• 6th Largest Country in the world.
• Largest Democracy in the world.
• One of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10,000 years old).
• One sixth of world's population (close to a billion)
• Birthplace of two of the world's great religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and one of its smallest (Jainism).
• Home to one of the world's few remaining communities of Parsis, adherents of the faith of Zoroastrianism.
• India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
• India invented the Number System.
• Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
• The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects.
• The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century CE was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for the computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
• Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British in the early 17th Century. Cristopher Columbus was attracted by her wealth.
• The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAV Gatih. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit `Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
• The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were propounded by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 1053 with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 1012.
• According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.
• USA based IEEE proves what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
• The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake aptly called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
• Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
• Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, contracts, artificial legs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy physiology, etiology,embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
• When Europeans were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
• The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
• The largest recorded assembly of people was an estimated 15 million at the Kumbh Mela festival at Allahabad in 1989.
• The Indian Railways system is the world's fourth-largest, with a route length of over 60,000 km. Every single day more than 7000 passenger trains run, carrying over 10.5 million passengers and connecting 7100 stations.
• The largest single employer in the world is Indian Railways with over 1.5 million people on its payroll.
• The longest railway platform in the world is at Kharagpur in West Bengal - 833 metres.

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