14,500 km
note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for
mechanized vessels (2004)
Pipelines:
gas 6,171 km; liquid petroleum gas 1,195 km; oil 5,613 km; refined
products 5,567 km (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Chennai (Madras), Cochin, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata
(Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), Vishakhapatnam
Merchant marine:
total: 306 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 6,555,507 GRT/11,069,791 DWT
by type: bulk 90, cargo 77, chemical tanker 14, combination bulk 1,
combination ore/oil 2, container 10, liquefied gas 10,
passenger/cargo 5, petroleum tanker 93, roll on/roll off 1,
short-sea/passenger 2, specialized tanker 1
registered in other countries: 63 (2004 est.)
foreign-owned: China 2, Portugal 1
Airports:
333 (2003 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 234 over 3,047 m: 14 2,438 to 3,047 m: 47 914 to 1,523 m: 74 under 914 m: 21 (2004 est.) 1,524 to 2,437 m: 78
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 99
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 9
under 914 m: 45 (2004 est.)
914 to 1,523 m: 42
Heliports:
20 (2003 est.)
Military India
Military branches:
Army, Navy (including naval air arm), Air Force, Coast Guard,
various security or paramilitary forces (including Border Security
Force, Assam Rifles, National Security Guards, Indo-Tibetan Border
Police, Special Frontier Force, Central Reserve Police Force,
Central Industrial Security Force, Railway Protection Force, and
Defense Security Corps)
Military manpower - military age and obligation:
16 years of age for voluntary military service (2001)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15–49: 293,677,117 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 172,153,371 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 11,174,415 (2004 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$14,018.8 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.4% (2003)
Transnational Issues India
Disputes - international:
Kashmir remains the world's most highly militarized territorial
dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China
(Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir
and Northern Areas), but recent discussions and confidence-building
measures among parties are beginning to defuse tensions; India does
not recognize Pakistan's ceding lands to China in the 1965 boundary
agreement; disputes with Pakistan over Indus River water sharing and
the terminus of the Sir Creek Estuary at the mouth of the Rann of
Kutch, which prevents maritime boundary delimitation; Pakistani maps
continue to show Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; most of the
rugged, militarized boundary with China is in dispute, but sides
have committed to begin resolution with discussions on the least
disputed Middle Sector; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues
to work on resolution of minor disputed boundary sections;
discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small
section of river boundary, to exchange 162 miniscule enclaves in
both countries, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal
cross-border trade, migration, and violence; Bangladesh protests
India's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the porous
boundary; dispute with Bangladesh over volcanic New Moore/South
Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime
boundary delimitation; India seeks cooperation from Bhutan and Burma
to keep out Indian Nagaland insurgents; joint border commission
continues to work on small disputed sections of boundary with Nepal;
India has instituted a stricter border regime to restrict transit of
Maoist insurgents and illegal cross-border activities from Nepal
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 92,394 (China), 60,922 (Sri Lanka)
IDPs: 650,000 (Jammu and Kashmir conflicts; most IDPs are Kashmiri
Hindus) (2004)
Illicit drugs:
world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical
trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit
international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics
produced in neighboring countries; illicit producer of methaqualone;
vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system
This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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@Indian Ocean
Introduction Indian Ocean
Background:
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans
(after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the
Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important access
waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb
(Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of
Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International
Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth
ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean
south of 60 degrees south.
Geography Indian Ocean
Location:
body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and
Australia
Geographic coordinates:
20 00 S, 80 00 E
Map references:
Political Map of the World
Area:
total: 68.556 million sq km
note: