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List of actions attributed to KCF

2023-10-09T17:11:32Z

Anshuman Tiwari: Created page with 'The following is a '''list of chronological actions attributed to Khalistan Commando Force.''' (KCF) Actions include killings, assassinations, bank robberies, battles, and encounters. Khalistan Commando Force was founded by the Sarbat Khalsa and Panthic Committee. It was the "official" army of Khalistan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pettigrew |first=Joyce J. M. |url=http://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjabunh0000pett |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab : unhea...'

The following is a '''list of chronological actions attributed to [[Khalistan Commando Force]].''' (KCF) Actions include killings, assassinations, bank robberies, battles, and encounters.

Khalistan Commando Force was founded by the [[Sarbat Khalsa]] and Panthic Committee. It was the "official" army of Khalistan.<ref name="Pettigrew 1995 82">{{Cite book |last=Pettigrew |first=Joyce J. M. |url=http://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjabunh0000pett |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab : unheard voices of State and guerrilla violence |date=1995 |publisher=London ; Atlantic Highlands, N.J. : Zed Books |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-85649-355-0 |pages=82}}</ref> [[Manbir Singh Chaheru]] was made the leader in February 1986.<ref>{{cite book |author=Stephen E. Atkins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8k4rEPvq_8C&pg=PA242 |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-313-32485-7 |page=242}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Cynthia Keppley Mahmood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wA3yjdgyY9kC&pg=RA2-PA153 |title=Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues with Sikh Militants |date=November 1996 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-1592-3 |pages=152–153}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Birinder Pal Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saGFAAAAMAAJ |title=Violence as Political Discourse |publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study |year=2002 |isbn=9788179860069}}</ref> It was most active in the [[Insurgency in Punjab, India|Punjab Insurgency]] being one of the strongest and most coordinated militant groups. Later on, KCF will break into factions.<ref name="FairGanguly2008">{{cite book |last1=Fair |first1=C. Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2E1NpYuOrsC&pg=PA41 |title=Treading on hallowed ground: counterinsurgency operations in sacred spaces |last2=Ganguly |first2=Šumit |date=September 2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=978-0-19-534204-8 |page=41}}</ref>

== 1980s ==

=== 1986 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
! width="10%" |Date
! width="40%" |Action and details
! width="25%" |Location
! width="5%" |Result
! width="5%" |Sources
|-
|March 6
|KCF members led by Chaheru opened fire on the convoy of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jarnail Singh Brar, and Kabul Singh, acting president of [[Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee]] (SGPC). Brar was said to be the target with Kabul being in the crossfire.
|[[Kapurthala]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|7 killed and 13 wounded. Kabul Singh seriously wounded.
|<ref name=":022">{{Cite web |title=Authorities arrest two Sikh extremists - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/08/09/Authorities-arrest-two-Sikh-extremists/8140523944000/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh gunmen murdered six people and wounded 13 in... |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/03/06/Sikh-gunmen-murdered-six-people-and-wounded-13-in/1147510469200/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wumU1puV3z4C |title=Daily Report: Near East & South Asia |date=19 January 1988 |publisher=The Service |pages=81 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":122">{{Cite web |title=We in Punjab are fighting the battle on behalf of the country: Surjit Singh Bamala |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19860331-we-in-punjab-are-fighting-the-battle-on-behalf-of-the-country-surjit-singh-bamala-800716-1986-03-31 |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|March 7
|KCF members led by Chaheru burned the home of police Inspector Jaskirit Singh.
|[[Kasso Chahal|Kassochal]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|House burned down
|<ref name=":122"/>
|-
|March 26
|KCF members attacked and killed [[Arjan Singh Mastana]] an [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] and leader of [[Communist Party of India]] with his bodyguard. Mastana had created a militia to fight KCF.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|[[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] killed with 1 bodyguard.
|<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thukral |first1=Gobind |date=31 October 1986 |title=Punjab: Red Targets |work=India Today |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/killing-of-communist-leaders-in-punjab-makes-left-parties-more-firm-in-opposing-terrorism/1/348960.html |accessdate=1 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spokane Chronicle - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1345&dat=19860327&id=MetWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zfkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5436,2840055&hl=en |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=news.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Killing of communist leaders in Punjab makes Left parties more firm in opposing terrorism |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19861031-killing-of-communist-leaders-in-punjab-makes-left-parties-more-firm-in-opposing-terrorism-801383-1986-10-30 |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-06-09 |title=Gurpreet Singh: Khalistani separatists' killings leave a legacy of sorrow in Canada and the U.S. |url=https://www.straight.com/news/389916/gurpreet-singh-khalistani-separatists-killings-leave-legacy-sorrow-canada-and-us |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=The Georgia Straight |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|March 29
|KCF members were accused of opening fire at a barber shop. Cutting hair is forbidden in the Sikh faith.
|[[Nakodar|Nakodhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|12 killed
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh terrorists opened fire on a brick factory and... |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/03/29/Sikh-terrorists-opened-fire-on-a-brick-factory-and/3217512456400/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":022"/>
|-
|April 6
|Chaheru and 2 other KCF members attacked Jalandhar district court and broke free [[Labh Singh]], Sawarnjit Singh, and Gurinder Singh Bhola who were appearing in court for murder charges. The attack was long planned by Chaheru. He would meet Labh Singh daily and had promised to break him free. Chaheru had a [[sten]]gun while the other militants had [[revolver]]s. Chaheru signaled for Labh and co to go to the bathroom as they exited the court. Then the militants attacked and killed 4 officers at the steps of the court. They broke free Labh Singh and co then killed 2 officers at the gate before fleeing. This single incident became a basis of Riberio's "Bullet for bullet" policy.
|[[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|3 militants broken free. 6 officers killed. 4 others wounded.
|<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mahmood |first1=Cynthia Keppley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wA3yjdgyY9kC&q=manbir+chaheru&pg=RA2-PA169 |title=Fighting for faith and nation ... – Google Books |date=November 1996 |isbn=0812215923 |accessdate=2009-08-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gupta |first=G. V. |date=7 March 1999 |title=Book Review:Bullet for Bullet: My Life as a Police Officer:'Bullet-for-bullet is not my baby' |publisher=Tribuneindia.com |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99mar07/book.htm#1 |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=5 April 1986 |title=Sikhs kill 6 in attack outside court |work=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref name="EugeneRG">{{cite news |date=6 April 1986 |title=Sikh extremists kill 6 policemen, free 3 prisoners |publisher=Eugene Register-Guard |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QGgVAAAAIBAJ&pg=5549,1304617&dq=court+jullundur+police |url-status=dead |access-date=21 October 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717171703/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QGgVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5549,1304617&dq=court+jullundur+police |archive-date=17 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="LSescape">{{cite news |date=6 April 1986 |title=Sikhs Kill 6 on Courthouse Steps |publisher=Associated Press (Wilmington Morning Star) |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N-UVAAAAIBAJ&pg=7064,1405115&dq=sukhdev-singh |access-date=23 January 2016}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=6 April 1986 |title=The World, section 1 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58572255.html?dids=58572255:58572255&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+06%2C+1986&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=The+World+Sikhs+Kill+Six+Policemen&pqatl=google |access-date=23 January 2016 |quote=Sikh extremists shot their way into a courthouse in the Punjab city of Jullundur, killed six policemen and freed three prisoners accused of killing a Hindu editor, authorities said.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Chicago Tribune Wires; NEWS |date=5 April 1986 |title=SIKH GUNMEN SLAY 6 COPS IN PUNJAB |page=14 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/25001922.html?dids=25001922:25001922&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:FT&date=Apr+06%2C+1986&author=Chicago+Tribune+wires&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=SIKH+GUNMEN+SLAY+6+COPS+IN+PUNJAB&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |access-date=23 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021051813/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/25001922.html?dids=25001922:25001922&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:FT&date=Apr+06,+1986&author=Chicago+Tribune+wires&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=SIKH+GUNMEN+SLAY+6+COPS+IN+PUNJAB&pqatl=google |archive-date=21 October 2012}}</ref>
|-
|April 10
|2 KCF members hijacked a train and killed 5 police officers.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|5 officers killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=India's second most-wanted Sikh captured - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/08/12/Indias-second-most-wanted-Sikh-captured/1560524203200/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|May
|Harjind Singh Jinda, Labh Singh, and other KCF members robbed a bank in [[Jalandhar]] of 1,250,000 rupees. (US$250,000)
|[[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1,250,000 rupees. (US$250,000) robbed.
|<ref>Asi Attwadi Nahi by Jinda Sukha</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Declaration of Khalistan was made at the instance of Pakistan, militant confesses |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19860915-declaration-of-khalistan-was-made-at-the-instance-of-pakistan-militant-confesses-801241-1986-09-14 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|July 15
|Chaheru attacked Kapurthala Jail breaking out 2 "hardcore" militants which killed 2 prison guards. Chaheru also stole the guns of the dead officers.
|[[Punjab|Kapurthala,]] [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 militants broken free. 2 officers killed and their weapons stolen.
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYJlAAAAIBAJ&dq=kapurthala+jail&pg=PA1&article_id=696,3135044 |title=The Indian Express |publisher=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Declaration of Khalistan was made at the instance of Pakistan, militant confesses |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19860915-declaration-of-khalistan-was-made-at-the-instance-of-pakistan-militant-confesses-801241-1986-09-14 |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGpDAAAAYAAJ |title=Link |date=1986 |publisher=United India Periodicals |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NlkAAAAIBAJ&dq=kapurthala+jail&pg=PA45&article_id=3301,2602125 |title=The Calgary Herald |publisher=The Calgary Herald |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|August 10
|In 1984, General [[Arun Vaidya]] had planned and supervised [[Operation Blue Star]] – a controversial military operation ordered by [[Indira Gandhi]], then [[Prime Minister of India]], in order to flush out a group of heavily armed Sikh militants in June 1984 at the [[Harmandir Sahib|Golden Temple]], the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. General Vaidya had moved to Pune after his retirement from the army. On 10 August 1986, General [[Arun Vaidya]] was shot and killed by [[Harjinder Singh Jinda|Jinda]] and [[Sukhdev Singh Sukha|Sukha]] while he was driving his car home from the market. According to the police, the assailants pulled up next to his car on motor scooters and fired eight or nine shots into the car. Vaidya reportedly died instantly of head and neck wounds. His wife, who was also in the car, was wounded by four bullets in her back and thighs. According to Indian intelligence sources, Vaidya had been the number four assassination target on lists by Sikh militants and he was one of several people killed in retaliation for Operation Blue Star. Following the assassination, the Khalistan Commando Force issued a statement declaring that Vaidya had been killed in retaliation for the [[Operation Blue Star]].
|[[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]]
|Former [[Chief of the Army Staff (India)|Chief of Army Staff]] [[Arun Shridhar Vaidya|Vaidya]] killed.
|<ref name="vaidyamurdercase">"The Vaidya Murder Case: Confirming Death Sentences", ''[[India Abroad]]''. (New York edition). New York, N.Y.: 24 July 1992. Vol.XXII, Issue. 43; pg.20.</ref><ref name="sikhskillexarmycheif">Sun-Times Wires. "Sikhs kill ex-army chief, massacre revenge hinted", ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', 11 August 1986.</ref><ref name="generalcremated">[[Associated Press]]. "General cremated; Sikhs admit to killing", c/o ''[[Houston Chronicle]]'', 11 August 1986.</ref><ref name="shrineleaderkilled">[[Associated Press]]. "Shrine Leader Killed in Ambush", ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'', 11 August 1986.</ref><ref name="topgeneralassasinated">Weisman, Steven R. "A Top Indian General is Assassinated", ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'', 11 August 1986.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Operation Bluestar, 20 Years On |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/03spec.htm |work=Rediff.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=17 August 1986 |title=IN BRIEF; Indian General Who Raided Temple Is Slain |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE3DD1F3EF934A2575BC0A960948260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FS%2FSikhs%20(Sect)}}</ref>
|-
|August 28
|Manbir Singh Chaheru was arrested on 8 August 1986. Manbir Singh would later be executed in an extrajudicial killing by police. Manbir was the first head of KCF. Replacing him was Labh Singh. Sarbjit Singh Ropar who was responsible for Manbir Singh's arrest and the acting chairperson for a faction of [[All India Sikh Students Federation|All India Sikh Student Federation]] was kidnapped by KCF on August 28. He was interrogated by Labh Singh and revealed his hand in the arrest and his fathers who was a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). He also revealed his hand in the arrests of Tarsem Singh Kohar and Waryam Singh. He was soon executed by Labh Singh along with Hardeep Sahota, and Hans Raj Ghuman. Hardeep and Hans were also involved in the arrest of multiple militants and Manbir Singh.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|[[All India Sikh Students Federation|AISSF]] chairperson killed with 2 others.
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVlDAAAAYAAJ |title=India Today |date=1986 |publisher=Thomson Living Media India Limited |pages=27 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=WSN |title=AISSF Acting Convener Sarbjit Singh Ropar Believed Killed by Police |url=https://sikhheritageeducation.com/aissf-acting-convener-sarbjit-singh-ropar-believed-killed-by-police/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=SIKH HERITAGE EDUCATION |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|September
|6 KCF members under Labh Singh robbed a bank in Talwara. The bank manager was killed and 29,000 rupees (386,000 rupees in 2023. US$4,700 in 2023) was stolen
|[[Talwara]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Bank manager was killed and 29,000 rupees robbed.
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cKBKAQAAIAAJ |title=Frontline |date=1997-07-25 |publisher=S. Rangarajan for Kasturi & Sons |pages=113 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 1
|KCF members assassinated Additional District and Sessions Judge R.P. Gaind. He was shot 4 times dead in a store while on the phone. His wife and daughter watched the killing. He had been receiving death threats over his verdict on a case prating to Sodhal [[Hindu temple|Mandir]] in Jalandhar. A room of it was used by Sikhs for worship. Sikhs demanded the room that was used for Sikh worship become a [[Gurdwara]].
|[[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Judge killed
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikhs assassinate judge in Punjab |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/09/01/Sikhs-assassinate-judge-in-Punjab/3239525931200/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Upi |date=1986-09-02 |title=AROUND THE WORLD; Sikh Gunmen Kill A Judge in Punjab |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/02/world/around-the-world-sikh-gunmen-kill-a-judge-in-punjab.html |access-date=2023-05-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1986-09-02 |title=The World |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-02-mn-13494-story.html |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4NlAAAAIBAJ&dq=labh+singh&pg=PA9&article_id=1442,1565967 |title=Dreaded terrorist Labh Singh shot dead |publisher=The Indian Express |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 25
|KCF killed [[Darshan Singh Canadian]] an [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] and party leader of the [[Communist Party of India]]. Darshan Singh opposed Sikh militants and Khalistan supporting NRI Sikhs. He actively campaigned against both.
|[[Hoshiarpur]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|[[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] and [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|CPI]] leader killed
|<ref name="enpp">{{cite book |author=Ralhan, O. P. |title=Encyclopaedia of Political Parties |year=2002 |isbn=81-7488-865-9 |pages=1165–1171}}</ref><ref name="apnews.com2">{{Cite web |title=Sikh Extremists Kill Second Communist Leader |url=https://apnews.com/article/3f118498e9e73202009d4a7fdffaabea |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 26
|KCF members killed [[Baldev Singh Mann]]. He was a [[Left-wing politics|left-wing activist]] of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) New Democracy]]. He was a state level leader of Kirti Kisan Union and the editor of ''Hirawal Dasta.'' Baldev was gunned down by 4 men in his home village near Amritsar. He was walking with his brother who escaped unhurt.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Communist leader killed.
|<ref name="HirawalMann">{{cite web |date=September 1992 |title=Bleeding Punjab : A Report to the Nation |url=http://www.bannedthought.net/India/ML-Groups/CPI-ML-CentralTeam/TheBleedingPunjab-AReport-Sept1992.pdf |access-date=1 October 2018 |work=[[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]]}}</ref><ref name="Hirawal Dasta">{{cite web |date=21 April 2007 |title=Militancy Scenario in Punjab |url=http://pbplanning.gov.in/pdf/CS%20conference%2021-04-2007.pdf |access-date=15 June 2015 |work=Punjab Government}}</ref><ref name="apnews.com2"/><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |last3= |last4= |last5= |last6= |first6= |title=Gunned down by Khalistani terrorists, Baldev Singh Mann also fought state repression |url=https://www.counterview.net/2021/10/gunned-down-by-khalistani-terrorists.html |access-date=2023-05-14 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 29
|KCF members looted a bank and killed the bank manager.
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Bank manager killed and bank looted.
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyKHAAAAMAAJ |title=Perspectives on Human Rights |date=2000 |publisher=Anamika Publishers & Distributors |isbn=978-81-86565-80-3 |pages=93 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 30
|KCF members managed to take down the Punjab Police wireless system across the entire state for half an hour.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Police wireless system down for 30 minutes.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Punjab Police chief Julio Francis Ribeiro narrowly escapes terror attack |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19861031-punjab-police-chief-julio-francis-ribeiro-narrowly-escapes-terror-attack-801364-1986-10-30 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|October
|KCF member robbed 1,023,000 rupees (US$250,000) from a bank in Ludhiana.
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1,023,000 rupees (US$250,000) robbed.
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6osMAQAAMAAJ |title=India Today |date=1988 |publisher=Living Media India Pvt. Limited |pages=32 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|October
|KCF robbed 800,000 rupees from the Millar Ganj branch of the [[Punjab National Bank]], Ludhiana.
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|800,000 rupees (US$130,000) robbed.
|<ref name="Pettigrew 1995 82"/>
|-
|October 3
|On 3 October 1986, 6 men identified in the press as Sikh militants in police uniforms attacked [[Director general of police|Director General]] of [[Punjab Police (India)|Punjab Police]] [[Julio Francis Ribeiro]] inside his Punjab Armed Police headquarters in the city of Jalandhar, with automatic weapons. According to Ribeiro he was strolling with his wife when Sikh militants in a jeep disguised as a police one asked to inspect a guards gun. The guards gave the gun for inspection. Soon 3 Sikh began climbing the wall and sprayed fire. After 2 minutes of fire they fled. Throughout all of this no officer returned fire or attempted to chase the Sikh. One guard was killed, and Ribeiro, his wife, and four other officers were injured. Ribeiro's wound was minor, but his wife was hospitalized. KCF leader Labh Singh led the attack.
|[[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 police officer killed. DGP RIberio and his wife were wounded. 4 other officer wounded.
|<ref>{{cite news |last=Walia |first=Varinder |date=25 January 2002 |title=Panjwar village hums with poll activity |publisher=Tribuneindia.com |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020125/punjab1.htm |access-date=30 September 2009 |quote=...who was responsible for the attack on Mr J.F. Rebeiro, the then DGP...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=The Windsor Star |date=24 April 2008 |title=India files complaint over 'martyrs' parade |url=http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=4e9019ee-c9cd-4459-8a1f-e4f08238125e |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123142933/http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=4e9019ee-c9cd-4459-8a1f-e4f08238125e |archive-date=23 January 2016 |access-date=23 January 2016 |publisher=Canada.com |quote=One of those featured – Gen. Labh Singh – led the assassination attempt on the director-general of Punjab police, Julio Ribeiro, in 1986.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Boca Raton News - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9PEPAAAAIBAJ&pg=4966,638725&dq=ribeiro+sikh |website=news.google.com}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spokane Chronicle - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=a7ISAAAAIBAJ&pg=2548,967763&dq=ribeiro+sikh |website=news.google.com}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Free Lance-Star - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=43EQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6635,476265&dq=ribeiro+sikh |website=news.google.com}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Tempest |first=Rone |date=4 October 1986 |title=Aide Battling Sikh Terrorism Survives Attack |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1986-10-04/news/mn-4029_1_sikh-terrorism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MOIRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5113,1949144&dq=ribeiro+sikh |website=news.google.com}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref name="indiatoday.in">{{Cite web |title=Punjab Police chief Julio Francis Ribeiro narrowly escapes terror attack |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19861031-punjab-police-chief-julio-francis-ribeiro-narrowly-escapes-terror-attack-801364-1986-10-30 |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lo8AAAAMAAJ |title=IDSA News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean |date=1987 |publisher=Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses |pages=789 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Belle |first=G.G. |date=3 October 1986 |title=Disguised Sikhs attack compound of police chief |page=3 |publisher=[[The Free-Lance Star]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pNAVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6467,1005649&dq=ribeiro+attack+headquarters |url-status=dead |access-date=1 October 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713072745/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pNAVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2BMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6467,1005649&dq=ribeiro+attack+headquarters |archive-date=13 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="indiatoday.in" />
|-
|October 30
|Labh Singh personally led a bank robbery in Talwara at the [[State Bank of India]]. According to police 4 Sikhs robbed the bank and 2 people were killed and another 2 wounded. The robbery occurred in broad daylight. 2,000,000 rupees were stolen. ( About US$488,000 in 2023)
|[[Talwara]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 killed and 2 wounded. 2,000,000 rupees were stolen. (US$488,000)
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh Terrorists Rob Bank, Kill Five |url=https://apnews.com/article/a2d9183391296e26f8e38a64357426fc |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh extremists kill three in bank robbery |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/10/30/Sikh-extremists-kill-three-in-bank-robbery/9832531032400/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|November
|KCF members killed Congress leader Doctor Kalicharan Sharma in Ludhiana. He was a major leader of [[Hindus]]. Sharma had been a critic of the [[Punjabi Suba movement]], and [[Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale]].
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 political leader killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Terrorism returns to Punjab, militants once again give call for Khalistan |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19861130-terrorism-returns-to-punjab-militants-once-again-give-call-for-khalistan-801458-1986-11-29 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref name="scribd.com2">{{Cite web |title=Jail Chithiyan. Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda Ate Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha (Singhs of Keysborough) {{!}} PDF {{!}} South Asia {{!}} Punjab |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/180460421/jail-chithiyan-bhai-harjinder-singh-jinda-ate-bhai-sukhdev-singh-sukha-singhs-of-keysborough |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|November 20
|KCF claimed responsibility for an attack on a Police patrol killing 4 officers,
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|4 Punjab Police officers killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh separatists claim responsibility for slaying of police - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/11/20/Sikh-separatists-claim-responsibility-for-slaying-of-police/8455532846800/ |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|December
|KCF members led by Labh Singh killed DSP Rashpal Singh in his home along with his son as they both slept. After killing him they stole his stengun. The DSP had been accused of harassing Sikhs and families of militants.
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Deputy Superintendent of Police killed with his son.
|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jinda |first=Harjinder Singh |title=ਅਸੀਂ ਅੱਤਵਾਦੀ ਨਹੀਂ |last2=Sukha |first2=Sukhdev Singh |publisher=Azad Khalsa Prakashan |pages=111 |language=Punjabi}}</ref>
|}

