India Music
...The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha. The Council of states consists of 250 members and the House of People is composed of 550 members. India's natural resources are coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds, and crude oil. Its agriculture products are wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute, and tea. India's industry is based on textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals, and computer software. India exports 4 billion in agricultural products, engineering goods, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, handicrafts, and tea. India imports 2 billion in petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, edible oils, fertilizer, jewelry, iron, and steel. India's major trade partners are the United States, Russia, Japan, Iraq, and Iran. India's nuclear tests in May 1998 seriously damaged Indian-American relations. President Clinton imposed wide ranging sanctions pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act. The United States encouraged India to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty immediately and without condition. The non proliferation dialogue initiated after the 1998 nuclear tests has bridged many of the gaps in understanding between the countries. However, India has yet to sign the CTBT, agree to a fissile material production moratorium, or define its intentions on acquiring a nuclear deterrent clearly. The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) elections in September 1999. The BJP currently leads a coalition government under Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. The coalition reflects the ongoing transition in Indian politics away from the historically dominant and national-based Congress Party toward smaller, narrower-based regional parties. This process has been underway throughout much of the past decade and is likely to continue in the future. The Congress Party, led by Sonia Gandhi, holds the second-largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Priding itself as a secular, centrist party, the Congress has been the historically dominant political party in India. Its performance in national elections has steadily declined during the last decade. The Janata Dal (United) Party claims to be a national party and advocates a secular and socialist ideology and draws much of its popular support from Muslims, lower castes, and tribals. In India, religion is a way of life. It is an integral part o...