PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries before British rule in India, i.e. during the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India’s wealth and was looking for a route to India when he discovered America by mistake. India has fed the greed of almost every powerful nation or ruler (that/who looked upon it, during those times) and is poised to be at the top of the world in all aspects.

Below are some drops from the Ocean of India's Heritage.

Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. It is the most precise and therefore suitable language for computer software. (A report in Forbes magazine, July 1987).ost ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).

Despite the global meltdown that impacted most emerging market economies, India’s GDP growth of 7.1 per cent for the current year would make the country the second-fastest growing economy of the world.

India has the largest number of biomass gasifier systems in the world producing 656 mega watts (MW) of power.

India was the first country to be accorded the status of a Pioneer Investor in 1987 and was allocated an exclusive area in the central Indian Ocean by the UN for exploration and utilisation of resources.

Export of cars grew by 57 per cent in 2008-09 at 3.3 lakh units. Two-wheeler exports crossed the million-mark on a growth of 22.5 per cent in 2008-09.

India has the maximum number of post offices in the world!

India signed a ground breaking civil nuclear deal with US in 2008 thus facilitating fuel supply for its nuclear reactors. The deal offers potential for a paradigm shift in India’s global role. The importance of the deal does not lie merely in the transfer of nuclear energy. Its importance is psychological. It opens the door to a new era of trust and cooperation between India and the US.

India has the largest number of news channel in the world. It is the fastest growing telecom market in the world and has the lowest call rates on earth.

India is the 3rd largest producer of solar photovoltaic cells in the world producing 2.12 MW of power. India is the world’s 4th largest wind power user.

India is the 9th largest solar thermal power generating country in terms of million units per sq. m. It will have 20 million solar lights installed by 2022 which will save 1 billion litres of kerosene every year.

India has jumped five places to become the world’s 11th biggest exporter of commercial services in 2005, and inched one step ahead to the 29th rank among the largest merchandise exporters, according to the latest statistics by World Trade Organisation.

The Indian Software Industry has grown from a mere US $ 150 million in 1991-92 to a staggering US $ 5.7 billion in 1999-2000. No other Indian industry has performed so well against the global competition.

India is the world’s largest, oldest, continuous civilization.

India never invaded any country in her last 10,000 years of history.

IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.

India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.

India is the second largest English speaking nation in the world.

India is the only country other than the USA and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.

GM of Hewlett Packard, Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckinsey & Stanchart, founder and creator of Hotmail, creator of Pentium chip are all Indians.

On 28 April 2008, a world record was set when India’s Polar rocket successfully placed ten satellites, including the country’s remote sensing satellite, into orbit in a single mission.

India is the world’s second largest producer of small cars. It is the largest newspaper market in the world.

World’s largest electronic ID program is underway in India.

Bollywood with about 400 films every year is the largest centre of film production in the world.

India is the largest producer of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper, in the world. It also has the world’s largest cattle population (281 million). It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005 is the largest ever – public employment programme visualized in human history.

The Mid-day Meal Scheme is the popular name for school meal programme in India, is the largest school lunch programme in the world, covering 12 million children.

Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI, is the apex governing body for cricket in India is the richest body in world cricket.

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people!

Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. (Source: Gemological Institute of America )

The World’s first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects.

Indians abroad

* 38% of Doctors in America are Indians.

* 12% of Scientists in America are Indians.

* 36% of NASA employees are Indians.

* 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.

* 28% of IBM employees are Indians.

* 17% of Intel employees are Indians.

* 13% of Xerox employees are Indians.

Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called “the ancient city” when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

Jaipur(India) hosts the world’s widest concrete building. It has a reinforced concrete cement (RCC) flat roof with a single span of 119 feet.

By volume of pills produced, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s second largest after China.

ISRO has tested the third biggest solid rocket motor in the world after booster rocket of NASA’s space shuttle and Arianespace’s Ariane-5 launch vehicle.

A mass singalong of 160,000 people in the Indian city of Hyderabad, in Andhra Pradesh, has broken a 72-year-old record for the world’s largest choir.