=== 1987 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|January 7
|Khalistan Commando Force members assassinated [[Inspector general|Inspector General]] Trilok Chand Katoch. A note was left stamped by Labh Singh taking responsibility and warning other officers. Katoch was killed in 3 shoots near his home in Chandigarh. Katoch was the highest ranking police official to be killed up to that point and was the second highest-ranking officer in the state. Katoch was once in charge of Punjab Prisons until late 1986 when he was put in charge of “overseeing internal discipline and enforcing administrative rules”. KCF claimed responsibility in a phone call and threatened to strike again.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|Inspector General of police killed.
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xC0MAQAAMAAJ |title=Keesing's Record of World Events |date=1987 |publisher=Longman |pages=35250 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Police commander gunned down in Punjab |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/10/Police-commander-gunned-down-in-Punjab/3126537253200/ |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-12 |title=India Prison Official Slain by Sikhs - Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-11-mn-4089-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412214553/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-11-mn-4089-story.html |archive-date=12 April 2023 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref name="scribd.com2"/>
|-
|January 12
|KCF claimed responsibility for the killing of Mohinder Kaur, her two daughters, and a house worker for being police informants.
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|4 alleged police informants killed
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh extremists kill six in Punjab - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/12/Sikh-extremists-kill-six-in-Punjab/6443537426000/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|February 12
|In February Labh Singh, head of KCF, allegedly masterminded what was at that time the largest bank robbery in Indian history, netting almost 60 million (58 million rupees About 1.023 billion rupees in 2023. - US $4.5 million About US $12.5 million in 2023) from the Millar Ganj branch of the [[Punjab National Bank]], [[Ludhiana]]; a part of this stolen money belonged to the [[Reserve Bank of India]], India's central bank. It was documented as the "Biggest Bank Robbery" under "Curiosities and wonders" in the [[Limca Book of Records]]. The loot enabled the [[Khalistan Commando Force]] to buy sophisticated weapons and AK-47 rifles. The [[Chicago Sun-Times]] reported that "12 to 15 Sikhs dressed as policemen and armed with submachine guns and rifles escaped with nearly $4.5 million in the biggest bank robbery in Indian history." "No one was injured." A Police spokesman described it as "a neat and clean operation". Khalistan Commando Force members who allegedly participated in the robbery included [[Harjinder Singh Jinda]], Mathra Singh, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Satnam Singh Bawa, Gurnam Singh Bundala, [[Sukhdev Singh Sukha]], Daljit Singh Bittu, Gursharan Singh Gamma and Pritpal Singh.
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|58 million rupees (About 1.023 billion rupees in 2023. US $12.5 million in 2023) robbed.
|<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IP1tAAAAMAAJ&q=Biggest+bank |title=Limca Book of Records |publisher=Bisleri Beverages Ltd. |year=1999 |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="masterbank">{{Harvnb|Singh, Gurpreet|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5ppuAAAAMAAJ&q=labh+singh+largest+bank+robbery+Punjab+National+Bank 98 – "Labh Singh masterminded a bank robbery of R. 6 crore from a branch..."]}}</ref><ref name="masterbank" /><ref name="LATimesMasq">{{cite news |date=13 February 1987 |title=Sikh Separatists Masquerade as Police to Stage India's Biggest Bank Robbery |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58240583.html?dids=58240583:58240583&FMT=ABS |url-status=dead |access-date=23 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022223108/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58240583.html?dids=58240583:58240583&FMT=ABS |archive-date=22 October 2012 |quote=Sikh(bracketed) separatists dressed as police officers looted a bank Thursday and escaped with $4.5 million, the biggest bank heist in Indian history, officials said. Bank robberies have been a major means of financing the Sikh militants' violent campaign for a separate state they call Khalistan. Bank robberies occur almost every week in Punjab.}}</ref><ref name="CSTbankrob">{{cite news |date=13 February 1987 |title=Sikhs rob India bank of $4.5 million |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3810376.html |url-status=dead |access-date=21 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021140733/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3810376.html |archive-date=21 October 2012}}</ref><ref name="IandS">{{Cite book |last1=Dhillon |first1=Kirpal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3eBuAAAAMAAJ |title=Identity and Survival: Sikh Militancy in India 1978–1993. Pa |publisher=Penguin India |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-14-310036-2 |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="RamKumar">{{Cite book |last=Kumar |first=Ram Narayan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WD9uAAAAMAAJ |title=The Sikh unrest and the Indian state: politics, personalities, and historical retrospective |publisher=Ajanta Publications,India |year=1997 |isbn=9788120204539 |page=445 |quote=It was only after the big bank robbery at Ludhiana in February 1987 that they could purchase sophisticated weapons; there was only one sten gun in the entire state.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=4 December 2008 |title=Paramjit Singh Panjwar (Khalistan Commando Force) |work=The Indian Express |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Paramjit-Singh-Panjwar--Khalistan-Commando-Force-/394235 |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqBtAAAAMAAJ&q=biggest+bank+robbery+ |title=Asian Recorder, Issue 28 |publisher=K. K. Thomas at Recorder Press |year=1987 |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YqBtAAAAMAAJ&q=robbery |title=Asian recorder – Google Books |date=26 August 2008 |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="expressindia1">{{cite news |last=Chaudhry |first=Amrita |date=1 October 2006 |title=Gursharan Singh Gama arrested |publisher=cities.expressindia.com |url=http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=203376}}{{dead link|date=February 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="indiarightsonline1">{{cite web |title=Killers of Lalit Maken held |url=http://www.indiarightsonline.com/Sabrang/armed1.nsf/38b852a8345861dd65256a980059289d/308bbafc7afcad6fe5256be600458270/$FILE/bac37002.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713025322/http://www.indiarightsonline.com/Sabrang/armed1.nsf/38b852a8345861dd65256a980059289d/308bbafc7afcad6fe5256be600458270/%24FILE/bac37002.pdf |archive-date=13 July 2011 |access-date=20 September 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Chaudhry |first=Amrita |date=14 September 2005 |title=Dreaded militant Daljit Singh alias Bittu gets parole for marriage |publisher=cities.expressindia.com |url=http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=148524 |access-date=30 August 2009}}{{dead link|date=February 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=News & Current Events |url=http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/category/news-current-events/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100506013039/http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/category/news-current-events/ |archive-date=6 May 2010 |access-date=23 January 2016 |publisher=Ministry of Truth}}</ref>
|-
|February 16
|KCF members killed [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] veteran leader and [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] Chanan Singh near Hoshiarpur. In a letter to the media KCF said that Dhoot committed blasphemy and spoke out against Sikhs.
|[[Hoshiarpur]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|[[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|CPI]] leader and [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] killed.
|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Bhupinder |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=rik0EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT53&dq=Chanan+Singh+Dhoot+killed&hl=pa&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo_cXz69qBAxXaJDQIHWh0BcUQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=Chanan%20Singh%20Dhoot%20killed&f=false |title=Punjab Politics: Retrospect and Prospect |publisher=Readworthy |isbn=978-93-5018-082-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=ਧੂਤ ਦੇ ਕਤਲ ਦੀ ਜ਼ਿੰਮੇਵਾਰੀ ਜਿੰਦਾ ਨੇ ਲਈ-ਪੁਲਸ ਨੂੰ ਸਖਤ ਤਾੜਨਾ |work=Ajit}}</ref>
|-
|March 30
|Harjinder Singh Jinda, who had assassinated [[Lalit Maken]], Arjun Dass, [[Arun Shridhar Vaidya|General Vaidya]], and others, was being transported by police. 15 KCF members, who were armed with submachine guns and pistols, surrounded a rouge police van and blocked the front and back with two vehicles. They demanded Jinda be released or they would open fire. Jinda was released and the militants fled.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Jinda broken free.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh militants stopped a police van in northern Punjab... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/03/30/Sikh-militants-stopped-a-police-van-in-northern-Punjab/4921544078800/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=31 March 1987 |title=Convoy Ambushed; Sikh Extremist Freed |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-31-mn-1627-story.html |access-date=21 May 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|March 30
|In late March 1987 KCF issued a 13 policy Sikh moral code which all were to adhere to. The polices were to end dancing at weddings, end music at weddings, end to the wearing of non-traditional clothing, no tweezing of eyebrows for girls, no snipping of beards for boys, no ''[[baraat]]s'' that include more than 11 people, no participation in Hindu ''[[Jagarana|jagratas]]'' or all-night prayers, no associating with [[Radha Soami|Radhasoami]] Sikhs, no school uniforms that are not saffron black, and white and the end of the sale and consumption of meat, alcohol and tobacco. Those who did not respect the law were warned that they would be burnt alive. The code was largely followed. Sikh women began wearing traditional clothing and many meat, alcohol, and tobacco shops closed. Many restaurants brought in vegetarian items to the menu. Some did not follow the decree which put them in danger. Those who did not follow were forced to either pay off Sikhs or get security. Sikh leaders generally supported the decree. The enforcement of the decree in its first 2 months resulted in at least 6 killed, 60 shops burned, and complete or partial closure of 1,500 businesses. This was enforced by KCF until the end of the insurgency.
One survey found that there were no meat or cigarette shops between [[Amritsar]] and [[Phagwara]]. Famous restaurants that served meat had removed it from their menu and denied ever serving it. According to Assistant Deputy Inspector General of Police in Jalandhar A.S. Siddiqui the moral code had great popular among Sikhs especially those living in the rural area. He said, “Women seem to be pleased with it and there is also the fact that the [[All India Sikh Students Federation|AISSF]] has been on a massive recruitment drive through their ''amrit prachar'' (preaching of Sikh [[Khalsa|baptism]]) meetings. There is one meeting a day in the state, and after every meeting an estimated 200 youths pledge themselves to the service of the [[Khalsa|panth]]." Militants justified the moral code by saying, "No [[avatar]]s, Hindu or Sikh, ever did these things. To eat meat is the job of ''[[rakshasa]]s'' ([[demon]]s) and we don't want people to become ''rakshasas''."
|[[India]]
|Long lasting enforcement of moral code leading to 100s of deaths and the closing of 1000s of businesses.
|<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=Sikh militants in Punjab, putting a moral edge on... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/10/Sikh-militants-in-Punjab-putting-a-moral-edge-on/5864547617600/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=AISSF forces shopkeepers to shut liquor and meat shops in Punjab |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19870430-aissf-forces-shopkeepers-to-shut-liquor-and-meat-shops-in-punjab-798798-1987-04-29 |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|April 27
|KCF members attacked a court in Amritsar and freed 3 KCF members, Ranjit Singh Rana, Kanwarjit Singh, and Rajbinder Singh. KCF members drove two vans into the guarded court complex and opened fire on officers transporting prisoners. The attack lasted 3 minutes with the KCF members spraying the police with bullets. No KCF members was hurt. One unidentified rickshaw puller was killed and 2 officers were seriouslly wounded.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|3 KCF members freed from prison. 1 killed and 2 officers seriously wounded.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh gunmen storm court building and free three jailed colleagues - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/04/27/Sikh-gunmen-storm-court-building-and-free-three-jailed-colleagues/6186546494400/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikhs free imprisoned colleagues in shootout - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/04/27/Sikhs-free-imprisoned-colleagues-in-shootout/9656546494400/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|May 5
|KCF members robbed 850,000 rupees from the [[Bank of India]] branch in Guru Amar Das market.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|850,000 rupees (10,400,000 rupees in 2023. US$126,500 in 2023) robbed.
|<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=KCF ultra acquitted in bank robbery case - Indian Express |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/kcf-ultra-acquitted-in-bank-robbery-case/236357/ |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=archive.indianexpress.com}}</ref>
|-
|May 19
|KCF members killed [[Deepak Dhawan]] who was the State Committee member of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]. Dhawan was riding his scooter near Sanghe. KCF members approached him and told him to try and run. He tried to run, but they shot him as he tried.
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Communist leader killed.
|<ref name="IDSA">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVw8AAAAMAAJ&q=Deepak%20Dhawan |title=Institute for Defence Studies & Analysis |publisher=Institute for Defence Studies |year=1987 |pages=987, 994}}</ref><ref name="CPIMBook">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jyAmAAAAMAAJ |title=CPI(M) in Punjab: The Martyrs of the Struggle for National Unity |publisher=Communist Party of India (Marxist) |year=1987 |page=20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=8 October 2012 |title=Ghosts of Khalistan |work=The Hindu |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/ghosts-of-khalistan/article3978880.ece |accessdate=16 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=No change in Punjab under President's rule, terrorists kill three people in Tarn Taran area |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19870615-no-change-in-punjab-under-presidents-rule-terrorists-kill-three-people-in-tarn-taran-area-798943-1987-06-14 |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":24"/>
|-
|July 6
|Labh Singh led KCF members who killed 75 [[Indian Army]] soldiers involved in [[Operation Blue Star]] and injured many more. Labh Singh and other KCF members first attack soldiers being transported by bus in [[Haryana]] killing around 40 soldiers and injuring around 30. Next they attacked and killed 35 soldiers in [[Fatehabad, Punjab|Fatehbad]] and injured others who were also being transported by bus.
|[[Haryana]] and [[Fatehabad, Punjab|Fatehbad]]
|75 soldiers from 9th Infantry Division killed
|<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 July 1987 |title=Soldiers In Bus Shot Dead |work=[[Indian Express]]}}</ref>
|-
|July 14
|KCF members killed retired [[Head constable|Head Constable]] Darshan Singh wasin his field in Miarpur, [[Gurdaspur]]. Darshan, before retiring, was the bodyguard of DSP Gurbachan who had been killed by militants. Darshan had also been accused by Bhindranwale of killing innocent Sikhs.
|Miarpur, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Retired [[Head constable|Head Constable]] kiled
|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sandhu |first=Ranbir Singh |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=5wSYAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y |title=Struggle for Justice: Speeches and Conversations of Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale |date=1999-08-01 |publisher=Sikh Educational & Religious Foundation |isbn=978-0-9672874-1-6 |pages=53 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=WVw8AAAAMAAJ&q=khalistan+commando+force+police+informant&dq=khalistan+commando+force+police+informant&hl=pa&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRgL6L-tCBAxVEHzQIHcXsCKM4ChDoAXoECAYQAw#commando%20crpf |title=IDSA News Review on South Asia/Indian Ocean |date=June 1987 |publisher=Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses |pages=1241 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|July 22
|KCF members entered the farmhouse of Swaran Singh an official and vice president of the Amritsar district of the [[Communist Party of India]]. They went to where he slept with his family and opened fire. Swaran Singh, his wife. his mother, and his daughter were all killed in the fire. Swaran Singh's two other daughters were wounded, but his 5-year-old son was unhurt. They also opened fire at the porch killing a worker, and injuring two others. A note was left claiming responsibility and saying it was over Swaran Singh's protests against the Sikh militants and Khalistan.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Politician and 3 family members killed. 1 house worker killed. 4 others wounded.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nine killed in Sikh terror attacks - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/07/22/Nine-killed-in-Sikh-terror-attacks/4105553924800/ |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1987-07-23 |title=The World |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-23-mn-5665-story.html |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|August 24
|Police officers surrounded KCF member Gurjant Singh Rajasthani. Gurjant fought and managed to escape. 3 officers were killed, including a sergeant, and 2 officers were wounded.
|Badda Jaura, [[Rajasthan]]
|3 officers killed and 2 wounded.
|<ref>[[Ajit (newspaper)|Ajit]] - In Badda Jaura (Rajasthan) Bhai Gurjant Singh Rajasthani surrounded, 2 officer wounded and 3 killed, Kharkus escaped (Translated title) - 24 August 1987 (Punjabi)</ref>
|-
|October
|KCF members on motorcycles shot dead [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] member Dr. Gurdial Singh.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Politician killed
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6HaAAAAMAAJ |title=Documents of the Communist Movement in India: 1987-1988 |date=1997 |publisher=National Book Agency |isbn=978-81-7626-000-8 |pages=359 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SagsAAAAIAAJ |title=CPI(M) in Punjab: The Martyrs of the Struggle for National Unity |date=1987 |publisher=Communist Party of India (Marxist) |pages=27 |language=en}}</ref>
|}

