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I Want to Go to India INDIA - FACTS (India’s Contributions to Mankind and World Progress) IN THE ANCIENT WORLD India had never invaded or occupied any country in the last 1000 years of known human history. India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Worshipping and practicing a religion known to human kind was also conceptualised in India. Indians invented the numerical system and used in day-to-day life even before the Romans and Greeks did. The number ‘Zero’ was invented and used by Mathematician Aryabhatta. Without the ‘Zero’, on which ultimately rests the binary code, based on which all computer softwares including the Internet and advanced technologies were made. The world's first formal university was established in the ancient city of Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. In the 4th century BC, the University of Nalanda was built and it was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. One of the world’s old and ancient Indian language, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for developing various computer software programmes. India’s ancient and still in use medical system, Ayurveda is one of the world’s first formal medical system known to humans. This ancient knowledge system of medicine has gained global acceptance especially for alternative ways of preventive, curative and rejuvenate processes making life a more pleasurable experience. Also, Indians established the earliest school of medicine based on Ayurveda and natural medicine. The art of navigation was developed and used in the river Sindh 5000 years ago in India. The word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘NAVGATIH’. The value of ‘Pi’ was first calculated by Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as ‘Pythagorean Theorem’ today. In 1999, British scholars have officially published that Budhayan's works date back to the 6th Century, which is long before the European mathematicians. Well known mathematical systems Algebra, trigonometry and calculus was used in India. Quadratic equations were created by Mathematician Sridharacharya in the 11th Century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053. The earliest water reservoir for irrigation was built in Saurashtra region in India. According to the Saka King Rudradaman I, a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka in Chandragupta Maurya's time. The world famous board game Chess was invented in India. Over 2,800 years ago, in India, Physician Sushruta, who is now regarded as ‘Father of Surgery’ had successfully performed cataract removal, artificial limb replacement, caesarean operations, cosmetic and tumour surgeries. He is author of the book ‘Sushruta Samhita’, in which he describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies surgery into 8 categories. He may be world’s first surgeon to master the art of anaesthesia, human anatomy, genetics and immunity. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India dating back to at least 100 BC. The game Polo was originated played in Manipur, India. Over 5000 years ago, when many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers, Indians had established formal civilised Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley, which is called Indus Valley Civilization today. It is home to the world's first planned cities, where every house had its own bathroom and toilet. The solar year was calculated as 365.25875684 days by Astrologer Bhaskaracharya in the 5th century. He calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. India is the birthplace of well known Yoga and Meditation. It has been developed and practised in India for more than 7,000 years. Between 4th and 6th century AD, KamaSutra is an ancient Indian text on human sexual behavior, widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature was composed by Vatsyayana. India was one of the first civilizations to successfully extract Iron from ore and quickly learnt how to cast huge structures with it - some of them surviving. Indians went on to invent the method to make steel. Over 3500 years ago, whilst rest of the world were lumbering around in animal skins and itchy wool, the Indians were cultivating a plant and weaving it into a material that would revolutionise human life. That most important invention the Indians have given to the world is cotton and weaving. They also pioneered the art of printing and dyeing of cotton cloth in a staggering array of colours and invented the spinning wheel – Mechanisation of this simple device by Hargreaves and Arkwright led to the industrial revolution and turned Britain into a rich country. IN TODAY’S MODERN WORLD Hotmail is world's leading web based email program was created and developed by Mr.Sabeer Bhatia. Pentium Processor chip (needs no introduction as 95% of the today's computers run on it) was created and developed by Mr.Vinod Dham. The number of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is more than 7,000, and is second only to New York Stock Exchange. With 850 movies per year, India's film industry overshadows Hollywood. India consumes a fifth of the world's gold output. There may be 150 tonnes of gold bought by Indians for personal use in the last 50 years. Growing at 8.5% GDP per year now, in 25 years, India’s GDP on a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis will be at the same level of the USA is at today. Six Indian women have had won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years. No other country has won more than twice. Bank deposits in India is nearly 50% of its GDP, among the highest in the world. Indian Railways is the largest single rail network in the world. Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world, with a staff of 1.6 million. India has the second-largest army in the world, nearly 1.6 million active service staff. India is the world's premier centre for diamond cutting and polishing. Nine out of every 10 diamond stones sold in the world pass through India. India is home to the world’s largest number of pharmaceutical companies. India's Hero Honda company is the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer with production of 1.7m units. India is now the global manufacturing hub for international carmakers Hyundai, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Other than US and Japan, India is the only country to have built a super computer indigenously. It is the second-largest cement-producing country in the world, producing more than 140m tonnes per year. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 420 outsource their software-related work to India. India is the largest democracy with nearly 750 millions voters. Surprisingly, India is the first country in the world to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in national elections. India has the second-largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world. India has the third-largest investor base in the world. The Kumbh Mela festival, held every 12 years in the city of Allahabad, attracts 27 million people on the holy days in January, and 71 million over the course of the 6 weeks of the whole festival. This festival is the largest and oldest festival of any kind known to humans so far. Perhaps the most popular of all India's culinary exports, the curry was recently named as the most popular dish in Britain. Curry derives it's name from 'kari', the Tamil word for sabzi (or vegetable). In some parts of the world, going for a 'curry and a beer' are an intrinsic part of a good 'night out'. The holy Indian city of Varanasi, also known as Benares, is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today for more than 10,000 years. India is ranked the fifth country in the world in terms of satellite launches. There are over 70,500 bank branches in India - among the highest in the world. The State bank of India is the world’s largest Bank in terms of branches. India has the most number of post offices in the world. First democratic country to elect a woman Prime Minister. INTERESTING QUOTES ABOUT INDIA We owe a lot to India and Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made - Albert Einstein. India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition - Mark Twain. If there is one place on the face of the earth where all dreams of living humans have found a home from the very earliest days when we began the dream of existence, it is India - French scholar Romain Rolland. Many of the developments in the science and technology that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago - Grant Duff, British Historian of India India was the motherland of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages. India was the mother of our philosophy, of much of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in christianity... of self-government and democracy. In many ways, Mother India is the mother of us all - Will Durant, American Historian 1885-1981. LOVE INDIA...PROUD TO BE INDIAN |