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So we have finally encroached upon the giant: India.
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Some of you've been waiting a long time for this episode.
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I'm just gonna say straight up:
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You all know India is incredibly complex and diverse.
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Even Indians have trouble understanding their own country.
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Obviously, I won't be able to scratch even the surface in this episode.
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But I'll try my best. A lot of you Indian geograpeeps have helped me along the way.
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So thank you, and without further ado, let's begin!
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♫♫♫
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♫ It's time to learn Geography! NOW!!! ♫
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Hey everybody. I'm your host Barby.
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This place doesn't even need much of an introduction.
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Everybody has heard of India. It's big. It's loud.
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It's colorful, and most importantly it has a plethora of confusing territorial anomalies that I just can't wait to cover. Here we go!!
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♫ Political Geography ♫
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There's an old saying: India is a place where everyone is in a hurry,
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but no one is ever on time.
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First of all, India is located in South Asia right on the Indian and Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
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Bordered by six other countries. So close to seven but that land bridge between Sri Lanka
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got wiped away like 600 years ago by a cyclone. India is divided into 29 states and 7 union territories
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with the capital New Delhi which acts as its own administrative
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unit located in the capital territory
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Keep in mind that New Delhi is actually just the name of one of the districts in the capital territory made up of 11.
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The largest city however, is actually Mumbai, with New Delhi, Bangalore (or Bengaluru) and Hyderabad
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following after. However the four busiest airports are Delhi (Indira Gandhi International), Mumbai (Chhatrapati Shivaji International)
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Bengaluru's Kempegowda International and Chennai International in the south.
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Ah, you know why I'm smiling
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This is my favorite part of any episode
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we ever make: territorial anomaly time!!
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India is loaded with strange borders and
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deliciously complex demarcation lines.
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First of all what exactly is a Union territory?
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In the simplest way I can put this Union Territories are places that are two distinct to be incorporated into a state
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but too small to have their own local governments.
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The first one of course is the Delhi National capital territory where the capital lies.
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Chandigarh is a post-independent city constructed to replace Lahore as the capital of the Punjab area after it was split up between India and Pakistan.
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Then you have the Island territories the smallest one
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Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Andaman Islands being home to one of the last
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uncontacted people groups on the planet:
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the sentinelese tried who have been hostile to visitors and are therefore left alone.
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As well as the Nicobar Islands which actually used to be a short-lived colony of Denmark.
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Finally the three remaining territories are former European Colony towns and ports:
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Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
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which are separated by 200 kilometers across the Gulf of Khambhat.
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And the most confusing Union Territory: the French-speaking Puducherry
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Which is actually split between four district cities across India:
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Karaikal, Mahe, Yanam and Pondicherry.
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Pondicherry is strange because it has 11 enclaves within the Tamil Nadu state or in this area you can also find the
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experimental hippie-ish
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commune with a little bit of controversy (look it up).
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Here the Eastern States (also known as the Seven Sisters) are connected by this incredibly narrow 27-kilometer wide pathway known as the Siliguri Corridor.
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This pathway is like a crucial artery that completes the India puzzle. Or so you would think?
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Now let's discuss the juicy stuff.
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Now in the China episode
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I already talked about the disputed areas with India such as Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh.
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The latter pretty much just belonging to India as it's almost completely inhabited and operated by Indians.
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So let's move to the other disputes. Now as of 2015 the Bangladesh episode is already outdated as India and Bangladesh have finally come to
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an agreement over the frighteningly
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complex former enclave/exclave dispute. In the end India only lost about 40 square kilometers of land to Bangladesh.
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And now only a few enclaves and exclaves exist.
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Now let's head North.
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Now when you try to draw the shape of India you might want to be careful which depiction you use.
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Some might use this picture.
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Some might use this.
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Some might use this
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and those that don't really study very well might use this.
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The point is the whole area is like the most heavily militarized
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diplomatically stressed out region on the planet.
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It's already had like four wars in the past half century.
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Basically, India, Pakistan (and to some extent China) all want the entire area for themselves although
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it's more of like a Pakistan-India thing.
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In the China episode we already discussed the Chinese disputes with India
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so I won't cover those in this episode if you want to learn more just watch the China episode.
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But anyway! This entire area was a former domain known as the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that was under Royal
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Maharaja rulers all the way up until independence.
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Currently this place is split up by this fenced off militarized line known as the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan.
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Why is this?
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Well in the quickest way I can put this:
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Pakistan: Okay the British are out. We get to take your land.
