Sharul DubeCo-President

Leeds Indian Students Association 2011-12

Presentation based on a contest entry by Varun Mehta

Structure of the presentation

•Some background facts and figures

•Challenges that India faces right now

•India’s diversity in spirituality

•Diversity in culture

Some interesting facts

Regarded by historians as the "oldest living civilization of Earth", the Indian tradition dates back to 8000 BC 

7th largest country by geographical area

2nd most populous country with over 1.2 billion people.

Largest democracy in the world

• The birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism

• Median age for the UK:40 years. India: 26 years

• Home to Mohandas Gandhi and Nehru- leaders of non

violent resistance against British rule over India

•Also home to communal violence after the Independence in 1947, which split India into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

•Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, rapid economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage.

•In 2010, the Indian economy rebounded robustly from the global financial crisis and growth exceeded 8% year-on-year in real terms.

•Long term challenges: widespread poverty, inadequate physical and social infrastructure, limited non-agricultural employment opportunities, insufficient access to quality basic and higher education, and accommodating rural-to-urban migration.

A short video by Incredible India

group http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIWs-

38t2-o&feature=related

Diversity in Spirituality

Diversity in Religion

•Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census) Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith are also influential but their numbers are smaller.

•Despite the strong role of religion in Indian life, atheism and agnostics also have visible influence along with a self-ascribed tolerance to other people.

Over 150 festivals and fairs celebrated every year in India

Diversity in festivals

Popular religious festivals:

the Hindu festivals of Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Dussehra,

Islamic festivals of Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Mawlid an-Nabī 

Christian festivals of Christmas and days of observances such as Good Friday are observed throughout the country.

Within hinduism:

Sri Ramakrishna, a prominent Hindu saint once wrote, "There can be as many Hindu Gods as there are devotees to suit the moods, feelings, emotions and social backgrounds of the devotees." So in some ways Hinduism is a polytheistic religion.

Similarly, the festivals range from orthodox Diwali celebration

Diversity in Culture

Diversity in language

Diversity in Language

• The principal official language is Hindi.

•  English is the secondary official language.•

• Several hundred mother tongues in India

• 30 main languages with at least 1 million speakers

• 122 languages with 10,000 speakers.•

Diversity in Food

Diversity in Clothing

Science

http://vimeo.com/6061265

A summarizing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mcA1-3pJaE&feature=related

Thank youAny questions?