Population: approximately 1,200,000,000
Literacy: approximately 50%
Religion: (estimates) Hindu 80% Muslim 12% Sikhs 2% Christian 2.3%

Hindi is India's National language but they have 23 other major languages and over 540 dialects

India's racial, ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity is staggering. With over one billion people, it is the most populous functioning democracy in the world.

Though the majority of the people are Hindu, India is a secular nation with constitutional freedoms of speech and religion and, generally speaking, the government works to protect those freedoms.

In recent years, however, there has been a deterioration of those freedoms and various states have passed legislation restricting religious conversion. Militant Hindu groups have increasingly influenced the federal government.

Additional Information

http://www.hftwindia.org/
http://www.incredibleindia.org/
http://india.gov.in/
http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/default.asp (VISA Application)