Child Labour: From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Child labour
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The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first
half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day
of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours.[1]
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice
is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries.
Child labour was utilized to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute
with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial
revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers' and children's rights.
In many developed countries, it is considered inappropriate or exploitative if a child below a

certain age works (excluding household chores, in a family shop, or school-related work).[2] An
employer is usually not permitted to hire a child below a certain minimum age. This minimum
age depends on the country and the type of work involved. States ratifying the Minimum Age
Convention adopted by the International Labor Organization in 1973, have adopted minimum
ages varying from 14 to 16. Child labor laws in the United States set the minimum age to work in
an establishment without restrictions and without parents' consent at age 16.[3]
The incidence of child labour in the world decreased from 25 to 10 percent between 1960 and
2003, according to the World Bank.[4]
Contents
[hide]
 1 Historical
 2 Present day
 3 Recent child labour incidents
o 3.1 Meatpacking
o 3.2 Firestone
o 3.3 GAP
o 3.4 H&M
o 3.5 India
o 3.6 Primark
 4 Defence of child labour
 5 See also
 6 Notes
 7 References
 8 Further reading
 9 External links
o 9.1 Child labour in diamond industry
[edit] Historical
Child labourer, New Jersey, 1910
During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as four were employed in production
factories with dangerous, and often fatal, working conditions.[5] Based on this understanding of
the use of children as labourers, it is now considered by wealthy countries to be a human rights
violation, and is outlawed, while some poorer countries may allow or tolerate child labour. Child
labour can also be defined as the full-time employment of children who are under a minimum
legal age.
The Victorian era became notorious for employing young children in factories and mines and as
chimney sweeps.[6] Child labour played an important role in the Industrial Revolution from its
outset, often brought about by economic hardship, Charles Dickens for example worked at the
age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his family in debtor's prison. The children of the poor were
expected to help towards the family budget, often working long hours in dangerous jobs for low
pay,[7] earning 10-20% of an adult male's wage. In England and Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of
the workers in 143 water-powered cotton mills were described as children.[8] In 19th-century
Great Britain, one-third of poor families were without a breadwinner, as a result of death or
abandonment, obliging many children to work from a young age.
Two girls protesting child labour (by calling it child slavery) in the 1909 New York City Labor
Day parade.
In coal mines, children would crawl through tunnels too narrow and low for adults.[9]
Children also worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers
and other cheap goods.[7] Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades,
such as building or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London
in the mid-18th century). Working hours were long: builders worked 64 hours a week in summer
and 52 in winter, while domestic servants worked 80 hour weeks.
Children as young as three were put to work. A high number of children also worked as
prostitutes.[10] Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour days. As early as 1802 and 1819
Factory Acts were passed to regulate the working hours of workhouse children in factories and
cotton mills to 12 hours per day. These acts were largely ineffective and after radical agitation,
by for example the "Short Time Committees" in 1831, a Royal Commission recommended in
1833 that children aged 11–18 should work a maximum of 12 hours per day, children aged 9–11
a maximum of eight hours, and children under the age of nine were no longer permitted to work.
This act however only applied to the textile industry, and further agitation led to another act in
1847 limiting both adults and children to 10 hour working days.
An estimated 1.7 million children under the age of fifteen were employed in American industry
by 1900.[11] In 1910, over 2 million children in the same age group were employed in the United
States.[12]
[edit] Present day

A young boy recycling garbage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 2006
See also: Children's rights
Child labour is still common in some parts of the world, it can be factory work, mining,[13]
prostitution, quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having one's own small
business (for example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some children work as guides for
tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and restaurants (where they
may also work as waiters). Other children are forced to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as:
assembling boxes, polishing shoes, stocking a store's products, or cleaning. However, rather than
in factories and sweatshops, most child labour occurs in the informal sector, "selling many things
on the streets, at work in agriculture or hidden away in houses—far from the reach of official
labour inspectors and from media scrutiny." And all the work that they did was done in all types
of weather; and was also done for minimal pay. As long as there is family poverty there will be
child labour.[14]
According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 158 million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour
worldwide, excluding child domestic labour.[15] The United Nations and the International Labor
Organization consider child labour exploitative,[16][17] with the UN stipulating, in article 32 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child that:
...States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and
from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's
education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development. Although globally there is an estimated 250 million children working.[17]
In the 1990s every country in the world except for Somalia and the United States became a
signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC. Somalia eventually signed the
convention in 2002; the delay of the signing was believed to been due to Somalia not having a
government.[18]
A boy repairing a tire in Gambia
In a recent paper, Basu and Van (1998)[19] argue that the primary cause of child labour is parental
poverty. That being so, they caution against the use of a legislative ban against child labour, and
argue that should be used only when there is reason to believe that a ban on child labour will
cause adult wages to rise and so compensate adequately the households of the poor children.
Child labour is still widely used today in many countries, including India and Bangladesh. CACL
estimated that there are between 70 and 80 million child labourers in India.[20]
Child labour accounts for 22% of the workforce in Asia, 32% in Africa, 17% in Latin America,
1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations.[21] The proportion of child labourers varies
a lot among countries and even regions inside those countries.
[edit] Recent child labour incidents

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may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for
suggestions. (February 2011)
Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco in May 2008.
[edit] Meatpacking
In early August 2008, Iowa Labor Commissioner David Neil announced that his department had
found that Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking company in Postville which had recently been
raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had employed 57 minors, some as young as
14, in violation of state law prohibiting anyone under 18 from working in a meatpacking plant.
Neil announced that he was turning the case over to the state Attorney General for prosecution,
claiming that his department's inquiry had discovered "egregious violations of virtually every
aspect of Iowa's child labor laws."[22] Agriprocessors claimed that it was at a loss to understand
the allegations. Agriprocessors' CEO went to trial on these charges in state court on May 4, 2010.
After a five-week trial he was found not guilty of all 57 charges of child labour violations by the
Black Hawk County District Court jury in Waterloo, Iowa, on June 7, 2010.[23]
[edit] Firestone
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company operate a metal plantation in Liberia which is the focus
of a global campaign called Stop Firestone. Workers on the plantation are expected to fulfil a
high production quota or their wages will be halved, so many workers brought children to work.
The International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against Firestone (The International Labor
Fund vs. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company) in November 2005 on behalf of current child
labourers and their parents who had also been child labourers on the plantation. On June 26,
2007, the judge in this lawsuit in Indianapolis, Indiana, denied Firestone's motion to dismiss the
case and allowed the lawsuit to proceed on child labour claims.
[edit] GAP
After the news of child labourers working in embroidery industry was uncovered in the Sunday
Observer on 28 October 2007, BBA activists swung into action. The GAP Inc. in a statement
accepted that the child labourers were working in production of GAP Kids blouses and has
already made a statement to pull the products from the shelf.[24][25] In spite of the documentation
of the child labourers working in the high-street fashion and admission by all concerned parties,
only the SDM (Sub-divisional Magistrate) could not recognise these children as working under
conditions of slavery and bondage.
Distraught and desperate that these collusions by the custodians of justice, founder of BBA
Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour appealed to the Honorable
Chief Justice of Delhi High Court through a letter at 11.00 pm.[26] This order by the Honorable
Chief Justice comes when the government is taking an extremely reactionary stance on the issue
of child labour in sweatshops in India and threatening 'retaliatory measures' against child rights
organisations.[27]
In a parallel development, Global March Against Child labour and BBA are in dialogue with the
GAP Inc. and other stakeholders to work out a positive strategy to prevent the entry of child
labour in to sweatshops and device a mechanism of monitoring and remedial action. GAP Inc.
Senior Vice President, Dan Henkle in a statement said: "We have been making steady progress,
and the children are now under the care of the local government. As our policy requires, the
vendor with which our order was originally placed will be required to provide the children with
access to schooling and job training, pay them an ongoing wage and guarantee them jobs as soon
as they reach the legal working age. We will now work with the local government and with
Global March to ensure that our vendor fulfils these obligations."[28][29]
On October 28, Joe Eastman, president of Gap North America, responded, "We strictly prohibit
the use of child labor. This is non-negotiable for us – and we are deeply concerned and upset by
this allegation. As we've demonstrated in the past, Gap has a history of addressing challenges
like this head-on, and our approach to this situation will be no exception. In 2006, Gap Inc.
ceased business with 23 factories due to code violations. We have 90 people located around the
world whose job is to ensure compliance with our Code of Vendor Conduct. As soon as we were
alerted to this situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in
stores. While violations of our strict prohibition on child labor in factories that produce product
for the company are extremely rare, we have called an urgent meeting with our suppliers in the
region to reinforce our policies."[30]
[edit] H&M
In December 2009, campaigners in the UK called on two leading high street retailers to stop
selling clothes made with cotton which may have been picked by children. Anti-Slavery
International and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) accused H&M and Zara of using
cotton suppliers in Bangladesh. It is also suspected that many of their raw materials originates
from Uzbekistan, where children aged 10 are forced to work in the fields. The activists were
calling to ban the use of Uzbek cotton and implement a "track and trace" systems to guarantee an
ethical responsible source of the material.
H&M said it "does not accept" child labour and "seeks to avoid" using Uzbek cotton, but
admitted it did "not have any reliable methods" to ensure Uzbek cotton did not end up in any of
its products. Inditex, the owner of Zara, said its code of conduct banned child labour.[31]
[edit] India
In 1997, research indicated that the number of child labourers in the silk-weaving industry in the
district of Kanchipuram in India exceeded 40,000. This included children who were bonded
labourers to loom owners. Rural Institute for Development Education undertook many activities
to improve the situation of child labourers. Working collaboratively, RIDE brought down the
number of child labourers to less than 4,000 by 2007.
On November 21, 2005, an Indian NGO activist Junned Khan,[32] with the help of the Labour
Department and NGO Pratham mounted the country's biggest ever raid for child labour rescue in
the Eastern part of New Delhi, the capital of India. The process resulted in rescue of 480 children
from over 100 illegal embroidery factories operating in the crowded slum area of Seelampur. For
next few weeks, government, media http://www.tehelka.com/story_main39.asp?
filename=cr050708laterdayslave.asp and NGOs were in a frenzy over the exuberant numbers of
young boys, as young as 5–6 year olds, released from bondage. This rescue operation opened the
eyes of the world to the menace of child labour operating right under the nose of the largest
democracy in the whole world.
Next few years Junned Khan did extensive campaigning on the issue of children involved in
hazardous labour,[33] advocating with the central and state governments for formulation of
guidelines for rescue and rehabilitation of children affected by child labour. In 2005, after the
rescue, Junned Khan, collaborated with BBA to file petition in the Delhi High Court for
formulation of guidelines for rescue and rehabilitation of child labour. In the following years,
Delhi's NGOs, came together with the Delhi Government and formulated an Action Plan for
Rescue and Rehabilitation of child labour.[34]
[edit] Primark
BBC recently reported[35] on Primark using child labour in the manufacture of clothing. In
particular a £4.00 hand embroidered shirt was the starting point of a documentary produced by
BBC's Panorama (TV series) programme. The programme asks consumers to ask themselves,
"Why am I only paying £4 for a hand embroidered top? This item looks handmade. Who made it
for such little cost?", in addition to exposing the violent side of the child labour industry in
countries where child exploitation is prevalent. As a result of the programme, Primark took
action and sacked the relevant companies, and reviewed their supplier procedures.
Child labour is also often used in the production of cocoa powder, used to make chocolate. See
Economics of cocoa.
[edit] Defence of child labour

