MY COUNTRY : INDIA
The world's second most populous country has emerged as a major power after a period of foreign rule and several decades during which its economy was virtually closed.
It has developed the capacity to strike at China and arch-rival Pakistan with its own missiles, and has carried out a programme of nuclear tests in defiance of world opinion.
Communal, caste and regional tensions continue to haunt Indian politics, sometimes threatening its long-standing democratic and secular ethos.
In 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her Sikh bodyguards after ordering troops to flush out Sikh militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
And in 1992, widespread Hindu-Muslim violence erupted after Hindu extremists demolished the Babri mosque at Ayodhya.
Independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, dreamed of a socialist society and created a vast public infrastructure, much of which became a burden on the state.
The country now has a burgeoning middle class and has made great strides in fields like information technology - exporting its talented professionals abroad.
India also boasts one of the world's biggest film industries, based in the huge commercial metropolis of Bombay.
INDIA FACTS
Population: 1 billion
Capital: New Delhi
Major languages: Hindi, English and 17 other official languages
Major religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism
Life expectancy: 59 years (men), 60 years (women)
Monetary unit: 1 Indian Rupee = 100 paise
Main exports: Agricultural products, textile goods, gems and jewelry, software services and technology, engineering goods, chemicals, leather products
Average annual income: US $460
Internet domain: .in
International dialling code: +91
Outgoing president: K R Narayanan
President-elect: APJ Abdul Kalam
Prime Minister: Atal Behari Vajpayee
Vajpayee has spent most of the more than 40 years of his political career in opposition.
Born in 1926 to an upper caste Brahmin family, Vajpayee was imprisoned briefly as a teenager for taking part in the campaign against British rule in India. After a short-lived flirtation with Communism, he chose to support right-wing Hindu organisations that later went on to develop close links with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Vajpayee became BJP leader, and led it to victory in elections in 1996. Today, he is viewed as the moderate face of the BJP, who keeps his distance from Hindu extremist groups. He is also widely regarded as a master orator, who holds crowds of thousands spellbound with his speeches in purest Hindi.
The press reaches about 33% of India's population, while television reaches 47%, according to an Indian readership survey.
Satellite TV is freely available and many TV households have access to a large number of channels thanks to a relatively wide cable penetration rate.
The programming offer for the increasing number of domestic channels is supported by a dynamic national film industry. Indian programmes are also popular in other countries in the region.
In June 1999 the government also decided to ban broadcasting of programmes relayed by Pakistan Television (PTV) for "its malicious contents". The ban was lifted in October of the same year.
In September, 2001 Pakistan banned cable operators from airing Indian cable and satellite TV channels on the grounds that the Indian media were promoting anti-Pakistan propaganda.
India is expected to have 25 million internet users in 2005, up from three million in 2000 and 5.5 million at the beginning of 2001
JAY INDIA..HAMARA BHARAT MAHAN.
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