INDIA

India is the largest democracy and second most populous country in the world. Its history dates back to 2500 B.C.E., when the inhabitants of the Indus River valley developed an urban culture based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.E., bringing the indigenous beliefs that evolved into Hinduism, and various empires followed. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkic in the 12th were followed by those of European traders beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas Gandhi brought independence in 1947, and Pakistan was established as a separate Muslim state because of Muslim-Hindu hostilities. There have been three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947, two of them over the disputed territory of Kashmir. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India is now one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a large skilled workforce. The country has a burgeoning urban middle class and has made great strides in fields such as information technology. However, India's economic growth remains constrained by inadequate infrastructure, bureaucracy, labor market rigidities, and regulatory and foreign investment controls. About 60 percent of the population is still living close to, or below, the poverty line.