INDIA MY COUNTRY
India is my country. It is a beautiful and sacred land with a rich cultural heritage. It is the land of the holy river Ganga, great saints like Buddha and Sankaracharya, illustrious and secular rulers like Asoka and Akbar, writers like Kalidasa and Tagore, scientists like Aryabhatta and C.V Raman, braves heroes and heroines like Rani Lakshmi Bai and Shivaji, and great soul like Gandhiji. India stands unique in the world with her ideas of secularism, peace and non-violence.
India occupies a pivotal position in South Asia. It has an area of 3.28 million sq. km and it is the seventh largest country in the world. It extends from Ladak in the North to Cape Kanyakumari in the South, and from Rann of Kutch in the West to Arunachal Pradesh in the East. The north-south extend is about 3200kn and the east-west extend is about 3000km. The neighboring countries of India are Afghanistan and Pakistan in the north-west, Nepal, Bhutan and China in the north, Myanmar and Bangladesh in the east and Sri Lanka in the south. The Indian Ocean washes India’s feet in the south, and the Arabian Sea borders India in the west and the Bay of Bengal in the east. The confluence of these water bodies at Kanyakumari is a centre of pilgrimage and tourism.
India is a land of unity in diversity and has a cosmopolitan culture. Our people speak different languages, wear different kinds of dresses, follow different religion and have different customs. People belonging to different races and religions have come and settled here. This beautiful land was invaded by the Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Persians, Mongols and Europeans. They have all contributed to the culture of India. Our landscape too doesn’t show uniformity. There are high mountains, plateus and fertile plains. The famous Himalayas shield India in the north and influence our climate. It is the source of many rivers like Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. The Vindhya- Satpura mountains ranges divide India into north and south.
India has a varied climate. When one part of the country experiences intense heat, some other part experience intense cold. India has varied flora and fauna. It has been estimated that there are about 45000 species of plants and tree in the world, of there are about 5000 are found in India. It has plenty of natural resource, marine resource and human resources. India is stubbed with my historical monuments, temples, mosques and churches. She has a rich tradition of art, literature and architecture.
India has a democratic government and in fact she is the largest democratic country in the world. We have a parliamentary form of government with a written constitution. The constitution guarantees some fundamental rights to its citizen. India is busy building a new India through the Five-Year Plans. This welfare state is busy now raising the standard of living of its people. India faces the problems of poverty, unemployment, population explosion, illiteracy and inequality between the rich and the poor. If India has to be a true welfare state, immediate solutions are to be found for these grave problems. Our rulers have to take firm steps for this, and co-operation from the part of the people is also inevitable.
India is a peace-loving country. She does not believe in wars and aggressions to solve problems. The basis of the Indian foreign policy is non-alignment and peaceful co-existence. She does not believe in aligning with any blocs to solve international problem. India plays an active role in the United Nations organization. India’s contribution to world peace is very significant and she has a major role to play in the future of the world.