Name ____________________________________________ Core __________________ Date ________________________
India’s Railways
also saw railways as a means for reaching India’s raw
materials and markets.
India has expanded the rail system built by the
British and installed as much new equipment as it can
afford. It depends heavily on its more than 38,000
miles of track to transport people and freight across the
country. The use of automobiles and trucks has been
rapidly increasing. Yet highways crossing long
distances are not common.
Today, rail travel figures reach five billion
passengers a year. Trains are always very crowded.
Some adventurous travelers even try riding the roofs of
passenger cars. Inside the cars, there are several classes
For centuries, elephants and pack animals
carried people and trade goods across India. In the
middle of the 1800s, a different kind of beast-the
railroad-took over that job.
India’s railways today are built on foundations
laid by the United Kingdom’s colonial government.
The British saw trains as a way of keeping its officials
in touch with the people of a huge colony. The British
of accommodations. Lowest fares are for seats on hard
wooden benches.
Railway expansion has broken the isolation of
many villages. Tracks have been built into areas that
were difficult to reach. On the route into the
Himalayan foothills, engineers conquered a steep grade
by building track that looped over itself in a figure
eight pattern.
Question Directions- Write a paragraph about India’s railways. Make sure to include the following terms in your
paragraph about India’s railways. Great Britain, 38,000 miles, goods, raw material and markets, 3.5 billion
passengers, crowded, and isolation.
Name ____________________________________________ Core __________________ Date ________________________
India’s Information Technology
Industry
four-year college before they are certified. Software
programmers are certified at software training
institutes that require a high school diploma. These
graduates are in high demand around the globe. Many
computer professionals move to the United States or
Persian Gulf states to work. About 30 percent of IIT
graduates leave the country every year. There are also
good jobs for those who choose to stay in India.
Software Technology Parks (STP) have been
set up in many cities. The STPs contain centralized
Education for the wealthy has been a tradition
in India since the beginnings of its civilization. Great
Buddhist universities at Nalanda and Taxila were
famous far beyond India’s borders. Today, India’s
educated workforce attracts investment from around
the world.
India’s education system has benefited from the
computing facilities along with satellite links. The
southern city of Bengaluru (Bangalore) is known as the
Silicon Valley of India.
In 1986, Texas Instruments opened a subsidiary
there. All the software, designs, and data produced
there are sent to Texas Instruments’ American offices
via satellite. The United States is India’s largest
government’s socialist policies. Tuition at the majority
consumer of exported software, followed by Western
of India’s top universities does not exceed $500
Europe. Many American companies have sent some or
annually. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
charges about $100 per year in tuition. Quality
education is available to a wide range of people.
India’s advantage lies in its vast resource of
skilled computer personnel. Engineers must attend a
all of their information technology work to India. In
developed countries, technical support is labor
intensive and requires highly skilled computer
personnel. Indian companies provide more costeffective technical support than Western companies.
Question (10 Points)
1. Why is computer science education important in India? Should Indians with technology degrees stay in India
or work in other countries? __________________________________________________________________
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