India April 2004
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INDIA COUNTRY REPORT April 2004 Country Information & Policy Unit IMMIGRATION & NATIONALITY DIRECTORATE HOME OFFICE, UNITED KINGDOM India April 2004 CONTENTS 1. Scope of Document 1.1 - 1.7 2. Geography 2.1 - 2.4 3. Economy 3.1 - 3.4 4. History 4.1 - 4.18 1996 - 1998 4.1 - 4.5 1998 - the present 4.6 - 4.18 5. State Structures 5.1 - 5.49 The Constitution 5.1 - Citizenship and Nationality 5.2 - 5.6 Political System 5.7. - 5.11 Judiciary 5.12 Legal Rights/Detention 5.13 - 5.18 - Death penalty 5.19 – 5.20 Internal Security 5.21- 5.28 Prisons and Prison Conditions 5.29 - 5.35 Military Service 5.36 Medical Services 5.37 - 5.49 Educational System 5.41 - 5.43 6. Human Rights 6.1 - 6.325 6.A Human Rights Issues 6.1 - 6.165 Overview 6.1 - 6.18 Freedom of Speech and the Media 6.19 - 6.24 - Treatment of journalists 6.25 – 6.26 Freedom of Religion 6.27 - 6.140 - Introduction 6.27 - 6.37 - Muslims 6.38 - 6.56 - Christians 6.57 - 6.74 - Sikhs and the Punjab 6.75 - 6.139 - Buddhists and Zoroastrians 6.140 Freedom of Assembly & Association 6.141 - 6.143 - Political Activists 6.144 - 6.154 Employment Rights 6.155 - 6.160 People Trafficking 6.161 Freedom of Movement 6.162 - 6.165 6.B Human Rights - Specific Groups 6.166 - 6.319 Ethnic Groups 6.166 - Kashmir and the Kashmiris 6.167 - 6.235 Women 6.236 - 6.290 Children 6.291- 6.303 - Child Care Arrangements 6.304 - 6.305 Homosexuals 6.306 - 6.311 Scheduled castes and tribes 6.312 - 6.319 6.C Human Rights - Other Issues 6.320 – 6.325 Treatment of returned failed asylum seekers 6.320- 6.322 Treatment of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) 6.323 – 6.325 India April 2004 Annexes Chronology of Events Annex A Political Organisations Annex B Prominent People Annex C References to Source Material Annex D India April 2004 1. SCOPE OF DOCUMENT 1.1 This India Country report has been produced by the Country Information and Policy Unit, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Home Office, for use by Home Office officials involved in the asylum/human rights determination process. The Report provides general background information about the issues most commonly raised in asylum/human rights claims made in the United Kingdom. It is not a detailed or comprehensive survey. 1.2 The Report is compiled from a wide range of recognised sources and does not contain any Home Office opinion or policy. All information in the Report is attributed, throughout the text, to original source material, which has been made available to those working in the asylum/human rights determination process. The Report aims to provide only a brief summary of the source material quoted. For a more detailed account, the relevant source documents should be examined directly. 1.3 The information contained in this Country Report is, by its nature, limited to information that we have been able to identify from various well-recognised sources. The contents of this Report are not exhaustive and the absence of information under any particular heading does not imply that any analysis or judgement has been exercised to exclude that information, but simply that relevant information on the subject has not been identified from the sources that have been consulted. Equally, the information included in the Reports should not be taken to imply anything beyond what is actually stated. 1.4 The great majority of the source material is readily available in the public domain. Copies of other source documents, such as those provided by government offices, may be provided upon request. 1.5 All sources have been checked for currency, and as far as can be ascertained, contain information, which remained relevant at the time, this Report was issued. Some source documents have been included because they contain relevant information not available in more recent documents. 1.6 This country Report and the accompanying source material are publicly disclosable. Where sources identified in this Report are available in electronic form the relevant link has been included. The date that the relevant link was accessed in preparing the report is also included. Paper copies of the source documents have been distributed to nominated officers within IND. 1.7 It is intended to revise the Report on a six-monthly basis while the country remains within the top 35 asylum producing countries in the United Kingdom. Information contained in Country Reports is inevitably overtaken by events that occur between the 6 monthly publications. Caseworkers are informed of such changes in country Information Bulletins. Return to Contents India April 2004 GEOGRAPHY 2.1 The Europa World Year book 1998 states that the Republic of India forms a natural sub-continent with the Himalayas to the north. The Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, which