Everything comes from India?
This section explores what you might already know or think about India
Key questions
Where in the world is India?
How do we view India in the UK?
Where is India?
India is a vast peninsular in Southern Asia extending into the Indian Ocean and lying between latitudes 8”4’ and 37”6’ north and longitudes 68”7’ and 97”25’ east. It is part of an area often referred to as ‘The Sub-continent’.India’s land borders are in the north with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, and China. To the west, east and south it is surrounded by seas: The Arabian Sea and The Bay of Bengal both of which are part of the Indian Ocean.
India has an area of 3.3 million square km. The area of the UK is 250,000 square km. The name India comes from the River Indus which is now entirely within Pakistan. The Hindi word for India is Bharat.
How do people view India in the UK?
-
Work - It has been estimated that UK firms created about 100,000 jobs in India between 2002 and 2007
-
Food - Indian cuisine can be found all round the world, especially in the UK. Most Indian restaurants serve food from North India. The UK spends £2 billion a year on curry. It is estimated that in Scotland 50,000 curries are eaten every night
-
Skills - In the Rhonda Valley in South Wales 73% of the GPs are from South Asia
-
Wonder - The Taj Mahal in Agra is one of the ‘new’ Seven Wonders of the World
-
Music - Bhangra are rhythms, which originated in the Punjab region of India and are now being used by popular international singers like Craig David and Missy Elliot
Links
Starter
You may have seen the highly successful actor, writer and Essex-born comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar and star of The Kumars At No 42 on the TV.
Sanjeev Bhaskar first came to public attention in a previous comedy called ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ playing a character called ‘Mr Everything Comes from India’.
‘Mr Everything Comes from India’ insists that just about everything comes from India or was invented by Indians.
Have a go at the Everything Comes from India quiz.
Main Activity
You are a journalist and you have been commissioned to write an article about ‘New India’ for a British newspaper.
India is experiencing spectacular changes. Its economy is growing by about 8% a year and it is already the fourth biggest in the world. The earnings of its 311 billionaires jumped by 71% in 2006! At the same time 35% of people live on less than US$1 a day, and the gap between rich and poor is growing.
But the hype is everywhere and people are calling this new global power ‘New India’ – and your job is to get to grips with what it is all about.
Read Dear journalist to find out more.
Before heading off to India, you need to organise a survey to find out how much your readers already know.
Open the New India survey. This lists three closed (yes/no) questions and three open (full sentence) questions. Use them to interview five people. You might like to also include some of your own questions in this survey. You will need the World map in question one.
Plenary
Make news out of your survey results by summing up what everyone said.
Use sentences like these:
-
Out of five people questioned (number) knew where India was located
-
The majority of interviewees didn’t know how big India is
-
The most interesting comment I heard was…
-
The most positive quote was…
As a result of the survey what do you want to explore when you arrive in India?
Who do you need to interview and what images are needed?