'Saare Jhan Se Achchha Hindostan Hamara' (Our India is the best among all lands in the world) said Dr Iqbal, the poet of East. Now this poetic line has evolved into a symbolic expression for the greatness of our country. This is sung frequently and used widely for an easy, prompt and soft pronouncement of the greatness and novelty of our country. No doubt, India is great and illustrious. Its on top as far as its heritage, history, philosophy and culture is concerned. Our team of authors and editors has made their best efforts to depict the same greatness of our country and nation in this series. Here is a treasure, bound into books. This is the best example of 'knowledge in a nutshell'. Needless to say that India is known for its unity in diversity, with its kaleidoscopic variety, it emerges as a wonderful nation. With one of the oldest civilisations in the world, this country has a rich cultural heritage. After independence, through 58 years. India has achieved multifaceted socio-economic progress in addition to creating a niche in the international community and the new world order. India is a federation of states and union territories.
As of now, there are 28 states and 7 union territories in the country, all these states have made tremendous progress in almost every sphere since 1947, when the nation had attained freedom. Various Indian states have shown an all round advancement and stupendous progress in political, cultural, economic and social areas. India is a vast country. All states enjoy autonomy to a great extent and flourish in their own manner. Some states are similar to each other while others are quite different from the rest. People of one state have little authentic knowledge about other states. This situation, in some cases, creates problems and difficulties with no ready solution at hand. Hence this comprehensive and exhaustive encyclopaedic work. Every state and union territory has been covered in a separate book, each book, devoted to one state or U.T. covers life and people under various heads-Land, People, Heritage History, Geography, Economy, Polity, Tourism, etc. The "Beautiful India" series is an asset for all scholars, researchers, teachers, students and of course, the general readers.