Child workers on a farm in Maine, October 1940
Concerns have often been raised over the buying public's moral complicity in purchasing
products assembled or otherwise manufactured in developing countries with child labour.
However, others have raised concerns that boycotting products manufactured through child
labour may force these children to turn to more dangerous or strenuous professions, such as
prostitution or agriculture. For example, a UNICEF study found that after the Child Labor
Deterrence Act was introduced in the US, an estimated 50,000 children were dismissed from
their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh, leaving many to resort to jobs such as "stone-
crushing, street hustling, and prostitution", jobs that are "more hazardous and exploitative than
garment production". The study suggests that boycotts are "blunt instruments with long-term
consequences, that can actually harm rather than help the children involved."[14]
According to Milton Friedman, before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children worked in
agriculture. During the Industrial Revolution many of these children moved from farm work to
factory work. Over time, as real wages rose, parents became able to afford to send their children
to school instead of work and as a result child labour declined, both before and after legislation.
[36]
Austrian school economist Murray Rothbard said that British and American children of the
pre- and post-Industrial Revolution lived and suffered in infinitely worse conditions where jobs
were not available for them and went "voluntarily and gladly" to work in factories.[37]
British historian and socialist E. P. Thompson in The Making of the English Working Class
draws a qualitative distinction between child domestic work and participation in the wider
(waged) labour market.[5] Further, the usefulness of the experience of the industrial revolution in
making predictions about current trends has been disputed. Social historian Hugh Cunningham,
author of Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, notes that:
"Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labour had declined in the
developed world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so it would also, in
a trickle-down fashion, in the rest of the world. Its failure to do that, and its re-
emergence in the developed world, raise questions about its role in any economy,
whether national or global."[36]
According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University of Houston, in an

article published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank operating in Washington D.C., "it
is clear that technological and economic change are vital ingredients in getting children out of
the workplace and into schools. Then they can grow to become productive adults and live longer,
healthier lives. However, in poor countries like Bangladesh, working children are essential for
survival in many families, as they were in our own heritage until the late 19th century. So, while
the struggle to end child labour is necessary, getting there often requires taking different routes—
and, sadly, there are many political obstacles.[38]
The International Labour Organization’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child

Labour (IPEC), founded in 1992, aims to eliminate child labour. It operates in 88 countries and is
the largest program of its kind in the world.[39] IPEC works with international and government
agencies, NGOs, the media, and children and their families to end child labour and provide
children with education and assistance.[39]
Culture of India
(Redirected from Indian culture)
Bharatanatyam, one of eight designated classical dance forms of India
India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food and customs differ from place to
place within the country, but nevertheless possess a commonality. The culture of India is an
amalgamation of these diverse sub-cultures spread all over the Indian subcontinent and traditions
that are several millennia old.[1]
Regarded by some historians as the "oldest living civilization of Earth", the Indian tradition dates
back to 8000 BC[2] and has a continuous recorded history for over 2,500 years.[3] Several
elements of India's diverse culture — such as Indian religions, yóga and Indian cuisine — have
had a profound impact across the world.
Contents
[hide]
 1 Religions and spirituality

o 1.1 Family
o 1.2 Marriage
o 1.3 Namaste
o 1.4 Touching of the feet
o 1.5 Festivals
o 1.6 Names and language
o 1.7 Animals
 2 Cuisine
 3 Clothing
 4 Languages and literature
o 4.1 History
o 4.2 Epics
 5 Performing arts
o 5.1 Dance
o 5.2 Drama and theater
o 5.3 Music
 6 Visual arts
o 6.1 Painting
o 6.2 Sculpture
o 6.3 Architecture
 7 Sports and Martial arts
o 7.1 Indian martial arts
 8 Popular media
o 8.1 Television
o 8.2 CinemaWoramin
 9 See also
 10 References
Religions and spirituality

Close-up of a statue depicting Maitreya at the Thikse Monastery in Ladakh, India. Dharmic
religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, are indigenous to India.[4]
Main articles: Religion in India and Indian religions
India is the birth place of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively known as
Indian religions.[5] Indian religions, also known as Dharmic religions are a major form of world
religions along with Abrahamic ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third- and
fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers altogether,[6][7][8] and possibly
as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers.[6][9] India is also the birthplace for the Lingayat and
Ahmadiyya faiths.
‹ The template below (Indiatopics) is being considered for deletion. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus.›
India
This article is part of the series:

India
History[show]
Government[show]
Foreign relations[show]
Economy[show]
Culture[show]
Demographics[show]
Geography[show]
Transportation[show]
Military[show]
v·d·e
India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply
religious societies and cultures. Religion still plays a central and definitive role in the life of
many of its people.
The religion of 80% of the people is Hinduism. Islam is practiced by around 13% of all Indians.
[10]
Sikhism, Jainism and especially Buddhism are influential not only in India but across the
world. Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith are also influential but their
numbers are smaller. Despite the strong role of religion in Indian life, atheism and agnostics also
have visible influence along with a self-ascribed tolerance to other people.
According to Eugene M. Makar, an respected industry consultant, traditional Indian culture is

defined by relatively strict social hierarchy. He also mentions that from an early age, children are
reminded of their roles and places in society.[11] This is reinforced by the fact that many believe
gods and spirits have an integral and functional role in determining their life.[11] Several
differences such as religion divide the culture.[11] However, a far more powerful division is the
traditional Hindu bifurcation into non-polluting and polluting occupations.[11] Strict social taboos
have governed these groups for thousands of years.[11] In recent years, particularly in cities, some
of these lines have blurred and sometimes even disappeared.[11] Important family relations extend
as far as gotra, the mainly patrilinear lineage or clan assigned to a Hindu at birth.[11] In rural areas
& sometimes in urban areas as well, it is common that three or four generations of the family live
under the same roof.[11] The patriarch often resolves family issues.[11]
Family
Main articles: Hindu joint family, Arranged marriage in India, and Women in India
A bride during a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in Punjab.
Family plays a significant role in the Indian culture. For generations, India has had a prevailing
tradition of the joint family system. It is a system under which extended members of a family –
parents, children, the children’s spouses and their offspring, etc. – live together. Usually, the
eldest male member is the head in the joint Indian family system. He makes all important
decisions and rules, and other family members abide by them. However, in recent times, many
families especially in urban areas, in have stopped abiding by the extended family system and
have started living as a nuclear family.
Marriage
For centuries, arranged marriages have been the tradition in Indian society. Even today, the vast
majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected family-
members, with the consent of the bride and groom. They also demand dowry, which has been
outlawed by the Indian government, but Indian society and culture still promotes and maintains
it. They get around by not letting the authorities know the arrangements of money.[12] Arranged
matches are made after taking into account factors such as age, height, personal values and
tastes, the backgrounds of their families (wealth, social standing), their castes and the
astrological compatibility of the couples' horoscopes.
In India, the marriage is thought to be for life,[13] and the divorce rate is extremely low — 1.1%
compared with about 50% in the United States.[14] The arranged marriages generally have a much
lower divorce rate. The divorce rates have risen significantly in recent years:
"Opinion is divided over what the phenomenon means: for traditionalists the rising
numbers portend the breakdown of society while, for some modernists, they speak of a
healthy new empowerment for women."[15]
Namaste
Namaste, Namaskar or Namaskara or Namaskaram, Vanakkam (Tamil) or Asssalamu alaikum

