subject: This Is For Testing On 29dec. [print this page] . Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early 18th century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence which was marked by a non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
India is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy consisting of 28 states and seven union territories. A pluralistic, multilingual and multiethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The Indian economy is the world's eleventh largest economy by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity. Since the introduction of market-based economic reforms in 1991, India has become one of the fastest growing major economies in the world;[20] however, the country continues to face several poverty, illiteracy, corruption and public health related challenges. India is classified as a newly industrialised country and is one of the four BRIC nations.[21][22] It is the world's sixth de facto nuclear weapons state and has the third-largest standing armed force in the world, while its military expenditure ranks tenth in the world.[23] India is a regional power in South Asia.[24]
In the 3rd century BCE, most of South Asia was united into the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great.[31] From the 3rd century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient "India's Golden Age".[32][33] Empires in southern India included those of the Chalukyas, the Cholas and the Vijayanagara Empire. Science, technology, engineering, art, logic, language, literature, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.