=== 1988 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|March 13
|4 KCF members stormed the homes of [[Communist Party of India]] members. The 2 party members were taken by them and were forced to disclose the location of the village head. After reaching the home of the village leader the 2 party members were killed along with the village leader. The village leader was killed for his support of [[Rajiv Gandhi]] and participation in anti Khalistan rallies organised by Gandhi.
|Kalichain, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 Communists killed along with 1 [[Sarpanch]]
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh extremists kill six, wound five - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/03/13/Sikh-extremists-kill-six-wound-five/3759574232400/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|March 17
|[[Jaimal Singh Padda|Jaimal Singh Padha]] was assassinated by KCF members under Labh Singh. He was a leader of the Kirti Kisan Union, a [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation|Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation]] front. Jaimal had written against religious communalism which angered Sikh militants. In one of his essays, he also spoke against Khalistan.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Communist leader killed
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 June 2013 |title=Gurpreet Singh: Khalistani separatists' killings leave a legacy of sorrow in Canada and the U.S. |url=https://www.straight.com/news/389916/gurpreet-singh-khalistani-separatists-killings-leave-legacy-sorrow-canada-and-us |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=The Georgia Straight |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|March 23
|[[Pash]], whose real name was Avtar Singh Sandhu, was killed by KCF members under Labh Singh. Paash was a supporter of the "ultra leftist [[Naxalite Movement|Naxalite movement]]". He would write in support of communism and was a vocal critic of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Labh Singh is said to have regretted this killing in his diary.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Communist writer killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 October 2017 |title=Revolution is a Poem: Why a Punjabi poet killed by Khalistanis is ruffling feathers in contemporary India? |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/avtar-singh-sandhu-pash-pash-was-assassinated-in-1988-because-he-spoke-up-against-khalistani-militants-significant-in-resistance-politics-4879677/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhardwaj |first=Deeksha |date=9 September 2018 |title=On Pash's birthday, remembering the fiery poet killed so young by terrorists |url=https://theprint.in/features/on-pashs-birthday-remembering-the-fiery-poet-killed-so-young-by-terrorists/114775/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 April 2013 |title=Paash's relative seeks clemency for Bhullar |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/paash-s-relative-seeks-clemency-for-bhullar/story-yY189usat80KM1PMVOjt2J.html |access-date=21 May 2023 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|March 30
|KCF killed one Naranjan Singh in Dilwan for being a police informant
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Police informant killed
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=K2YzAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=khalistan+commando+force&article_id=3584,3871638&hl=pa&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo7NXh5tGBAxVzADQIHUOICAIQ6AF6BAgPEAM#v=onepage&q=khalistan%20commando%20force&f=false |title=Lodi News-Sentinel |publisher=Lodi News-Sentinel |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|July 12
|KCF chief Labh Singh was killed in an encounter with police near [[Urmar Tanda|Tanda]], [[Hoshiarpur]], Punjab, India. He had a bounty of 100,000 rupees at the time. [[Amritsar]] Police Superintendent Suresh Arora said "We have broken the back of the [[Khalistan Commando Force|KCF]]. Sukhdev Singh was the most dreaded of the terrorists."
|[[Urmar Tanda|Tanda]], [[Hoshiarpur]]
|KCF chief killed
|<ref name="NSTdeath">{{cite news |date=13 July 1988 |title=Top Sikh extremist shot dead by Indian police |work=New Straits Times |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ULkTAAAAIBAJ&pg=6723,2918806&dq=1988+sikh |access-date=23 January 2016}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref name="PunjabEndgame">{{cite journal |last=Gill |first=K.P.S. |date=May 1999 |title=Endgame In Punjab: 1988–1993 |url=http://satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume1/fault1-kpstext.htm |journal=Faultlines |publisher=Institute for Conflict Management |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=29 |access-date=25 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Punjab Backgrounder |url=http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/punjab/backgrounder/index.html |access-date=23 January 2016 |publisher=Satp.org}}</ref><ref name="MHdeath">{{cite news |author=Herald Wire Services |date=13 July 1988 |title=IN THE WORLD, front section |edition=FINAL |page=2A |work=[[The Miami Herald]] |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB3389227357B84&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |quote=Security forces killed one of India's most wanted Sikh militants Tuesday and said his death was a major blow to the biggest group fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab state. They said Sukhdev Singh, a self-styled "lieutenant general" of the Khalistan Commando Force, was shot dead when he tried to evade a police patrol in the state's Hoshiarpur district.}}</ref>
|-
|October 28
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani, head of a KCF faction, claimed responsibility for an attack which blew up 2 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] vehicles.
|[[Nakodar|Nakodhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] vehicles blown up
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Des Pardes Weekly - October 28 1988 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=10371&page=4&CategoryID=2&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=2 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.panjabdigilib.org |pages=7}}</ref>
|-
|November 7
|KCF members assassinated [[Major general|Major General]] [[B. N. Kumar|B.N. Kumar]]. He was accused of initially causing floods in Punjab.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|1 [[Major general|Major General]] killed
|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Gurmit |title=History of Sikh Struggles |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |year=1989 |volume=4 |pages=108}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Wanted Khalistan Commando Force chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar shot dead in Pakistan's Lahore |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/wanted-khalistan-commando-force-chief-paramjit-singh-panjwar-shot-dead-in-pakistans-lahore-505406}}</ref>
|}

