INDIA

Monday, June 11, 2007

The Republic of India :
Commonly known as India, is a sovereign country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of over 7000 kilometres. It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia.
Home to the Indus Valley civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's variegated culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread use of nonviolent resistance as a means of social protest.
With the world's twelfth largest economy by exchange rates and the fourth largest in purchasing power, India has made rapid economic progress in the last decade. Although the country's standard of living is projected to rise sharply in the next half-century, it currently battles high levels of poverty, illiteracy, persistent malnutrition, and environmental degradation. In addition to being a pluralistic, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
Chennai :
Formerly known as Madras is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fourth largest metropolitan city. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. With an estimated population of 7.06 million (2007), the 368-year-old city is the 34th largest metropolitan area in the world.
Chennai is the third largest commercial and industrial centre in India, and is known for its cultural heritage and temple architecture. It is also a hub for south Indian classical music and dance performances. Chennai is considered the automobile capital of India, with a major percentage of the automobile industry having a base here and a major portion of the nation's vehicles being produced here. This has led to Chennai being referred to as the Detroit of South Asia. It has also become a major centre for outsourced jobs from the West. The 12-kilometre long Marina Beach forms the city's east coast. The city is known for its sport venues and hosts an ATP tennis event, the Chennai Open. Chennai is also one of the rare cities to accommodate a national park, the Guindy National Park, within its city limits
Tamil Nadu :

Land of the Tamils is a state at the southern tip of India. Tamil Nadu is bordered by Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu has had continuous human habitation since pre-historic times. Its long history and cultural traditions are among the oldest in the world. The Tamil kingdoms of Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava are of very ancient origins. They patronised a mature culture which produced some of the oldest surviving literature in India.
Colonised by the East India Company, Tamil Nadu was eventually incorporated into the Madras Presidency. After the independence of India, the Madras State was created in 1956 based on linguistic boundaries. The name of the Madras State was changed to Tamil Nadu in the year 1969. The politics of Tamil Nadu has been dominated by AIADMK and DMK, who are of the Dravidian movement which agitated demanding equality for the 'Dravidian' population of Tamil Nadu.
Lying on a low plain along the southeastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is bounded by the Eastern Ghats in the north and Nilgiri, Annamalai Hills, and Palakkad on the west. The state has large fertile areas along the Coromandel coast, the Palk strait, and the Gulf of Mannar. The fertile plains of Tamil Nadu are fed by rivers such as Kaveri, Palar, and Vaigai, and by the northeast monsoon. Traditionally a manufacturing state, Tamil Nadu is also a leading producer of agricultural products.
The sixth most populous state in the Indian Union, Tamil Nadu has the largest urban agglomeration nationwide. Increases in literacy have caused Tamil Nadu to report the second lowest growth in population in India for the last decade. Globalisation brought increased export opportunities, making Tamil Nadu the third largest economy among the states of India. The growing demands for skilled labour have caused the increased number of educational institutions in Tamil Nadu. It has the highest number of vocational training institutions in India. Chennai, which was known until 1996 as Madras, is the fourth largest city of India and the state capital. Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Salem and Tirunelveli are other large cities (Corporations) of Tamil Nadu.
The art and culture of Tamils are among the oldest in the world. Great literature, music, dance and architecture have evolved from Tamil Nadu over the past two millennia. Tamil Nadu provided the cradle in which the rich musical tradition of Carnatic music evolved. Many of the great composers such as Tyagaraja lived and flourished in Tamil Nadu.