India is the most attractive stock market in terms of asset allocation.

Indian banks are among top 500 financial brands.

India born steel czar Lakshmi Mittal and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani figure in the forbes list of “World’s most powerful billionares” who wield staggering authority and influence far beyond their riches.

The Indian media and entertainment business that grew 15 percent anually since 2006 into a $11.68 billion industry in 2008 is seen to toop $21 billion over the next five years.

United Nations Industrial Development Organisation found that India ranks among the top 12 producers of manufacturing value-added(MVA) .

Indian American Prof. Praveen Jain of Queens University is heading the project to make CFL’s more efficient.

The TATA group, State Bank of India and Infosys Technologies are among 17 Indian firms that figure among the top 50 in the list of the world’s 200 most-reputed companies.

India’s contribution to scientific research and innovation has been constantly rising since 2000 according to a study. The number of articles published in global science journals by Indians has increased from around 17000 in 2001 to more than 27000 in 2007.

India is to be the first international customer of the Boeing P-81 Poseidon variant of the P-8A Poseidon.

Exports from SEZ’s in India have increased by over 25% in the 3 months ended June 2009:a very positive indicator.

India has been ranked the second most-optimistic nation in the world in consumer confidence, according to a survey by global consultancy firm, Nielson.

Indian origin 96-year old, Randall Butisingh, now a Florida resident is the world’s oldest blogger. He runs a popular blog http://randallbutisingh.wordpress.com

Pepsico, the $43-billion beverages and snacks company, had its annual global meet in India for the first time, in 2009.This was the second time this meeting was held outside US. Last time it was in Mexico.

To ensure timely payment of wages to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), more than two crores worth of saving bank accounts have been opened in banks and post offices across the country. This is the largest number of bank accounts linked to a development programme across the globe.

Volunteers in Dungarpur, India planted 600,000 trees in 24 hours under the guidance of Indian Forestry Service which is a world record.

Reliance Group of Companies in India has the maximum number of shareholders in the world.

State Bank of India has the maximum number of branches in the world.

Dr M.C. Modi holds the world record for performing maximum eye operations @ 40 operations per hour.

With 1,300.000 active personnel and 1,800,000 reserve ones, the Indian Army is the world’s second largest army in terms of military personnel, and the largest in terms of active manpower.

The largest reflecting telescope of Asia is in Kavalur Observatory (India).It is an indigenously built 93 inch telescope.

The economy of India is the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal value and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).It is the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.

India has the second largest network of paved highways, after the U.S.

Nearly 49% of the high-tech start-ups in silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. are owned by Indians or Indian-Americans.

India sends more students to U.S. colleges than any country in the world. In 2004-2005, over 80,000 Indian students entered the U.S. China sent only 65,000 students during the same time.

Chess was invented in India.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.

The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).

The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.

The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.

Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

India exports software to 90 countries.

The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.

Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.

There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.

Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively

The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.

The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.

Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.

India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.

Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.

Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Some Interesting data

* Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems ?

Mr. Vinod Khosla ( Indian )

* Who is the creator of Pentium chip (90% of the today's computers run on it)?

Mr. Vinod Dham ( Indian )

*Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (World's No. 1 web based E-Mail program)?

Mr. Sabeer Bhatia (Indian) later on sold to Microsoft.

* Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, UNIX to name a few)?

Mr. Arun Netravalli (Indian)

*Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard ?

Mr. Rajiv Gupta (Indian)

*Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000 , responsible to iron out all initial problems?

Mr. Sanjay Tejwrika ( Indian )

* Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America , even faring better than the whites and the natives:

There are 3.22 Millions of INDIAN s in USA ( 1.5 % of population ).

YET, 38% of doctors in USA are INDIANs.

12% scientists in USA are INDIANs.

36% of NASA scientists are INDIANs.

34% of Microsoft employees are INDIANs.

28% of IBM employees are INDIANs.

17% of INTEL scientists are INDIANs.

13% of XEROX employees are INDIANs.

Apart from these quantitative figures, qualitatively India has been the world leader in culture, ethics, religion, humanity since the very inception of humanity on earth