=== 1989 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|April 14
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing a husband and wife who owned a liquor shop.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 liquor shop owners killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Des Pardes - April 14 1989 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=10362&page=4&CategoryID=2&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=2 |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=www.panjabdigilib.org}}</ref>
|-
|April 19
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani and KCF members of his faction robbed a branch of the [[State Bank of India]] in Sadul. During the robbery the bank manager pressed the alarm leading to the Kharkus only getting 73,000 rupees. (7 million rupees in 2023) The bank manager was shot because of this. Afterwards the militants clashed with police killing multiple officers. 15 people were killed and over 50 injured.
|[[Sadul]], [[Rajasthan]]
|73,000 rupees. (7 million rupees in 2023) looted. 15 killed and over 50 wounded.
|<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 April 1989 |title=Responsibility of bank robbery which took place in the city of Sadul, district Ganga Nagar (Rajasthan) taken by Khalistan Commando Force |pages=7 |work=Ajit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3bfAAAAMAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Sainik Samachar |date=1990 |publisher=Director of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence. |pages=40 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|May
|Surinder Singh Shinda, Lt. Gen. of KCF, claimed responsibility for killing 1 [[Assistant sub-inspector of police|Assistant Sub-Inspector]] and injuring 3 other officers.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 [[Assistant sub-inspector of police|ASI]] killed and 3 other officer wounded
|<ref name=":45">{{Cite news |date= |title=ਜ਼ਿੰਮੇਵਾਰੀ ਲਈ |work=Ajit}}</ref>
|-
|May
|Surinder Singh Shinda, Lt. Gen. of KCF, claimed responsibility for killing 1 police informant
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 police informant killed
|<ref name=":45"/>
|-
|July 14
|KCF claimed responsibility for an attack on an SPO (Special Police Officer) base with hand grenades that killed 6 SPOs.
|Cheema Khurd, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|6 Special Police Officers killed
|<ref>World Sikh News (Punjabi) July 14 1989 Page 2</ref>
|-
|September 11
|KCF member [[Gurdeep Singh Deepa Heran Wala|Gurdeep Singh Deepa]] and other members killed 3 “police cats”. (Police cats were militants turned police who became police insiders within the militants.) The 3 had aided in the arrest of 2 Sikh militants who would be killed in extrajudicial executions.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|3 police cats killed
|<ref name=":24">ਜੋ ਲਾਰੇ ਦੀਨ ਕੇ ਹੇਤ book in Punjabi by Loveshinder Singh Dalewal</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} India: Information on the Black Cat Commando unit of the Punjab police, its operations, recruiting methods and recruits from 1994 to the present |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6acc96c.html |access-date=2 June 2023 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 18
|KCF members assassinated Sohan Singh Dhesi. Dhesi was the general secretary of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujawan Sabha. He was also the State Secretary of the [[Democratic Youth Federation of India]].
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Communist leader killed
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 January 2021 |title=How farmers took on Khalistanis |url=https://www.mid-day.com/news/opinion/article/how-farmers-took-on-khalistanis-23156048 |access-date=21 May 2023 |website=Mid-day |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6HaAAAAMAAJ |title=Documents of the Communist Movement in India: 1989-1991 |date=1997 |publisher=National Book Agency |isbn=978-81-7626-000-8 |pages=98 |language=en}}</ref><ref>ਜੁ ਲਰੈ ਦੀਨ ਕੇ ਹੇਤ by Loveshinder Singh Dallewal</ref>
|-
|September 22
|KCF claimed responsibility for an attack on the Superintendent of Police Operations and [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] 48th Battalion Commander in Moharval. In the attack 20 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] men were killed.
|Moharval, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|20 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] officers killed
|<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=September 22, 1989 |title=20 ਸੀ. ਆਰ. ਪੀ. ਜੁਆਨ ਤੇ 5 ਬਲੈਕ ਕਮਾਂਡੋਜ਼ ਦੇ ਕਤਲਾਂ ਦੀ ਜੁੰਮੇਵਾਰੀ ਖਾੜਕੂਆਂ ਨੇ ਲਈ |pages=23 |work=World Sikh News}}</ref>
|-
|September 22
|KCF claimed responsibity for killing 5 [[National Security Guard|Black Cat]] commandos.
|Thana Ghat, Punjab
|5 [[National Security Guard|Black Cat]] commandos killed.
|<ref name=":5" />
|-
|October 27
|KCF claimed responsibility for an attack, a few weeks before, on a [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] and Police convoy which killed 18 officers including a Deputy Superintendent of Police and a Superintendent of Police.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|18 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] and Punjab Police officers killed. Dead included an SP and DSP.
|<ref>World Sikh News (Punjabi) October 27, 1989 Page 3</ref>
|-
|December 15
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing [[Home Guard (India)|Homeguard]] commander Bachittar Singh. In a statement KCF advised Homeguards to leave their job unless they want to meet a simlar fate.
|Nikka Ghot, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Homeguard commander killed.
|<ref name=":2">December 15 1989 World Sikh News (Punjabi) Page 23</ref>
|-
|December 15
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani claimed responsibility for killing 2 in a liquor shop.
|Nawasher, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 killed.
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|December 15
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani claimed responsibility for killing 1 police informant.
|Nawasher, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 police informant killed.
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|December 15
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 1 Special Police Officer and 1 Homeguard.
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Homeguard and 1 SPO killed
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|December 22
|KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF collectively claimed responsibility for 2 bomb attacks on a[[Hind Samachar]] shop that injured 7. Amongst the injured were 2 officers, and 1 security guard.
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|7 injured including 2 officers.
|<ref name=":0">World Sikh News (Punjabi) December 22, 1989 Page 23</ref>
|-
|December 22
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 1 police informant.
|Katharval, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 police informant killed.
|<ref name=":0" />
|}