(Urdu / Persian) Sat Shri Akal (Punjabi) is a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian
subcontinent. Namaskar is considered a slightly more formal version than Namaste but both
express deep respect. It is commonly used in India and Nepal by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and
Sikhs], and many continue to use this outside the Indian subcontinent. In Indian and Nepali
culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, the
same hands folded gesture is made usually wordlessly upon departure. Taken literally, it means
"I bow to you". The word is derived from Sanskrit (namah): to bow, obeisance, reverential
salutation, and respect, and (te): "to you". As explained by an Indian scholar, in literal terms
Namaste refers to 'That which is of God in me bows to that which is of God in you'.
Touching of the feet
The touching of the feet (pranāma or charaṇa-sparśa) is a show of respect. Children touch the
feet of their family elders while people of all ages will bend to touch the feet of a great guru, or
an icon of a Hindu deity (such as Rama or Krishna).[16]
Festivals
Radha and gopikas celebrating Holi, known as the "festival of colors".
Main article: Festivals in India
India, being a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of
various religions. The three national holidays in India, the Independence Day, the Republic Day
and the Gandhi Jayanti, are celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm across India. In addition, many
states and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic
demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of Navratri, Diwali,
Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga puja, Holi, Rakshabandhan and Dussehra. Several harvest festivals,
such as Sankranthi, Pongal and Onam,"Nuakhai" are also fairly popular.
Certain festivals in India are celebrated by multiple religions. Notable examples include Diwali,
which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, and Buddh Purnima, celebrated by Buddhists
and Hindus. Islamic festivals, such Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Ramadan, are celebrated by
Muslims across India. Sikh Festivals , such as Guru Nanak Jayanti, Baiskhi are celebrated with
full fanfare by Sikhs and Hindu. Adding colors to the culture of India, the Dree Festival is one of
the tribal festivals of India celebrated by the Apatanis of the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh,
which is the easternmost state of India.
Names and language
Indian names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions, which vary from region
to region. Names are also influenced by religion and caste and may come from the Indian epics.
India's population speaks a wide variety of languages.
Animals
Cows depicted in the decorated goppuram of the Kapaleeshwarar temple in Chennai.
See also: Wildlife of India, Animal husbandry in India, and Cattle in religion
The varied and rich wildlife of India has had a profound impact on the region's popular culture.
Common name for wilderness in India is Jungle which was adopted by the British colonialists to
the English language. The word has been also made famous in The Jungle Book by Rudyard
Kipling. India's wildlife has been the subject of numerous other tales and fables such as the
Panchatantra and the Jataka tales.[17]
In Hinduism, the cow is regarded as a symbol of ahimsa (non-violence), mother goddess and
bringer of good fortune and wealth.[18] For this reason, cows are revered in Hindu culture and
feeding a cow is seen as an act of worship.[19]'
Cuisine
Main article: Cuisine of India
The Food in India is classified into three major categories. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Satva
which stand for balance, Rajas stands for passion, and Thamas stands for indulgence. Food is
consumed according to the lifestyle of the person. For Eg: A King has to be aggressive to defend
his country, he would be taking food which would give much passion and that aggressiveness
which is required. When a person tries to lead his life in want of self realisaiton, he would prefer
a Satvic food or known as Sattvic diet, which would help to keep his mind in balance. Thamasic
food or known as Static foods is to be taken only if its required, like consumption of Alcohol.
This is the reason why in many Indians try to abstain drinking.
The multiple varieties of Indian cuisine are characterized by their sophisticated and subtle use of
many Spices and Herbs. Each family of this cuisine is characterized by a wide assortment of
dishes and cooking techniques. Though a significant portion of Indian food is vegetarian, many
traditional Indian dishes also include: chicken, goat, lamb, fish, and other meats.
India is known for its love for food and spices, and it plays a role in everyday life as well as in
festivals. Indian cuisine varies from region to region, reflecting the varied demographics of the
country. Generally, Indian cuisine can be split into 5 categories — northern, southern, eastern,
western and north-eastern.
Despite this diversity, some unifying threads emerge. Varied uses of spices are an integral part of
food preparation, and are used to enhance the flavor of a dish and create unique flavors and
aromas. Cuisine across India has also been influenced by various cultural groups that entered
India throughout history, such as the Persians, Mughals, and European colonists. Though the
tandoor originated in Central Asia, Indian tandoori dishes, such as chicken tikka made with
Indian ingredients, enjoy widespread popularity.[20]
Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe.[21] Historically, Indian Spices
and Herbs were one of the most sought after trade commodities. The Spice trade between India
and Europe led to the rise and dominance of Arab traders to such an extent that European
explorers, such as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus, set out to find new trade routes
with India leading to the Age of Discovery.[22] The popularity of curry, which originated in India,
across Asia has often led to the dish being labeled as the "pan-Asian" dish.[23]
Clothing
Traditional men's (Dhoti) and women's wear (Sari)
Traditional clothing in India greatly varies across different parts of the country and is influenced
immensely by local culture, geography and climate. Popular styles of dress include draped
garments such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men; in addition, stitched clothes such as
churidar for women and kurta-pyjama and European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also
popular.
In India, a person's social status is perceived to be symbolized by his or her attire. Indian dress
etiquette discourages exposure of skin and wearing transparent or tight clothes.[24] Most Indian
clothes are made from cotton which is ideal for the region's hot weather.[25] Since India's weather
is mostly hot and rainy, majority of Indians wear sandals.[26]
Worn by women on their forehead, the bindi is considered to be a highly auspicious mark in
Hindu religion.[27] Traditionally, the red bindi (or sindoor) was worn only by the married Hindu
women, but now it has become a part of women's fashion. Some Indian traditions consider the
bindi to be representative of the third eye.[28]
India's clothing styles have continuously evolved over the course of the country's history.
Ancient Vedic texts mention clothes made from barks and leaves (known as phataka). The 11th
century BC Rig-veda mentions dyed and embroidered garments (known as paridhan and pesas
respectively) and thus highlights the development of sophisticated garment manufacturing
techniques during the Vedic age.[29] In 5th century BC, Greek historian Herodotus describes the
richness of the quality of Indian cotton clothes.[30] By 2nd century AD, muslins manufactured in
southern India were imported by the Roman Empire and silk cloth was one of the major exports
of ancient India along with Indian spices.[31] Stitched clothing in India was developed before 10th
century AD and was further popularized in 15th century by Muslim empires in India.[31] Draped
clothing styles remained popular with India's Hindu population while the Muslims increasingly
adopted tailored garments.[32]
During the British Raj, India's large clothing and handicrafts industry was left paralyzed so as to
make place for British industrial cloth. Consequently, Indian independence movement leader
Mahatma Gandhi successfully advocated for what he termed as khadi clothing — light colored
hand-woven clothes — so as to decrease reliance of the Indian people on British industrial
goods.[33] The 1980s was marked by a widespread modification to Indian clothing fashions which
was characterized by a large-scale growth of fashion schools in India, increasing involvement of
women in the fashion industry and changing Indian attitudes towards multiculturalism. These
developments played a pivotal role in the fusion of Indian and Western clothing styles.[34]
Languages and literature

History
Time is always referred as Kala Chakra in India. In Ancient India the time was divided in Four
yugas. The calendar which most Indians follows goes in accordance to this. There by, measuring
the dates of Vedas came in later days.
With its oldest core dating back to as early as 1500 BC,[35] the Rigvedic Sanskrit is one of the
oldest attestations of any Indo-Iranian language, and one of the earliest attested members of the
Indo-European language family, the family which includes English and most European
languages.[36] Sanskrit has had a profound impact on the languages and literature of India. Hindi,
India's most spoken language, is a "Sanskritized register" of the Khariboli dialect. In addition, all
modern Indo-Aryan languages, Munda languages and Dravidian languages, have borrowed many
words either directly from Sanskrit (tatsama words), or indirectly via middle Indo-Aryan
languages (tadbhava words).[37] Words originating in Sanskrit are estimated to constitute roughly
fifty percent of the vocabulary of modern Indo-Aryan languages,[38] and the literary forms of
(Dravidian) Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.[37] Part of the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, the
Bengali language arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages and its roots are traced to the
5th century BC Ardhamagadhi language.[39][40]
Tamil, one of India's major classical languages, descends from Proto-Dravidian languages which
was spoken around the third millennium BC in peninsular India. Tamil literature has existed for
over two thousand years[41] and the earliest epigraphic records found date from around the third
century BC.[42] Another major Dravidian language, Kannada is attested epigraphically from the
mid-1st millennium AD, and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 9th to 10th century
Rashtrakuta Dynasty. Pre-old Kannada (or Purava HaleGannada) was the language of Banavasi
in the early Common Era, the Satavahana and Kadamba periods and hence has a history of over
2000 years.[43][44][45][46] The Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri (dated to 230 BC) has been
suggested to contain a word in identifiable Kannada.[47]
According to 2001 India census, Hindi is the most spoken language in India, followed by
Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil.[48] In contemporary Indian literature, there are two major
literary awards; these are the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship and the Jnanpith Award. Seven
Jnanpith awards each have been awarded in Kannada, six in Hindi, five in Bengali, four in
Malayalam, three each in Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu and Oriya and two in Tamil,.[49]
Epics
The Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata are the oldest preserved and well-known epics of India.
Versions have been adopted as the epics of Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia
and Indonesia. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (kāṇḍas) and 500 cantos
(sargas),[50] and tells the story of Rama (an incarnation of the Hindu preserver-god Vishnu),
whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. This epic played a pivotal role
in establishing the role of dhárma as a principal ideal guiding force for Hindu way of life.[51] The
earliest parts of the Mahabharata text date to 400 BC[51] and is estimated to have reached its final
form by the early Gupta period (ca. 4th c. AD).[52] Other regional variations of these, as well as
unrelated epics include the Tamil Ramavataram, Kannada Pampa Bharata, Hindi
Ramacharitamanasa, and Malayalam Adhyathmaramayanam. In addition to these two great
Indian epics, there are five major epics in the classical Tamil language — Silappatikaram,
Manimekalai, Civaka-cintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi.
Performing arts
Dance
Main article: Dance in India

