Daily News Mail

Advani, Amitabh and Dilip gets Padma Vibhushan

List of nine Padma Vibhushan awardees, the second highest civilian award of the country :

1. BJP patriarch -  L.K. Advani
2. Punjab Chief Minister -  Prakash Singh Badal
3. Actor -  Amitabh Bachchan
4. Actor -  Dilip Kumar
5. Senior Advocate - K.K. Venugopal
6. Nuclear scientist - M.R. Srinivasan
7. Philanthropist - Veerendra Heggade
8. Sanskrit scholar - Rambhadracharya
9. Karim Al Hussiani Aga Khan (spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, believed to be a direct descendant of Islam’s revered Prophet Mohammed)

Among the 20 names to be awarded the Padma Bhushan are senior advocate Harish Salve, journalists Swapan Dasgupta and Rajat Sharma, former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami, constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap and Carnatic vocalist Sudha Raghunathan. Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates, and Fields Medal winner Manjul Bhargava have also been named for the Padma Bhushan.

Padma Vibushan : It is awarded to recognize exceptional and distinguished service to the nation in any field, including government service. The first recipients of this award were Satyendra Nath Bose, Nand Lal Bose (Nandalal Bose(3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966) was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism.

A pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, Bose was known for his "Indian style" of painting. He became the principal of Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan in 1922. He was influenced by the Tagore family and the murals of Ajanta; his classic works include paintings of scenes from Indian mythologies, women, and village life.), Zakir Hussain ((8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969). He was the 3rd President of India, from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. An educationist and intellectual, Hussain was the country's first Muslim president. He previously served as Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962 and as Vice President of India from 1962 to 1967.Zakir Hussain was also co-founder of Jamia Milia Islamia, serving as its Vice Chancellor from 1928. Under Hussain, Jamia became closely associated with the Indian freedom movement. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest national honour, in 1963.), Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher (Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher(August 24, 1888 – March 8, 1957) was the first chief minister (then called prime minister) of Bombay State which consisted of present day Maharastra and Gujarat States of India), Jigme Dorji Wangchuk (Jigme Dorji Wangchuck; 2 May 1929 – 21 July 1972) was the Third king of Bhutan.He began to open Bhutan to the outside world, began modernization, and took the first steps toward democratization. Upon succeeding his father, Jigme Wangchuck, on 27 October 1952, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck put an end to feudalism and slavery and released all remaining serfs.), and V. K. Krishna Menon (Statesman and diplomat V.K. Krishna Menon was a brilliant man known equally for his intelligence and arrogance.He served at several top positions as the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s close political confidante. The power he held was so immense that it is no surprise that the ‘Time’ magazine called him the second most powerful man in India, after the then Prime Minister Nehru himself.) in the year 1954.

Wing Commander Pooja Thakur makes history

Wing Commander Pooja Thakur became the first woman to lead the ceremonial tri-service guard of honour inspected by U.S. President Barack Obama at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 25th January.

Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh will be awarded Ashok Chakra

• Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh of the 57 Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles will be posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime military decoration.
• The Army man, while leading a search operation at Kupwara in Jammu & Kashmir on August 24, 2014, came under heavy fire from terrorists. He rescued an injured Army person and shot dead one of the terrorists.
• President Pranab Mukherjee will also posthumously award the Ashok Chakra to Major Mukund Varadarajan of the 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles, which was announced on Independence Day last year for his show of exceptional courage while leading an anti-terror operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
• On the eve of the 66th Republic Day celebrations, the President has approved 374 awards of gallantry, including three Kirti Chakras and 12 Shaurya Chakras, and other defence decorations to the armed forces personnel and others.

Ashoka Chakra (India's highest peacetime military decoration) :

The Ashoka Chakra is India's highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peace time equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice" other than in the face of the enemy.The decoration may be awarded either to military or civilian personnel and may be awarded posthumously

Kirti Chakra:

The Kirti Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battlefield. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Maha Vir Chakra. It is second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards; it comes after Ashoka Chakra and before Shaurya Chakra.

Shaurya Chakra :

The Shaurya Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice while not engaged in direct action with the enemy. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, sometimes posthumously. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Vir Chakra. It is generally awarded for Counter-Insurgency operations and actions against the enemy during peace-time. It is third in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards and comes after the Ashoka Chakra and the Kirti Chakra.