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|February 16
|KCF, [[Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan|BTFK]] (Sangha), [[Babbar Khalsa|BKI]], and [[All India Sikh Students Federation|SSF]] collectively claimed responsibility for an explosion in Phillaur that killed Inspector Harcharan Singh Soori and Assistant Sub-Inspector Ram Moorti on the 11th. The bomb also wounded 2 Sergeants. The explosion happened in an armoured and guarded police training facility. Both were put in a special armoured room for extra safety, but were killed at 9 pm from an explosion within their room. Both officers had been accused of torturing Sikhs. Inspector Soori had survived a previous assassination attempt in 1988. Soori had kill a senior KCF member, Mathrua Singh, in 1987.
|[[Phillaur]],[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 [[Inspector]] and 1 [[Assistant sub-inspector of police|Assistant Sub-Inspector]] killed. 2 [[Sergeant]]s wounded.
|<ref>World Sikh News (Punjabi) February 16, 1990 Page 2, 5</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=WSN |title=2 more senior cops die in blast |url=https://sikhheritageeducation.com/2-more-senior-cops-die-in-blast/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=SIKH HERITAGE EDUCATION |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|March
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthanhi claimed responsibility for killing 3 police informants.
|[[Patiala]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|3 police informants killed.
|<ref name=":45"/>
|-
|March
|Bakshish Singh Seetha, Lieutenant General of KCF, claimed responsibility for killing an Assistant Sub-Inspector.
|Kalla Thanna, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Assistant Sub-Inspector killed.
|<ref name=":45"/>
|-
|March
|KCF area commander Gurmet Singh claimed responsibility for killing Punjab National Motor Transport Union president Nachhtar Singh for alleged blasphemy and actions against militants.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Punjab National Motor Transport Union president killed
|<ref name=":45"/>
|-
|March 2
|KCF, [[Khalistan Liberation Force|KLF]], BKI, and SSF collectively claimed responsibility for killing 1 Sergeant and 1 Constable of Punjab Police in Nagoke for alleged “misdeeds”.
|Nagoke, Punjab
|1 [[Sergeant]] and 1 Constable killed.
|<ref name=":9">World Sikh News (Punjabi) March 2, 1990 Page 2</ref>
|-
|March 2
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 2 people over them slaughtering cows and issued a warning to others.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 killed
|<ref name=":9" />
|-
|March 2
|KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF collectively claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Philaur that killed 1 police constable and 2 others. They stated that they were killed because they had put fake cases on locals.
|[[Phillaur]],[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Constable and 2 others killed.
|<ref name=":9" />
|-
|March 2
|KCF faction chief Gurjant Singh Rajasthani and BTFK chief [[Gurbachan Singh Manochahal]] claimed responsibility for killing Amritsar Jail Superintendent Pyara Lal. They claimed he tortured Sikhs in prison.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Amritsar Jail Superintendent killed.
|<ref name=":9" />
|-
|March 5
|KCF killed 2 rapists.
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 rapists killed
|<ref name=":622">{{Cite web |title=Des Pardes Weekly March 9–16 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=10381&page=4&CategoryID=2&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=2 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.panjabdigilib.org |page=45}}</ref>
|-
|March 15
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani claimed responsibility for an attack on the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Ludhiana. The SP managed to survive the attack, but his driver was killed.
|[[Ludhiana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Police driver killed.
|<ref name=":6">World Sikh News (Punjabi) March 23, 1990 Page 3</ref>
|-
|March 15
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani claimed responsibility for killing a head of a taxi company.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|Taxi company owner killed.
|<ref name=":6" />
|-
|March 16
|BTFK and KCF claimed responsibility for destroying 2 police vehicles, killing 4 [[Home Guard (India)|home guards]], and inuring 2 [[Home Guard (India)|home guards]] near Riaa. They also warned officers in nearby villages and cities to leave their jobs in 10 days or meet a similar fate.
|Riaa, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 [[Home Guard (India)|home guards]] vehicles destroyed, 4 home guards killed, and 2 wounded
|<ref name=":63">{{Cite web |title=Des Pardes Weekly March 9–16 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=10381&page=4&CategoryID=2&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=2 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.panjabdigilib.org |page=6}}</ref>
|-
|March 16
|KLF, SSF, BKI, and KCF claimed responsibility for killing a police informant named Bhagwant Singh who was involved in over 50 killings. He was also a key associate of Gobind Ram.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 police informant killed.
|<ref name=":622"/>
|-
|April 6
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 2 people for allegedly sexually harassing women.
|[[Amritsar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 people killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Des Pardes Weekly March 31 - April 6 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=10376&page=7&CategoryID=2&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=2 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.panjabdigilib.org |page=38}}</ref>
|-
|April 10
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 3 rapists near Ramvala.
|Ramvala,[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|3 rapists killed
|<ref name=":112">{{Cite web |title=Des Pardes - April 14 |url=http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=10368&page=5&CategoryID=2&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=2 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.panjabdigilib.org |pages=5, 11}}</ref>
|-
|April 13
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 2 police black cats.
|Riaa, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 black cats killed
|<ref>World Sikh News - April 13 (Punjabi) Page 3</ref>
|-
|April 14
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 1 police officer in [[Tarn Taran Sahib|Panjwar]].
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Panjwar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 officer killed
|<ref name=":112"/>
|-
|May 14
|[[Gurcharan Singh Tohra]], president of [[Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee|SGPC]], was attacked in his car. A jeep with about 6 militnats drove beside Tohra's vehicle and opened fire. An escort car attempted to chase them but they escaped. Tohra managed to survive but was injured. Tohra's bodyguard was also injured. Tohra's driver was killed and so was former [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] H.S. Rajla who was accompanying Tohra. KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF claimed responsibility saying Tohra was involved in [[Operation Blue Star]].
|[[Chandigarh]]
|1 former [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]], and 1 driver killed
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYplAAAAIBAJ&dq=budhsinghwala&pg=PA9&article_id=264,2129956 |title=The Indian Express |publisher=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikh leader wounded, two killed in militant ambush |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/05/14/Sikh-leader-wounded-two-killed-in-militant-ambush/4418642657600/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|July 11
|KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF claimed responsibility for killing former Punjab Finance Minister and [[Deputy Chief Minister]] [[Balwant Singh Thind|Balwant Singh]]. Balwant was killed in a car while travelling on a busy road in [[Chandigarh]]. Balwant was a key player in the creation of the [[Rajiv–Longowal Accord|Rajiv-Longowal Accord]]. The accord had been opposed by many Sikh leaders and militants. Balwant had been dubbed a traitor for his involvement in the accord.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|[[Deputy Chief Minister]] killed
|<ref name="Frontline">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U55KAQAAIAAJ |title=Frontline |date=May 1992 |publisher=S. Rangarajan for Kasturi & Sons |pages=6 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="JCSP1992">{{cite book |author1=J. C. Aggarwal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-CN0Q4g-dwC&pg=PA108 |title=Modern History of Punjab |author2=S. P. Agrawal |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-7022-431-0 |pages=122–123 |access-date=19 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to The New York |date=1990-07-11 |title=Sikh Who Promoted Truce Is Shot to Death |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/11/world/sikh-who-promoted-truce-is-shot-to-death.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
|-
|July 23
|KLF, KCF, BKI, and SSF collectively claimed responsibility for killing the Chief Engineer of the [[Sutlej Yamuna link canal|SYL]], ML Sekhri, and Superintending Engineer of the [[Sutlej Yamuna link canal|SYL]], Avtar Singh. They were killed while attending a meeting with fellow engineers in [[Chandigarh]].
|[[Chandigarh]]
|Chief Engineer and Superintending Engineer of [[Sutlej Yamuna link canal|SYL]]<nowiki/>killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-16 |title=Militant who killed two SYL engineers gets place in Central Sikh Museum |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/amritsar/militant-who-killed-two-syl-engineers-gets-place-in-central-sikh-museum-8211122/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=WSN |title=2 SYL officials shot dead |url=https://sikhheritageeducation.com/2-syl-officials-shot-dead/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=SIKH HERITAGE EDUCATION |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-18 |title=Can I get my father back? Asks slain SYL engineer’s daughter |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/can-i-get-my-father-back-asks-slain-syl-engineer-s-daughter/story-m3eMgSl5RmmIxnZiuqBPBK.html |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|September 4
|KCF claimed responsibility for killing 2 police informant.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 police informants killed.
|<ref>World Sikh News (Punjabi) September 4, 1990 Page 2</ref>
|-
|September 21
|KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF claimed responsibility for an attack on a [[Special police|SPO]] base which killed 2 officers.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 [[Special police|SPO]] officers killed.
|<ref name=":10">World Sikh News (Punjabi) September 21, 1990 Page 2</ref>
|-
|September 21
|KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF claimed responsibility for killing a [[Nirankari]] in [[Patiala]].
|[[Patiala]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 [[Nirankari]] killed.
|<ref name=":10" />
|-
|September 28
|KCF, KLF, BKI, and SSF claimed responsibility for killing Inspector Rajinderpal Singh.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Inspector killed.
|<ref>World Sikh News (Punjabi) September 28, 1990 Page 2</ref>
|-
|November 23
|KCF, KLF, BKI, BTFK, and SSF claimed responsibility for killing [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] president of [[Jalandhar district]], Gurdarshan Singh. They claimed he was a police informant involved in the killing of militants.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 politician killed
|<ref>World Sikh News (Punjabi) November 23, 1990 Page 5</ref>
|-
|November 24
|At 9 am Major Singh, KCF Lt. Gen., along with other militant groups part of the Sohan Singh Committee killed Superintendent of Police (Operations) Harjit Singh in a bomb blast at [[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]]. Sikh militants had been studying Harjit's travel routes for some time. A remote-controlled bomb had been placed on a road Harjit usually drove by to go to the doctor. When Harjit's lead security vehicles drove by and it was just his vehicle over the bomb it was detonated. In the explosion three of his security guards were killed and his vehicle was destroyed. Harjit's limbs were found over 100 meters away from the location of the explosion. A permanent curfew was put on the town after. A saying about the incident is, “He had a security vehicle in front of him and behind him, so he would be safe from all sides. But he didn’t count on his death coming from below”. Twenty-two days prior to his death Harjit had killed the chief of [[Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan|BTFK]] (S) Sukhwinder Singh Sangha along with four other militants. [[Khalistan Liberation Force|KLF]], KCF, [[Babbar Khalsa]], [[All India Sikh Students Federation|SSF]], and BTFK (S) members held a meeting afterward pledging to kill Harjit within 31 days of Sangha's death. Major Singh of KCF was given the lead role in the killing. A famous [[kavishri]] [[ballad]] about this incident says, “24th November at exactly 9, for Sangha’s revenge Major Singh and his allies have arrived. Without wasting any time Kharkus have come to kill him… The 5 jathebandis [Groups] had said we would hit him hard… To become SSP he had done many misdeeds… Watch how with a computer system [remote-controlled bomb] [[Kharku]]s blow him up. Harjit’s wife watches his limbs blow up… Operation Shera has been done on the SP of Operation.”
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|SP (OPs) killed with 3 other officers.
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sikhs kill police superintendent, eight civilians - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/11/24/Sikhs-kill-police-superintendent-eight-civilians/6320659422800/ |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fU-6AAAAIAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=JPRS Report: Near East & South Asia |date=1991 |publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service |pages=30 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6VKAQAAIAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Frontline |date=1994 |publisher=S. Rangarajan for Kasturi & Sons |pages=41 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Punjab Police - Martyrs-Gallery |url=https://punjabpolice.org/martyr/index.html |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=punjabpolice.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marwah |first=Ved |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4UiAQAAMAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Uncivil Wars: Pathology of Terrorism in India |date=1997 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-81-7223-251-1 |pages=400 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRYtAQAAMAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=The Indian Factories Journal |date=1997 |publisher=Company Law Institute of India Limited |pages=22–24 |language=en}}</ref>
|}

=== 1991 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|March 1
|2 KCF members attack a group of Punjab Police and [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] officers. 1 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] Deputy Superintendent of Police was killed. 1 Assistant Sub-Inspector and Sergeant were also killed. Afterwards the 2 KCF members were also killed when police reinforcements arrived.
|[[Tarn Taran Sahib|Tarn Taran]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 [[Central Reserve Police Force|CRPF]] DSP killed, 1 ASI killed, 1 Sergeant killed, and 2 KCF members killed.
|<ref>World Sikh News - March 1 (Punjabi) Page 1</ref>
|-
|June 8
|KCF members killed [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|Communist Party Marxist]] candidate Varinder Kumar Gagan in [[Nakodar]]. He was killed with 2 of his gunmen and 1 party worker.
|[[Nakodar|Nakodhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 Communists killed and 2 gunmen killed.
|<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 November 2014 |title=Former terrorist Sukhi acquitted in 23-year-old murder case |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/former-terrorist-sukhi-acquitted-in-23-year-old-murder-case/articleshow/45053386.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2 June 2023 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref name=":24"/><ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.pressreader.com/india/hindustan-times-jalandhar/20141106/281556584108563 |access-date=2 June 2023 |via=PressReader}}</ref>
|-
|August 29
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani attempt to assassinate Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) [[Sumedh Singh Saini|Sumedh Saini]] in [[Chandigarh]] with a bomb attack. Saini “narrowly” survived the attempt. 3 of his bodyguards were killed.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|SSP wounded and 3 police guards kill.
|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=B. |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=XVGHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA265&dq=sumedh+saini+assassination+attempt&hl=pa&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8uc-aq9uBAxVFLTQIHeGPAX8Q6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=sumedh%20saini%20assassination%20attempt&f=false |title=Death Squads in Global Perspective: Murder with Deniability |last2=Brenner |first2=A. |date=2002-10-17 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-10814-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=LUcnAAAAMAAJ&q=sumedh+saini+bomb&dq=sumedh+saini+bomb&hl=pa&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif_tToq9uBAxXvHjQIHVVYC_gQ6AF6BAgPEAM |title=Asian Bulletin |date=1991 |publisher=APACL Publications |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|August 31
|Gurjant Singh Rajasthani, head of a faction of KCF, was killed in an encounter with police. There was a 2,000,000 rupee bounty on him at the time. He was surrounded by senior police officials and their teams in a house where he was along with his wife and 3-year-old son. Rajasthani fired at police as he escaped from the back of the house. Police returned fire. Rajasthani was later found dead. Before dying he yelled, “''Khalistan'' ''zindabad''” (Meaning long live Khalistan) and ate a [[cyanide]] capsule.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|KCF faction chief killed.
|<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jerryson |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfjtDwAAQBAJ&dq=gurjant+singh+rajasthani&pg=PA671 |title=Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World [2 volumes] |date=15 July 2020 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-5991-5 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|October 9
|KC along with [[Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan|Bhindranwale Tiger Force]], [[Khalistan Liberation Force]], and the [[All India Sikh Students Federation|Sikh Students Federation]] kidnapped Romanian [[Chargé d'affaires|charge d’affaires]] [[Liviu Radu|Lividu Radu]]. Radu was taken from his car at around 8 am. He was forced into the vehicle of the Kharkus by 4 Sikhs who were armed. Quickly after the kidnapping, many raids were launched by security forces. Exit routes from Delhi were blocked and authorities in Uttar Pradesh and [[Haryana]]<nowiki/>were warned of the situation. The kidnappers demanded the release of the killers of [[Arun Shridhar Vaidya|General Vaidya]] whom were [[Harjinder Singh Jinda]], Nirmal Singh Nimma and [[Sukhdev Singh Sukha]]. The kidnappers threatened to cut Radu in pieces if their demands weren't met by October 19. The deadline passed, but Sikh militants did not harm Radu. The Indian government refused to meet any of the Sikh's demands. Radu was kept in Delhi until 27 October. He was then moved to Punjab by car. On November 25 Radu was released unharmed after 48 days.
|[[India]]
|Romanian [[Chargé d'affaires|charge d’affaires]] kidnapped and released unharmed.
|<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web |title=Romanian diplomat freed by Sikh militants - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/11/26/Romanian-diplomat-freed-by-Sikh-militants/1771691131600/ |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tatla |first=Darsham Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Amq_oOeDZNUC&dq=liviu+radu+released&pg=PA151 |title=The Sikh Diaspora: The Search For Statehood |date=8 August 2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-36744-2 |pages=151 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Leonard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32oB7V6o4MoC |title=India Briefing, 1992 |last2=Oldenburg |first2=Philip |date=6 September 1992 |publisher=Avalon Publishing |isbn=978-0-8133-1497-6 |pages=223 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Romanian diplomat's kidnapping in Punjab boomerangs |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19911215-kidnapping-boomerangs-815199-1991-12-14 |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Deadline passes in diplomat's abduction case - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/10/19/Deadline-passes-in-diplomats-abduction-case/2830687844800/ |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Suspected Sikh Militants Kidnap Romanian Diplomat in India |url=https://apnews.com/article/0fb0a831327c73050d94a9d4f585c8a0 |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|October 11
|KCF (Z) claimed responsibility for killing 2 Hindu extremists near Nat village. They claimed that the Hindus had destroyed the [[Babri Masjid]].
|Nat, [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|2 Hindu extremists killed
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=WSN |title=KCF owns killings WSN Service |url=https://sikhheritageeducation.com/kcf-owns-killings-wsn-service/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=SIKH HERITAGE EDUCATION |language=en-US}}</ref>
|-
|October 26
|R.N. Goyal, Chief Health Officers Ludhiana, Bachitar Singh Director Health Services Punjab, and 5 others were killed by KCF, KLF, BTFK, BKI, and SSF. They claimed that the doctors had forged autopsy's, improperly treated Sikhs, and aided in police killings.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|CHO, DHSP, and 5 other killed.
|.<ref>{{Cite web |last=WSN |title=Killings owned |url=https://sikhheritageeducation.com/killings-owned/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=SIKH HERITAGE EDUCATION |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandra |first=Ramesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJ1s6vX4m-4C |title=Global Terrorism: Foreign Policy in the New Millennium |date=2003 |publisher=Gyan Publishing House |isbn=978-81-7835-240-4 |pages=261 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|November
|KCF members killed Sarwan Singh Cheema who the secretary of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]. He was gunned down along with security guards Santokh Singh, Ram Lubhaya, Raghubir Chand, Mohindar Singh and head constable Paramjit Singh of Punjab Police.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 Communist leader killed, 4 guards killed, and 1 Head Constable killed.
|<ref>{{Cite news |title=Nurmahal: Tributes paid to CPM leader |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/nurmahal-tributes-paid-to-cpm-leader-450755}}</ref>
|}