A kuchipudi performer from Andhra Pradesh.
Indian dance too has diverse folk and classical forms. Among the well-known folk dances are the
bhangra of the Punjab, the bihu of Assam, the chhau of Jharkhand and Orissa, the ghoomar of
Rajasthan, the dandiya and garba of Gujarat, the Yakshagana of Karnataka and lavani of
Maharashtra and Dekhnni of Goa. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and
mythological elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's National Academy
of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu, kathak of
Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniattam of Kerala, kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of
Manipur, odissi of the state of Odisha and the sattriya of Assam.[53][54]
Drama and theater
Main article: Theatre in India
Indian drama and theater has a long history alongside its music and dance. Kalidasa's plays like
Shakuntala and Meghadoota are some of the older plays, following those of Bhasa. One of the
oldest surviving theatre traditions of the world is the 2,000 year old Kutiyattam of Kerala. It
strictly follows the Natya Shastra.[55] Nātyāchārya Māni Mādhava Chākyār is credited for
reviving the age old drama tradition from extinction. He was known for mastery of Rasa
Abhinaya. He started to perform the Kalidasa plays like Abhijñānaśākuntala, Vikramorvaśīya
and Mālavikāgnimitra; Bhasa's Swapnavāsavadatta and Pancharātra; Harsha's Nagananda.[56][57]
Music
Main article: Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of religious, folk, popular, pop, and classical
music. The oldest preserved examples of Indian music are the melodies of the Samaveda that are
still sung in certain Vedic Śrauta sacrifices. India's classical music tradition is heavily influenced
by Hindu texts. It includes two distinct styles: Carnatic and Hindustani music.
Panchavadyam temple music in Kerala.
The earliest account of Indian musical hymns is found in the 1000 BC Sāmaveda.[58] It proposed
a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named, in descending order, as Krusht,
Pratham, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturth, Mandra and Atiswār. These refer to the notes of a flute,
which was the only fixed frequency instrument. Both the Hindustani classical music and the
Carnatic classical music systems are based on the melodic mode (known as Rāga), sung to a
rhythmic cycle or tala. These principles were refined in the nātyaśāstra (200 BC) and the dattilam
(300 AD).[59]
Purandaradasa is considered the "father of carnatic music" (Karnataka sangeeta pitamaha).[60][61]

[62]
He concluded his songs with a salutation to Lord Purandara Vittala and is believed to have
composed as many as 475,000 songs in the Kannada language.[63] However, only about 1,000 are
known today.[60][64]
Prominent contemporary Indian musical forms included filmi and Indipop. Filmi refers to the
wide range of music written and performed for mainstream Indian cinema, primarily Bollywood,
and accounts for more than 70 percent of all music sales in the country.[65] Indipop is one of the
most popular contemporary styles of Indian music which is either a fusion of Indian folk,
classical or Sufi music with Western musical traditions.[66]
Visual arts
Main article: Indian art
Painting
Main article: Indian painting

The Jataka tales from Ajanta Caves.
The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphst it was
common for households to paint their doorways or indoor rooms where guests resided.
Cave paintings from Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora and Sittanavasal and temple paintings testify to a love
of naturalism. Most early and medieval art in India is Hindu, Buddhist or Jain. A freshly made
coloured flour design (Rangoli) is still a common sight outside the doorstep of many (mostly
South Indian) Indian homes. Raja Ravi Varma is one the classical painters from medieval India.
Madhubani painting, Mysore painting, Rajput painting, Tanjore painting, Mughal painting are
some notable Genres of Indian Art; while Nandalal Bose, M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza, Geeta
Vadhera, Jamini Roy and B.Venkatappa[67] are some modern painters. Among the present day
artists, Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamacnahri, Devajyoti Ray and Shibu Natesan represent a new
era of Indian art where global art shows direct amalgamation with Indian classical styles. These
recent artists have acquired international recognition. Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Mysore
Palace has on display a few good Indian paintings.
Sculpture
The 5th century Buddhist vishvakarma cave at Ellora, Maharashtra.

Main article: Sculpture in India
The first sculptures in India date back to the Indus Valley civilization, where stone and bronze
figures have been discovered. Later, as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism developed further,
India produced some extremely intricate bronzes as well as temple carvings. Some huge shrines,
such as the one at Ellora were not constructed by using blocks but carved out of solid rock.
Sculptures produced in the northwest, in stucco, schist, or clay, display a very strong blend of
Indian and Classical Hellenistic or possibly even Greco-Roman influence. The pink sandstone
sculptures of Mathura evolved almost simultaneously. During the Gupta period (4th to 6th
century) sculpture reached a very high standard in execution and delicacy in modeling. These
styles and others elsewhere in India evolved leading to classical Indian art that contributed to
Buddhist and Hindu sculpture throughout Southeast Central and East Asia.
Architecture
Main article: Indian architecture
Considered to be an "unrivaled architectural wonder",[68] the Taj Mahal in Agra is a prime

example of Indo-Islamic architecture.
Indian architecture encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, constantly
absorbing new ideas. The result is an evolving range of architectural production that nonetheless
retains a certain amount of continuity across history. Some of its earliest production are found in
the Indus Valley Civilization (2600–1900 BC) which is characterised by well planned cities and
houses. Religion and kingship do not seem to have played an important role in the planning and
layout of these towns.
During the period of the Mauryan and Gupta empires and their successors, several Buddhist
architectural complexes, such as the caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi
Stupa were built. Later on, South India produced several Hindu temples like Chennakesava
Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at
Somanathapura, Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, the Sun Temple, Konark, Sri
Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, and the Buddha stupa (Chinna Lanja dibba and
Vikramarka kota dibba) at Bhattiprolu. Angkor Wat, Borobudur and other Buddhist and Hindu
temples indicate strong Indian influence on South East Asian architecture, as they are built in
styles almost identical to traditional Indian religious buildings.
The Umaid Bhawan Palace in Rajasthan, one of the largest private residences in the world.[69]
The traditional system of Vaastu Shastra serves as India's version of Feng Shui, influencing town
planning, architecture, and ergonomics. It is unclear which system is older, but they contain
certain similarities. Feng Shui is more commonly used throughout the world. Though Vastu is
conceptually similar to Feng Shui in that it also tries to harmonize the flow of energy, (also
called life-force or Prana in Sanskrit and Chi/Ki in Chinese/Japanese), through the house, it
differs in the details, such as the exact directions in which various objects, rooms, materials, etc.
are to be placed.
With the advent of Islamic influence from the west, Indian architecture was adapted to allow the
traditions of the new religion. Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal, Gol Gumbaz, Qutub Minar, Red Fort of
Delhi are creations of this era, and are often used as the stereotypical symbols of India. The
colonial rule of the British Empire saw the development of Indo-Saracenic style, and mixing of
several other styles, such as European Gothic. The Victoria Memorial or the Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminus are notable examples.
Indian architecture has influenced eastern and southeastern Asia, due to the spread of Buddhism.
A number of Indian architectural features such as the temple mound or stupa, temple spire or
sikhara, temple tower or pagoda and temple gate or torana, have become famous symbols of
Asian culture, used extensively in East Asia and South East Asia. The central spire is also
sometimes called a vimanam. The southern temple gate, or gopuram is noted for its intricacy and
majesty.
Contemporary Indian architecture is more cosmopolitan. Cities are extremely compact and
densely populated. Mumbai's Nariman Point is famous for its Art Deco buildings. Recent
creations such as the Lotus Temple, and the various modern urban developments of India like
Chandigarh, are notable.
Sports and Martial arts

Main article: Sports in India
The annual Snake boat race is performed during Onam Celebrations on the Pamba River at
Aranmula near Pathanamthitta.
Field Hockey is the national Sport in India, and the India national field hockey team won the
1975 Men's Hockey World Cup and 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals at the Olympic games.
Cricket is the most popular Sport in India. The India national cricket team won the 1983 Cricket
World Cup and the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy
with Sri Lanka. Domestic competitions include the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the
Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy and the Challenger Series. In addition, BCCI conducts the
Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition.
India is the host of 2010 Commonwealth Games, played in New Delhi. It hosted a spectacular
display of Indian culture and heritage to the entire world during the opening ceremony of the
games.
Chess is commonly believed to have originated in northwestern India during the Gupta empire,
[70][71][72][73]
where its early form in the 6th century was known as chaturanga. Other games which
originated in India and continue to remain popular in wide parts of northern India include
Kabaddi, Gilli-danda, and Kho kho. Traditional southern Indian games include Snake boat race
and Kuttiyum kolum.
Indian martial arts
Main article: Indian martial arts
Kalarippayattu, one of the oldest and most prominent forms of Indian martial arts.
One of the best known forms of ancient Indian martial arts is the Kalarippayattu from Kerala.
This ancient fighting style originated in southern India in 12th century BC and is regarded as one
of the oldest surviving martial arts.[74] In this form martial arts, various stages of physical training
include ayurvedic massage with sesame oil to impart suppleness to the body (uzichil); a series of
sharp body movements so as to gain control over various parts of the body (miapayattu); and,
complex sword fighting techniques (paliyankam).[75] Silambam, which was developed around
200 AD, traces its roots to the Sangam period in southern India.[76] Silambam is unique among
Indian martial arts because it uses complex footwork techniques (kaaladi), including a variety of
spinning styles. A bamboo staff is used as the main weapon.[76] The ancient Tamil Sangam
literature mentions that between 400 BC and 600 AD, soldiers from southern India received
special martial arts training which revolved primarily around the use of spear (vel), sword (val)
and shield (kedaham).[77]
In northern India, the musti yuddha evolved in 1100 AD and focussed on mental, physical and
spiritual training.[78] In addition, the Dhanur Veda tradition was an influential fighting arts style
which considered the bow and the arrow to be the supreme weapons. The Dhanur Veda was first
described in the 5th century BC Viṣṇu Purāṇa[74] and is also mentioned in both of the major
ancient Indian epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. A distinctive factor of Indian martial arts
is the heavy emphasis laid on meditation (dhyāna) as a tool to remove fear, doubt and anxiety.[79]
Indian martial arts techniques have had a profound impact on other martial arts styles across
Asia. The 3rd century BC Yoga Sutras of Patanjali taught how to meditate single-mindedly on
points located inside one's body, which was later used in martial arts, while various mudra finger
movements were taught in Yogacara Buddhism. These elements of yoga, as well as finger
movements in the nata dances, were later incorporated into various martial arts.[80] According to
some historical accounts, Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma was one of the main founders of
the Shaolin Kungfu.[81]
Popular media
Television
Main article: Television in India