Param Vir Chakra (military decoration):

The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India's highest military decoration awarded for the highest degree of valour or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy. It can be awarded to officers or enlisted personnel from all branches of the Indian military. It is the highest gallantry award of the Government of India after Ashoka Chakra.

Maha Vir Chakra :

The Maha Vir Chakra is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air.

Vir Chakra

Vir Chakra is an Indian gallantry award presented for acts of bravery in the battlefield. It is third in precedence in the war time gallantry awards and comes after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.

Reasons for remembering King Abdullah

• BJP-led NDA government on declared “national mourning” on 24 January as a mark of respect. According to practice, the national flag will be flown at half mast throughout the country and there will be no official entertainment during the day.
• President Pranab Mukherjee also condoled the Saudi King’s death, remembering him as one who had “genuine warmth and affection” for India. Abdullah had once called India his “second home”, as it was under his rule that the foundation for the bilateral strategic partnership was laid and ties gained momentum. He made a historic visit to India in January 2006 as the Chief Guest of Republic Day celebrations and the trip opened a new chapter in the Indo-Saudi bilateral relations. He was the first Saudi king to visit India in 51 years.
• At stake with the appointment of Salman as king is the future direction of the United States' most important Arab ally and self-appointed champion of Sunni Islam at a moment of unprecedented turmoil across the Middle East.
• King Abdullah steered the ship of Saudi Arabia with a consummate hand through various storms such as the 9/11 tragedy, which was perpetrated by 19 terrorists, 15 of them Saudis. For the next five years, as the world held its breath, the al-Qaeda led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden waged a no-holds terror campaign aimed at overthrowing the establishment in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter and host of Islam’s two holiest shrines.
• Later, when the “Arab Spring” contagion posed a different genre of threat, King Abdullah’s sagacious package of financial concessions and socio-political liberalisation avoided a catastrophe.
• Abdullah played a guiding role in Saudi Arabia's support for Egypt's government after the military intervened in 2012, and drove his country's support for Syria's rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.
• Abdullah pushed cautious changes in the conservative Islamic kingdom including increased women's rights and economic deregulation, but made no moves towards democracy and was a hawk on policy towards rival Iran.
• Saudi Arabia, which holds more than a fifth of the world's crude oil, also exerts some influence over the world's 1.6 billion Muslims through its guardianship of Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites.

Trillion dollar baby

• In a last ditch attempt to rescue the Eurozone from a deflationary spiral — inflation was minus 0.2 per cent in December and the unemployment rate is 11.5 per cent — the European Central Bank (ECB) announced an open-ended government bond buying programme. Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, announced on Thursday that it would buy 60 billion euros of bonds each month until September 2016. But crucially, Draghi added that the programme would remain in place “until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with our aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close to, 2 per cent”.
• Draghi’s public commitment to near-2 per cent inflation is an important signal and might go some way in breaking deflationary expectations. In the coming days, the euro is likely to weaken — this is a good thing for exports and spurring inflation — and sovereign bond yields will fall further leading to an adjustment of financial portfolios towards more risky assets. Greece, whose yields have, in fact, risen due to political uncertainty, and which goes to the polls on Sunday, is the exception.
• While the programme is bigger than expected and must have taken some nimble negotiation, the ECB’s announcement seems a few months too late. It is also complicated by involved risk-sharing across the national central banks of the Eurozone and the reliance of European firms on bank finance, rather than capital markets. While better late than never, its success compared to QE programmes in the US and the UK remains to be seen.
• But Draghi’s announcement could be a boon for the Narendra Modi government. While the UPA had to contend with high inflation and external vulnerability due to the imminent tapering of the US Federal Reserve’s QE programme, the NDA has been lucky with global oil and commodity prices and their effect on moderating inflation. And now, with the ECB’s QE programme effectively neutralising the Fed’s bond-buying wind-down, it holds out the assurance of continuing comfortable global liquidity and money streaming into Indian capital markets. This is not just because India is not a commodity exporter but also because it seems more comfortably placed, with brighter growth prospects than its emerging market peers. But there is no room for complacency. “Sentiment” may have returned to the market but the investment cycle has not yet restarted. All eyes are on the Union budget. The Centre must start by rationalising the subsidy regime and bringing the GST.(source - Indian Express)

Daily News Mail

Consensus on implementing 13th amendment : Ranil

• Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe on 24 January said political parties have agreed to implement the thirteenth amendment as a solution to end the country’s over three-decade-old ethnic conflict involving the Tamil minority.
• He further said that all Provincial Councils will have equal powers now that the Tamil National Alliance has said that they are for a solution within an undivided Sri Lanka.
• Provincial Councils became part of the Sri Lankan statute as a direct result of the landmark 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka accord, popularly known as the Rajiv-Jayawardane Accord, after its architects — Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene.
• Mr. Wickramasinghe also blamed the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for failing to resolve the thorny issues concerning the Tamil minority despite having ended the two-and-a-half decade-old civil war with the LTTE in 2009.

