India is located in southern Asia, with the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. One-sixth of the world’s population (approximately 1.16 billion people ) lives within the...

India is located in southern Asia, with the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. One-sixth of the world’s population (approximately 1.16 billion people ) lives within the country’s 1.27 million square miles. Though Hindi is the dominant language in terms of number of speakers (it is the mother tongue to over 40 percent of Indians), India is essentially a multilingual nation with more than 10 other languages spoken by 20 million people or more. Most states are divided along linguistic lines, with different states accepting different “official” languages (one each). English serves as the national language among the educated Indians. The Indian economy derives only a quarter of its output from agriculture, with services contributing almost 55 percent.