See also: List of Indian television stations
Indian television started off in 1959 in New Delhi with tests for educational telecasts.[82] Indian
small screen programming started off in the mid 1970s. At that time there was only one national
channel Doordarshan, which was government owned. 1982 saw revolution in TV programming
in India, with the New Delhi Asian games, India saw the colour version of TV, that year. The
Ramayana and Mahabharat were some among the popular television series produced. By the late
1980s more and more people started to own television sets. Though there was a single channel,
television programming had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up another
channel which had part national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD
2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcasted terrestrially.
In 1991, the government liberated its markets, opening them up to cable television. Since then,
there has been a spurt in the number of channels available. Today, Indian silver screen is a huge
industry by itself, and has thousands of programmes in all the states of India. The small screen
has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind some even attaining national fame for
themselves. TV soaps are extremely popular with housewives as well as working women, and
even men of all kinds. Some lesser known actors have found success in Bollywood. Indian TV
now has many of the same channels as Western TV, including stations such as Cartoon Network,
Nickelodeon, HBO, FX, and MTV India.
CinemaWoramin
Main article: Cinema of India
Shooting of a Bollywood dance number.
Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based film industry in India.
Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi,
Tamil, Punjabi and Telugu]]) constitute the broader Indian film industry, whose output is
considered to be the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced and number of
tickets sold.
India has produced many critically acclaimed cinema-makers like K.Vishwanath, Bapu
,Jagdaman Grewal, Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, K. Vishwanath, Adoor
Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli, Shekhar Kapoor, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Shankar Nag,
Girish Karnad, G. V. Iyer,etc. (See Indian film directors). With the opening up of the economy in
the recent years and consequent exposure to world cinema, audience tastes have been changing.
In addition, multiplexes have mushroomed in most cities, changing the revenue patterns.
Global warming
For scientific and political disputes, see Global warming controversy, Scientific opinion on
climate change and Public opinion on climate change.
For past climate change see Paleoclimatology and Geologic temperature record. For the Sonny
Rollins album see Global Warming (album).
1880-2009 global mean surface temperature change relative to the 1961–1990 average. Source:
NASA GISS
Comparison of ground based (blue) and satellite based (red: UAH; green: RSS) records of
temperature variations since 1979. Trends plotted since January 1982.
Mean surface temperature change for the period 2000 to 2009 relative to the average
temperatures from 1951 to 1980.[1]
Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans
since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. According to the 2007 Fourth
Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global surface
temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 20th century.[2][A] Most of the
observed temperature increase since the middle of the 20th century has been caused by
increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, which result from human activity such as the
burning of fossil fuel and deforestation.[3] Global dimming, a result of increasing concentrations
of atmospheric aerosols that block sunlight from reaching the surface, has partially countered the
effects of warming induced by greenhouse gases.
Climate model projections summarized in the latest IPCC report indicate that the global surface
temperature is likely to rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the 21st century.[2] The
uncertainty in this estimate arises from the use of models with differing sensitivity to greenhouse
gas concentrations and the use of differing estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions. An
increase in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and
pattern of precipitation, probably including expansion of subtropical deserts.[4] Warming is
expected to be strongest in the Arctic and would be associated with continuing retreat of glaciers,
permafrost and sea ice. Other likely effects include changes in the frequency and intensity of
extreme weather events, species extinctions, and changes in agricultural yields. Warming and
related changes will vary from region to region around the globe, though the nature of these
regional variations is uncertain.[5] As a result of contemporary increases in atmospheric carbon
dioxide, the oceans have become more acidic, a result that is predicted to continue.[6][7]
The scientific consensus is that anthropogenic global warming is occurring.[8][9][10][B] Nevertheless,

political and public debate continues. The Kyoto Protocol is aimed at stabilizing greenhouse gas
concentration to prevent a "dangerous anthropogenic interference".[11] As of November 2009, 187
states had signed and ratified the protocol.[12]
Proposed responses to climate change include mitigation to reduce emissions, adaptation to the
effects of global warming, and geoengineering to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere
or block incoming sunlight.
Contents
[hide]
 1 Temperature changes
 2 External forcings
o 2.1 Greenhouse gases
o 2.2 Aerosols and soot
o 2.3 Solar variation
 3 Feedback
 4 Climate models
 5 Attributed and expected effects
o 5.1 Natural systems
o 5.2 Ecological systems
o 5.3 Social systems
 6 Responses to global warming
o 6.1 Mitigation
o 6.2 Adaptation
o 6.3 Geoengineering
o 6.4 UNFCCC
 7 Views on global warming
o 7.1 Politics
o 7.2 Public opinion
o 7.3 Other views
 8 Etymology
 9 See also
 10 Notes
 11 References
Temperature changes
Main article: Temperature record
Two millennia of mean surface temperatures according to different reconstructions, each

smoothed on a decadal scale, with the actual recorded temperatures overlaid in black.
Evidence for warming of the climate system includes observed increases in global average air
and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.
[13][14][15][16][17]
The most common measure of global warming is the trend in globally averaged
temperature near the Earth's surface. Expressed as a linear trend, this temperature rose by
0.74 ± 0.18 °C over the period 1906–2005. The rate of warming over the last half of that period
was almost double that for the period as a whole (0.13 ± 0.03 °C per decade, versus 0.07 °C ±
0.02 °C per decade). The urban heat island effect is estimated to account for about 0.002 °C of
warming per decade since 1900.[18] Temperatures in the lower troposphere have increased
between 0.13 and 0.22 °C (0.22 and 0.4 °F) per decade since 1979, according to satellite
temperature measurements. Temperature is believed to have been relatively stable over the one
or two thousand years before 1850, with regionally varying fluctuations such as the Medieval
Warm Period and the Little Ice Age.[19]
Estimates by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and the National Climatic Data
Center show that 2005 was the warmest year since reliable, widespread instrumental
measurements became available in the late 19th century, exceeding the previous record set in
1998 by a few hundredths of a degree.[20][21] Estimates prepared by the World Meteorological
Organization and the Climatic Research Unit show 2005 as the second warmest year, behind
1998.[22][23] Temperatures in 1998 were unusually warm because the strongest El Niño in the past
century occurred during that year.[24] Global temperature is subject to short-term fluctuations that
overlay long term trends and can temporarily mask them. The relative stability in temperature
from 2002 to 2009 is consistent with such an episode.[25][26]
Temperature changes vary over the globe. Since 1979, land temperatures have increased about
twice as fast as ocean temperatures (0.25 °C per decade against 0.13 °C per decade).[27] Ocean
temperatures increase more slowly than land temperatures because of the larger effective heat
capacity of the oceans and because the ocean loses more heat by evaporation.[28] The Northern
Hemisphere warms faster than the Southern Hemisphere because it has more land and because it
has extensive areas of seasonal snow and sea-ice cover subject to ice-albedo feedback. Although
more greenhouse gases are emitted in the Northern than Southern Hemisphere this does not
contribute to the difference in warming because the major greenhouse gases persist long enough
to mix between hemispheres.[29]
The thermal inertia of the oceans and slow responses of other indirect effects mean that climate
can take centuries or longer to adjust to changes in forcing. Climate commitment studies indicate
that even if greenhouse gases were stabilized at 2000 levels, a further warming of about 0.5 °C
(0.9 °F) would still occur.[30]
External forcings
External forcing refers to processes external to the climate system (though not necessarily
external to Earth) that influence climate. Climate responds to several types of external forcing,
such as radiative forcing due to changes in atmospheric composition (mainly greenhouse gas
concentrations), changes in solar luminosity, volcanic eruptions, and variations in Earth's orbit
around the Sun.[31] Attribution of recent climate change focuses on the first three types of forcing.
Orbital cycles vary slowly over tens of thousands of years and thus are too gradual to have
caused the temperature changes observed in the past century.
Greenhouse gases
Main articles: Greenhouse effect, Radiative forcing, and Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere
Greenhouse effect schematic showing energy flows between space, the atmosphere, and earth's
surface. Energy exchanges are expressed in watts per square meter (W/m2).
Recent atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) increases. Monthly CO2 measurements display
seasonal oscillations in overall yearly uptrend; each year's maximum occurs during the Northern
Hemisphere's late spring, and declines during its growing season as plants remove some
atmospheric CO2.
The greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by
gases in the atmosphere warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface. It was proposed by
Joseph Fourier in 1824 and was first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896.[32]
Naturally occurring greenhouse gases have a mean warming effect of about 33 °C (59 °F).[33][C]
The major greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36–70 percent of the
greenhouse effect; carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 9–26 percent; methane (CH4), which
causes 4–9 percent; and ozone (O3), which causes 3–7 percent.[34][35][36] Clouds also affect the
radiation balance, but they are composed of liquid water or ice and so have different effects on
radiation from water vapor.
Human activity since the Industrial Revolution has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric ozone,
CFCs and nitrous oxide. The concentrations of CO2 and methane have increased by 36% and
148% respectively since 1750.[37] These levels are much higher than at any time during the last
650,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores.[38][39][40] Less
direct geological evidence indicates that CO2 values higher than this were last seen about 20
million years ago.[41] Fossil fuel burning has produced about three-quarters of the increase in CO2
from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change,
particularly deforestation.[42]
Over the last three decades of the 20th century, GDP per capita and population growth were the
main drivers of increases in greenhouse gas emissions.[43] CO2 emissions are continuing to rise
due to the burning of fossil fuels and land-use change.[44][45]:71 Emissions scenarios, estimates of
changes in future emission levels of greenhouse gases, have been projected that depend upon
uncertain economic, sociological, technological, and natural developments.[46] In most scenarios,
emissions continue to rise over the century, while in a few, emissions are reduced.[47][48] These
emission scenarios, combined with carbon cycle modelling, have been used to produce estimates
of how atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will change in the future. Using the six
IPCC SRES "marker" scenarios, models suggest that by the year 2100, the atmospheric
concentration of CO2 could range between 541 and 970 ppm.[49] This is an increase of 90-250%
above the concentration in the year 1750. Fossil fuel reserves are sufficient to reach these levels
and continue emissions past 2100 if coal, oil sands or methane clathrates are extensively
exploited.[50]
The destruction of stratospheric ozone by chlorofluorocarbons is sometimes mentioned in