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J&K: No, we want to be an independent princely state.
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Pakistan: Er..we're supposed to take your land and majority of your people are Muslim.
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Just like us. Even though your ruler is Hindu as well.
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Soon after...
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J&K: Hey India. If you help me, I'll let you secede my territory to your land with autonomy.
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India: Deal.
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*India beats Pakistan.*
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J&K: Ha! your problem now.
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I love how Mike played India. He totally represents India.
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Oh, and keep in mind Pakistan's capital
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Islamabad is less than 80 kilometers away from all that drama.
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The Line of control meanders through the mountains until it stops at a point called NJ-9842.
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This is where things get really crazy because from there you hit the Siachin glacier (the second longest nonpolar glacier) in the world and this
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is pretty much the dead man's zone. After point NJ-9842 you hit the actual ground
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position line: a series of military outposts that extend all the way to the Chinese border.
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That means everything in this area is ground zero for the Indo-Pak tension.
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You know the crazy thing is there's actually literally small towns of normal regular civilians living in these areas high up in the mountains.
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Many of which just go about daily life going to work and raising their families.
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Otherwise they have a river dispute with Nepal
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and various River Islands disputed with Bangladesh.
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Outside of all the dispute stuff though
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India not only has the world's second largest road network and three of the world's top ten mega cities and their own space program
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but they also have a copious abundance of landmarks and notable sites way too many to list.
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But some of the ones that you guys the Indian Geograpeeps have told me to mention include places like
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the abandoned Dhanuskhodi Ghost City
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Golconda Fort
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the four Pillars of Charminar
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The Ajanta Buddhist art Caves
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The Elora Monolithic ruins
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Mandu Fortress
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The Golden Temple (which feeds over a hundred thousand people a day; for free!)
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The Gol Gumbaz mausoleum
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The Kalavantin Durg Post
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The ruins of Hampi
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The Hill Forts of Rajasthan
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Shatrunjaya hill (which is basically like a Mecca for Jains)
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The temple of the Bodhi tree
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Jal Mahal
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Bhangarh Fort (the most haunted place in India)
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Mohabbat Maqbara
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and keep in mind. Just like in China
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you can find a great wall of India in Rajsamand.
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There's also the Paritala Anjaneya Temple (with the largest statue in India depicting Hanuman)
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and over 150 acres the Sri Ranganathaswami Temple
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the largest Hindu Temple in the world
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And there's also that building with the stuff and that thing and whatever.
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We could go on for centuries talking about India's rich constructed domicile
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But what it lies on top of is even more fascinating?
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♫ Physical Geography ♫
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Now don't make this mistake.
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I'm going to India. All I need are my sandals and sunscreen.
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Welcome to Kargil!
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(freezing) Oh crap!
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Now as the seventh largest country in land area, India has a wide range of landscapes, climates and elevations
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that all contrast from one corner to the other.
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First of all, let's talk about the North. India sits on the Indian tectonic plate that essentially smashed into the Eurasian plate
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which in return created the largest Mountain range in the world: the Himalayas.
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The force is so strong that it's estimated that the Himalayas grow about 2.4 inches
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or 6.1 centimeters every year. It's also here we can find Kanchenjunga: the tallest mountain in India or the third in the world, right on the border of Nepal.
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Keep your eye on these mountains. These are pretty much the source of most of India's major rivers that give
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life to the whole country.
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That's why India takes these mountains so seriously.
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You can also find the largest natural lake Wular, up in the Jammu & Kashmir area.
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Below the Himalayas you reach the North Indian River plains, sometimes referred to as the Indus-Ganga.
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This is the most fertile part of India where the most important Rivers like the Ganges and its tributaries flow.
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Heading a little south you Reach the Satpura and Vindhya ranges that pretty much divide North India from South India.
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On each side you get the Western and Eastern Ghat mountains which in return creates this massive triangle thing called the Deccan plateau.
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This place is moderately forced especially in the east and the Chota Nagpur plateau
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where you get a section of the swampy Sunderbans that they share with Bangladesh (check out the Bangladesh episode).
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Head a little West and you get the dry Thar desert along the border with Pakistan.
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As well as the Runn of Kutch (known as the salt desert)
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And finally the only active volcanic area would be the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
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with Barren Island having actual conical eruptions and Baratang having tame mud Volcanoes
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Now here's the thing: although India has a relatively high population density
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they do relatively well with maintaining their ecological footing
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In fact in 2016 they beat a world record by planting (disputably) 50 million trees in one day.
