India’s culture and economy encourage people to move to or visit. A speech prepared by Aisha M Fahmi Today I'm going, mainly, to talk about India‟s culture and economy that encourage people to move to or visit. Most people believe that India is a place, once visited, you will never forget. This is because its attractive beauty, amazing mixes of cultures, religions, ethnic groups, languages, traditions, and fantastic architecture. Firstly, the Indian people are so kind, friendly, most hospitable and welcoming to strangers, and amazingly, they believe that "the guest is God, so it is usual for them to invite foreigners and their families for dinner. Secondly, let me tell you some important facts about India‟s amazing and attractive culture. It is often said that India is the mother of World‟s wonders and the oldest civilization which include amazing architecture, mosques, temples, monuments and ancient remains; found all over the country. To start with, one may inquire about the languages barrier in India. Then we can safely say that, you will rarely face a language barrier, despite the 22 official and 1652 unofficial languages. However, the official language is Hindi (spoken by ~30% of the population) and is more common in North India, while English (the major language of the trade and service sectors), unifies all of India and is more common in South India. Concerning the religion, Hindu is the most popular religion (~ 80%), followed by Muslim (12%), Christian (2%) in addition to other religions as Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain. Now, you may ask about food. To tell the truth, it is a well-known fact that India is a food lover‟s paradise, where food alone is a quite enough reason to visit India. It is characterized by its spicier delicious and tasteful ingredients such as coconut, seafood. Moreover, each region produces different kinds of food, for example, street food in Delhi differs completely from that of Mumbai. To add to your knowledge, cows are sacred in India, and nobody eats beef, so most people are vegetarians. Therefore, you can enjoy the food you prefer. If someone is wondering about the most popular and touristic historical monuments in India, we can simply mention the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and the most beautiful buildings ever built. It occupies in first place and dating back to 1630. Agra Fort, one of the finest Mughal forts in India, occupies the second place and it contains mosques, palaces, towers, and courtyards. Another important monument is and one of Dlhi‟s top attraction is Qutab Minar; the tallest brick minaret in the world. It is an incredible mix of early Indo-Islamic architecture. We can also mention Humayun's Tomb, that looks a bit like the Taj Mahal, was built in 1570. The Red Fort “ Delhi's most famous monument” that was built in 1638 to keep out invaders. It would also be interesting to see the Ajanta and Ellora caves, that are amazingly carved into rock (~63 caves), for Buddhist, Hindu and Jain and dating back between the 2nd century BC and 11th century AD). In addition to all these fantastic monuments, let‟s consider the countless festivals in India, that make life in India colorful and joyous. Diwali „festival of lights‟ is one of the main and most important Hindu festivals in India. All people light lamps in everywhere, hence the name „festival of lights‟. If we move to Shopping, it is a well-known that each region is specialized in a particular industry, so a tourist can find astonishing handicrafts. But if you inquire about the economy and the cost of living in India, we can briefly outline the following: India has one of the successful, fast-growing world‟s strongest economies (seventh greatest by GDP). Although, India has a diverse economy depending mainly on agriculture, industry and services, but it is seen as an industrialized country. India‟s economy sits between France and Italy, and by 2050, it is expected to be the world‟s second-largest, behind only China. The India‟s government, is therefore, doing much efforts to improve its economic condition through adopting modern industries, exports, banking that have made a positive impact on the Indian economy. One of the main points to talk about is the industrial sector that greatly contributes to India‟s economy and comes next to agricultural. The main industries include: iron, steel, chemical, sugar, cement and shipbuilding. Another impotent sector is the service sector which includes the banking, hotels, telecom, insurance, transport which provide more job opportunities. Wondering about job and career opportunities and living in India, let me tell you that, working in India means an economically active population. Agriculture and industry represent the major sectors of India‟s economy. Agriculture creates jobs for about 50% of India‟s population. India is the world‟s largest producer of many crops, fruit, and vegetables (ex. rice, wheat, spices, tea, sugarcane) in addition to other business such as dairy, meat, poultry, fisheries .. etc. as we see, India Plays an important role in /international global trade. On the other hand, the industrial sector creates jobs for about 22%. Major industries include: textiles, transport equipment, mining, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, software, and machinery. To be honest, finding work/job in India is a real challenge and the salaries offered are less than desirable (about 25% less than that in European countries). Moreover, personal connections are major mans of finding job opportunities, as multinational/international companies seek to international workforce. Moreover, the number of foreigners working in India greatly rises, but with higher competition for skilled employees who attract such companies. I think one might inquire about the cost of living in India. To start with, the cost of travel is cheap and suitable to many people. The majority of Indian cities offer a very good standard of living for a relatively low cost, where hotels are modern, clean, and welcoming. The cost living (ex, entertainment, education, housing and food) in most cities (even in Mumbai and New Delhi) is much cheaper than that in western countries. Lastly, let‟s talk about tax rates in India. Actually, tax rate in India is relatively low, and it is 0% for an annual income <250,000 Indian Rupees, 10% for 250,000-500,000, 20% for >500,0001,000,000, and 30% for >1,000,000 Indian Rupees per year. In conclusion, life in India can be joyous, colorful, and never boring, and hence everyone should visit it once in his/her life.