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About India
Image Credit: https://www.nationsonline.org /oneworld/india_map.htm
Its capital is New Delhi, built in the 20th century just south of the historic hub of Old Delhi to serve as India’s administrative center. Its government is a constitutional republic that represents a highly diverse population consisting of thousands of ethnic groups and likely hundreds of languages. With roughly one-sixth of the world’s total population, India is the second-most populous country, after China. Its total population is 1,296,834,042 habitants.
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Most of India forms a peninsula, which means it is surrounded by water on three sides. The world's highest mountain range, the Himalayas, rises in the north. The southeast is bordered by the Bay of Bengal, and the southwest is bordered by the Arabian Sea.
India is the world's most populous democracy. A parliamentary republic with a multiparty system, it has eight recognized national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties. The Congress is considered center-left in Indian political culture. India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories.
India is a very spiritual country. It has no official religion, but more than 80 percent of Indians are Hindu. About 13 percent are Muslim. Other religions include Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, which all began in India. For thousands of years, since the Hindu religion first evolved, respect for animal life has been an important part of Indians' beliefs. Cows are sacred and cannot be harmed. India's varied climate zones support about 65,000 animal species, including elephants, pythons, river dolphins, and rhinos, and 12,000 types of flowering plants.