Some International news:

• Turkey is home to nearly 2 million Syrian refuge.

• Sri Lanka's new government scrapped compulsory military training for school teachers and undergraduates. The three-week army training, mandatory under ousted leader Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration, had resulted in at least three deaths in recent years and was deeply unpopular among student and teacher unions.

• World leaders headed to Saudi Arabia on 24 January to offer condolences following the death of King Abdullah.

Daily News Mail

Tiger population has increased

• The recent tiger census has shown 30% increase in tiger population.
• According to the latest census, the number of tigers is 2,226. It was 1706 in the last census four years back, which shows 30% increase in the number of tigers.
• India now accounts for 70% of the world's wild tigers.
• Still many responsibility lies on the Forest Department personnel.
• No officer or individual had been nailed for the disappearance of tigers from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. Remind you that in 2005, all tigers had been disappeared from Sariska Tiger Reserve. poaching was blamed for that. 
• Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was contrary to some provisions of the Wildlife Act which complicated the situation. The government needs to review all such laws and frame simple laws which are easier to implement.
• Recently, the Periyar Tiger Reserve, spread over 925 sq.km. in Kerala, bagged the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award for encouraging local public participation in managing the reserve.
• The Government of India has taken a pioneering initiative for conserving its national animal, the tiger, by launching the ‘Project Tiger’ in 1973. From 9 tiger reserves since its formative years, the Project Tiger coverage has increased to 44 at present, spread out in 17 of our tiger range states. This amounts to around 2.08% of the geographical area of our country. The tiger reserves are constituted on a core/buffer strategy. The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple use area. The Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger reserves, with an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.

Mali declared Ebola free country

• On January 18, the World Health Organization and the Malian government declared Mali free of the Ebola virus disease. Mali is the third country after Nigeria and Senegal to become free of the deadly disease. A country should have had no new cases of Ebola for a continuous period of 42 days, which is a cycle of two incubation periods of 21 days, for it to be declared free of the virus.
• This is a particularly remarkable achievement for Mali, given the fact that it shares a porous, 800-km-long border with Guinea. After all, on December 26, 2013, the first case of Ebola virus that led to the unprecedented crisis in West Africa was found in a remote village in Guinea.
• The good news is that there has been a “turning point” in the Ebola crisis with the number of new cases reported in the three worst-affected countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — falling in recent weeks. According to the WHO, as on January 21, 2015 all of 8,683 people have died of Ebola, and the number of cases so far is more than 21,759.

Carbon tax - an innovative approach to mitigate greenhouse gases

Different systems to mitigate greenhouse gases emission:

What is cap-and-trade system ?

In a cap-and-trade system, government puts a firm limit, or cap, on the overall level of carbon pollution from industry and reduces that cap year after year to reach a set pollution target. As the cap decreases each year, it cuts industry's total greenhouse gas emissions to the limit set by regulation, and then forces polluters that exceed their emissions quota to buy unused quota from other companies.

The government creates and distributes pollution quotas, most fairly through an auction. This creates an incentive for firms to reduce their emissions and be able to sell rather than purchase pollution quotas. Under this system the market determines the price of quotas.

What is carbon tax ?

 A carbon tax is a fee placed on greenhouse gas pollution mainly from burning fossil fuels. This can be done by placing a surcharge on carbon-based fuels and other sources of pollution such as industrial processes. 

Pricing carbon emissions through a carbon tax is one of the most powerful incentives that governments have to encourage companies and households to pollute less by investing in cleaner technologies and adopting greener practices.

Pros and cons of 'cap-and-trade' and 'carbon tax'

Cap-and-trade has one key environmental advantage over a carbon tax: It provides more certainty about the amount of emissions reductions that will result and little certainty about the price of emissions (which is set by the emissions trading market). A carbon tax provides certainty about the price but little certainty about the amount of emissions reductions.