=== 1992 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|January 23
|Gurdeep Singh Deepa, Deputy Chief of KCF, attacked [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] President [[Murli Manohar Joshi|Muril Manohar Joshi's]] caravan. The caravan was a part of the ''[[Ekta Yatra]]''. The attack happened in [[Phagwara]]. As the caravan entered Phagwara the lead bus was attacked by Deepa and another with Ak-47's. They had disguised themselves as police officers. 3 were killed. They were the driver and 2 party workers. 40 others were injured
|[[Phagwara]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 driver killed, 2 party workers killed, and 40 wounded.
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fineman |first=Mark |date=24 January 1992 |title=Separatists Kill 5 Hindu Marchers : India: The attack confirms government warnings that the national unity procession could cause bloodshed. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-24-mn-680-story.html |access-date=4 July 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gargan |first=Edward A. |date=27 January 1992 |title=Airlifted Hindu Nationalists Fly India's Flag in Kashmir |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/27/world/airlifted-hindu-nationalists-fly-india-s-flag-in-kashmir.html |access-date=4 July 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gargan |first=Edward A. |date=24 January 1992 |title=5 Hindu Militants Slain on Kashmir Trip |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/24/world/5-hindu-militants-slain-on-kashmir-trip.html |access-date=4 July 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":03">[[Ajit (newspaper)|Ajit]] 14 December 1992</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sukhi not part of 1992 shootout: SSP |url=https://m.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060226/jal.htm}}</ref>
|-
|January 27
|KCF members killed Superintendent of Police, R. P. S. Teja and injured 5 other officers as they executed a search operation.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 SP killed and 5 officers wounded.
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 February 2022 |title=Martyr's Gallery |url=https://www.punjabpolice.gov.in/NewMartyrgallery.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215054610/https://www.punjabpolice.gov.in/NewMartyrgallery.aspx |archive-date=15 February 2022 |access-date=6 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ahmar |first=Moonis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIvaAAAAMAAJ |title=Violence and Terrorism in South Asia: Chronology and Profiles, 1971-2004 |date=2005 |publisher=Bureau of Composition, Compilation & Translation, University of Karachi |pages=181 |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|March 15
|Gurdeep Singh Deepa, KCF's deputy chief, killed SHO (Station House Officer) Mann Singh in [[Phillaur]]. Mann had been dubbed a butcher and had been a target of Sikh militants for much time.
|[[Phillaur]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 SHO killed
|<ref name=":24"/><ref>[[Ajit (newspaper)|Ajit]] 17 March 1922</ref>
|-
|April 26
|KCF members killed [[Shiromani Akali Dal|Akali Dal]] [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] Balwant Singh Sarhal. Sarhal was killed along with 3 of his bodyguards.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 MLA and 3 bodyguards killed
|<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufptAAAAMAAJ |title=Selections from National Press |date=April 1992 |publisher=Centre for South Asian Studies, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, University of the Punjab |pages=35 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=6 December 2007 |title=Former militant acquitted in MLA murder case |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/former-militant-acquitted-in-mla-murder-case/articleshow/2602295.cms |access-date=4 July 2023 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>
|-
|October 12
|KCF killed [[Darshan Singh Kaypee]] and his bodyguard, a police constable, in [[Jalandhar]]. According to police 2 KCF members on an [[Royal Enfield|Enfield motorcycle]] rode up beside Kaypee's car. From there they opened fire with an assault rifle. He was a 5 time [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] for the [[Congress (I)|Congress Party (I)]], former Punjab state minister, and was the vice-president of the Punjab Congress Party.
|[[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|1 MLA and 1 Constable killed.
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 April 2016 |title=In 26 yrs, Punjab suffered most terror attacks, blasts |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/pathankot-attack-gurdaspur-in-26-yrs-punjab-suffered-most-terror-attacks-blasts/ |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 February 2014 |title=Humble, but encore unlikely |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/humble-but-encore-unlikely/story-aCeJilvcQynuy2pGGJVOSK.html |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=WSN |title=Darshan Singh Kaypee, bodyguard shot dead |url=https://sikhheritageeducation.com/darshan-singh-kaypee-bodyguard-shot-dead/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |website=SIKH HERITAGE EDUCATION |language=en-US}}</ref>
|}

=== 1993-1999 ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|August 31, 1995
|[[Beant Singh (politician)|Beant Singh]] was assassinated in a bomb blast at the secretariat complex in Chandigarh on 31 August 1995. The blast claimed the lives of 17 others including 3 Indian commandos. Beant Singh was accompanied by his close friend Ranjodh Singh Mann on the day of assassination. [[Dilawar Singh Babbar]] of [[Babbar Khalsa International]] acted as the [[suicide bomber]]; later, the backup bomber [[Balwant Singh Rajoana]] was also convicted of the killing. According to the [[United States Department of State|Department of State]] the Khalistan Commando Force was also involved in the assassination.
|[[Chandigarh]]
|[[List of chief ministers of Punjab, India|Chief Minister of Punjab]] killed, 3 commandos killed, and 14 others.
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-01-15 |title=Eastern District of New York |url=http://www.justice.gov/usao/nye/pr/2006/2006Dec20.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115092626/http://www.justice.gov/usao/nye/pr/2006/2006Dec20.html |archive-date=15 January 2012 |access-date=2023-04-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=28 March 2012 |title=Punjab on edge over hanging of Beant Singh's killer Balwant Singh Rajoana |newspaper=India Today |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/punjab-on-edge-beant-singh-balwant-singh-rajoana/1/179691.html |url-status=dead |access-date=28 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329042658/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/punjab-on-edge-beant-singh-balwant-singh-rajoana/1/179691.html |archive-date=29 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2012-03-27 |title=India court orders Rajoana execution to proceed |newspaper=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17523790 |access-date=2012-03-28}}</ref><ref>[http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990216/ige16125.html Beant killing: First witness testifies]. Indian Express.</ref>
|}

== Post 2000 ==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
!Date
!Action and details
!Location
!Result
!Sources
|-
|February 2, 2008
|In May 2007, [[Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh|Ram Rahim]] was accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs by wearing in an advertisement attire resembling the tenth and final living Sikh [[Guru Gobind Singh]], by using a turban with a ''kalgi'' (egret feather). Sikh militant groups began multiple attacks against Ram Rahim for this. On February 2, 2008, KCF masterminded an attack on the head of Dera Sacha Sauda [[Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh|Ram Rahim]]. Ram Rahim was attacked with an [[RDX]] laced bomb ted to a truck. Ram Rahim escaped unhurt, but 11 followers were injured with 2 seriously injured.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|11 [[Dera Sacha Sauda]] followers injured. 2 seriously.
|<ref name=":3">{{cite book |last=Chopra |first=Radhika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJqpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT55 |title=Militant and Migrant: The Politics and Social History of Punjab |date=12 March 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136704345 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=29 September 2015 |title=Radical Sikh Groups Oppose Akal Takht Pardon to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh |url=http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/radical-sikh-groups-oppose-akal-takht-pardon-to-gurmeet-ram-rahim-singh-1224439 |access-date=1 November 2015 |work=NDTV.com}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-12 |title=Karnal court holds seven guilty of attacking Dera Sacha Sauda chief |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/karnal-court-holds-seven-guilty-of-attacking-dera-sacha-sauda-chief/story-8NhC7wiKPE1pYYKz0V7lSJ.html |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2008-02-02 |title=Attack on Dera cavalcade, chief Ram Rahim unhurt |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/attack-on-dera-cavalcade-chief-ram-rahim-unhurt/articleshow/2751240.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2023-06-04 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=KCF planned attack on dera chief, RDX used in explosion |url=http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/kcf-planned-attack-dera-chief-rdx-used-explosion |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809224149/http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/kcf-planned-attack-dera-chief-rdx-used-explosion |archive-date=9 August 2011 |access-date=2012-11-07 |publisher=Punjabnewsline.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-12 |title=Karnal court holds seven guilty of attacking Dera Sacha Sauda chief |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/karnal-court-holds-seven-guilty-of-attacking-dera-sacha-sauda-chief/story-8NhC7wiKPE1pYYKz0V7lSJ.html |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The baba and the bomb |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/20080218-the-baba-and-the-bomb-735342-2008-02-07 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|July 3, 2008
|In a broad daylight robbery KCF members robbed 14,800,000 rupees from Oriental Bank [[Gurgaon]].
|[[Gurgaon]], [[Haryana]]
|14,800,000 rupees robbed
|<ref>{{Cite news |date=2008-07-03 |title=Rs 1.48 crore looted from bank in Gurgaon |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/rs-1-48-crore-looted-from-bank-in-gurgaon/articleshow/3190613.cms |access-date=2023-10-08 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-03-20 |title=4 held for bank robberies in NCR |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/4-held-for-bank-robberies-in-ncr/articleshow/4294224.cms |access-date=2023-10-08 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>
|-
|July 28, 2009
|KLF attacked [[Rashtriya Sikh Sangat]] (A wing of [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]]) President Rulda Singh. He would die in August of the same year.
|[[Punjab, India|Punjab]]
|RSS President killed
|<ref>{{cite web |title=Punjab News | Breaking News | Latest Online News |url=http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/17781/38/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726101618/http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/17781/38 |archive-date=26 July 2010 |access-date=2012-11-07 |publisher=Punjabnewsline.com}}</ref><ref name=":46">{{Cite web |date=2021-09-25 |title=Explained: Over a decade after Sikh Sangat leader’s murder, why are authorities struggling to bring guilty to book |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/rulda-singh-murder-case-7533219/ |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Khalistan movement}}
{{Sikhism}}

[[Category:Khalistan movement| ]]

Nina Venkatesh

2023-10-01T14:32:19Z

Anshuman Tiwari:

{{Short description|Indian swimmer (born 2005)}}
'''Nina Venkatesh''' (born 2005) is an Indian swimmer from [[Karnataka]]. She competes in the 50m and 100m butterfly events and is the Indian record holder in both. She is named in the Indian Swimming squad for the 2022 [[Asian Games]] at [[Hangzhou]], [[China]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Record-breaker swimmer Nina Venkatesh is ready for Asiad |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/other/2023/jul/29/record-breaker-swimmer-nina-venkatesh-is-ready-for-asiad-2599692.html |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=The New Indian Express}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Nina hails from [[Bangalore|Bengaluru]], [[Karnataka]]. She started swimming at the a young age of four. Her elder sister started swimming training and her mother Ashwini Shivakumar sent the younger sibling too. She is also encouraged by her father Prabhu Venkatesh. She is doing her schooling at Vidyashilp School and trains at the Dolphin Academy under the renowned coach Nihar Amin.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Menon,DHNS |first=Sandeep |title=Nina is setting the pool ablaze |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/other-sports/nina-is-setting-the-pool-ablaze-787432.html |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==

* 2023: In July, she broke the National record in the 50m butterfly event at the Nationals in [[Bhubaneswar]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-07-20 |title=Dhinidhi, Nina sparkle |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/dhinidhi-nina-sparkle/articleshow/92993228.cms |access-date=2023-09-30 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> She set the mark in the Girls Group I.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-19 |title=Junior National Aquatic Championships: Karnataka's Nina Venkatesh dazzles With Record In 50m Butterfly |url=https://www.news18.com/news/sports/junior-national-aquatic-championships-karnatakas-nina-venkatesh-dazzles-with-record-in-50m-butterfly-5587501.html |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=News18 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2023: In May, she also broke the women’s 100m butterfly National record by clocking 1:02.51 at the Natioinal Aquatic Championships in Hyderabad.<ref>{{Cite web |last=PTI |date=2023-07-05 |title=Swimmer Aryan Nehra shatters 4th national record; Lineysha, Nina Venkatesh also rewrite records |url=https://theprint.in/sport/swimmer-aryan-nehra-shatters-4th-national-record-lineysha-nina-venkatesh-also-rewrite-records/1656349/ |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref>
* 2023: In June, she broke the 18-year-old record of 27.12 sec set by Shika Tandon by clocking 26.65 seconds in the state sub-junior, junior and senior aquatic championships.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-06-02 |title=Tanish and Nina emerge fastest |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/tanish-and-nina-emerge-fastest/articleshow/100691144.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2023-09-30 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>
* 2017: She took part in her first Senior Nationals.<ref name=":0" />
* 2014: She made her debut at the Junior Nationals.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:2005 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian female swimmers]]
[[Category:Swimmers from Bangalore]]
[[Category:Sportswomen from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 2022 Asian Games]]
[[Category:Asian Games competitors for India]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian people]]

Nina Venkatesh

2023-10-01T14:32:19Z

Anshuman Tiwari:

Lahai

2023-09-27T21:31:20Z

Anshuman Tiwari: Lahai, Bheri Zone: to make room for dab page

'''Lahai''' may refer to:
* [[Lahai (album)|''Lahai'' (album)]], a 2023 album by Sampha
* [[Lahai, Kerala]], a village in Kerala, India
* [[Lahai, Bheri Zone]], a former village development committee in Bheri Zone, Nepal
{{disambiguation}}

