Publishing and broadcast media

• Main national newspapers: There are over 5000 daily newspapers. The Times of India, the Statesman, and the India Express publish nationally
• Television stations: 1 state-owned service, several private stations
• Radio stations: 1 state-owned service, several music and educational stations

Viewing figures for the state-run Doordarshan TV have fallen since the arrival of satellite TV and private broadcasters. US news channel CNN pioneered India's cable TV industry in 1991; there are now over 50 million connections. Indian films, produced at "Bollywood" (in Mumbai), are now a major part of the economy, with millions of devotees worldwide. There are thousands of newspapers; the Times of India has over two million readers. Private radio stations are not permitted to broadcast news, and some journalists suffer harassment.

• Main languages spoken: Hindi, English, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Bihari, Gujarati, Kanarese
• Population density: 364/km2 (942/mi2) (Population density high)

The urban/rural population split

Religious persuasion

Ethnic makeup

Population age breakdown

India is the world's second most populous country after China, officially passing the one-billion mark in 2000. Despite a major birth control program, the decrease in population growth has been marginal. Nationwide awareness campaigns aim to promote the idea of smaller families. India's planners consider the rise in the population the most significant brake on development. Cultural and religious pressures encourage large families, however, and the extended family is seen as essential security for old age.

The fertile rice-growing areas of the Gangetic plain and delta are very densely populated. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh has the largest population, followed by the western state of Maharashtra and the eastern state of Bihar. Maharashtra is also the most urbanized state, with more than half of its people living in towns or cities. Elsewhere, most Indians live in rural areas, though poverty continues to drive many to the swelling cities.

The overwhelming majority of the population are Hindus, who belong to thousands of castes and subcastes, which largely determine status, occupation, and whom they marry. Tension between Hindus and Muslims has grown in recent years, and escalated sharply in 2002 during violent clashes in Gujarat.

• Dates of last and next legislative elections: L. House 2004/2009 U. House Varying
• Head of state: President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

India is a multiparty democracy. The Lok Sabha (lower house) is directly elected by universal adult suffrage, while the Rajya Sabha (upper house) is indirectly elected by the state assemblies. There are 28 self-governing states. Of the seven union territories, Delhi and Pondicherry have their own assemblies.

Profile

C(I) was founded in 1978 as successor to the historic Congress party which led India to independence in 1947. Its bold program of economic liberalization in the early 1990s broke with the party's traditionally left-of-center policies. Allegations of corruption came to undermine it, resulting in heavy electoral defeats in 1996–1999.

The 1998 election established the Hindu nationalist BJP with a strong-enough mandate to form a coalition government under A. B. Vajpayee, relegating C(I) to an unprecedented period of opposition at union level. Elections held in 1999 confirmed the BJP-led coalition in power with an overall majority.

Hopes for C(I)'s political revival rested on Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. She restored the influence of the Nehru dynasty over the party, and led it to a surprise victory at the 2004 polls, but unexpectedly declined the post of prime minister and instead backed former finance minister Manmohan Singh.

Main Political Issues

Hindu militancy

The rise of the right-wing Hindu BJP, which emerged as a credible alternative to C(I) in the late 1990s and took office in 1998, raised fears about the future of India's secular constitution. Hindu nationalism was expressed in outbreaks of serious violence against Muslims and Christians. A campaign to rebuild a Hindu temple at Ayodhya on a sacred Muslim site symbolized this divisiveness. The BJP's failure to embrace the rural poor in its economic policies, however, led to its shock defeat in the 2004 elections.

Political corruption

Allegations of political corruption have dominated Indian politics for decades. In 1989, C(I) prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was accused of accepting bribes from Bofors, a Swedish arms company. In 1996, corruption forced the resignations of several C(I) government ministers and the leader of the opposition BJP. The issue resurfaced in 2001, when the BJP government was implicated in the "Tehelka scandal" over arms sales, which led to the resignation of the defense minister.

The free market

The introduction of economic reforms was controversial. Critics argued that free trade would undermine local production; the BJP-led coalition was generally opposed to competition from foreign firms. In the 1990s most governments increased spending on rural development programs in order to soften the impact of economic liberalization, though not enough to prevent a rural backlash in the 2004 election and the surprise victory of C(I), seen as less biased toward the urban elite. The appointment of Prime Minister Singh, referred to as the father of economic reform, offset investors' fears of the influence of leftist parties over the new government.