* India is the world’s oldest, largest and continuous civilization – the Indus Valley civilization.
* India is also one of the largest democracies in the world.
* Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.
* The Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wondersof the World, is in India.
* One of the largest employer in the world is theIndian Railways , employing over a million people
* India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indeigenously.
* Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
* The floating post office in Dal Lake, Srinagar, was inaugurated in August 2011.
* The second largest pool of engineers and scientists is from India.
* 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 every day.
* ‘Zero’ in the number system was invented by a mathematician from India. His name was Aryabhatta.
* The highest cricket ground in the world – At an altitude of 2,444 meters, the Chail Cricket Ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh, is the highest in the world. It was built in 1893 and is a part of the Chail Military School.
* India leads the world with the largest number of films.
* Varanasi, also known as Banaras, 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.
* Water on the moon was discovered by India – In September 2009, India’s ISRO Chandrayaan- 1 using its Moon Mineralogy Mapper detected water on the moon for the first time.
* Over 4700 daily newspapers in more than 300 languages are produced in India.
* The first rocket in India was transported on a cycle – The first rocket was so light and small that it was transported on a bicycle to the Thumba Launching stations in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
* Calculus, Trigonometry, and Algebra originated in India.
* The decimal system and place value system were developed in India around 100 B.C.
* India is Largest number of vegetarians in the world – religious reasons or personal choices or both, around 20-40% of Indians are vegetarians, making it the largest vegetarian-friendly country in the world.
* The world’s largest producer of milk- India recently overtook the European Union with production reaching over 132.4m tones in 2014.
* You would be amazed to know that the concept of shampoo was first invented in India when herbs were used for strengthening hair.
* Around the 17th century, India was one of the richest countries in the world.
* Today, India is the world’s third largest economy.
* India is one of the only three countries that makes supercomputers (the US and Japan are the other two).
* The world’s largest road network is in India—over 1.9 million miles of roads cover the country.
* So much so that Pizza Hut had to open their first pure vegetarian restaurant in the country.
* India grows 1.2 million tons of mangoes every year, weight equivalent to 80,000 blue whales.
* The state of Meghalaya is the wettest inhabited place of earth.
* May 26 is celebrated as the Science Day in Switzerland in honour of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, because on the day, Kalam visited the country.
* Martial Arts was first created in India.
* Until 1986, the only place where diamonds had been officially found was in India.
* India’s tech capital, Bangalore, has increased its office supply by six times since 2006, and now has more Grade-A offices than Singapore.
* India is the largest producer of films in the world.
* India leads the world with the most murders (32,719) per year, with Russia taking second at 28,904 murders per year.
* Karmanasa River in India is considered to be a cursed river and it is believed that touching its water would ruin one’s plans. There’s hardly any development along this river. People around this river just eat dry fruits because cooking food would require water!
* Two major religions, Buddhism and Jainism, were established in India.
* Lonar Lake, a saltwater lake in Maharashtra, was created by a meteor hitting the Earth and is one of its kind in India.
* Today, India has the world’s largest school in terms of students, the City Montessori School in Lucknow. It has more than 45 thousand students!
* Indian Railways employs more than 1.3 million people. That’s more than the population of many nations.
* Number of births in India every year is more than the total population of Australia, and many other nations.
* India has the largest English speaking population in the world.
* At an estimate, 25% of the total workforce of the world’s population will be from India in the next year or so.
* And despite budgetary constraints, India’s space program is one of the top 5 space programs in the world.
* Every 12 years, a religious gathering called the Kumbh Mela occurs in India. It is the world’s largest gathering of people
* Around a 100 million years ago, India was an island.
* India’s name is derived from the “Indus” river.
* Indus Valley Civilisation is the world’s oldest civilisation.
* India, hence, is the world’s oldest, most advanced and continuous civilisation.
* India has been the largest troop contributor to the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions since its inception.
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