ABOUT INDIA

MY  COUNTRY

                

India is the largest democracy in the world with 29 states and 6 Union territories, the second most populated country in the world with 1.2 billion people and is the second fastest growing economy in the world It has some of the most expensive real-estate in the world, a majority of the world’s best software engineers and the biggest film industry going by sheer numbers. It also has about 35 % of its population living below the poverty line. India Facts and Figures

Area : 3,287,590 square kilometers Capital City : New Delhi Latitude : Between 8 '4' & 37 '6' Longitude : Between 68 '7' & 97 '25' east Coastline : 7516.5 kilometers Geography : India shares borders  to the northwest with Pakistan , to the north with China , Nepal and Bhutan ,  to the east with Bangladesh and Myanmar .  To the west lies the Arabian Sea to the east the Bay of Bengal and to the south the Indian Ocean . People : 72% Indo-Aryan, 25% Dravidian, rest others Language : Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Kashmiri, English, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam Currency : Rupee  Time : India is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Highest        : Mountain Range Himalayas (altitude more than 7500 meters) Largest River Basin : Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin National Flag of India : Horizontal tricolour- Safforn, White & Green with Navy Blue Ashok Chakra with 24 spoke Religion : 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2.4%  Christian, 2% Sikh, and rest  others Government : Federal Republic

2,000 years of resistance to the Gospel. 

Until Now. 

Over a billion people. 

The fastest growing nation on earth. 

More than 2,500 people groups. 

Speaking 1,600 languages & dialects.

WHY INDIA? Because India is hurting... 

* 70% of the population is functionally illiterate 

* 80% of the population, a family lives on less than $2 a day

* Over 740 million Indians live in rural, impoverished villages 

* 35% of school-aged children are not attending school 

* The centuries-old caste system still condemns hundreds of millions of "low caste" Indians to a life of degrading labour and social invisibility 

Because India is seeking...

 * 412 million Indians have never even heard the name of Jesus 

* With 330 million objects of worship in India, Indians are looking anywhere and everywhere for salvation

* Superstition and idol worship have an iron grip—there is no forgiveness or joy

* In the face of such overwhelming physical & spiritual poverty, the Gospel brings power, hope, eternal life, and the way for a better life today

Everyday   numerous people are dying in with out  having heard about  the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The funny part about India it has got more than 33000000 gods and goddesses as Hinduism, which is the major religion with 85% population out of 120 billion. 

Till AD 52, the coming of St. Thomas, none were aware of Christ in India. 

India was under the control of superstition and Idol worship. 

Human sacrifices under the influence of Hindu religious leaders are still being done in various parts of India

The Religious Groups: (Census 2001 religious information highlights)

At the national level, of 1028 million population, 828 million (80.5 per cent) have returned their religion as Hindus. 

128 million (13.4 per cent) as Muslims. 

24 million (2.3 per cent) as Christians.

 19 million (1.9 percent) follow Sikh religion.

 8 million (0.8 per cent) are Buddhists. 

4.2 million (0.4 per cent) are Jains.

 6.6 million belong to other religions and persuasions including tribal religions. 

About 0.7 million have not stated their religion.

Christianity has the highest sex ratio with 1009 females per 1000 while 

Sikh has the lowest with 893. 

Buddhist have 953; Jains 940; 

Muslim 936 and 

Hindus 931. 

The national average is 933.

 In the children between 0-6 years of age 

Sikhs have 786; 

Jains 870; 

Hindus 925; 

Buddhists 942; 

Muslims 950 and 

Christians 964. 

The national average is 927.

Literacy rate based on age of 7 and above:

*Jains is the highest with 94.1 per cent followed by Christians at 80.3 per cent.

*The national average is 64.8 per cent in which Hindus and Sikhs fare slightly better.

*Muslim literacy rate is 59.1 per cent while Buddhist have 72.7 per cent.

*Christian literacy rate in 21 states in over 75 per cent and is 90 per cent and above in the states of: Lakshwadeep, Kerala, Delhi, Mizoram and Maharastra. 

Only Arunachal Pradesh has below 50 per cent. 84.4 per cent Christian males and 76.6 per cent females are literate. The gap is less among Jains also. It is wide among Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims.

