Jai Ho Incredible India!*!

26th January 1950 is one of the most important days in Indian history as it marks the date of the creation of the Constitution of India, which replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country's governing document. The date was chosen to also commemorate the promulgation of the Purna Swaraj Declaration (or Declaration of the Independence of India) on January 26, 1930. In this day India became a totally republican unit. The country finally realized the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and the numerous freedom fighters who, fought for and sacrificed their lives for the Independence of their country. So, the 26th of January was decreed a national holiday and has been recognized and celebrated as the Republic Day of India, ever since.. Today, India celebrates its 62nd Republic Day. 


Jai ho India!! There are many facts about India which describes India as nothing but Incredible.

"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our 

most valuable and most instructive materials in the 

history of man are treasured up in India only." - Mark Twain

" We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to  count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made" - Albert Einstein 

"If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence,

 it is India." - French scholar Romain Rolland

"India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border." - Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA 

Interesting facts about India.....

• India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
  
• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
• The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
• 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. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• India gave the Number System to the world.  Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in 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 Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
• 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, long before the European mathematicians.
• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100.
• 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.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
• The game of Polo originated in Manipur, a North Eastern state in India.
• 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 earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
• According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
• The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
• India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• 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.
• 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.
• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world
  (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
• 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.
• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
• 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.
• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
• 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.
• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
• 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 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.
• His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
• 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.
• India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
• India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
• India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
• India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.

Facts to make every Indian proud.... 

• Vinod Khosla... is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
• Vinod Dahm... is the creator of Pentium chip which needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it.
• Mukesh Ambani, owner of the Reliance Industries is the 4th richest man in the world and according to Forbes will become the richest by 2014. 
• Lakshmi Mittal, the chairman and chief executive officer of the world's largest steel making company, ArcelorMittal. He is the richest resident of London and 5th in the world.
• Sabeer Bhatia..is the founder and creator of Hotmail, world's No.1 web based email program.
• Arun Netravalli...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.
• Rajiv Gupta...is the GM of Hewlett Packard.
• Sanjay Tejwrika is the MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000,responsible to iron out all initial problems.
• Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart.
• Suhas Gopinath is the youngest CEO in the world, who at the age of 14 started his Global Inc 10 yrs ago. 

We 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 Indians 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. 

     

  

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, THE LIST COULD BE ENDLESS.
BUT, if we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an evershining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.
I hope you enjoyed it and shall work towards the welfare of INDIA.

Jai Hind!!! 

 

***Diana Raj Kumari ***