relation to global warming. Although there are a few areas of linkage, the relationship between
the two is not strong. Reduction of stratospheric ozone has a cooling influence.[51] Substantial
ozone depletion did not occur until the late 1970s.[52] Ozone in the troposphere (the lowest part of
the Earth's atmosphere) does contribute to surface warming.[53]
Aerosols and soot
Ship tracks over the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. The climatic impacts
from aerosol forcing could have a large effect on climate through the indirect effect.
Global dimming, a gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's
surface, has partially counteracted global warming from 1960 to the present.[54] The main cause
of this dimming is aerosols produced by volcanoes and pollutants. These aerosols exert a cooling
effect by increasing the reflection of incoming sunlight. The effects of the products of fossil fuel
combustion—CO2 and aerosols—have largely offset one another in recent decades, so that net
warming has been due to the increase in non-CO2 greenhouse gases such as methane.[55]
Radiative forcing due to aerosols is temporally limited due to wet deposition which causes
aerosols to have an atmospheric lifetime of one week. Carbon dioxide has a lifetime of a century
or more, and as such, changes in aerosol concentrations will only delay climate changes due to
carbon dioxide.[56]
In addition to their direct effect by scattering and absorbing solar radiation, aerosols have
indirect effects on the radiation budget.[57] Sulfate aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei and
thus lead to clouds that have more and smaller cloud droplets. These clouds reflect solar
radiation more efficiently than clouds with fewer and larger droplets.[58] This effect also causes
droplets to be of more uniform size, which reduces growth of raindrops and makes the cloud
more reflective to incoming sunlight.[59] Indirect effects are most noticeable in marine stratiform
clouds, and have very little radiative effect on convective clouds. Aerosols, particularly their
indirect effects, represent the largest uncertainty in radiative forcing.[60]
Soot may cool or warm the surface, depending on whether it is airborne or deposited.
Atmospheric soot aerosols directly absorb solar radiation, which heats the atmosphere and cools
the surface. In isolated areas with high soot production, such as rural India, as much as 50% of
surface warming due to greenhouse gases may be masked by atmospheric brown clouds.[61]
Atmospheric soot always contributes additional warming to the climate system. When deposited,
especially on glaciers or on ice in arctic regions, the lower surface albedo can also directly heat
the surface.[62] The influences of aerosols, including black carbon, are most pronounced in the
tropics and sub-tropics, particularly in Asia, while the effects of greenhouse gases are dominant
in the extratropics and southern hemisphere.[63]
Solar variation
Main article: Solar variation
Solar variation over thirty years.
Variations in solar output have been the cause of past climate changes.[64] The effect of changes
in solar forcing in recent decades is uncertain, but small, with some studies showing a slight
cooling effect,[65] while others studies suggest a slight warming effect.[31][66][67][68]
Greenhouse gases and solar forcing affect temperatures in different ways. While both increased
solar activity and increased greenhouse gases are expected to warm the troposphere, an increase
in solar activity should warm the stratosphere while an increase in greenhouse gases should cool
the stratosphere.[31] Observations show that temperatures in the stratosphere have been cooling
since 1979, when satellite measurements became available. Radiosonde (weather balloon) data
from the pre-satellite era show cooling since 1958, though there is greater uncertainty in the early
radiosonde record.[69]
A related hypothesis, proposed by Henrik Svensmark, is that magnetic activity of the sun deflects
cosmic rays that may influence the generation of cloud condensation nuclei and thereby affect
the climate.[70] Other research has found no relation between warming in recent decades and
cosmic rays.[71][72] The influence of cosmic rays on cloud cover is about a factor of 100 lower than
needed to explain the observed changes in clouds or to be a significant contributor to present-day
climate change.[73]
Feedback
Main article: Climate change feedback
Feedback is a process in which changing one quantity changes a second quantity, and the change
in the second quantity in turn changes the first. Positive feedback amplifies the change in the first
quantity while negative feedback reduces it. Feedback is important in the study of global
warming because it may amplify or diminish the effect of a particular process. The main positive
feedback in global warming is the tendency of warming to increase the amount of water vapor in
the atmosphere, a significant greenhouse gas. The main negative feedback is radiative cooling,
which increases as the fourth power of temperature; the amount of heat radiated from the Earth
into space increases with the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere. Imperfect
understanding of feedbacks is a major cause of uncertainty and concern about global warming. A
wide range of potential feedback process exist, such as Arctic methane release and ice-albedo
feedback. Consequentially, potential tipping points may exist, which may have the potential to
cause abrupt climate change.[74]
Climate models
Main article: Global climate model
Calculations of global warming prepared in or before 2001 from a range of climate models under
the SRES A2 emissions scenario, which assumes no action is taken to reduce emissions and
regionally divided economic development.
The geographic distribution of surface warming during the 21st century calculated by the
HadCM3 climate model if a business as usual scenario is assumed for economic growth and
greenhouse gas emissions. In this figure, the globally averaged warming corresponds to 3.0 °C
(5.4 °F).
The main tools for projecting future climate changes are mathematical models based on physical
principles including fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and radiative transfer. Although they
attempt to include as many processes as possible, simplifications of the actual climate system are
inevitable because of the constraints of available computer power and limitations in knowledge
of the climate system. All modern climate models are in fact combinations of models for
different parts of the Earth. These include an atmospheric model for air movement, temperature,
clouds, and other atmospheric properties; an ocean model that predicts temperature, salt content,
and circulation of ocean waters; models for ice cover on land and sea; and a model of heat and
moisture transfer from soil and vegetation to the atmosphere. Some models also include
treatments of chemical and biological processes.[75] Warming due to increasing levels of
greenhouse gases is not an assumption of the models; rather, it is an end result from the
interaction of greenhouse gases with radiative transfer and other physical processes.[76] Although
much of the variation in model outcomes depends on the greenhouse gas emissions used as
inputs, the temperature effect of a specific greenhouse gas concentration (climate sensitivity)
varies depending on the model used. The representation of clouds is one of the main sources of
uncertainty in present-generation models.[77]
Global climate model projections of future climate most often have used estimates of greenhouse
gas emissions from the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES). In addition to
human-caused emissions, some models also include a simulation of the carbon cycle; this
generally shows a positive feedback, though this response is uncertain. Some observational
studies also show a positive feedback.[78][79][80] Including uncertainties in future greenhouse gas
concentrations and climate sensitivity, the IPCC anticipates a warming of 1.1 °C to 6.4 °C
(2.0 °F to 11.5 °F) by the end of the 21st century, relative to 1980–1999.[2]
Models are also used to help investigate the causes of recent climate change by comparing the
observed changes to those that the models project from various natural and human-derived
causes. Although these models do not unambiguously attribute the warming that occurred from
approximately 1910 to 1945 to either natural variation or human effects, they do indicate that the
warming since 1970 is dominated by man-made greenhouse gas emissions.[31]
The physical realism of models is tested by examining their ability to simulate current or past
climates.[81] Current climate models produce a good match to observations of global temperature
changes over the last century, but do not simulate all aspects of climate.[42] Not all effects of
global warming are accurately predicted by the climate models used by the IPCC. Observed
Arctic shrinkage has been faster than that predicted.[82] Precipitation increased proportional to
atmospheric humidity, and hence significantly faster than current global climate models predict.
[83][84]
Attributed and expected effects

Main articles: Effects of global warming and Regional effects of global warming
Global warming may be detected in natural, ecological or social systems as a change having
statistical significance.[85] Attribution of these changes e.g., to natural or human activities, is the
next step following detection.[86]
Natural systems
Sparse records indicate that glaciers have been retreating since the early 1800s. In the 1950s
measurements began that allow the monitoring of glacial mass balance, reported to the WGMS
and the NSIDC.
Global warming has been detected in a number of systems. Some of these changes, e.g., based on
the instrumental temperature record, have been described in the section on temperature changes.
Rising sea levels and observed decreases in snow and ice extent are consistent with warming.[17]
Most of the increase in global average temperature since the mid-20th century is, with high
probability,[D] attributable to human-induced changes in greenhouse gas concentrations.[87]
Even with current policies to reduce emissions, global emissions are still expected to continue to
grow over the coming decades.[88] Over the course of the 21st century, increases in emissions at
or above their current rate would very likely induce changes in the climate system larger than
those observed in the 20th century.
In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, across a range of future emission scenarios, model-based
estimates of sea level rise for the end of the 21st century (the year 2090-2099, relative to 1980-
1999) range from 0.18 to 0.59 m. These estimates, however, were not given a likelihood due to a
lack of scientific understanding, nor was an upper bound given for sea level rise. Over the course
of centuries to millennia, the melting of ice sheets could result in sea level rise of 4–6 m or more.
[89]
Changes in regional climate are expected to include greater warming over land, with most
warming at high northern latitudes, and least warming over the Southern Ocean and parts of the
North Atlantic Ocean.[88] Snow cover area and sea ice extent are expected to decrease. The
frequency of hot extremes, heat waves, and heavy precipitation will very likely increase.
Ecological systems
In terrestrial ecosystems, the earlier timing of spring events, and poleward and upward shifts in
plant and animal ranges, have been linked with high confidence to recent warming.[17] Future
climate change is expected to particularly affect certain ecosystems, including tundra,
mangroves, and coral reefs.[88] It is expected that most ecosystems will be affected by higher
atmospheric CO2 levels, combined with higher global temperatures.[90] Overall, it is expected that
climate change will result in the extinction of many species and reduced diversity of ecosystems.
[91]
Social systems
There is some evidence of regional climate change affecting systems related to human activities,
including agricultural and forestry management activities at higher latitudes in the Northern
Hemisphere.[17] Future climate change is expected to particularly affect some sectors and systems
related to human activities.[88] Low-lying coastal systems are vulnerable to sea level rise and
storm surge. Human health will be at increased risk in populations with limited capacity to adapt
to climate change. It is expected that some regions will be particularly affected by climate
change, including the Arctic, Africa, small islands, and Asian and African megadeltas. In some
areas the effects on agriculture, industry and health could be mixed, or even beneficial in certain
respects, but overall it is expected that these benefits will be outweighed by negative effects.[92]
Responses to global warming

