Social Studies
Introductory Overview of EXPO Nation
Ambassador Letter
aaaIndia is a land with a rich history of ancient civilizations, one of a kind culture, multi-ethnic communities, cultivated fields, incomparable landscapes, a determined government, and great works of art dating back 4,000 years, the home of the most unique people that inhabit this extraordinary nation. To compare this nation to another would be irony itself; I will present to you the people, government, culture, and geography of the republic of India.
aaaThe Indians are hard workers, and all of them strive to be successful in the global competitive society. They work in various stations, depending on their education of history. The highly educated become scientists, doctors, technicians and engineers, capable of working successfully anywhere in the world. Therefore, many leave the country to benefit themselves, but we have skilled workers who stay in India with their undying will of improving the country and they work alongside a trained industrial and commercial work force. Those with minimum education take after their family businesses, or become street vendors. But the sense of justice and fairness is very strong to our citizens; they want to make India better, as well as themselves. We have outlawed the caste system, and as such, our eager citizens are willing to change their ways of thinking, believing now that the caste system is unfair, and support that we have banned the system all together. Although we have banned the system, Indians still care greatly about their family and family run businesses. The family members stick up for each other and the wise men of the family make decisions that are thought to be the best. The women in the household take care of the children and the house itself, while the men go off to work for the family’s living. The women are treated with respect now, and are not treated as a house slave anymore.
aaaCurrently India is the world’s largest democracy and second most populated country. The government system is heavily influenced by the British parliamentary democracy, but is adapted to the Indian culture, making it more suitable for its citizens. There is a president who is elected every 5 years, but he is not too powerful because the prime minister and council of ministers can veto his decisions. The government is stable, and is striving to improve India, to make it a better place than it already is. In order to ensure the future of India, education is free to all legal citizens up to age 14, and after that those who wish to, will move on to high school and college. The government, to encourage more foreign trade has made all colleges and university courses taught in English, the universal language of business. As of now, the literacy is not the highest it can be, but the Indian government has adapted its system to the growing world, so that educated people will be a standard in India. Currently our literacy rate is relatively low, but the figures have doubled since 1961, and are still rising every year. The government has been negotiating with Pakistan and is still tackling our problems, with them trying to lighten up the tension and to avoid any form of war. Also, we are assuring that the increases in our population and the urban agglomerations will bring a boost to the economy by providing compulsory education and the supporting the people. India is divided into 28 states (which are further subdivided into districts), and 7 union territories. States have their own elected government, while union territories are governed by an administrator appointed by the union government.
aaaThe current culture of India is a mixture of the ancient customs and the modern trends. Indians are very modern, yet treasure their heritage of traditions which are as rich as the people who live there. The tempo of their life varies from region to region, community to community. In our nation, we have a multiethnic people who are diverse in religion and language. About 83% of the Indians are Hindu, meaning that they believe in Karma and reincarnation. This means that if you do something bad in your lifetime, it will come back to you in your next lifetime, therefore making the people very generous and full of good deeds. This religion has a great influence on the people, making them try to be the best they can. Another vastly spread religious group is the Islam. Often there have been tension between the Hindus and the Muslims, but our mature citizens have always dealt with it peacefully and tolerated all minor problems. Hinduism and Islam are only the two major religions, there are much more in our country that are widely practice. Despite our differences in culture and background our citizens accept the differences among the different culture groups and live together peacefully. If they cannot accept, they will tolerate, thus giving no unwelcome feelings to any culturally different people. The diverse religions, uncountable number of languages spoken, different types of style of clothing, and the practices of different customs and traditions, is what makes the republic of India unique. To celebrate their family bonds, many families have celebrations according to an astrological chart, to find the luckiest date. Other festivities are based on the different religions and family legacies. There are many ceremonies lead by the religious groups, and many universal celebrations are influenced by our culture too. Marriage is made to be an extra sacred event, by the man’s family presenting the woman with a wedding sari, and they have rituals in the wedding such as the couple having their feet washed, joining hands and exchanging flowers with each other. The guests throw their blessings to them indicating their support in the marriage and giving them good luck charms. The traditional dress is the sari, like the one the woman wears at her wedding. Sari’s are about 20feet in length and are wrapped gracefully over the shoulder to look like a goddess. As you can see, India’s culture is one of them most unique in the world; it’s a culture too antique to be found any where else on earth, too special to be wasted.
aaaIndia is also known for its scorching deserts and lively rivers, flat wide plateaus and lush green valleys, with the jungles and rainforests of Burma and its Afghan mountain frontiers. All elements combined paint a magnificent landscape. All of what is possible on landscapes exists here in this fortunate country because of its huge land area which is 1,268,340 square miles, earning the title as the 7th largest country in the world. The country has four seasons anywhere in the land, but the temperatures and effects of it depend on the location, the snow caped mountains of the Himalayas would be much different from the climate of the tropics in the south. More than half of the surface of India is arable land, and about half has permanent crops built by the agricultural workers.
