Vibrant South Asian

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Learn more about how Vibrant South Asian started

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Vibrant South Asian was inspired by the idea of breaking down stereotypes associated with South Asian countries by educating our community about positive attributes of the region. We recognized that many people in our community were enthusiastic to learn about these countries but needed guidance and resources.
While connecting our community to South Asia was important to us, we also wanted to do something to give back to the vibrant region of South Asia. Filled with rich cultures and traditions, this region is also home to areas of extreme poverty.  We decided we wanted to do something to improve access to education.  It seemed fitting that we would focus on educating our community about South Asia while enabling the people of that region to obtain an education that could improve their lives.  We contemplated various ways of improving access to education and eventually decided to focus our efforts on building libraries in impoverished areas of the countries.

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Hello, Namaste, Namaskar, Vanakkam, Sat Srī Akāl… The Many Languages of India!

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India has 23 constitutionally recognized official languages but Hindi and English are the official languages used by the Central Government.  The Indian Constitution (Article 343) declares Hindi to be the official language of India.  The eighth schedule of the Constitution of India lists 22 regional languages, giving them official status.

The people of India speak in about 780 different languages and write in 86 different scripts. Hindi is the native language of about 20% of the Indian population and is most widely spoken in northern parts of India including the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttaranchal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.

India – with a population of over 1.3 billion – is the world’s largest democracy

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Unlike the American or British political systems which have existed in their current forms for centuries, the Indian political system is a much more recent construct dating from India’s independence from Britain in 1947.

The current constitution came into force on January 26, 1950 and advocates the trinity of justice, liberty, and equality for all citizens. The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, containing 444 articles, 12 schedules, and 98 amendments, with almost 120,000 words in its English language version.

The lower house of India’s Bicameral-Parliament, the Lok Sabha (House of the People), is modeled on the British House of Commons, but its federal system of government borrows from the United States, Canada, and Australia. [Read more…]