It has been 71 years in 2018 since India got freedom in 1947, but while looking around, I find more people pointing out and even listing reasons why one should not be proud to be an Indian.
Criticism with a cup of tea and a newspaper in hand is so common, that I feel I am living in some other nation, which is jealous of India's achievements, rich history, and contributions to the world.
So today, I would take the opportunity to list out not just one, two or ten, but 33 unique reasons, which will astonish you and give you reasons to be proud of being an Indian.
Facts About India's Contribution
1. India has given important mathematical concepts such as zero, decimal, trigonometry, algebra and calculus to the world. Without these, many calculations and researches wouldn’t have been possible.
2. An Indian mathematician, Buddhaan, was the first human ever to determine the value of pie. When he did this calculation, it was the 6th century.
3. India is the world’s largest producer of tea. Not only this, but India is also the world’s largest consumer of tea. It produces 30% of the total tea produced in the world and consumes 25% of the total tea consumed in the world.
4. India produces 19 tons of mint oil annually, occupying a major portion of total mint oil produced in the world, which is 22 tons.
5. India invented the game of Chess years back and called it Chaturang (in Sanskrit), meaning 4 members of one army. It was extended later to make 11 members of one army and is the modern-day Chess as we all know.
6. India invented the game of Snake & Ladder in the 13th century and called it Mokshpat. The ladders symbolized the uplift God provides when you do good and the snake symbolized the downfall God gives when you do bad. In the entire journey, the topmost part is heaven and the bottom most is hell. Where you land is what you will get in the end from life.
7. India sells software and services worth 111 billion USD to other countries, with USA being the top destination for India’s export (57%). The second topper is UK with a share of 18%.
8. As many as 150 Literature Festivals are organized in India, with the largest being organized by Jaipur (Jaipur Literature Festival) and second largest being organized by Lucknow (Lucknow Literature Festival).
Facts About India's Development
9. India has the largest road network in the world, which runs over 1.9 million miles of distance. You can reach anywhere and everywhere in India by the way of roads.
10. India has the largest film industry, the Hindi film industry, which we call Bollywood in our daily life. The films made in Bollywood are expensive films, with shooting locations involving foreign countries.
11. Indian Army has constructed the highest ever built a bridge in the world, known as the Bailey Bridge in 1982 to connect Ladakh Valley and river Daras.
12. Indian city, Bangalore, has more than 2500 software companies and it has employed 26000 engineers alone. It is known as the Silicon Valley of India and houses headquarters of various big technology companies.
13. Indian Railways is the largest organization in the world in terms of the number of workers. More than 1.6 million employees work in it on a regular basis.
14. India has the largest network of post offices in the world, which includes 155015 post offices. Also, it has a floating office situated over the Dal lake.
15. India has world’s first granite temple, Brihdeshwar Temple, located in Tamil Nadu. It was constructed in 5 years, during the reign of Rajaraj Chol using 80 tons of Graphite.
16. India has the world’s highest cricket stadium situated in Chayal, Himachal Pradesh at a height of 2444m above the sea level. It was constructed in 1893 and has a military school attached to it.
17. The Bandra - Worli sea link in Mumbai has used steel equivalent to the Earth’s core in its construction. Also, it weighs equal to 50,000 African elephants.
Facts About Indians
18. Indians have a fascination towards Gold, making India the richest Gold market in the world. You will find Gold jewelry and artifacts in every Indian house for sure.
19. Arunachalam Murunganantham, a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India is better known as the Pad Man of India, for his creation of low-cost sanitary napkins.
20. Prof. Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a 73-year old retired chemistry professor, is better known as the Plastic Man of India, for his innovative technique of converting plastic trash into paved roads.
21. Indians residing abroad (in foreign nations) earn 1 Trillion USD per annum. Out of this 1 Trillion USD, they return 30 thousand crores back to India per annum.
21. Vinod Dham, an engineer, and an entrepreneur invented the Pentium chip which is used in 90% computers today. He is better known as the Pentium Man, for his contributions to the development of Intel’s microprocessors.
22. May 26th, which is the birth anniversary of Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, is celebrated as Science Day in Switzerland. This shows that the Missile Man of India is respected all across the globe.
23. India has so many languages and dialect, with Hindi as the official language and medium of communication, but India has the second largest population of English speaking citizens after America.
Facts About India's Diversity
24. India has a population of 1.3 Billion people, who collectively speak more than 22 languages, practice their own dance forms, wear their own native dresses and reside in 29 different states. Yet, they all are Indians first.
25. India has more than 1000 varieties of orchids, out of which more than 600 are found in Arunachal Pradesh alone.
26. India has around 3 crore Mosques, which cater to the needs of its Muslim citizens. And ironically, no Muslim nation in the world has such a large number of Mosques.
27. Mawsynram in Meghalaya is the place which receives the highest amount of rainfall annually in the world. It’s average rainfall per year around 11,873 millimeters (467.4 in). Earlier this record was held by Cherapunji.
Facts About India's History
28. Takshila University, which was located in India, taught over 60 disciplines to over 20,500 students at a time when there were no computers or even paper books. It was nearly 800 years BC when the oldest educational institution was operating at such a great level.
29. Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar, built by Raja Sawai Jai Singh, is the largest stone-built observatory in the world.
30. In past 10,00 years, India has never attacked a nation even though it has the second largest defense force in the world, comprising of the Indian army, Indian navy, and Indian air force.
31. Presently, India is the world’s largest democracy, oldest civilization and 7th largest country by land area.
32. Ayurveda, one of the primary branches of Medicine, was born in India only, some 2500 years ago. Since then, it has been continuously practiced and has healed many across the world.
33. The art of yoga was first practiced in India some 5000 years ago. It was a part of the Sarasvati civilization in northern India and the word ‘yoga’ first appeared in Rig Veda.
So these are 33 facts about India which you must bring to notice of every Indian. It is still 'Saare Jahan Se Achha' and we have to uphold its pride!