I India India became an independent nation on August 15, 1947, with the end of British colonial rule With a population of 1,095,351,995 (July 2006 estimate), India is the second most populous nation after China It is the seventh-largest nation in land area in the world, covering 3,287,590 square kilometers It borders Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal, and Pakistan It presents considerable ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity India has 18 officially recognized languages and about 1,600 dialects Hindus form 83.5 percent of the total population After Indonesia, India has the second-largest number of Muslims, who constitute 13 percent of the population The partition of the British Empire into India and Pakistan created problems for both countries, a legacy that continues India faced problems including the merger of princely states, an influx of refugees from Pakistan, communal riots, the division of assets, and war with Pakistan The 562 independent princely states were given the choice to merge with either India or Pakistan Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), the home minister, was the architect of the merger of these states Hyderabad and Junagarh were annexed when their rulers did not select the option of merging with India War broke out over the state of Jammu and Kashmir, whose ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh (1895–1961), had signed the Instrument of Accession with the governorgeneral of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900–79) on October 26, 1947 Despite opposition, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) took the matter to the United Nations, which called for a cease-fire on August 13, 1948 It called for a plebiscite to determine the desire of the people of the state The hostilities were over by December 31, 1948, and the demarcation line became the Line of Control (LOC) between the two countries India also was getting ready to prepare a constitution, and B R Ambedkar (1891–1956) was appointed chairperson of the Drafting Committee on August 29, 1947 On November 26, 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted the constitution India became a sovereign democratic republic on January 26, 1950, when the constitution came into effect Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963) became the first president of India, which adopted a parliamentary form of government In 1952 the first general elections were held, and the Indian National Congress (INC), under Nehru, formed the government Nehru left an indelible mark on modern Indian history with his belief in a parliamentary form of democracy, a socialist pattern of society, secularism, equality before the law, and nonalignment He believed that India could play a meaningful role at the time of cold war Imbued with a high dose of idealism, India pursued a dynamic policy in international politics Acting as intermediary, India contributed to a lessening of tensions by hosting conferences like the Asian Relations Conference in 1947 and the Conference on Indonesia in 1949 The Bandung Conference (1955) was the high-water mark in Indian diplomacy India became the chair of the peacekeeping machinery, the International Control Commission, after the end of 201