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Country Profile: India
India is the world's largest democracy and second most populous country.
Capital: New Delhi
Population 1,129,866,154
Life expectancy: 63.9 years (male), 65.57 years (female)
Population below national poverty line: 25%
GDP: $4.156 trillion
GDP per capita: $3,800
Religion: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1%
Languages: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language
Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north. India suffers from many natural hazards such as droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes
Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.
Bóthar in India: Bóthar began working in India in 1999. Bóthar works in 9 different provinces of India with a variety of animals including dairy cows, goats, water buffalo, sheep, pigs, poultry and fruit bearing trees
Trees form an integral part of all Bóthar livestock projects and form a central part of Bóthar’s commitment to providing holistic approach to agricultural development and towards finding a sustainable solution to hunger and poverty.
Bóthar livestock projects are integrated and include development and care of farmland side-by- side with animal husbandry.
INDIA
Here is a profile of one of the project groups that Bóthar is working with in India.
Dairy farming for the Widows of Mugaiyur Parish, Pondicherry-Cuddalore Archdiocese
Location: Mugaiyur Parish, Pondicherry-Cuddalore Archdiocese, Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu State, India
Animals: Local high breed dairy cows
Other inputs: Cost of construction of cow sheds and green fodder development
Training: Will be based on social skills and project development
Brief synopsis of the project: Most of the women in this area remain idle outside the main farming periods of the year (Jul-Dec).To get these women out of their state of poverty they will be given 25 dairy milk cattle
Pass-on obligations: Each original beneficiary has to pay towards a fund from their daily income. This fund will be used to assist another 25 families in the next year
Expected benefits: The women will have access to an income and a chance to develop their smallholdings. The women's children will get a chance at education
Local partners: Awareness & Economic Development for Rural Poor (AERP)
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