A carbon tax also has one key advantage: It is easier and quicker for governments to implement.A carbon tax can be very simple. It can rely on existing administrative structures for taxing fuels and can therefore be implemented in just a few months. In theory, the same applies to cap-and-trade systems, but in practice they tend to be much more complex. More time is required to develop the necessary regulations, and they are more susceptible to lobbying and loopholes. Cap-and-trade also requires the establishment of an emissions trading market.

Countries which have adopted an innovative approach of carbon tax

Sweden has used a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since 1991. Although a suite of other policies has also been used, the Swedish Ministry of Environment estimated the carbon tax has cut emissions by an additional 20 per cent (as opposed to solely relying on regulations), enabling the country to achieve its 2012 target under the Kyoto Protocol.

In Canada, (British Columbia ) B.C. and Quebec provinces use carbon taxes as part of their strategies to reduce emissions and encourage investments in energy-efficiency and renewable energy. 

A groundbreaking study shows that Canada's economy can still grow by almost 20 per cent over the next decade while the country dramatically reduces its greenhouse gas pollution by about half.

Actually, India has a carbon tax of sorts. United Progressive Alliance government’s budget of 2010-11 introduced a cess of Rs. 50 per tonne of both domestically produced and imported coal. In Union Budget 2014, the government increased the coal cess from Rs 50 a tonne to Rs 100 a tonne. However, the idea of this cess, it must be admitted, was less to curb carbon emissions but more to raise revenues for the National Clean Energy Fund. Of course, the Fund itself could well support carbon mitigation initiatives but its take-off has been slow so far since Finance Ministers see it as a source of mitigating not carbon but the fiscal deficit. The Fund has close to Rs. 15,000 crore already accumulated in it and this will grow rapidly as coal consumption increases. But the important point is that India already has an important half-step, even though its version of a carbon tax is not economy-wide and it is far below the levels that are generally accepted as being desirable (around $20-25 per tonne of carbon).

Daily News Mail

P.M. Narendra Modi launches Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme 

• Modi launched twin programmes of "Beti bachao, beti padhao" and "Sukanya Samriddhi account" in a bid to encourage birth and education of girls and tackle the abysmally low child sex ratio of 919 girls for 1000 boys. 
• This is the fourth major scheme of the Union government after the Jan Dhan Yojana, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the Make in India campaign.
• PM launched the two schemes from Panipat in Haryana that has among the lowest child sex ratio in the country (837 girls to 1000 boys)
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the people to save the lives of girl children, and administered them an oath to fight female foeticide and celebrate the birth of girls and educate them.
• He launched the “Sukanya Samruddhi” account scheme, under which accounts could be opened for girls from the time of their birth till their attaining the age of 10. The account can be opened with Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 1.5 lakh deposited in it in a financial year.Mr. Modi said interest income and withdrawals from the scheme had been exempted from tax.

Please save girls, they are special gift of God.

Jhumpa wins DSC Prize for Literature, 2015

• Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the $ 50,000 for Literature, one of the South Asia's top literary awards for her book, The Lowland.
• The Prize celebrates writing on the South Asian region from writers across the globe and is given to the best novel or translations into English of a work on or about the region.

Daily News Mail

Modi reviews preperations for 'Housing for all' scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 21 chaired a review meeting on the goal of "Housing for All" by 2022. The meeting was to finalise the contours of the Housing for All Mission, which is one of the priority commitments of the government.

The programme was mentioned in the President's address to Parliament in June 2014 where he said, "By the time the nation completes 75 years of its Independence, every family will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7 electricity supply and access." 

The same commitment was made in the Budget for 2014-15 where the Finance Minister had announced a Housing for All programme. The Finance Minister had said, "Our government is committed to endeavour to have housing for all by 2022. For this purpose, I intend to extend additional tax incentive on home loans to encourage people, especially the young, to own houses. I propose setting up a Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing which will be anchored in the National Housing Bank. Schemes will be evolved to incentivize the development of low cost affordable housing." 

The programme proposes to build 2 crore houses across the nation by 2022. This would cover both slum housing and affordable housing for weaker sections. It will cover urban poor living in slums, urban homeless and new migrants to urban areas in search of shelter. It would cover metros, small towns and all urban areas.

