India: Another Asian Giant

Abstract

To attempt to define India and its 950 million people in a few words would be as difficult as a blind person describing an elephant. India, with its vast land area, is the birthplace of Buddhism and Hinduism, and its people have constructed a profoundly spiritual civilization. Although part of it is crumbling, the caste system is still strictly maintained, and 1652 languages and 190 religions coexist in this land where artificial satellites are designed and hi-tech software is produced. The gap between the rich and the poor is so extreme that 52 per cent of the population earn less than one US dollar a day. As a formidable military power with nuclear weapons, it was the leader of the Third World for about four decades. These are the mysteries of India.