Updated: March 2009
India
Overview | World Vision's history in India| World Vision in India today
OverviewThe Republic of India is located in South Asia and is bordered by Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east, Bhutan, Nepal, and China to the north, and Pakistan to the west. It is the seventh largest country in area and the second most populous country in the world. India features an upland plateau over much of the south, the flat, arid Thar Desert in the west, and the imposing mountains of the Himalayan Range in the north. Three of India’s largest rivers—the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra—all originate from the Himalayas. The climate varies from tropical in the south to temperate in the north. Natural resources include coal, iron ore, mica, titanium ore, natural gas, petroleum, diamonds, limestone, and arable land.India supports more than 15 percent of the world’s people and has over 2,000 ethnic groups. Nearly three-quarters of the population are Indo-Aryan, a mixture of indigenous and either European or Iranian ancestry. The Dravidians, who make up 25 percent of India’s inhabitants, live primarily in the central and southern regions of the country. Hindi is the national language and is spoken by 337 million people. Other official languages include Bengali, Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Urdu. English enjoys an associate language status and is used mostly in political and commercial communication. The Hindu culture developed on the subcontinent of India under the Gupta Dynasty in the fifth century A.D. Over the next 700 years, Islam slowly spread across the region, blending with Hindu traditions. By the 1850s, the British opened several trading posts along the west coast and took control of most of India. Beginning in 1920, Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi led a mass movement against British rule, using nonviolent resistance and non-cooperation to push for independence. In 1947, the British partitioned the country into two separate states: India, with a Hindu majority; and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. |  |
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| Soon after, on August 15, 1947, Britain handed over control, giving India its independence. The last 60 years have seen three wars between India and Pakistan over Muslim-dominated Kashmir, located in the northwestern region of the subcontinent. India owns two of Kashmir’s three states; Pakistan owns the remaining state. Neither country recognizes the other’s right to their areas. Although a cease-fire was supported in 2003 by both countries, several attacks have occurred in the last five years. In August 2008, devastating floods in Bihar in eastern India destroyed an estimated 315,000 homes and affected more than 4 million people. India has the world’s 12th largest economy—and third largest in Asia—with a gross national income of $1 trillion. It has become one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with an average growth rate of eight percent over the past three years. Despite the upswing in economic gains, the growth has been uneven among ethnic groups and geographic regions. Most instances of poverty exist in rural areas, where 71 percent of the population lives. More than 80 percent (or 700 million Indians) live on less than $2 a day. Half of the world’s hungry live in India. According to World Food Program, around 35 percent of the population is considered food insecure, consuming less than 80 percent of minimum daily caloric requirements. Furthermore, approximately 78 percent of Indians living in the countryside do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. As a result, diarrhea is prevalent and is the second leading cause of death among children. In addition, anemia affects most pregnant women, leading to stunted growth for 48 percent of children under the age of five. While the prevalence rate for HIV and AIDS is not high in India, there are still 2.5 million people are living with the disease. Back to top World Vision's history in IndiaDr. Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, held a Youth for Christ service in India in 1949 in support of missionary work being conducted in neighboring Nepal. Four years later, World Vision began providing monthly support to Indian national evangelistic workers. Child sponsorship began in 1960 when 23 children’s homes were established for nearly 1,000 children.Flood relief operations commenced in the early 1970s, and by 1971, a relief office opened in Madras (now Chennai). When heavy rains fell in 1974, World Vision assisted those affected by providing food and shelter. A year later, World Vision opened a national office in Madras. By the end of the 1970s, nearly 20,300 children benefitted from sponsorship, each receiving food, education, and immunizations. In the 1980s, sponsorship grew to help more than 73,100 children in 438 projects. In response to the damage wrought by Pradesh cyclones and floods, World Vision provided agricultural assistance, clean drinking water, immunizations, and nutrition programs. Additionally, ongoing development projects provided adult literacy classes, health care, preschool and primary education, and vocational training in beekeeping and poultry farming. During the 1990s World Vision responded to emergency crises through the provision of food, clothing, building materials, and clean water systems. Several projects were launched to address the concerns of bonded child labor, street children, AIDS awareness, rehabilitation of commercial sex workers, and the prevention of female infanticide. In addition, several community development programs were launched to reach some 3,000 rural villages and urban communities. More than 8,000 affluent Indians were enlisted to become child sponsors, helping support 39 projects. With nearly 50 years of experience in India and thousands of staff in the region, World Vision was able to work effectively and efficiently to bring immediate relief to more than 35,000 victims of the December 2004 tsunami. Hours after the devastation, World Vision deployed assessment teams and later distributed relief materials, including clothes, mats, household utensils, medicines, kerosene, blankets, cooked food, and bottled water. Complete recovery is expected to take years. Back to top World Vision in India todayWorld Vision is committed to partnering with the people of India to enhance their lives today and to help enact sustainable solutions for the future of their communities, families, and children. Currently, 227,108 children are registered in the World Vision sponsorship program. Several times this number of children and other family members benefit from World Vision activities. Of these registered children, many have World Vision sponsors in other countries. U.S. donors sponsor 52,218 girls and boys. In addition, World Vision operates 118 development programs, 25 of which are supported by U.S. donors. Highlights of these efforts include the following:
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