Babu Lal Yadav

2023-09-26T18:34:13Z

Anshuman Tiwari:

{{Short description|Indian rower}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Babu Lal Yadav
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|2001|3|10}} <ref name="info.hangzhou2022.cn 2023 g082">{{cite web | title=Rowing YADAV Babu Lal - The 19th Asian Games | website=info.hangzhou2022.cn | date=24 Sep 2023 | url=https://info.hangzhou2022.cn/en/results/rowing/athlete-profile-n2001753-yadav-babu-lal.htm | access-date=25 Sep 2023}}</ref>
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| country = India
| sport = Rowing
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| show-medals =
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{{Medal|Sport| Men's [[Rowing (sport)|rowing]] }}
{{Medal|Country| {{IND}} }}
{{Medal|Competition| [[Asian Games]] }}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[Rowing at the 2022 Asian Games|2022 Hangzhou]] | [[Rowing at the 2022 Asian Games – Men's pair|Coxless pair]]}}
| medaltemplates-title =
}}
'''Babu Lal Yadav''' (born 10 March 2001) is an Indian rower. He won a bronze medal in the [[Rowing at the 2022 Asian Games – Men's pair|Coxless pair]] event in the [[2022 Asian Games]].<ref name="Desk 2023 u424">{{cite web | last=Desk | first=TOI Sports | title=Hangzhou Asian Games: Lekh Ram and Babu Lal Yadav secure bronze in Men's Pair event — Asian Games 2023 News | website=The Times of India | date=24 Sep 2023 | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/asian-games-2023/india-asian-games/hangzhou-asian-games-lekh-ram-and-babu-lal-yadav-secure-bronze-in-mens-pair-event/articleshow/103900907.cms?from=mdr | access-date=24 Sep 2023}}</ref><ref name="english 2023 o712">{{cite web | title=Asian Games: Babu Lal Yadav, Lekh Ram Win Bronze In Rowing Men’s Pair | website=Abplive| date=24 Sep 2023 | url=https://news.abplive.com/sports/asian-games-babu-lal-yadav-lekh-ram-win-bronze-in-rowing-men-s-pair-1631556 | access-date=24 Sep 2023}}</ref><ref name="mint 2023 y813">{{cite web | title=Asian Games: Babulal Yadav, Lekh Ram win bronze in rowing men's pair | website=mint | date=24 Sep 2023 | url=https://www.livemint.com/sports/news/asian-games-babulal-yadav-lekh-ram-win-bronze-in-rowing-mens-pair-11695528572311.html | access-date=24 Sep 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yadav, Babu Lal}}
[[Category:Indian male rowers]]
[[Category:Rowers at the 2022 Asian Games]]
[[Category:Asian Games medalists in rowing]]
[[Category:Asian Games bronze medalists for India]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2001 births]]

{{India-yachtracing-bio-stub}}

List of Dargahs in Bihar

2023-09-15T09:51:45Z

Anshuman Tiwari: Added a new entry to the site.

This is the list of notable Dargahs in Bihar by districts.

== Arwal ==

* Khanquah Shamshia
* Dargah Hazrat Bibi Baarkha
* Dargah Makhdoom Shah<ref>{{Cite web |title=आध्यात्मिक शक्ति का केंद्र है मखदुम शाह का दरगाह |url=https://www.jagran.com/bihar/arwal-the-center-of-spiritual-power-is-the-makhdum-shah-dargah-17067006.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Dainik Jagran |language=hi}}</ref>

== Aurangabad ==

* [[Amjhar Sharif]]
* Khanqah Quadria Abdalia

== Gaya ==

* [[Bitho Sharif Dargah]]

== Jamui ==

* [[Amrath]]

== Jehanabad ==

* [[Bibi Kamal Dargah]]

== Patna ==

* Dargah Shah Arzan
* Dargah Makhdoom Rasti<ref>{{Cite web |last=Digital |first=Prabhat khabar |title=पटना में हजरत मखदूम रास्ती का सालाना उर्स धूमधाम से मनाया गया, अकीदतमंदो की उमड़ी भीड़ |url=https://www.prabhatkhabar.com/state/bihar/patna/annual-urs-of-hazrat-makhdoom-rasti-was-celebrated-with-great-pomp-in-patna-ans |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Prabhat Khabar |language=hi}}</ref>
* Dargah Peer Mujib Ullah Qadri<ref>{{Cite web |title=मुख्यमंत्री ने मुजीबुल्लाह कादरी रहमतुल्लाह अलैह की मजार पर चादरपोशी की |url=https://www.livehindustan.com/bihar/patna/story-chief-minister-lays-a-sheet-at-the-tomb-of-mujibullah-qadri-rahmatullah-alaih-4869048.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Hindustan |language=hi}}</ref>
* Chhoti Dargah<ref>{{Cite web |title=400 साल पुरानी है पटना की छोटी दरगाह जो मनेर शरीफ के नाम से भी है मशहूर |url=https://smart.livehindustan.com/patna/trending/chhoti-dargah-patna-is-400-years-old-which-is-also-famous-as-maner-sharif-81626249680594.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Hindustan Smart |language=hindi}}</ref>
* Kachchi Dargah<ref>{{Cite web |title=बिहार: मरीन ड्राइव का कच्ची दरगाह से कोईलवर तक विस्तार, जानें तेजस्वी यादव ने पटना को क्या दिया तोहफा |url=https://www.prabhatkhabar.com/state/bihar/bihar-news-extension-of-marine-drive-kacchi-dargah-to-koilwar-know-what-depty-cm-tejashwi-yadav-said-sxz |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Prabhat Khabar |language=hi}}</ref>
* Khanqah Balkhia
* Khanquah Faiyazia

== Nalanda ==

* [[Badi Dargah, Bihar Sharif|Badi Dargah]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=नालंदा में बड़ी दरगाह के मखदूम तालाब का होगा सौंदर्यीकरण |url=https://www.livehindustan.com/bihar/biharsharif/story-nalanda-beautification-of-makhdoom-pond-in-bari-dargah-1893695.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Hindustan |language=hi}}</ref>
* Mallick Baya Maqbara<ref>{{Cite web |title=बिहार शरीफ में स्थित है 700 साल पुराना हजरत सैयद मलिक इब्राहिम का मकबरा, दिलचस्प है इसका इतिहास, पढ़ें |url=https://hindi.news18.com/news/bihar/nalanda-tomb-of-hazrat-syed-malik-ibrahim-on-bihar-sharif-pir-hill-presenting-example-of-ganga-jamuni-tehzeeb-5179025.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=News18 हिंदी |language=hi}}</ref>
* Khanqah Balkhia Firdausia

== Lakhisarai ==

* Badi Dargah<ref>{{Cite web |title=इंग्लिश एवं बड़ी दरगाह मोहल्ले में सौ साल पुरानी है ताजिया की परंपरा |url=https://www.bhaskar.com/amp/bihar/lakhisarai/news/the-tradition-of-tajiya-is-hundred-years-old-in-english-and-big-dargah-locality-082005-5438620.html |website=www.bhaskar.com}}</ref>
* Chhoti Dargah<ref>{{Cite web |title=छोटी दरगाह मस्जिद से तीन को जांच के लिए भेजा सदर अस्पताल |url=https://www.bhaskar.com/amp/news/three-sent-from-chhoti-dargah-mosque-for-investigation-sadar-hospital-073038-6983495.html |website=www.bhaskar.com}}</ref>

== Sheikhpura ==

* [[Badi Dargah, Sheikhpura|Badi Dargah]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Superadmin |title=बड़ी दरगाह क्षेत्र में शाम में गोलीबारी से दहशत |url=https://sheikhpuranews.com/panic-due-to-firing-in-the-evening-in-badi-dargah-area |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=sheikhpuranews.com |language=en}}</ref>
* Matokhar Sharif Dargah<ref>{{Cite web |title=मटोखर दह पर दो दिवसीय उर्स मेला का आगाज |url=https://www.livehindustan.com/bihar/biharsharif/story-two-day-urs-fair-begins-on-matokhar-dah-4644209.html |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=Hindustan |language=hi}}</ref>
* Pind Sharif Dargah<ref>{{Cite web |last=Superadmin |title=पिंड शरीफ में तीन दिनों तक चला उर्स मेला, कई स्टेट से आये श्रद्धालु |url=https://sheikhpuranews.com/pind-sarif |access-date=2023-09-14 |website=sheikhpuranews.com |language=en}}</ref>
* Dargah Hazrat Jamaluddin
* Dargah Syed Yousuf Haider Baagh

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Dargahs in Bihar]]

The Hindu

2023-09-06T00:18:48Z

Anshuman Tiwari: /* Controversies */ BP:CSECTION

{{short description|English-language daily newspaper in India}}
{{About|the English newspaper|the Tamil newspaper|The Hindu (Tamil)|other uses|The Hindu (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{primary sources|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = The Hindu
| logo = The Hindu logo.svg
| logo_size = 210px
| image = [[File:NewsPaperTheHindu.png|225px]]
| caption = Front page of ''The Hindu'' for 16 March 2005
| type = Daily newspaper
| format = [[Broadsheet]]
| owners = {{ubl|[[The Hindu Group]]|Kasturi and Sons Limited}}
| founder = [[G. Subramania Iyer]]
| publisher = [[N. Ravi]]
| editor = Suresh Nambath<ref name="Editorial transition"/>
| foundation = {{start date and age|1878|09|20|df=yes}}
| political =
| language = {{nowrap|[[English language|English]]|[[Tamil language|Tamil]]}}
| headquarters = [[Chennai]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India
| publishing_country = India
| circulation = 1,415,792 Daily<ref name=ABCIND>{{cite web |url=http://www.auditbureau.org/files/JD%202019%20Highest%20Circulated%20(across%20languages).pdf |title=Highest Circulated daily Newspapers (language wise) |publisher=[[Audit Bureau of Circulations (India)|Audit Bureau of Circulations]] |access-date=5 January 2020 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809010334/http://www.auditbureau.org/files/JD%202019%20Highest%20Circulated%20(across%20languages).pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
| circulation_date = December 2019
| ISSN = 0971-751X
| oclc = 13119119
| website = {{URL|http://www.thehindu.com|thehindu.com}}
}}

'''''The Hindu''''' is an Indian [[English-language]] [[daily newspaper]] owned by [[The Hindu Group]], headquartered in [[Chennai]], [[Tamil Nadu]]. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thehindu.com/aboutus/ |title=About Us News |work=The Hindu |access-date=15 May 2018 |archive-date=12 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512193855/http://www.thehindu.com/aboutus/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is one of the Indian [[Newspaper of record|newspapers of record]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkhHC6AgRrgC&q=%22newspaper+of+record%22+%22the+hindu%22+-thehindu.com&pg=PA163 |title=The Political Economy of Hunger: Volume 1: Entitlement and Well-being |last1=Drèze |first1=Jean |last2=Sen |first2=Amartya |date=21 February 1991 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=9780191544460 |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629113303/https://books.google.com/books?id=BkhHC6AgRrgC&q=%22newspaper+of+record%22+%22the+hindu%22+-thehindu.com&pg=PA163 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSW8fg7zr8gC&q=%22newspaper+of+record%22+%22the+hindu%22&pg=PA185 |title=The Sun Never Sets: South Asian Migrants in an Age of U.S. Power |last1=Bald |first1=Vivek |last2=Chatterji |first2=Miabi |last3=Reddy |first3=Sujani |last4=Vimalassery |first4=Manu |date=22 July 2013 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0814786437 |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629113303/https://books.google.com/books?id=OSW8fg7zr8gC&q=%22newspaper+of+record%22+%22the+hindu%22&pg=PA185 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the second [[List of newspapers in India by circulation|most circulated English-language newspaper in India]], after ''[[The Times of India]]''. {{As of|March 2018}}, ''The Hindu'' is published from 21 locations across 11 states of India.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Expanding footprint |newspaper=The Hindu |date=27 February 2018 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/expanding-footprint/article22872967.ece |access-date=23 March 2018 |archive-date=14 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714013525/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/expanding-footprint/article22872967.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

''The Hindu'' has been a family-owned newspaper since 1905, when it was purchased by [[S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar]] from the original founders. It is now jointly owned by Iyengar's descendants, referred to as the "Kasturi family", who serve as the directors of the holding company.