*Average Christian population in India is 2.3 per cent.

*North East India has considerable Christian presence.

Christian percentage in the states in descending order are:

1. Nagaland 90;
2. Mizoram 87;
3. Meghalaya 70.3;
4. Manipur 34;
5. Goa 26.7;
6. Andaman 21.7;
7. Kerala 19;
8. Arunachal Pradesh 18.7;
9. Pondicherry 6.9;
10. Sikkim 6.7;
11. Tamil Nadu 6.1;
12. Jharkhand 4.1;
13. Assam 3.7;
14. Tripura 3.2;
15. Dadra & Nagar 2.7;
16. Orissa 2.4;
17. Daman man 2.1;
18. Karnataka 1.9;
19. Chattisgarh 1.9;
20. Andhra Pradesh 1.6;
21. Punjab 1.2;
22. Maharashtra 1.1;
23. Lakshwadeep 1;
24. Delhi 0.9;
25. Chandigarh 0.8;
26. Gujarat 0.6;
27. West Bengal 0.6;
28. Madhya Pradesh 0.3;
29. Uttaranchal 0.3;
30. Jammu & Kashmir 0.2;
31. Bihar 0.1;
32. Uttar Pradesh 0.1;
33. Rajasthan 0.1;
34. Haryana 0.1;
35. Himachal Pradesh 0.1

In India the religious groups can be broken down as follows:

Hindus 675,000,000

Muslims 110,000,000

Christians 38,000,000

Sikhs 17,000,000

Buddhists 6,000,000

Jains 4,000,000

It has been reported that less than 2% of the evangelical effort is directed towards reaching these needy souls. 

India has the largest number of Sikhs and the second largest number of Muslims in the world, next to Indonesia. 

In 1971 the Muslim population was 9.9%,

 which increased to 11.35 in 1981. 

This increase is about 30.5%, and now it is claimed that 

India is more than 14% Muslim.

The Religious Groups: (Census 2001 religious information highlights)

India is closed to missionaries from other countries, but Indian missionaries can travel to any part of our country and preach the Good News.

The following facts reflect the need for missionary effort:

In Bihar, 150 Blocks are without a Christian witness and 75 Taluks in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana have no Churches.

As per the census of India, in about one fourth of all the districts in India, the Christian population is less than 1000.

The North Indian states, where more than 650 million people live, contain less than 2% of the Christians:

Rajasthan (0.12%),
Uttar Pradesh (0.15%),
West Bengal (0.6%),
Tripura (1.2%),
Punjab (1.1%),
Orissa (1.9%),
Maharastra (1.3%),
Gujarat (0.39%),
Bihar (1.1%), and
Jammu & Kashmir (0.14%).

The state of Karnataka, has a population of 52,700,000 with 27 districts, 175 Taluks, 750 sub-taluks, and 30,000 villages. It is estimated that 29,000 Villages do not have even a single Christian, and most of the villages are completely unreached. 
Even though more than 400 Christian organizations have their headquarters in Bangalore, very little evangelistic work is done in the interior of the state. The Protestant population is around 1%, and 60% of the people are illiterate.

Who will reach them?

Present Efforts:

More than 90% of our evangelistic efforts are carried out by about 4.5% of the Christians in our country.
More than 98% of our Christian books and magazines address only Christians.
More than 98% of our income is spent on Christians, themselves.
There are about 10,000 missionaries and about 30,000 other believers working in Cross Cultural situations.
Our evangelistic efforts must be greatly increased to meet this tremendous challenge.


The New Strategy Someone said that to meet this great challenge, every Christian must work 125 times more than what he is doing now. This is an impossibility.

But the Lord has given us the mass media and modern technological advancements to help us to meet this great challenge.

How can we ever reach the more than 70% of India who are illiterate? .

 Doesn't your heart break when you read and learn all these facts, 

realizing that the work is still undone? 

If the Lord burdens you,

PLEASE PRAY FOR INDIA.  PLEASE PRAY THAT WE CAN WITH GOD'S BLESSING SEND MORE OVER THERE TO OUTREACH THIS COUNTRY