-1,148 Billion inhabitants -> second largest population rate
-India is a multiethnic state
-Most of them live in tribes
-Characteristic of the Indian social order are the extreme contrasts of poverty and wealth -> 44% of the population have to live with less than one U.S. dollar per day, 46% of children in India were undernourished, 2.1 million children die every year younger than five years old
-Child labour -> because the income of many farm families is not sufficient for survival
-many people to migrate to urban areas ->high unemployment in the urban areas -> one third of the inhabitants lives in slums
-the most HIV infected people worldwide
Cast system
(Heute offiziell abgeschafft, wird aber trotzdem teilweise noch gelebt)
-The caste system is a rigidly structured social hierarchy
- Strictly according to the faith and only addressed the people from exactly the same profession
- closed to the outside
-regulated the life of the individual to the last detail: The birth, marriage, how to dress, what you had to eat …
The Castes:
-Bhramin: Class and supreme priestly caste, are entitled to enlightenment
-Kshatryia: caste of warriors
-Vaisya: caste of farmers and traders
-Sudra: worker caste, to serve on the three higher castes committed, especially the Brahmins
-Harijans, the untouchables, or also known as untouchables. Not caste in itself but a collection of outcasts.