India factfile
|
| Population: One billion
(est. 1999) |
| Area: 3,287,590 sq.
km |
| Annual income per capita:
US$440 (1998) |
| Government: A coalition
led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) |
| Capital: New Delhi
|
| Administrative divisions:
25 states and seven union territories |
| Languages: India has
15 official languages. English enjoys associate status but is the most
important language for national, political, and commercial communication.
Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30 per cent of the
people. |
| Literacy: 52.2 per
cent (1991) |
| Religion among percentage
of the population:
Hindu (82%), Muslim (11.7%),
Christian (3.1%), Buddhist (0.8%), Jain (0.4%) |
| Number of Christians:
23 million (Source: Newsroom)
|
| Religious background:
In recent years Christians have suffered church bombings and personal
physical violence at the hands of radical Hindus. Some commentators say
the radicals regard adherence to any other religion as indicating a lower
degree of commitment to India, others that the attacks are a response
to the way in which the social work performed by Christians is posing
a challenge to the inequalities of India’s caste system. Furthermore,
some Christians believe that the attacks take place with the connivance
of the party which heads the coalition government, the Hindu nationalist
BJP. (SR 26/2 - 04.01) |