aaaIndia is a country molded out of its deep eventful history, and perfected with its modern touches. The diverse people add on color and the one of a kind culture adds the patterns. The government holds it together and the unique geography polishes it all together. It’s a country irreplaceable to our world and non substitutable by any other country. India is a diamond on earth’s treasure box. “Truth alone Triumphs” India’s national motto, I stand by it and tell you with pride; India is a country like no other.
aaaSincerely,
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHaruka Fukukawa
Issues of India
In the present, we see India as a fast growing nation, but it has its problems. Here I will address the struggle of over population, and Urbanization.
India, although developing has some problems with its population, and the “have’s or have not’s” because of it. In the year 2000, the population has reached a billion, only the second country in the world to reach that large population behind China. Over population itself is not a problem, but in India, more population means less education; the less people are educated the more the population rises. With a high population and a low education ratio, the economy of India will fall steeply. If India becomes poorer than it already is, the citizens will not have access to clean water and health services that are already being to be taken away from them. Only the wealthy would be able to access such services, and get a good education, thus the wealthy only get wealthier and the poor only become poorer through the generations. The government is to blame for it, for not taking the initiative and providing the kind of education they need, but so are the citizens, who do not realize the fact of over population and keep having large families. If this continues at this rate, India will be the largest slums creator in the world. Yet, the people of India do not realize the importance of this problem, even if from statistics, it is estimated that in 20 years, India will not be a place to live because of it being too crowded and congested, too polluted and too expensive. The aggravated problem of over population continues to rise each day as more and more babies are born every second, and with India’s hospitals and the parents’ money, most of the babies live but struggle their whole lives.
With so many people, the government cannot be expected to take care of them all. Only those with enough huge urbanization problem. There are too many over crowded cities, and not enough money and jobs to go around. Everywhere you go, there will be little children tugging at your sleeve asking for money. When you go on the streets, the handicapped or injured will knock persistently at your car. Most of them are in dire need of financial aid, yet none of them get it. If they cannot get support from the government, some will even join terrorist groups because gangs and dark communities provide more support, with food, money, and jobs. Since the poor have almost nothing to lose, they will take on missions provided by the terrorist groups and danger the other citizens of India. “Poverty” in India is considered poverty when they don’t have enough money to provide themselves with the necessities of living healthily both physically and mentally. Obviously, they cannot live healthily physically without any money, but they are also having problems mentally because of what they do not have and because of the conflicts such as between the Hindus and the Muslims.
Therefore, India is dealing its problems of over population, connected to poverty and urbanization and not doing too well solving it. Although I have only addressed two of the major issues, there are many more in India, such as women’s rights abuse, pollution, resource contamination.
Timeline
1858: India is conquered by the British, and because of that, the Indians speak English normally and the government system gets based on the British Parliamentary system
1920-22: National figurehead Gandhi rebels against the British and launch an anti-British civil disobedience campaign, to which everyone follows. He becomes a national respected leader and leaves his name in history. Gandhi has led his people, in a non-violent struggle for freedom.
1947: End of British rule, the British pushed out by Gandhi and his followers. Finally gained its independence. India become one of the first nations to leave the British Empire, and gave hope to other countries.
1948: Mahatma Gandhi the person who led the Indians to freedom from the British was assassinated by a Hindu extremist. Many Indians took a long time to recover from the remorse, and a few riots happened because of their beloved hero’s death.
1948: The first war with Pakistan over the land of Kashmir. Both countries wanting the Kashmir, neither willing to back down. This problem still goes on today, in 2008, and still, neither is willing to back down.
1962: India loses border war with China, losing some land
1965: Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir, and tension gradually rising between the two countries over the land. Neither of the countries is willing to back down.
1974: India explodes a nuclear weapon in an underground test, letting the world know about them having nuclear technology. Many countries and the UN are uncomfortable with this fact.
1990: Muslim separatist groups begin campaign of violence in Kashmir, making the situation worsen between India and Pakistan. Pakistan gradually gets nuclear weapons too because of India.
1999: Peace declaration against Pakistan. Signed by both sides and promised to be kept. Also, India still carries on with the testing and remaking of nuclear technology, and the international condemnation spreading quickly. Pakistan, certainly not happy.
2000: India’s population hits a billion. The population still growing from then.
2001: India fires on Pakistani military posts along the dividing line of Kashmir for almost a year.
