchipudi

37. Manipuri

38. Mohini Attam

39. Odissi

40. More than 15 vocal forms More than 60 music instruments

41. India - Gods own country Celebrates more than 65 festivals

42. Places of historic importance

43. Tirumala - Tirupati Worlds richest temple

44. Saint Thomas Cathedral Statue of Virgin Mary brought from Portugal in 1543

45. The Golden Temple

46. Jamma Masjid The biggest mosque in India

47. Thousand pillar temple

48. Gateway of India

49. Jantar Mantar – 1716 Modernistic structures to observe the movement of stars

50. Mysore Palace Illuminated by 97,000 light bulbs

51. Buddha Statue Largest monolithic statue in Asia

52. Dal Lake Jewel in the crown of Kashmir

53. The Taj Mahal

54. Calcutta – City of joy

55. Cherrapunji Wettest place on earth

56. We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. -Albert Einstein India is,the cradle of the human race,the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history,the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition.Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. -Mark Twain