GENERAL
Official name of the state
Republic of India.
Capital
New Delhi.
Geography
As a country located in Asia according to collegesanduniversitiesinusa, India borders Pakistan to the northwest, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. The west coast of the vast subcontinent lies on the Arabian Sea, the east coast on the Bay of Bengal and in the south lies the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka lies southeast of India, the Maldives lie in a southwest direction in the Indian Ocean. The northeastern Indian states and territories are connected to the main mass of India by a strip of land.
The country can be roughly divided into three regions: The Himalayan mountains, which with a length of 3500 km form the northern and eastern borders of India, the river network and delta of the Ganges, which runs through the entire north and the highlands of the south Dekhan with the peripheral mountain ranges of the Western and Eastern Ghats. The highest point in India is Mount Kangchenjunga with a height of 8,586 meters on the border with Nepal.
Government
Federal Republic (in the Commonwealth) since 1950. Constitution of 1950. Two-chamber parliament: House of the People = Lower House (Lok Sabha; 543 members) and Council of States = Upper House (Rajya Sabha; max. 250 members). Election of the head of state every 5 years by an electoral college. Independent since 1947 (former British colony).
Head of state
Pranab Mukherjee, since July 2012.
Head of government
Narendra Modi, since May 2014.
Electricity
230 volts, 50 Hz; strong voltage fluctuations, different connector shapes. Some areas have DC power. Power outages must be expected. Adapter necessary.
Time zone
India Standard Time: CET +6: 30
LANGUAGE
Overview
The national languages are Hindi and English. Hindi is written in the Devanagri script and spoken by approximately 41% of the population. There are also 21 regional languages with equal status, including Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Urdu in the north and Tamil and Telegu in the south.
CLIMATE
Best travel time
Mostly hot and tropical throughout the year with large regional differences. Cooler from late November to early March with cool temperatures in the morning and evening and lots of sun during the day. The hottest time with dry and dusty air is between March and June. Monsoon rain occurs in most regions in summer sometime between June and early October.
Northern plains: Cities like New Delhi, Varanasi, Lucknow and Patna experience extreme temperature differences over the course of a year. Typically, these cities are warm from April to mid-June, while winter temperatures drop almost below freezing at night from November to February. The summers are hot. The monsoon season is between June and September.
Western Himalayas: Srinagar is most beautiful between May and October, from July to August it is usually very hot and in winter it is cold and humid. Simla is higher up and therefore colder in winter, and places like Pahalgam, Gulmarg, and Manali are usually snowed in at this time (December to March). Extreme drops in temperature can occur in Ladakh, a high desert desert. The mountain passes of Ladakh are passable from July to October.
Central India: In the state of Madhya Pradesh the heat is more bearable in summer, monsoon rains are strongest here between July and September. Quite cold at night in winter.
West: Most comfortable from November to February, but evenings can be quite cold. Sometimes very hot in summer, monsoon rains fall between mid-June and mid-September.
Southwest: The weather is most beautiful between November and March. The rainy season falls between late April and July. Summer temperatures are not as high as in northern India, but the humidity is very high. Cool breezes on the coast. Inland, Mysore and Bijapur have a pleasant climate with little rain.
East: The weather is cool from October to February in states like Odisha, which are often struggling with flooding. It is scorching hot from March to May. From June to October the monsoons bring a lot of rain and floods.
Southeast: Tamil Nadu has northeastern monsoon rains between October and December, temperatures and humidity are high year-round. In the mountains you have to expect the cold in the winter season. Hyderabad is hot, but less oppressive in summer and significantly cooler in winter.
Northeast: March to June and September to November are the most comfortable and driest months. During the rest of the year there is heavy monsoon rains here.
COUNTRY DATA
Area code +91 Area (km2) 3287263 Population 1251 695 584 Population density (per km2) 381 Population in 2015 Member of the EU No main emergency number 102