2002: India fires a nuclear capable weapon, a successful making, to the coast of India. The world is still feeling uncomfortable about the fact.
2003: India matches Pakistan’s declaration of a Kashmir ceasefire.
2004: Thousands are killed by the tsunami and India withdraws some troops from the disputed territory of Kashmir
2006: India makes a deal with the US that India will get more access to nuclear technology, but will use it wisely and not against other countries. President Bush also lets India buy Nuclear technology from them and the fuel for it, the first time in 30 years. Many countries would wide still condemn this fact.
2007: Pratibha Patil gets elected and becomes a women president in India. She is currently still leading the country quite successfully.
Bibliography
“India .” Timeline 5 February 2008 10 April 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/1155813.stm>.
“Britannica.” India (2007) 10 April 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/nations/India>.
“Files.” India (2008) 10 April 2008 <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/intoc.html>.
“India Eyewitness.” Over population (2008) 10 April 2008 <http://www.indiaeyewitness.com/Channels/Issues.asp?category=Population%20Control>.
Guile, Melanie. CULTURE in India. Chicago: Raintree, 2005.
Kalman, Bobbie. INDIA. The People. Ontario, Canada: Crabtree, 2001.
Kalman, Bobbie. INDIA. The Culture. Ontario, Canada: Crabtree, 2001.
Ganeri, Anita. Exploration Into INDIA. Limited. New York: New Discovery Books, 1994.
Current Events
The Uncomfortable Rise of the Rupee
aaa I do not believe that the Indian rupee will not rise so quickly that it will make the country have to make a step backwards. Like the article said, the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) will do something about the problem before it will do any harm to the country. One paragraph in the article did say that some on this is a good thing, because India is also getting foreign money which it can use to make the country better.
1. How is the rupee growing so fast?
2. How is the RBI keeping the rupee cheap?
3. Why do you think that the high priced rupee will make India take a step backwards.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7350118.stm
aaaThis article is about the endangered tigers in India and how people try to smuggle their body parts and skin to northern Asia. People of the west have come to the conclusion that India alone cannot stop the radical decrease of the numbers of tigers, so Neena Gill, a president of the European Parliament’s India delegation has brought attention to this topic. She believes that this year is a great time to bring awareness to this issue, because China, one of the main consumers of the tiger skin, will receive a lot of attention (through the Olympics) and therefore some of that attention can be linked to the tiger-business. This is the income of many people in India, Nepal and China though it is illegal. It is believed that 100 years ago, there were 40,000 tigers in India while now there are only around 1000 left.
aaa Raising awareness for the endangered animals is very important. What used to be only animals on this world is gone now and the humans have replaced them. It is scary how the numbers of endangered species, not only tigers, have decreased over the last few centuries. I really believe that this year is a great timing to raise awareness, because this is a serious topic. It is a great idea to get not only the east included in the project of saving the tigers. India is the home to almost half of all the tiger population; therefore I think that the majority of NGOs and other government based organizations should concentrate on India and its environment/animals.
Why haven’t people bothered saving endangered species such as the tiger before?
How can one help save the animals?
What would happen to India if the tigers would die out?
Brooke, James. “Dowry Too High. Lose Bride and Go to Jail..” The New York Times May 17, 2006:
Marrying with money
Aggressive grooms
Rupees demanded under the marriage tent
Reports of abuse
Infinite tradition
Always a burden for the bride’s family
Giving money away with no profit of their own
Expected with marriage
Demanding grooms, that no women can oppose
Obligatory
Woman’s nightmare
Rescuing needed ASAP
Ironic, marrying with money not with your partner
Easy money for the men,
Sending grooms to prison, the women will try to fight back
aaaThe article that I looked at was about women’s rights and marriage dowries that were pressured on women when getting married. I think that it is very unfair for the women who have to pay just to get married to the one they love and unfair that the men use marriage as a way to make money, and you know, marriage is supposed to be a girl’s happiest day of her life. The dowries and marriages based on money break that happy dream and turn it into a nightmare. The tradition exists in many countries, but in my opinion I think that India has the worst stories. Because in many cultures that had dowries, they got rid of it, or the women pay only a small amount, just as a celebratory allowance for their new lives. In India, the money they have to spend is not an amount of an allowance, and they pay to the groom’s family and not to their new lives. The men in India who use the women to make money should be arrested, and to prevent dowries from being a huge problem, I think that schools should educate the children about dowries and discourage it. Also, so that changes occur instantly, the government should set a maximum amount of money that a dowry can be so that the groom’s family does not ask for impossible amounts.
1. Why was the dowry tradition created?
2. How have the women of India tolerated this issue until a few decades ago?
3. What is the government doing to get rid of the dowry?
