India – International Reporting

The country that I will be focusing on this semester is India. India is located in South Asia and has a population of 1.2 billion people according to the United States Census Bureau. The most popular spoken language is Hindi, however there are 14 other official languages including, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit according to the Central Intelligence Agency. Religions practiced today include Hindu (78.8%), Muslim (14.2%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.7%), and other (2%).

The median age is 26.9 for men and 28.3 for women. India has a population growth rate of 1.19% compared to the United States, which has a population growth rate of 0.81%. The mean age of a mother’s first birth is 19.9. The infant mortality rate is 40.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy for men is 67.3 years and 69.8 years for women.

Using the Central Intelligence Agency’s Factbook, major urban areas within India include New Delhi, which is the capital, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

From 1757 to 1858 the British East India Company, which monopolized trade over cotton, silk, indigo, salt, tea and opium in over half of the world ruled parts of India. After the liquidation of the British East India Company and transfer of power to the British Crown in 1858, India remained under British rule from 1858 to 1947 under a period called British Raj. Currently the Government of India is a federal parliamentary republic, which includes 29 states and seven union territories. The federal government directly rules union territories.

Much like the United States, their federal government is made up of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch consists of the chief of state, President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the cabinet appointed by the president. The president and vice president serve five-year terms with no term limits. The legislative branch is a bicameral Parliament. The Council of States consists of 245 seats and 233 members who are elected by state assemblies and the president. The House of the People consists of 545 seats and 543 members. The Judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and lower courts.

Up until 1949, India had a caste system that was used to separate people of different social classes. Within the caste system there were categories, Brahmins (priests and teachers), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), Vaishyas (farmers, traders, merchants) and Shudras (labourers). There was also another group the Dalits (outcasts) known as the untouchables that were so low in the caste that they were not even considered part of it. Once you were born into a caste, there was no moving between castes.

The top 10 newspapers in India are the Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jargan, Amar Ujala, The Times of India, Hindustan, Malayala Manorama, Eenadu, Rajasthan Patrika, Daily Thanthi and Mathrubhumi respectively.

According to the Department of City Planning, Glen Oaks-Floral Park-New Hyde Park has the highest population of immigrants from India. Other neighborhoods in which Immigrants from India have settled include Bellerose, Queens Village, Briarwood-Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens Hills, Flushing, Murray Hill, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Forest Hills, Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Woodside, Hunters Point-Sunnyside-West Maspeth, and Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island.

According to the New York Times, India’s air pollution is causing 1.1 million people to die “prematurely” each year and is only getting worse. Air pollution in India is now worse than in China.

For this beat memo I interviewed Steven DSouza, a Corporate Communications major at Baruch College. DSouza lived in India from age six to 18 and frequently visits now in his adult life. In our interview he shed light on many aspects of Indian life and culture. One particularly interesting note was that he compared the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee to President Donald Trump, as they are both “nationalists.” DSouza also said that a lot of Indians support president Trump. DSouza also mentioned an environmental crisis in his hometown of Mumbai. He said that when he is there and he checks the weather on his phone, there is always an alert of “smoke” due to heavy industrialization. There is also little to no regulation for waste management for dumping dyes into water systems.

Quotes:

“When I’m there and I check the weather, my phone says 80 degrees and smoke.”

“The infrastructure and roads are horrible. Picture New York but much worse.”

“Northern India is said to be more dangerous for women.”

Contacts:

Public Health foundation of India

Delhi NCR

Phone: 01244722900/01244781400

Email: [email protected]

National Green Tribunal

New Delhi

Email: [email protected]