India


 * India [[image:india_flagg.jpg align="right" link="http://www.pym.no/pym/bilder/48India%20flagg.png"]] **

The official name of India is The Republic of India. The capital is New Delhi, and there are also big cities as Mumbai and Kolkata. India has different religious groups like Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. The largest one is Hinduism with 83% of the population. India is a union divided into 28 states and seven territories. The country is federal secular republic and has a parliamentary democracy. A president is the head of the state. As many know, the currency is Indian Rupee.

The official languages in India are Hindi and English, but they also have many other languages as Urdu, Panjabi. One of the reasons English is so much spoken in India is that Britan established colonies there. In 1858, India was controlled by Britain. India was a very rich colony and had many resources as spice, tea and cotton. Britain got rich on those resources. Britain also had a lot of military personnel in India. Later on the resistance to British rule became stronger, often known as the British Raj. India became independent in 1947.

India is a favourite location for outsourcing industry and service. Therefor it is a highly important thing for the people of India to talk English. Many people take courses to learn the exact pronunciation, and some people might even  speak as good English as a normal Englishman. India is also a victim for brain-drain. Higly educated people leave India for better-paid jobs in Western countries. This is often seen as lost recources.

Tourism has grown a lot in India. Many people travel to India to experience the culture, see the country and visit the attractions. Bollywood, the Indian film capital, is also an important place to speak English. Bollywood is in Mumbai. When tourism is growing it is also important to talk a language so you can understand each other and help tourists. Tourist who travels to India can also see the enormous different contrasts between poor and rich. India has been taking a big step towards becoming a modern country, and the economic growth rate has been very good since independence.

Today India and Pakistan has a tense relationship. They have been in a war earlier that resulted in Bangladesh becoming an independent country. The relationship is tense today because of the disagreement about the ownership of the region Kashmir. 

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