Mitigation
Main article: Climate change mitigation

See also: Fee and dividend
Reducing the amount of future climate change is called mitigation of climate change. The IPCC
defines mitigation as activities that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, or enhance the
capacity of carbon sinks to absorb GHGs from the atmosphere.[93] Many countries, both
developing and developed, are aiming to use cleaner, less polluting, technologies.[45]:192 Use of
these technologies aids mitigation and could result in substantial reductions in CO2 emissions.
Policies include targets for emissions reductions, increased use of renewable energy, and
increased energy efficiency. Studies indicate substantial potential for future reductions in
emissions.[94] Since even in the most optimistic scenario, fossil fuels are going to be used for
years to come, mitigation may also involve carbon capture and storage, a process that traps CO2
produced by factories and gas or coal power stations and then stores it, usually underground.[95]
Adaptation
Main article: Adaptation to global warming
Other policy responses include adaptation to climate change. Adaptation to climate change may
be planned, e.g., by local or national government, or spontaneous, i.e., done privately without
government intervention.[96] The ability to adapt is closely linked to social and economic
development.[94] Even societies with high capacities to adapt are still vulnerable to climate
change. Planned adaptation is already occurring on a limited basis. The barriers, limits, and costs
of future adaptation are not fully understood.
Geoengineering
Another policy response is engineering of the climate (geoengineering). This policy response is
sometimes grouped together with mitigation.[97] Geoengineering is largely unproven, and reliable
cost estimates for it have not yet been published.[98] Geoengineering encompasses a range of
techniques to remove CO2 from the atmosphere or to block incoming sunlight.
UNFCCC
Most countries are Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).[99] The ultimate objective of the Convention is to prevent "dangerous" human
interference of the climate system.[100] As is stated in the Convention, this requires that GHGs are
stabilized in the atmosphere at a level where ecosystems can adapt naturally to climate change,
food production is not threatened, and economic development can proceed in a sustainable
fashion.
The UNFCCC recognizes differences among countries in their responsibility to act on climate
change.[101] In the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, most developed countries (listed in Annex I
of the treaty) took on legally binding commitments to reduce their emissions.[102] Policy measures
taken in response to these commitments have reduced emissions.[103] For many developing (non-
Annex I) countries, reducing poverty is their overriding aim.[104]
At the 15th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, held in 2009 at Copenhagen, several UNFCCC
Parties produced the Copenhagen Accord.[105] Parties agreeing with the Accord aim to limit the
future increase in global mean temperature to below 2 °C.[106] The 16th Conference of the Parties
(COP16) was held at Cancún in 2010. It produced an agreement, not a binding treaty, that the
Parties should take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the 2 °C goal. It
also recognized the need to consider strengthening the goal to a global average rise of 1.5 °C.[107]
Views on global warming

Main articles: Global warming controversy and Politics of global warming
See also: Scientific opinion on climate change and Public opinion on climate change
Per capita greenhouse gas emissions in 2000, including land-use change.
Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2000, including land-use change.
There are different views over what the appropriate policy response to climate change should be.
[108][109]
These competing views weigh the benefits of limiting emissions of greenhouse gases
against the costs. In general, it seems likely that climate change will impose greater damages and
risks in poorer regions.[110]
Politics
Developed and developing countries have made different arguments over who should bear the
burden of economic costs for cutting emissions. Developing countries often concentrate on per
capita emissions, that is, the total emissions of a country divided by its population.[111] Per capita
emissions in the industrialized countries are typically as much as ten times the average in
developing countries.[112] This is used to make the argument that the real problem of climate
change is due to the profligate and unsustainable lifestyles of those living in rich countries.[111]
On the other hand, commentators from developed countries point out that total carbon
emissions,[111] carrying capacity, efficient energy use and civil and political rights are very
important issues. World population is the number of humans per unit area. However the land is
not the same everywhere. Not only the quantity of fossil fuel use but also the quality of energy
use is a key debate point. For example, efficient energy use supporting technological change
might help reduce excess carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere. The use of fossil fuels for
conspicuous consumption and excessive entertainment are issues that can conflict with civil and
political rights. People in developed countries argue that history has proven the difficulty of
implementing fair rationing programs in different countries because there is no global system of
checks and balances or civil liberties.
The Kyoto Protocol, which came into force in 2005, sets legally binding emission limitations for
most developed countries.[102] Developing countries are not subject to limitations. This exemption
led the U.S. and Australia to decide not to ratify the treaty,[113] [114][115] although Australia did
finally ratify the treaty in December 2007.[116] Debate continued at the Copenhagen climate
summit and the Cancún climate summit.
Public opinion
In 2007–2008 Gallup Polls surveyed 127 countries. Over a third of the world's population was
unaware of global warming, with people in developing countries less aware than those in
developed, and those in Africa the least aware. Of those aware, Latin America leads in belief that
temperature changes are a result of human activities while Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle
East, and a few countries from the Former Soviet Union lead in the opposite belief.[117] In the
Western world, opinions over the concept and the appropriate responses are divided. Nick
Pidgeon of Cardiff University said that "results show the different stages of engagement about
global warming on each side of the Atlantic", adding, "The debate in Europe is about what action
needs to be taken, while many in the U.S. still debate whether climate change is happening."[118]
[119]
A 2010 poll by the Office of National Statistics found that 75% of UK respondents were at
least "fairly convinced" that the world's climate is changing, compared to 87% in a similar
survey in 2006.[120] A January 2011 ICM poll in the UK found 83% of respondents viewed
climate change as a current or imminent threat, while 14% said it was no threat. Opinion was
unchanged from an August 2009 poll asking the same question, though there had been a slight
polarisation of opposing views.[121]
Other views
Most scientists accept that humans are contributing to observed climate change.[44][122] National
science academies have called on world leaders for policies to cut global emissions.[123] However,
some scientists and non-scientists question aspects of climate-change science.[124][125]
Organizations such as the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, conservative
commentators, and some companies such as ExxonMobil have challenged IPCC climate change
scenarios, funded scientists who disagree with the scientific consensus, and provided their own
projections of the economic cost of stricter controls.[126][127][128][129] In the finance industry,
Deutsche Bank has set up an institutional climate change investment division (DBCCA),[130]
which has commissioned and published research[131] on the issues and debate surrounding global
warming.[132] Environmental organizations and public figures have emphasized changes in the
current climate and the risks they entail, while promoting adaptation to changes in infrastructural
needs and emissions reductions.[133] Some fossil fuel companies have scaled back their efforts in
recent years,[134] or called for policies to reduce global warming.[135]
Etymology
The term global warming was probably first used in its modern sense on 8 August 1975 in a
science paper by Wally Broecker in the journal Science called "Are we on the brink of a
pronounced global warming?".[136][137][138] Broecker's choice of words was new and represented a
significant recognition that the climate was warming; previously the phrasing used by scientists
was "inadvertent climate modification," because while it was recognized humans could change
the climate, no one was sure which direction it was going.[139] The National Academy of Sciences
first used global warming in a 1979 paper called the Charney Report, it said: "if carbon dioxide
continues to increase, [we find] no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason
to believe that these changes will be negligible."[140] The report made a distinction between
referring to surface temperature changes as global warming, while referring to other changes
caused by increased CO2 as climate change.[139]
Global warming became more widely popular after 1988 when NASA scientist James Hansen
used the term in a testimony to Congress.[139] He said: "global warming has reached a level such
that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the
greenhouse effect and the observed warming."[141] His testimony was widely reported and
afterward global warming was commonly used by the press and in public discourse.[139]
Infosys BPO Limited

Infosys BPO Limited

Subsidiary - Public NASDAQ: INFY
Type
BSE: 500209
Founded 2002
Headquarters Electronic City, Bengaluru, India
Key people Swaminathan D, MD & CEO
Services Business Process Outsourcing
$$352 million (FY 09-10)(as of March

Revenue
31, 2010)
Employees 18,610 (as of March 2010)
Website www.infosys.com/bpo
Infosys BPO Limited (formerly Progeon Limited) is the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)
subsidiary of Infosys Technologies Ltd.. Infosys BPO closed FY 07-08 with a revenue of $ 250.3
million with 11 centers worldwide employing 16,295 employees and 44 clients.
[edit] History
The company was started as Progeon Limited in April 2002 and is today among the top third-
party BPOs in India according to NASSCOM. It was started as a 74% and 26% joint venture
between Infosys and Citibank Investments. In 2006 Infosys bought out Citibank's share at a price
of Rs 592 per share, Citi having invested at Rs 0.20 per share. Initially, the CEO was Akshaya
Bhargava, who was formerly at Citibank. While at the Bank, he established Citibank first captive
BPO, which later became e-Serve International (acquired by TCS in 2008). Bhargava was the
architect of Progeon's early strategic direction, focusing on core back office functions (away
from pure voice operations prevalent in Indian BPO at that time) and built it to the 7th largest
BPO firm in India. He left the organisation in 2006 and Amitabh Chaudhry, the COO took over
as the CEO. In Jan 2010 Swaminathan D took over the reins of Infosys BPO from Amitabh
Chaudhary, and Ritesh Idnani became the COO.
It has its headquarters in Bangalore and has operations in
Infosys
Infosys Technologies Limited
IT services
Industry
IT consulting
Founded 2 July 1981
N R Narayana Murthy
Nandan Nilekani
N. S. Raghavan
Founder(s) Kris Gopalakrishnan
S. D. Shibulal
K Dinesh
Ashok Arora
Headquarters Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
N R Narayana Murthy
(Chairman)
Kris Gopalakrishnan
Key people
(CEO & MD)
S. D. Shibulal
(COO & Director)
Products Finacle
Information technology consulting

