Collaborative Project“Exploring who we are”

Project Member - India

Our AncestorsThe majority of India is a mixture between Indo-Aryan/ Dravidian. The researchers showed that most Indian populations are genetic admixtures of two ancient, genetically divergent groups, which each contributed around 40-60% of the DNA to most present-day populations. One: genetically similar to Middle Eastern, Central Asian and European populations. The other lineage was not close to any group outside the subcontinent, and was most common in people indigenous to the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago in the Bay of Bengal.Researchers say that:Assamese are the descendants of the ethnic Tai people“ and use a lot of Japanese words.Goans have ancestors from Africa.East Indians or East Indian Catholics have their origins as a Marathi speaking, later Portuguese or Portuguese creole speaking, now predominantly English speaking, Roman Catholic ethnic group, based in and around the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in the state of Maharashtra. These people are of the original Marathi ethnic group and had been evangelized by the Portuguese, while retaining much of their pre-Christian traditions.The people from North India are said to be the descendants of Iranians.

India1.269 million sq miles (3.287 million km²)

India ranks second worldwide in farm output.As of 2009, India is the fourth largest producer of electricity and oil products and the fourth largest importer of coal and

crude-oil in the world.India has the world's third largest road network , the fourth

largest rail network in the world and has a national telecommunication density rate of 74.15% with

926.53 million telephone subscribers, around 13.3 million broadband lines.( December 2011)

Mining forms an important segment of the Indian economy, with the country producing 79 different minerals (excluding

fuel and atomic resources)= 2009–10.

Education System in India-Then The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalized chiefly between 1000 BC to the early centuries AD. Indian philosophy is distinctive in its application of analytical rigor to metaphysical problems and goes into very precise detail about the nature of reality, the structure and function of the human psyche and how the relationship between the two have important implications for human salvation(moksha). The efforts by various schools were concentrated on explaining this order and the metaphysical entity at its source (Brahman). The concept of natural law (Dharma) provided a basis for understanding questions of how life on earth should be lived.The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphs before 5500 BC. A 'gurukul' is a type of school prevailed in ancient India, residential in nature, with pupils living near the guru, often within the same house, learn from the guru . While living in a gurukul the students had to be away from his house and family completely. The gurus didn't take any fees and so they had to serve the

Ruins of Taxila University

The Vedas and the Eighteen Arts, which included skills such as archery, hunting, and elephant lore, were taught here, in addition to its law school, medical school, and school of military science.

Taxila/Takshila, in old India now modern-day Pakistan, was an early Hindu and Buddhist center of learning, dated back to at least the 5th century .Generally, a student enteredTaxilaat the age of sixteen.

Nalanda was established in the 5th century AD in Bihar, India. It was founded in 427 in Northeastern India and survived until 1197. It was devoted to Buddhist studies, but it also trained students in fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics and the art of war. Excavated ruins at Nalanda, Bihar, India in 1996Nalanda housed 10,000 students in the university’s heyday and providing accommodation for 2,000 professors. Nalanda University attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.

Education in India-NowIndian value system keeps the teacher at the highest pedestal even today.

Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: central, state, and local. India has made progress in terms of increasing the primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately three quarters of the population.The education system is divided into different levels such as pre-primary level, primary level, elementary education, secondary education, undergraduate level and postgraduate level.The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for curriculum related matters for school education in India.In India, the various curriculum bodies governing school education system are:The state government boards, The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).,The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE)., The National Institute of Open Schooling, International schools affiliated to the International Baccalaureate Program, Islamic Madrasah schools, Autonomous schools like Woodstock School, The Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education Puducherry, In addition, NUEPA (National University of Educational Planning and Administration)and NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) are responsible for the management of the education system and teacher accreditation.

Favorite ReadsChildren like to read books by R.K. Narayan, Ruskin Bond, Enid Blyton, Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens, Chetan Bhagat, Arundhatti Roy, Anita Desai, Amitabh Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie and many more. Folk tales like Malgudi Days, Panch Tantra, Jataka Tales Aesop’s Tales, Tenali Rama and Akbar Birbal are hot favorites too with young and old equally.

Movies and TV shows: Midnight's Children, Then She Found Me, Odd Streets Run West, Great Writers: Salman Rushdie, Next PeopleAwards: Man Booker Prize, Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service, Costa Novel Award, St. Louis Literary Award, New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year, Canadian Screen Award for Adapted Screenplay, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature

Salman Rushdie

Vikram Seth and some of his books

Arundhati Roy

Movies: In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, MoreAwards: Man Booker Prize, Sydney Peace Prize, Norman

Mailer Prize for Distinguished Writing

Indian ArtA strong sense of design is also characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern as well as in its traditional forms.Mughal painting in miniatures on paper developed very quickly in the late 16th century. Miniatures either illustrated books or were single works for muraggas or albums of painting.. "Sub-Mughal", included Kangra Painting and Rajput Painting.The rural, tribal and arts of the nomads constitute the matrix of folk expression. Examples of folk artists are Warli and Gond.

Warli Painting on Mud Wall and a Warli Print on a SaariThe Warli (a Maharashtrian tribe) uses only white for their paintings. Their white pigment is a mixture of rice paste and water with gum as a binding. The walls are made of a mixture of branches, earth and cow dung, making a red ochre background for the wall paintings. Indian art can be classified into specific periods each reflecting particular religious, political and cultural developments.•Ancient Period (3900 BCE -1200 CE)•Islamic Ascendancy (1192-1757)•Colonial Period (1757–1947)•Independence and the Postcolonial period (Post-1947)

How similar we are!

How similar we are!1. Our curries and rice dish.2. Argentinean Empanada vs Indian Gujia(Sweet)

and Samosa(Savory).

1

2

Imarti

Sandesh

Rasgulla

Laddu

Assorted Sweets

Most Indian Sweets are made with cottage cheese, gram flour and cashew.

India’s Business Ties

Indian Banknotes in circulation come in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. Rupee coins are mostly available in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10. The modern rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular paisa)The Indian rupee symbol is .

India Family culture is fascinating because it's very different from standard western family culture. Family culture in India follows a patriarchal structure wherein generations of a family often live under the same roof. A patriarch is a family structure where the oldest male runs the house and calls the shots, even if he is retired, no longer a bread winner and of older age. Essentially, boys and girls are both taken care of by their parents from birth, and boys are often taken care of until they are well into their twenties. Once married, a woman typically moves out of their parents home and moves into the home of her spouses family.

Earlier only the male member used to be the bread winner but today the girls are equally qualified and financially independent at least in urban families.

An Indian Family

Miss Universe Sushmita Sen 1994Lara Dutta 2000

Miss WorldReita Faria 1966Aishwarya Rai 1994Diana Hayden 1997Yukta Mookhey 1999Priyanka Chopra 2000

Mrs. World Aditi Gowitrikar 2001

India also holds the record for Winning the Miss Universe crown and Miss World in the same year twice. Once in 1994 with Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai and again in 2000, Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra when India also won the third largest pageant Miss Asia Pacific by Indian Beauty Dia Mirza.

Strengthening Bonds