National Housing Bank

National Housing Bank (NHB), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1987. NHB is an apex financial institution for housing. It commenced its operations in 9th July 1988. NHB has been established with an objective to operate as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local and regional levels and to provide financial and other support incidental to such institutions and for matters connected therewith

NHB registers, regulates and supervises Housing Finance Company (HFCs), keeps surveillance through On-site & Off-site Mechanisms and co-ordinates with other Regulators.

Daily News Mail

India's growth rate to surpass China's in 2016 : IMF

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India's growth rate at 6.5% in 2016 by when it is likely to cross China's projected growth rate at 6.3%.
• In its World Economic Outlook released on January 20, 2015, IMF forecast that India would grow at 6.3% in 2015.
• In 2014, India's growth rate was 5.8% against China's 7.4%.
• In 2013, India's growth rate was 5.0% against China's 7.8%.
• The IMF has cut its global growth projection to 3.5% in 2015 and 3.7% in 2016.

International Monetary Fund:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is an organisation of 188 countries.
• The IMF works to foster global growth and economic stability. It provides policy advice and financing to members in economic difficulties and also works with developing nations to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty.
• IMF formed in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system. 
• The IMF has played a part in shaping the global economy since the end of World War II.
• Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries with payment imbalances can borrow. As of 2010, the fund had SDR 476.8 billion, about US$755.7 billion at then-current exchange rates.
• The IMF's fundamental mission is to help ensure stability in the international system. It does so in three ways: keeping track of the global economy and the economies of member countries; lending to countries with balance of payments difficulties; and giving practical help to members.
• Christine Lagarde of France is the Managing Director (MD) of the IMF.

Special Drawing Right (SDR):

The Special Drawing Right (SDR) is an interest-bearing international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement other reserve assets of member countries.

• The SDR is based on a basket of international currencies comprising the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, euro and pound sterling. It is not a currency, nor a claim on the IMF, but is potentially a claim on freely usable currencies of IMF members. The value of the SDR is not directly determined by supply and demand in the market, but is set daily by the IMF on the basis of market exchange rates between the currencies included in the SDR basket.
• It can be held and used by member countries, the IMF, and certain designated official entities called "prescribed holders"—but it can not be held, for example, by private entities or individuals. Its status as a reserve asset derives from the commitments of members to hold, accept, and honor obligations denominated in SDR. The SDR also serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations.

Question asked in UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination, 2014:

Which of the following organizations brings out the publication known as ‘World Economic Outlook’?

A.The International Monetary Fund

B.The United Nations Development Programme

C.The World Economic Forum

D.The World Bank

Rs. 1-crore award to any innovative village for maintaining a balanced sex ratio : Meneka Gandhi

• Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi announced a Rs. 1-crore award to any innovative village for maintaining a balanced sex ratio.
• Ms Gandhi urged state governments, district commissioners and other functionaries to work in tandem for the success of the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' programme, which Prime Minister Narendar Modi will formally launch from Panipat on January 22, 2015.
• Ms. Gandhi said the Prime Minister chose Haryana to launch the campaign as it was one of the States with a low female sex ratio. One hundred districts with a low female sex ratio were selected nationwide for the campaign, and 12 of them, including Panipat, were in Haryana.

Child sex ratio as per 2011 census is 919 and it was 927 as per 2001 census.

Source of all the below mentioned data - www.census2011.co.in

Census 2011 - some facts 

• Thane district of Maharashtra is the most populated district of India.
• Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh is the least populated.
• Kurung Kumey of Arunachal Pradesh registered highest population growthrate of 111.01 percent.
• Longleng district of Nagaland registered negative population growth rate of (-)58.39.
• Mahe district of Puducherry has highest sex ratio of 1176 females per 1000 males.
• Daman district has lowest sex ratio of 533 females per 1000 males.
• Serchhip district of Mizoram has highest literacy rate of 98.76 percent.
• Alirajpur of MP is the least literate district of India with figure of 37.22 percent only.
• North East Delhi has the higest density with figure of 37346 person per square kilometer.
• Dibang Valley has the least density of 1 person per sq. km.

