In this article we will talk about India, a country where it has recently become fashionable to go on a journey in search of spiritual enlightenment, and where every "student" can find a "teacher" there. However, this is far from all that India can be interesting for a Western person. We have prepared 20 interesting facts about India for you.
1. The country's population is 1 billion 288 million, making India the second largest country in the world after China. It is projected to reach 1 billion 600 million in 2050, making it the first country in the world.
2. In India, there is a law that prohibits foreigners from taking the national currency, the "rupee", abroad. In practice, the law is hardly enforced, but nevertheless it exists.
3. The city with the worst ecology is Mumbai, located in India. One day of stay in this place will be equivalent to smoking several packs of cigarettes.
4. The leader of a local sect, with a Christian bias, named Zion Chan, is the owner of the largest family in the world, he has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren. By the way, this information is for 2011, so it is possible that he has added family members. Chan is a local businessman and enjoys authority among the locals. Together with his large family, he lives in a four-story house.
5. Police in one of the districts of Madhya Pradesh state are giving cash incentives to police officers who wear moustaches. According to the police leadership, law enforcement officers with moustaches look more respectable.
6. Due to the very low standard of living, India has the lowest meat consumption per person. Most people cannot afford meat dishes.
7. According to the Indian airline Co Air, it has managed to save more than half a million dollars on fuel due to the fact that only girls are recruited for cabin crews. The logic of the company's management is simple: girls are lighter, which means less fuel is needed. However, whether to believe this or not is up to everyone.
8. India is a country with one of the lowest divorce rates. For example, there is only one divorce per 100 marriages. By the way, India shares first place with Brazil in the number of murders.
9. The ancient Indian game Chituranga is the prototype of chess. This game appeared in the 6th century CE, so India can safely be called the birthplace of chess.
10. India has the largest number of native English speakers. There are two official languages – Hindi and English. Due to the fact that India was a colony of the British Empire for over a hundred years, all Indians speak English fluently, although with a strong accent.
11. The majority of India's population lives in poverty, earning no more than $5 a day. At the same time, the country ranks 3rd in the world in terms of the number of billionaires, behind only the US and China. For example, in 2015, India had 111 billionaires, while Russia had only 88.
12. India is a country with a very prejudiced attitude towards widows. In many religious communities, there is an opinion that "a good wife would not have her husband die", it is believed that the wife drove her husband away from life. Widows are often treated with disdain, they are forbidden to approach newlyweds and attend certain ceremonies.
13. In the 17th century, a custom called "Sati" was practiced in India. Its essence was that widows performed the ritual of self-immolation along with the corpses of their husbands. Of course, not all wives wanted to burn in a fire, but their beloved relatives "helped" them with this, tying them to wooden structures and burning them by force. British colonists banned this custom, but despite the ban, it was still practiced for a long time. Nowadays, the ritual is strictly prohibited, and severe punishment is provided for by law for the burning of innocent women.
14. Followers of Indian Zoroastrianism do not burn or bury corpses, as they consider this an insult to the powers of earth and fire. They put the dead on top of a special tower, and when their corpses are eaten by birds, the bones are thrown into a special mass grave.
15. India produces the largest number of films in the world, surpassing even the United States. The vast majority of films produced are musicals.
16. Surely everyone knows the story that in India the cow is a sacred animal and is forbidden to eat. At the same time, India is the largest exporter of beef in the world, including the leader in its processing. In some states where the Muslim population predominates, cow slaughter is not prohibited. Many processing plants employ Hindus, as they say, "money has no smell."
17. Sex toys are banned in India and can only be purchased on the black market.
18. According to the UN, there are more than 14 million slaves in India. Although slavery is prohibited, these people, many of them children, work without documents.
19. In India, the social hierarchy is divided into castes. Castes are an indicator of what social class a person belongs to, and this affiliation is determined by what caste a member of society was born into. There are 4 types of castes: priests, warriors, merchants and laborers. There are also "untouchables", these are people outside the caste who do the dirtiest work, such as burning corpses or poisoning rats. Traditionally, it is considered unacceptable to marry a person of a lower caste. Modern government policy is aimed at reducing the influence of castes on the lives of citizens, but caste traditions remain stronger.
20. Every year in India, there are between 500,000 and a million abortions due to the "unwanted sex of the child." It is believed that the birth of a boy is preferable to a girl, since a girl after marriage goes to her husband's family, while a boy will stay with his parents to look after them until old age.
