- Area 3,287,263km2
- Population 1.4B
- Language: Hindi, English
- Religion: 79.8% Hinduism, 14.2% Islam
- Capital: New Delhi
Cow belt
The Cow Belt is a cultural region of India that extends over the Hindi-speaking states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh. The name comes from the high reverence given to cows, which are considered sacred in the Hindu religion.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Caste system
Mahatma Gandhi visiting Madras (now Chennai) in 1933 on an India-wide tour for Dalit (he used Harijan) causes. His writings, and speeches during such tours, discussed the discriminated-against castes of India.
Geography
Due to plate tectonics, the Indian Plate split from Madagascar and collided (c. 55 Mya) with the Eurasian Plate, resulting in the formation of the Himalayas.
Landmarks
Khajuraho Group of Monuments
British Raj (1858–1947)
Women in India
- In India, the male-female sex ratio is skewed dramatically in favour of men, the chief reason being the high number of women who die before reaching adulthood.
- In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, making dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders have been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported.
Bindi
Sindooram is a traditional vermilion red or orange-red coloured cosmetic powder from the Indian subcontinent, usually worn by married women along the part of their hairline. In Hindu communities the sindoor is a visual marker of marital status of a woman and ceasing to wear it usually implies widowhood.
Sari (纱丽)
Acid attacks
The motivation behind acid attacks in India mirrors those in Bangladesh: a study of Indian news reports from January 2002 to October 2010 uncovered that victims’ rejection of sex or marriage proposals motivated attacks in 35% of the 110 news stories providing a motive for the attack. Acid attacks have also been reported among religious minorities or Muslim women as a form of retaliation or qisas.
Dowry death
Dowry deaths are deaths of married women who are murdered or driven to suicide over disputes about dowry. Dowry deaths are found predominantly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran.
India reports the highest total number of dowry deaths with 8,391 such deaths reported in 2010, meaning there are 1.4 deaths per 100,000 women. Female dowry deaths account for 40 to 50 percent of all female homicides recorded annually in India, representing a stable trend over the period 1999 to 2016. Adjusted for population, Pakistan, with 2,000 reported such deaths per year, has the highest rate of dowry death at 2.45 per 100,000 women.