Saturday, August 23, 2008
Telecom
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: | since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue; various talks and confidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since the October 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India and Pakistan have maintained the 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistan protests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control and construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, to exchange territory for 51 Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the border; dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; India seeks cooperation from Bhutan and Burma to keep Indian Nagaland and Assam separatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal |
Refugees and internally displaced persons: | refugees (country of origin): 77,200 (Tibet/China); 69,609 (Sri Lanka); 9,472 (Afghanistan) |
Trafficking in persons: | current situation: India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; internal forced labor may constitute India's largest trafficking problem; men, women, and children are held in debt bondage and face forced labor working in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories; women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage; children are subjected to forced labor as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups; India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; Indian women are trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation; men and women from Bangladesh and Nepal are trafficked through India for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in the Middle East |
Illicit drugs: | world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries and throughout Southwest Asia; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production |
Military
Military branches: | Army, Navy (includes naval air arm), Air Force, Coast Guard (2008) |
Military service age and obligation: | 16 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2008) |
Manpower available for military service: | males age 16-49: 301,094,084 |
Manpower fit for military service: | males age 16-49: 231,161,111 |
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually: | males age 16-49: 11,592,516 |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 2.5% (2006) |
Transportation
Airports: | 346 (2007) |
Airports - with paved runways: | total: 250 |
Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 96 |
Heliports: | 30 (2007) |
Pipelines: | condensate/gas 9 km; gas 7,488 km; liquid petroleum gas 1,861 km; oil 7,883 km; refined products 6,422 km (2007) |
Railways: | total: 63,221 km |
Roadways: | total: 3,383,344 km |
Waterways: | 14,500 km |
Merchant marine: | total: 477 ships (1000 GRT or over) 8,350,093 GRT/14,339,440 DWT |
Ports and terminals: | Chennai, Haldia, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mormugao, Mumbai (Bombay), New Mangalore, Vishakhapatnam |
Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: | 49.75 million (2005) |
Telephones - mobile cellular: | 166.1 million (2006) |
Telephone system: | general assessment: recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies have prompted rapid growth; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but combined fixed and mobile telephone density remains low at about 20 for each 100 persons nationwide and much lower for persons in rural areas; fastest growth is in cellular service with modest growth in fixed lines |
Radio broadcast stations: | AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998) |
Television broadcast stations: | 562 (1997) |
Internet country code: | .in |
Internet hosts: | 2.306 million (2007) |
Internet users: | 60 million (2005) |
Economy
Economy - overview: | India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to articulate an economic reform program that includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. However, tariff spikes in sensitive categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reforms still hinder foreign access to India's vast and growing market. Privatization of government-owned industries remains stalled and continues to generate political debate; populist pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, and again in 2007, significantly expanding production of manufactures. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth combined with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom fueled inflation concerns in 2006 and 2007, leading to a series of central bank interest rate hikes that have slowed credit growth and eased inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem. |
GDP (purchasing power parity): | $2.989 trillion (2007 est.) |
GDP (official exchange rate): | $1.099 trillion (2007 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate: | 9.2% (2007 est.) |
GDP - per capita (PPP): | $2,700 (2007 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 17.6% |
Labor force: | 516.4 million (2007 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation: | agriculture: 60% |
Unemployment rate: | 7.2% (2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line: | 25% (2007 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 3.6% |
Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 36.8 (2004) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 6.4% (2007 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed): | 34.6% of GDP (2007 est.) |
Budget: | revenues: $141.8 billion |
Public debt: | 58% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2007 est.) |
Agriculture - products: | rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish |
Industries: | textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software |
Industrial production growth rate: | 8.9% (2007 est.) |
Electricity - production: | 661.6 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - consumption: | 488.5 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - exports: | 67 million kWh (2005) |
Electricity - imports: | 1.764 billion kWh (2005) |
Oil - production: | 834,600 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - consumption: | 2.438 million bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - exports: | 350,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - imports: | 2.098 million bbl/day (2004 est.) |
Oil - proved reserves: | 5.7 billion bbl (2007 est.) |
Natural gas - production: | 28.68 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption: | 34.47 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - exports: | 0 cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - imports: | 5.793 billion cu m (2005) |
Natural gas - proved reserves: | 1.056 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Current account balance: | -$19.35 billion (2007 est.) |
Exports: | $150.8 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) |
Exports - commodities: | petroleum products, textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures |
Exports - partners: | US 15.1%, UAE 8.8%, China 8.4%, UK 4.3% (2006) |
Imports: | $230.2 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) |
Imports - commodities: | crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals |
Imports - partners: | China 10.5%, US 7.8%, Germany 4.5%, Singapore 4.5% (2006) |
Economic aid - recipient: | $1.724 billion (2005) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: | $275 billion (31 December 2007 est.) |
Debt - external: | $148.1 billion (31 December 2007) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: | $95.28 billion (2007 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: | $37.62 billion (2007 est.) |
Market value of publicly traded shares: | $818.9 billion (2006) |
Currency (code): | Indian rupee (INR) |
Exchange rates: | Indian rupees per US dollar - 41.487 (2007), 45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003) |
Fiscal year: | 1 April - 31 March |
Government
Country name: | conventional long form: Republic of India |
Government type: | federal republic |
Capital: | name: New Delhi |
Administrative divisions: | 28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal |
Independence: | 15 August 1947 (from UK) |
National holiday: | Republic Day, 26 January (1950) |
Constitution: | 26 January 1950; amended many times |
Legal system: | based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus |
Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal |
Executive branch: | chief of state: President Pratibha PATIL (since 25 July 2007); Vice President Hamid ANSARI (since 11 August 2007) |
Legislative branch: | bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members up to 12 of whom are appointed by the president, the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms) |
Judicial branch: | Supreme Court (one chief justice and 25 associate justices are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65 or are removed for "proved misbehavior") |
Political parties and leaders: | Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Rajnath SINGH]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI-M [Prakash KARAT]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK [M. KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]; Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADAV]; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM [Shibu SOREN]; Left Front (an alliance of Indian leftist parties); Lok Jan Shakti Party or LJSP [Ram Vilas PASWAN]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [V. Gopalswamy VAIKO]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; Pattali Makkal Katchi or PMK [S. RAMADOSS]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]; Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Parkash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; Telangana Rashtriya Samithi or TRS [K. Chandrashekhar RAO]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; United Progressive Alliance or UPA [Sonia GANDHI] (India's ruling party coalition of 12 political parties); note - India has dozens of national and regional political parties; only parties or coalitions with four or more seats in the People's Assembly are listed |
Political pressure groups and leaders: | All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir Valley (separatist group); Bajrang Dal (religious organization); National Socialist Council of Nagaland in the northeast (separatist group); Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (religious organization); Vishwa Hindu Parishad (religious organization |
International organization participation: | ADB, AfDB (nonregional members), ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIMSTEC, BIS, C, CERN (observer), CP, EAS, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS (observer), MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC, SACEP, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO |
Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Ranendra SEN |
Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador David C. MULFORD |
Flag description: | three equal horizontal bands of saffron (subdued orange) (top), white, and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band |