are sections of the Indian Ocean, lie to the west and east respectively. India's neighbours are China (Tibet), Bhutan and Nepal to the north, Pakistan to the north- west, and Burma to the north-east. To the east, almost surrounded by India, is Bangladesh. Near India's southern tip, across the Palk Strait, is Sri Lanka. India covers an area of 3,287,623 square kilometres (1,269,219 square miles). [1a] As noted in the CIA World Factbook, the capital is New Delhi. [35] 2.2 In July 2002 the population was estimated to be 1,045,845,226. [35] According to a BBC news article dated 11 May 2000, Officially the one-billionth baby was born on 11 May 2000, according to the country's census commission. [32i] 2.3 The Europa World Year book 1998 describes India as a mosaic of different cultures, ethnic groups, languages and religions. [1a] 2.4 The official language of India is Hindi written in the Devanagari script and spoken by some 30% of the population as a first language. Since 1965 English has been recognised as an "associated language". In addition there are 18 main and regional languages recognised for adoption as official state languages. There are another 24 languages, 720 dialects and 23 tribal languages. Among the main languages are Bengali (spoken by 8.2% of the population), Marathi (7.7%), Urdu (5.2%), Gujarati (4.7%), Bihari (3.8%), Oriya (3.6%), Telugu (3.5%), Tamil (3.2%) and Punjabi (3.0%). Other languages include Assamese, Kannada, Rajasthani and Kashmiri. Bihari and Rajasthani are variants of Hindi. [1a] More than 180 million people in India regard Hindi as their mother tongue, and another 300 million use it as a second language. There is controversy about the status of Punjabi, which can be considered as a dialect of Hindi, or as an independent language. A 1997 survey found that 66% of all Indians can speak Hindi, and 77% of Indians regard Hindi as "one language across the nation". [31] 2.5 For further information on geography, refer to Europa Yearbook, source [1a] Return to Contents 3. ECONOMY 3.1 Since the early 1990s, India has been undergoing a transition from a government- controlled economy to one that is largely market oriented. The private sector is predominant in agriculture, most non-financial services, consumer goods, manufacturing and some heavy industry, although the State dominates the economy through public ownership in sectors such as finance, energy, capital goods and heavy industry, and infrastructure. The State also employs nearly 70% of the 28 million workers in organised employment. [6e] 3.2 India is the world's fifth largest economy in terms of gross national product (GNP), but its per capita GNP brings it to 90th place. Agriculture, together with fishing and industry, contribute approximately one third of GNP. About 70% of the population are involved in cultivation activities. Nearly 33% of cultivated land is under assured irrigation India April 2004 while the rest depends on the annual monsoon. The main crops are food grains for domestic consumption such as rice, wheat and sorghum. Large-scale poverty means that out of the 1.13 billion people living below the poverty line throughout the world, 40% are found in India. [6e] 3.3 India is also regarded as a giant in technological achievements and industrial output: it has significant expertise in nuclear energy, communication satellites, vehicles, software design, combat aeroplanes and helicopters, oceanography and deep sea oil drilling, as well as machinery and manufactured goods. [6e] 3.4 According to XE.com, the approximate rate of exchange on 19 March 2004 was £1 = 79 Indian rupees. [36] Return to Contents 4. HISTORY For history prior to 1996, refer to Europa Year Book Source [1a] 1996 - 1998 4.1 The Congress (I) Government entered the May 1996 general elections with its morale at a low ebb and many of its senior leaders at odds with the Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao. Breakaway parties had been formed in the north, in Madhya Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu - the last in response to Narasimha Rao's decision to have an electoral alliance with the Tamil regional party, the AIADMK, then ruling the State. Congress won only 139 seats, its poorest ever performance. The BJP emerged as the largest party, improving on its previous performance to win 160 seats but still well short of a majority, even with allies. [7e] 4.2 On 15 May 1996 the Indian President called on the BJP's parliamentary leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to form a Government, which he did with the support of Shiv Sena and other smaller allies. Given the antagonism felt towards the BJP by the majority of other political parties, Vajpayee resigned on 28 May 1996 in anticipation of his Government's inevitable defeat in a parliamentary vote of confidence.