List of States with sex ratio and child sex ratio as per 2011 and 2001 census

Sr. No.	State	Sex Ratio(2011)	Child Sex ratio(2011)	Sex Ratio(2001)	Child Sex ratio(2001)
-	India	943	919	933	927
1	Kerala	1084	964	1058	965
2	Puducherry	1037	967	1001	913
3	Tamil Nadu	996	943	986	959
4	Andhra Pradesh	993	939	978	896
5	Manipur	992	936	978	975
6	Chhattisgarh	991	969	990	868
7	Meghalaya	989	970	975	932
8	Orissa	979	941	972	979
9	Mizoram	976	970	938	883
10	Goa	973	942	960	963
11	Karnataka	973	948	964	973
12	Himachal Pradesh	972	909	970	957
13	Uttarakhand	963	890	964	967
14	Tripura	960	957	950	960
15	Assam	958	962	932	845
16	West Bengal	950	956	934	957
17	Jharkhand	948	948	941	966
18	Lakshadweep	946	911	947	960
19	Arunachal Pradesh	938	972	901	798
20	Nagaland	931	943	909	926
21	Madhya Pradesh	931	918	920	965
22	Maharashtra	929	894	922	953
23	Rajasthan	928	888	922	946
24	Gujarat	919	890	921	964
25	Bihar	918	935	921	908
26	Uttar Pradesh	912	902	898	942
27	Punjab	895	846	874	961
28	Sikkim	890	957	875	938
29	Jammu and Kashmir	889	862	900	964
30	Haryana	879	834	861	964
31	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	876	968	846	941
32	Delhi	868	871	821	942
33	Chandigarh	818	880	773	819
34	Dadra and Nagar Haveli	774	926	811	909
35	Daman and Diu	618	904	709	916

List of States with Population, Growth Rate, Area, Density, Sex Ratio, Literacy (according to 2011 census)

Sr. No.

State

Population

Growth Rate

Area Sq.km

Density

Sex Ratio

Literacy

-

India

1,210,193,422

17.64 %

3287240

382

940

74.04

1

Uttar Pradesh

199,812,341

20.23 %

240928

829

912

67.68

2

Maharashtra

112,374,333

15.99 %

307713

365

929

82.34

3

Bihar

104,099,452

25.42 %

94163

1106

918

61.80

4

West Bengal

91,276,115

13.84 %

88752

1028

950

76.26

5

Andhra Pradesh

84,580,777

10.98 %

275045

308

993

67.02

6

Madhya Pradesh

72,626,809

20.35 %

308252

236

931

69.32

7

Tamil Nadu

72,147,030

15.61 %

130060

555

996

80.09

8

Rajasthan

68,548,437

21.31 %

342239

200

928

66.11

9

Karnataka

61,095,297

15.60 %

191791

319

973

75.36

10

Gujarat

60,439,692

19.28 %

196244

308

919

78.03

11

Orissa

41,974,218

14.05 %

155707

270

979

72.87

12

Kerala

33,406,061

4.91 %

38852

860

1084

94.00

13

Jharkhand

32,988,134

22.42 %

79716

414

948

66.41

14

Assam

31,205,576

17.07 %

78438

398

958

72.19

15

Punjab

27,743,338

13.89 %

50362

551

895

75.84

16

Chhattisgarh

25,545,198

22.61 %

135192

189

991

70.28

17

Haryana

25,351,462

19.90 %

44212

573

879

75.55

18

Delhi

16,787,941

21.21 %

1483

11320

868

86.21

19

Jammu and Kashmir

12,541,302

23.64 %

222236

56

889

67.16

20

Uttarakhand

10,086,292

18.81 %

53483

189

963

78.82

21

Himachal Pradesh

6,864,602

12.94 %

55673

123

972

82.80

22

Tripura

3,673,917

14.84 %

10486

350

960

87.22

23

Meghalaya

2,966,889

27.95 %

22429

132

989

74.43

24

Manipur

2,570,390

12.05 %

22327

115

992

79.21

25

Nagaland

1,978,502

-0.58 %

16579

119

931

79.55

26

Goa

1,458,545

8.23 %

3702

394

973

88.70

27

Arunachal Pradesh

1,383,727

26.03 %

83743

17

938

65.38

28

Puducherry

1,247,953

28.08 %

490

2547

1037

85.85

29

Mizoram

1,097,206

23.48 %

21081

52

976

91.33

30

Chandigarh

1,055,450

17.19 %

114

9258

818

86.05

31

Sikkim

610,577

12.89 %

7096

86

890

81.42

32

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

380,581

6.86 %

8249

46

876

86.63

33

Dadra and Nagar Haveli

343,709

55.88 %

491

700

774

76.24

34

Daman and Diu

243,247

53.76 %

111

2191

618

87.10

35

Lakshadweep

64,473

6.30 %

30

2149

946

91.85