Let's have a look at some of the important, general facts about India:

• India achieved independence on 15 August 1947.


• The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 January 1950.


• The Republic Day is celebrated on 26 January every year.

India is home to the second largest pool of engineers, software developers and scientists in the world.

• India is the largest democracy in the world with a federal government.


• India has a total of 29 states and 7 union territories.


• The capital of India is New Delhi.

• A citizen of India, who is 18 years old or above, is entitled to vote.


• As per census 2011, the provisional population of India is 1,21,05,69,573.

• The ethnic groups in India, as per the 2000 report, include Indo-Aryan (72%), Dravidian (25%), Mongoloid and others (3%).

Facts about the History of India:

• India is the largest and the oldest civilisation in the world.


• India holds the record of not invading any other country in the last 10,000 years of her history.


• Interestingly, India was one of the richest countries on earth before the British invaded it in the early 17th century, and was also one of the first countries in the world where diamonds were found.


• Sanskrit is one of the earliest known languages in the world, and a member of the Indo-European family of languages, from which most modern European languages have originated.


• The 13th century Indian poet Saint Gyandev is credited for creating the famous game of Snakes and Ladders. The ladders denote virtues, while the snakes symbolise vices in the game. With time the game incorporated several modifications; nevertheless, the original meaning remains unchanged, i.e. good deeds take you to heaven, and evil to a cycle of rebirths. Chess, which was originally called "Chaturanga", was also invented in India. The meaning of "Chaturanga" is four members of an army.


• Brahmagupta, the Indian Mathematician, was the first to develop the concept of Zero (0), while Aryabhata developed the Place Value System. In the sixth century, Budhayana, another Indian Mathematician, was the first person to calculate the value of "pi". He did this much before any mathematician in Europe. Also, Bhaskaracharya very correctly calculated the time (365.258756484 days) taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun, long before Western astronomers.


• In the year 1526, the Mughal Empire was established by Babur in India.


• The construction of the Taj Mahal was completed in AD 1653 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.


• The Indian National Congress was formed in the year 1885.


• The Amritsar Massacre (Jallianwala Bagh Massacre) took place on 13 April 1919.


• Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948.


• Ayurveda, which is the earliest school of medicine in the world, was born in India thousands of years ago.

Facts about the Geography of India:

• India is located on the geographical coordinates of 20° 00' North and 77° 00' East.
  

• It is the seventh largest country in the world. The total area covered by India is 32,87,263 sq km, out of which the land covers 29,73,190 sq km.

• It is four times the size of Pakistan, 13 times the size of UK and nine times the size of Japan.

• The mainland of India stretches from longitudes 68° 7' and 97° 25' East and latitudes 8° 4' and 37° 6' North.

• The highest point is Mount Kanchenjunga and the lowest point is Indian Ocean.

• India has got a long coastline of 7,516.6 km.

• India shares its borders with Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

• India lies entirely in the northern and eastern hemispheres.

• India witnesses tropical monsoon type climatic conditions.

• In case of plant diversity, India holds the tenth position in the world and the fourth in Asia.

• India's variety of fauna crosses almost 91,000 species. Ganga is the longest river in India.

• Wular Lake is the largest fresh water lake in India.

Facts about the Economy of India:

• With the GDP worth 1,996 billion US dollars, India is the 10th largest economy in the world.

• The Bombay stock exchange is one of the biggest in the world. It includes more than 5000 companies.

• The pharmaceutical industry in India is the third largest in the world in terms of volume of production.

• India is the largest producer of milk in the world.
  

• India is among the top five producers of tea, silk, spices, sugar, cotton, rubber, coffee and fish in the world.
  

• The Agriculture sector in India accounts for 13.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
  

• Almost 50 per cent of the total population of the country is dependent on agriculture.
  

• India is the largest producer of banana in the world.
• India happens to be the largest exporter, producer, processor and consumer of cashew nuts in the world.
  

• India is responsible for 10 per cent of the total fruit production in the world.
  

• Coal is a major source of energy in India; it caters to almost 67 per cent of the country's commercial requirement.
  

• RBI is the only authority in India that can issue currency notes.
  

• Odisha is one of the major producers of graphite in India.
  

• The first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was established in Kandla in Gujarat in the year 1965.