Services
services, solutions and outsourcing.
21,140 crore (US$4.59 billion) (31st

Revenue [1]
March, 2010)
Operating
7,472 crore (US$1.62 billion) (2010)[1]
income
Profit 5,803 crore (US$1.26 billion) (2010)[1]
Total assets $6.150 billion (2010)[2]
Total equity $5.361 billion (2010)[2]
Employees 122,468 (2010)[3][4]
Infosys BPO
Infosys Consulting
Infosys Public Services
Infosys Australia
Divisions
Infosys Brazil
Infosys China
Infosys Mexico
Infosys Sweden
Website Infosys.com
Infosys (BSE: 500209, NASDAQ: INFY Kannada: ಇನ್ಫೊಸಿಸ್) is an information technology

services company headquartered in Bengaluru, India. Infosys is one of the largest IT companies
in India with 122,468 employees (including subsidiaries) as of 2010.[4] It has offices in 33
countries and development centres in India, China, Australia, UK, Canada and Japan.[5]
Contents
[hide]
 1 History
 2 Current share holding
 3 Initiatives
 4 Research
 5 Charity
 6 Global offices
o 6.1 Asia Pacific
o 6.2 North America
o 6.3 Europe
o 6.4 South America
 7 Notes
 8 References
[edit] History
Infosys was founded on 2 July 1981 by seven entrepreneurs, Nagavara Ramarao Narayana
Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K Dinesh and with N. S.
Raghavan officially being the first employee of the company. The founders started the company
with an initial investment of INR 10,000.[6] The company was incorporated as "Infosys
Consultants Pvt Ltd." in Model Colony, Pune as the registered office.[7]
Infosys headquarters in Bengaluru, India
Infosys went public in 1993. Interestingly, Infosys IPO was under subscribed but it was bailed
out by US investment banker Morgan Stanley which picked up 13% of equity at the offer price
of Rs. 95 per share.[8] The share price surged to Rs. 8,100 by 1999. By the year 2000 Infosys's
shares touched Rs. 310 before the catastrophic incident of September 11th, changed all that.[9]
According to Forbes magazine, since listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange till the year 2000,
Infosys' sales and earnings compounded at more than 70% a year.[10] In the year 2000, President
of the United States Bill Clinton complimented India on its achievements in high technology
areas citing the example of Infosys.[11] Infosys will invest $100 million (Rs 440 crore) on
establishing a 20,000-seater campus in Shanghai.[12]
In 2001, it was rated Best Employer in India by Business Today.[13] Infosys was rated best
employer to work for in 2000, 2001, and 2002 by Hewitt Associates. In 2007, Infosys received
over 1.3 million applications and hired fewer than 3% of applicants.[14]
Infosys was the only Indian company to win the Global MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge
Enterprises) award for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, and is inducted into the Global Hall of
Fame for the same.[15][16]
[edit] Current share holding

Promoters and their families hold 16%.Govt. of India enterprise with 3.84% can be termed as the
single largest share holder. Govt. of UAE and Govt. of. Singapore also holds significant
shares.Rest of the shares are owned by Financial institutions,Individual investors.[17]
[edit] Initiatives
Infosys has the largest corporate university in the world, located on its Mysore campus.[18]
In 1996, Infosys created the Infosys Foundation in the state of Karnataka, operating in the areas
of health care, social rehabilitation and rural uplift, education, arts and culture. Since then, this
foundation has spread to the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala,
Orissa and Punjab. The Infosys Foundation is headed by Mrs. Sudha Murthy, wife of Founder
Cum Chief Mentor Narayan Murthy
Since 2004, Infosys has embarked on a series of initiatives to consolidate and formalize its
academic relationships worldwide under the umbrella of a program called AcE - Academic
Entente.[19] Infosys' Global Internship Program, known as InStep, is one of the key components
of the Academic Entente initiative. It offers live projects to interns from the universities around
the world. InStep recruits undergraduate, graduate and PhD students from business, technology,
and liberal arts universities to take part in an 8 to 24 week internship at one of Infosys' global
offices. InStep interns are also provided career opportunities with Infosys.
In 1997, Infosys started the "Catch them Young Program", to expose the urban youth to the
world of Information Technology by conducting a summer vacation program. The program is
aimed at developing an interest and understanding of computer science and information
technology. This program is targeted at students in Grade IX level.[20]
In 2002, the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and Infosys started the
Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award. This technology award recognizes enterprises
and individuals who have transformed their businesses and the society leveraging information
technology. Past winners include Samsung, Amazon.com, Capital One, RBS and ING Direct.
Infosys has the largest corporate education center in the world in Mysore. It can accommodate
14000 candidates at one time.[21]
In 2009, Infosys created Infosys Prize for excellence in Physical Sciences, Mathematical
Sciences, Engineering and Computer Science, Life Sciences and Social Sciences.[22]
[edit] Research
Infosys developed a corporate R&D wing called Software Engineering and Technology Labs
(SETLabs). SETLabs was founded in 2000 to carry out applied research for the development of
processes, frameworks and methodologies to effectively capture customer requirements and to
iron out common critical issues during a project life cycle.[23] Various broad groups are Software
Engg Lab, Convergence Lab, Innovation Lab, Center for KDIS, Security and Privacy Lab and
Distributed Computing Lab.
[edit] Charity
In 2005, Infosys donated 10m rupees (about $226,000) to help with the effects of the 2005
Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan.[24] Infosys does not currently have an office in Pakistan.
[edit] Global offices

[edit] Asia Pacific
India - Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mangalore, Mysore,
Pune, Thiruvananthapuram Kolkata(2012),[25] Australia - Melbourne, Sydney and China -
Beijing, Shanghai
Further information: Infosys China
Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Japan - Tokyo, Mauritius - Mauritius, New Zealand - Wellington,
UAE - Sharjah, Philippines - Taguig City, Fiji Island - Suva and Thailand - Bangkok
[edit] North America
Canada - Toronto, USA - Atlanta (GA), Bellevue (WA), Bridgewater (NJ), Charlotte (NC),
Southfield (MI), Fremont (CA), Houston (TX), Glastonbury (CT), Lake Forest (CA), Lisle (IL),
New York, Phoenix (AZ), Plano (TX), Quincy (MA), Reston (VA) and Mexico - Monterrey
[edit] Europe
Czech Republic - Brno, Belgium - Brussels, Denmark - Copenhagen, Finland - Helsinki,

France - Paris, Germany - Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Italy - Milano, Norway - Oslo, Poland - Łódź,
The Netherlands - Amsterdam, Spain - Madrid, Burgos, Sweden - Stockholm, Switzerland -
Zürich, Geneva and UK - Canary Wharf, London
[edit] South America
Brazil - Belo Horizonte
Infosys, Pune campus Movie Theatre, Swimming pool & spa,

Mangalore campus
Mysore campus Bangalore campus
A building in
Thiruvananthapuram Dancing fountains,
Bangalore campus Infosys Mysore campus
campus Bangalore campus
Infosys Chennai main The intergerated Eco-
block at Mahindra Friendly Block at
Swimming pool,
Pune campus World City, New Chennai,one of the
Mysore campus
Chennai biggest in the world
Chandigarh
The largest TV screen BPO Building,

in Asia, Bangalore Bangalore campus Canteen, Bangalore
campus
campus

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Child labour

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

In many developed countries, it is considered inappropriate or exploitative if a child below a

Child labourer, New Jersey, 1910

[edit] Present day

A boy repairing a tire in Gambia

[edit] Recent child labour incidents

[edit] Defence of child labour

According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University of Houston, in an

The International Labour Organization’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child

Bharatanatyam, one of eight designated classical dance forms of India

 1 Religions and spirituality

Religions and spirituality

This article is part of the series:

According to Eugene M. Makar, an respected industry consultant, traditional Indian culture is

A bride during a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in Punjab.

Namaste, Namaskar or Namaskara or Namaskaram, Vanakkam (Tamil) or Asssalamu alaikum

Touching of the feet

Names and language

Traditional men's (Dhoti) and women's wear (Sari)

Languages and literature

Main article: Dance in India

Drama and theater

Main article: Theatre in India

Main article: Music of India

Purandaradasa is considered the "father of carnatic music" (Karnataka sangeeta pitamaha).[60][61]

Main article: Indian painting

The 5th century Buddhist vishvakarma cave at Ellora, Maharashtra.

Main article: Indian architecture

Considered to be an "unrivaled architectural wonder",[68] the Taj Mahal in Agra is a prime

Sports and Martial arts

Indian martial arts

Main article: Indian martial arts

Main article: Television in India

Main article: Cinema of India

Shooting of a Bollywood dance number.

The scientific consensus is that anthropogenic global warming is occurring.[8][9][10][B] Nevertheless,

Two millennia of mean surface temperatures according to different reconstructions, each

The destruction of stratospheric ozone by chlorofluorocarbons is sometimes mentioned in

Solar variation over thirty years.

Attributed and expected effects

Responses to global warming

Main article: Climate change mitigation

Main article: Adaptation to global warming

Views on global warming

Per capita greenhouse gas emissions in 2000, including land-use change.

Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2000, including land-use change.

Infosys BPO Limited

Infosys BPO Limited

Headquarters Electronic City, Bengaluru, India

Key people Swaminathan D, MD & CEO

Services Business Process Outsourcing

$$352 million (FY 09-10)(as of March

Employees 18,610 (as of March 2010)

It has its headquarters in Bangalore and has operations in

Infosys Technologies Limited

Founded 2 July 1981

Headquarters Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Information technology consulting

21,140 crore (US$4.59 billion) (31st

Profit 5,803 crore (US$1.26 billion) (2010)[1]