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They've also agreed to reforest about 12 percent of the country by 2030. The most heavily forested area being the Seven Sister states in East India.
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Now one of the factors that contributes to this would be the fact that India has the lowest meat consumption in the world with
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the highest population percentage of
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vegetarians at around 40% (most of whom are lacto-vegetarian that consume milk products)
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By the way in India when buying groceries this label means
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Vegetarian and this one means
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Non-vegetarian.
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Nonetheless, the remainder of the population does typically eat some kind of animal
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protein (mostly in the form of seafood or chicken).
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But almost never beef or pork (unless a fewer part of the muslim or Christian minorities scattered throughout the west and east areas).
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Now let's talk about the role of Cattle, shall we?
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India has more cattle and livestock than anywhere else in the world at around 330 million
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And it's interesting because since they have prevalent Hindu traditions, the killing of cows is illegal in many of the states except for a few,
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and each state has varying degrees of punishment for committing intentional cow slaughter.
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Keyword: Intentional. Cows accidentally get hit by cars all the time.
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Once the cows too old to produce milk it typically is released into the open
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to die naturally in the wild. "Ideally".
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Nonetheless male cattle get it much worse as they are deemed as kind of "useless". Some places use them as draft animals for labour.
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Some religious sects use them as sacrifices, but otherwise
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They're typically sold to the underground market for beef or hides.
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To this day, there are about six times as many female cows as male cattle in India so that means: yeah something's happening to the males.
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Nonetheless, India does have the third highest carbon emission rate after China and the US. Fourth if you consider the EU.
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However emission per capita they rank pretty low at only about two kilotons per person.
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Contrast that with Qatar at about 40.
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There are 94 national Parks, 501 Animal Sanctuaries
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across the country where you can find some of the national animals like the Peacock,
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the Ganges River Dolphin, the King Cobra,
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the Indian elephant,
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and the highest population of Bengal tigers in the world
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which are all highly protected.
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India also has the most irrigated land in the world
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which allows them to become the number one producer of multiple products like
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Millet
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Bananas
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Lemons (limes?),
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Mangos,
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Ginger,
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Chickpeas,
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milk, butter,
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Fennel,
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Jute,
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and about 75% of the world's Spices alone come from India.
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Speaking of which: food.
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Typically you can find the staples: Roti, chapati and Naan in the North.
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Idli and Dosa in the south
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and everybody eats rice. More commonly commercialized Indian foods
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that we in the west grew up knowing like:
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Samosas, Tikka Masala
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Tandoori and my favorite Indian dish: Palak Paneer.
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These usually come to the Northern regions of India.
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Mmm seriously India, you took spinach and made it fat.
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I love you guys.
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Otherwise the West is Mostly known for their chutneys,
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and pickled foods as well as beef since there's a high number of Muslims and Christians
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The south uses a lot more coconut and has
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Some of the best curries like Poriyal, Sambar, Rasam and Tooto.
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And the east is known for having the best desserts like Peda, Mishti doi, Rasgulla or Sandesh.
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Speaking of which India is so diverse and complex that sometimes even Indian people need translators when going to different states.
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It's about to get 10 times more confusing in about 3, ,2 1...
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♫ Demographics ♫
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Shashi Tharoor once said, "In India we celebrate the commonality of major differences;
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we are a land of belonging rather than of blood".
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First of all India has a population of about 1.3 Billion people and is the second most populous country in the world after China
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with about 18% of the world's population.
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About 72% of the country is indo-Aryan and a quarter are dravidian
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and the majority of the remainder are Mongoloid Asian and other people groups.
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They also use the Indian rupee as their currency. They use the type C, D and M plug outlet
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and they drive on the left side of the road.
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By the way, technically it's illegal for these banknotes to leave the country.
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But you guys have sent me a lot of them for fan mail for fan Friday videos.
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So I don't want to go to jail...again. (what)
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Now, keep in mind those statistics that I just mentioned are incredibly generalized.
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Of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian communities there are about
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two thousand different ethno-linguistic people groups in India with about
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645 District indigenous tribes (52 major ones). So obviously we can't cover them all.
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But what we do know is that the North is very different from the South.
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For one, the North mostly speaks in languages that are all related to the Indo-Aryan branch with languages like
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Hindi, Bengali Punjabi and Gujarati.
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Whereas the South speaks a completely unintelligible Dravidian branch with languages like
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