Population and Economic Activities

Quantity of Population. Ethnic Structure. The Republic of India has a population of over 470,000,000.

Fig. 112, An Indian temple.

The average density of population in the country is high: over 135 persons to the square kilometre. Especially densely populated are the Indo-Gangetic Lowland and the coastal areas of Hindustan. Less populous are the arid regions of the north-west and some regions of the Deccan. India is a country of many nationalities speaking different lan­guages. The official language when India was a British colony was Eng­lish. At present, Hindi, the mostly widely spoken language in India, is considered the official language together with English.
India is one of the oldest countries of the world. There were large cities, handicrafts and a highly developed system of farming in the country thousands of years ago. It had its written language, and books have come down to us from those far-off days. There are many ancient temples in the country (Fig. 112).
India first introduced the numerals which we now use. They are called Arabic, but were really borrowed from the Indians by the Arabs, who then passed them on to the Europeans.
In the 15th century the Russian merchant Afanasi Nikitin made a journey to India. He lived there for four years and left an interest­ing account of his travels.
Economic Activities. The majority of the people of India are engaged in farming. Most of the land belongs to big landowners. The peasants have very small strips, less than a hectare in size, while many of them have no land at all. These have no other choice but to rent small plots from the landowners at a high price.

Though the climate is favourable, the soil rich and the peasants hard-working, most of them are very poor. There have been years when the summer monsoon which was to bring rain came late. Then followed droughts; the crops were ruined and thousands of people died of hunger.
The Indian Government is taking measures to better the lot of the peasants. The landowners, however, still retain their lands, and the peasants are not provided for.
The ancient wooden plough drawn by oxen is still in use in the fields. There is almost no modern machinery.
There is much live-stock in India, used for field-work and trans­port. Hinduism, the chief religion, forbids the killing of animals, and most of the people do not eat meat. The cow is believed sacred. A cow may be lying in the middle of a road or town street, and no one will even think of driving it away.

Fig. 114. Tea-picking. The women are picking the young leaves from which tea will be made.
Monkeys, of which there are great numbers in India, are also considered sacred. They often do much damage, ravishing the fields. Rice is grown in the wetter regions of the country: on the Indo-Gan­getic Lowland and in the coastal areas of Hindustan. In the drier regions wheat and millet is cultivated. So warm is the climate that two and in the south even three crops are grown every year.
On the hillsides of the Himalayas in the north-east tea is grown.] India is the chief producer of the world's supply of tea.
Cotton and jute is widely cultivated. The English capitalists i formerly exported these products to England for processing. Later! they found it more profitable to do this on the spot and began build- j ing their factories in India. Availing themselves of the cheap la-J bour they receive great profits.
The Republic of India is a capitalist country, and the plants and ! factories belong to English and Indian capitalists.
The Indian Government, however, is working out plans fora the development of the national economy. Large power-stations,! smelteries and machine-building plants belonging to the state are! being constructed. In this it receives the help of the Soviet Union,! who works out the designs for many of the power-stations and plantsj furnishes them with equipment and sends engineers and experts oil all kinds to that country.
India's largest metallurgical works was built with the help of the Soviet Union.
India maintains friendly relations with the Soviet Union. It is struggling for peace and friendship in the world.

Fig. 115. a busy street in Old Delhi. In the left foreground is a rickshaw riding a three-wheeled bycycle with a carriage for   passengers

Cities. The capital of the Republic of India is Delhi, situated in the north of India on a tributary of the Ganges River. Delhi is a large city (over 2,500,000 inhabitants) with many plants and lories. It consists ot two parts. In Old Delhi the streets are mostly narrow and crooked, the houses poor. New Delhi was built by the Englishmen for themselves. Here stand stately mansions buried in the verdure of tropical trees. Servants were the only Indians allowed to enter New Delhi. Here stood the palace of the viceroy, the gover­nor of India. It is now the residence of the president of the Repub­lic. The city has greatly grown; there are many new blocks of houses.
India's largest city is Calcutta. With its suburbs it has over 5,000,000 inhabitants. Calcutta is situated in the Ganges delta and is a great industrial centre and port.

Fig. 116. Bombay: The sea front.
Bombay, numbering almost 3,000,000 inhabitants, is a port on the Arabian Sea. They call it the 'Western Gates' to India, for through it lead the sea-ways to Europe. There are many mills in Bombay.
Questions and Assignments.

• Name the crops cultivated in the Republic of India.
• Show the differences in the position of the peasants of India
  and China.
• Mark and name on the outline map the cities of the Republic
  of   India.