Except for a period of around two years, when [[Siddharth Varadarajan|S. Varadarajan]] held the editorship of the newspaper, senior editorial positions of the paper have always been held by members of the original Iyengar family or by those appointed by them under their direction.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Konikkara |first1=Aathira |last2=Nileena |first2=M. S. |title=Paper Priests: The battle for the soul of The Hindu |newspaper=The Caravan |date=30 November 2021 |quote=The Hindu was wholly the possession of the Kasturi family by this time. After Kasturi Ranga Iyengar's death in 1923, the editorship was passed on to family members.... In mid 2011, Varadarajan became the first person from outside the family to hold the role in the newspaper's history... Besides being chairperson, Parthasarathy is also the director of editorial strategy for The Hindu. |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/media/the-hindu-soul-modi-malini-ram-hindutva-rss-left |url-access=subscription |access-date=18 June 2022 |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194113/https://caravanmagazine.in/media/the-hindu-soul-modi-malini-ram-hindutva-rss-left |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2023, the former chairperson of the group, [[Malini Parthasarathy]], who is a great-granddaughter of Iyengar,<ref>{{citation |author=Arun Ram |title=N.Ram's appointment as first editor-in-chief of The Hindu trigger rumors about family rift |newspaper=India Today |date=14 July 2003 |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/media/story/20030714-n-ram-appointed-editor-of-the-hindu-newspaper-by-kasturi-and-sons-board-792437-2003-07-14 |quote=The Hindu Group of Publications is family owned (Kasturi & Sons) and the shares are held equally (25 per cent) by broadly four groups of the progenies of K. Gopalan and K. Sreenivasan (sons of S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar). |access-date=18 June 2022 |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618222536/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/media/story/20030714-n-ram-appointed-editor-of-the-hindu-newspaper-by-kasturi-and-sons-board-792437-2003-07-14 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2023-06-05 |title=Nirmala Lakshman appointed Chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nirmala-lakshman-appointed-chairperson-of-the-hindu-group-publishing-private-limited/article66934453.ece |access-date=2023-06-05 |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=5 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605194743/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nirmala-lakshman-appointed-chairperson-of-the-hindu-group-publishing-private-limited/article66934453.ece |url-status=live}}</ref> announced the end of her term as chairperson of the group, citing "ideological differences" and the "scope for her efforts in freeing the newspaper from editorial biases to have narrowed".<ref>[https://twitter.com/MaliniP/status/1665665725099565056 Malini Parthasarthy on Twitter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720065127/https://twitter.com/MaliniP/status/1665665725099565056 |date=20 July 2023 }}. 05 June 2023. ''twitter.com''. Retrieved 20 July 2023.</ref>

==History==
=== Early years ===
''The Hindu'' was founded in [[Madras]] on 20 September 1878 as a weekly newspaper, by what was known then as the '''Triplicane Six''', which consisted of four law students and two teachers, i.e., T. T. Rangacharya, P. V. Rangacharya, D. Kesava Rao Pantulu and [[N. Subba Rao Pantulu]], led by [[G. Subramania Iyer]] (a school teacher from [[Tanjore District (Madras Presidency)|Tanjore district]]) and M. Veeraraghavacharyar, a [[lecturer]] at Pachaiyappa's College.<ref>{{cite news |first1=M.S. |last1=Ramnath |first2=Mitu |last2=Jayshankar |title=The Hindu board room becomes a battlefield |url=http://forbesindia.com/article/boardroom/the-hindu-board-room-becomes-battlefield/12462/0 |newspaper=Forbes India |date=22 April 2010 |access-date=4 March 2014 |archive-date=22 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622154613/http://www.forbesindia.com/article/boardroom/the-hindu-board-room-becomes-battlefield/12462/0 |url-status=live }}</ref> Started in order to support the campaign of [[Sir T. Muthuswamy Iyer]] for a judgeship at the [[Madras High Court]] and to counter the campaign against him carried out by the [[Anglo-Indian]] press, ''The Hindu'' was one of the newspapers of the period established to protest the policies of the [[British Raj]]. About 100 copies of the inaugural issue were printed at Srinidhi Press, [[Georgetown, Chennai|Georgetown]], on one rupee and twelve annas of borrowed money. Subramania Iyer became the first editor and Veera Raghavacharya, the first [[managing director]] of the newspaper.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

The paper was initially printed from Srinidhi Press but later moved to Scottish Press, then to The Hindu Press, [[Mylapore]]. Started as a weekly newspaper, the paper became a tri-weekly in 1883 and an evening daily in 1889. A single copy of the newspaper was priced at four [[Indian anna|anna]]s. The offices moved to rented premises at 100 [[Mount Road]] on 3 December 1883. The newspaper started printing at its own press there, named "The National Press," which was established on borrowed capital as public subscriptions were not forthcoming. The building itself became ''The Hindu''{{'}}s in 1892, after the Maharaja of [[Vizianagaram]], [[Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju]], gave The National Press a loan both for the building and to carry out needed expansion.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

'Its editorial stances have earned it the nickname, the '[[Maha Vishnu]] of Mount Road'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://keetru.com/vizhippunarvu/oct08/kuthusigurusami.php |title=Vizhippunarvu - Kuthusigurusami - Kuruvikarambaivelu - Periyar - Kudiarasu |access-date=14 May 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023114/http://keetru.com/vizhippunarvu/oct08/kuthusigurusami.php |url-status=live }}</ref> "From the new address, 100 Mount Road, which was to remain ''The Hindu''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> home till 1939, there issued a [[quarto]]-size paper with a front-page full of advertisements—a practice that came to an end only in 1958 when it followed the lead of its idol, the pre-[[Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet|Thomson]] ''[[The Times|Times]]'' [London]—and three back pages also at the service of the advertiser. In between, there were more views than news."<ref name="WillingToStrike">{{cite web |author=S. Muthiah |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300770200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |title=Willing to strike and not reluctant to wound |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050929154239/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300770200.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=29 September 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After 1887, when the annual session of [[Indian National Congress]] was held in Madras, the paper's coverage of national news increased significantly, and led to the paper becoming an evening daily starting 1 April 1889.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

=== Kasturi family ===
The partnership between Veeraraghavachariar and Subramania Iyer was dissolved in October 1898. Iyer quit the paper and Veeraraghavachariar became the sole owner and appointed [[C. Karunakara Menon]] the editor. However, ''The Hindu''{{'}}s adventurousness began to decline in the 1900s and so did its circulation, which was down to 800 copies when the sole proprietor decided to sell out. The purchaser was ''The Hindu''{{'}}s Legal Adviser from 1895, [[S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2020/stories/20031010005512800.htm |title=Navigation News - Frontline |access-date=18 May 2013 |archive-date=2 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502014026/http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2020/stories/20031010005512800.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> a politically ambitious lawyer who had migrated from a [[Kumbakonam]] village to practise in [[Coimbatore]] and from thence to [[Madras]].{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Iyengar's son, Kasturi Srinivasan, became managing editor of The Hindu upon his father's death in 1923 and Chief Editor in February 1934. The Kasturi family, descendants of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, have since owned and, through most of the paper's life, held the top editorial positions in the company.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

Joint managing director N. Murali said in July 2003, "It is true that our readers have been complaining that some of our reports are partial and lack objectivity. But it also depends on reader beliefs."<ref name="ChangeOfGuard">{{cite web |author=Venkatachari Jagannathan |url=http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_k/kasturi_sons/20030701_change_of_guard.htm |title=Change of guard |website=domain-b.com |date=1 July 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030817105746/https://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_k/kasturi_sons/20030701_change_of_guard.htm |archive-date=17 August 2003 |url-status=live}}</ref> N. Ram was appointed on 27 June 2003 as its [[editor-in-chief]] with a mandate to "improve the structures and other mechanisms to uphold and strengthen quality and objectivity in news reports and opinion pieces", authorised to "restructure the editorial framework and functions in line with the competitive environment".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prdomain.com/feature/feature_details.asp?id=119&area=J&typ=A |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317091805/http://www.prdomain.com/feature/feature_details.asp?id=119&area=J&typ=A |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 March 2006 |title=The job of a reporter is to write news, not to comment |date=11 November 2005 |access-date=20 April 2006 }} An interview with N. Ram, editor-in-chief of ''The Hindu''</ref> On 3 and 23 September 2003, the reader's letters column carried responses from readers saying the editorial was biased.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/09/03/stories/2003090302701002.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041104060404/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/09/03/stories/2003090302701002.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2004 |department=Opinion – Letters to the Editor |title=Biased editorial |date=3 September 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/09/23/stories/2003092300861002.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310174944/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/09/23/stories/2003092300861002.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 March 2007 |department=Opinion – Letters to the Editor |title=Biased |date=23 September 2003}}</ref> An editorial in August 2003 observed that the newspaper was affected by the 'editorialising as news [[Journalism|reporting]]' virus, and expressed a determination to buck the trend, restore the professionally sound lines of demarcation, and strengthen [[Objectivity (journalism)|objectivity]] and [[factuality]] in its coverage.<ref>{{cite news |department=Opinion – Editorials |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/08/27/stories/2003082700621000.htm |title=The Hindu |date=27 August 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310174913/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/08/27/stories/2003082700621000.htm |archive-date=10 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1987–88, ''The Hindu'''s coverage of the [[Bofors arms deal scandal]], a series of document-backed exclusives, set the terms of the national political discourse on this subject.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://centennial.journalism.columbia.edu/1989-scandal-in-india/index.html |title=1989: Scandal in India |website=centennial.journalism.columbia.edu |access-date=24 January 2018 |archive-date=22 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122192815/http://centennial.journalism.columbia.edu/1989-scandal-in-india/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Bofors scandal broke in April 1987 with [[Sveriges Radio|Swedish Radio]] alleging that bribes had been paid to top Indian political leaders, officials and Army officers in return for the Swedish arms manufacturing company winning a hefty contract with the Government of India for the purchase of 155 mm howitzers. During a six-month period, the newspaper published scores of copies of original papers that documented the secret payments, amounting to $50 million, into Swiss bank accounts, the agreements behind the payments, communications relating to the payments and the crisis response, and other material. The investigation was led by a part-time correspondent of ''The Hindu'', [[Chitra Subramaniam]], reporting from [[Geneva]], and was supported by Ram in Chennai. The scandal was a major embarrassment to the party in power at the centre, the [[Indian National Congress]], and its leader Prime Minister [[Rajiv Gandhi]]. The paper's editorial accused the Prime Minister of being party to massive fraud and cover-up.<ref name="DevelopPaperNewReader">{{cite news |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/th125/stories/2003091300830500.htm |title=Developing a paper for a new reader |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041124154440/http://www.hinduonnet.com/th125/stories/2003091300830500.htm |archive-date=24 November 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1991, Deputy Editor N. Ravi, Ram's younger brother, replaced G. Kasturi as editor. Nirmala Lakshman, Kasturi Srinivasan's granddaughter and the first woman in the company to hold an editorial or managerial role, became Joint Editor of ''The Hindu'' and her sister, [[Malini Parthasarathy]], Executive Editor.<ref name="Outlook 2010">{{Cite news |title=The Hindu: Very Divided Family |work=Outlook (blog) |date=25 March 2010 |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/blog/story/ithe-hindui-very-divided-family/2225 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507130224/https://www.outlookindia.com/blog/story/ithe-hindui-very-divided-family/2225 |archive-date=7 May 2016}}</ref>

In 2003, the [[Jayalalitha]] government of the state of Tamil Nadu, of which Chennai is the capital, filed cases against ''The Hindu'' for breach of privilege of the state legislative body. The move was perceived as a government's assault on freedom of the press. The paper garnered support from the journalistic community.<ref>{{cite web |author=Onkar Singh |url=http://inhome.rediff.com/news/2003/nov/08hindu.htm |title=Journalists protest TN assembly's arrest of scribes |date=8 November 2003 |access-date=14 March 2006 |archive-date=23 November 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051123222246/http://inhome.rediff.com/news/2003/nov/08hindu.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2010, ''[[The Indian Express]]'' reported a dispute within the publisher of ''The Hindu'' regarding the retirement age of the person working as the editor-in-chief, a post which was then being served by N. Ram. Following this report, Ram decided to sue ''The Indian Express'' for defamation, a charge which the ''Indian Express'' denied. [[N. Ravi]] and Parthasarathy voiced concern about Ram's decision, saying that doing so goes against ''The Hindu'''s values and that journalists should not fear "scrutiny", respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |author2=Shuchi Bansal |author1=Vidhya Sivaramakrishnan |date=2010-03-25 |title=Ram to initiate legal action against Express for story on internal tussle |url=https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/JLCZIVNqLgskfDNFDGB4LI/Ram-to-initiate-legal-action-against-Express-for-story-on-in.html |work=Mint |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=23 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123054754/https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/JLCZIVNqLgskfDNFDGB4LI/Ram-to-initiate-legal-action-against-Express-for-story-on-in.html |url-status=live }}</ref> During subsequent events, Parthasarathy tweeted that "issues relating to management of newspaper have come to the surface, including editorial direction" in her response to a question. Later, Parthasarathy called N. Ram and other ''The Hindu'' employees "Stalinists", alleging that they were trying to oust her from the newspaper.<ref name="Independent"/><ref name="Outlook 2010"/>

In 2011, during the resignation of [[N. Ram]], the newspaper became the subject of a succession battle between the members of the Kasturi family. Ram had appointed [[Siddharth Varadarajan]] as his successor as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper who justified the appointment on the ostensible basis of separation of ownership and management, which was opposed by [[N. Ravi]] as it deviated from the publication's tradition of family members retaining editorial control over it.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-04-22 |title=Succession battle for The Hindu turns ugly |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/succession-battle-for-the-hindu-turns-ugly/story-GUUNCN95Sffn0YlDiMv1PM.html |work=Hindustan Times |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008085933/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/succession-battle-for-the-hindu-turns-ugly/story-GUUNCN95Sffn0YlDiMv1PM.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Varadarajan was subsequently accused by the dissident family members of being [[Left-wing politics|left]] leaning and the matter of Varadarajan's appointment was brought in front of the board of directors of the parent company, Kasturi & Sons. During the dispute, [[Narasimhan Murali]] alleged that [[N. Ram]] ran ''The Hindu'' "like a banana republic, with cronyism and vested interests ruling the roost". In the end the board voted 6–6 over a review of the appointment, the tie was broken by a deciding vote from Ram in his capacity as the chairman of the company and in favor of his decision.<ref name="Independent">{{Cite web |author=Andrew Buncombe |title=The family feud which is gripping India's media: Editor of 'The Hindu' newspaper resigns |work=The Independent |date=7 November 2013 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/family-feud-which-gripping-india-s-media-editor-hindu-newspaper-resigns-8925384.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/family-feud-which-gripping-india-s-media-editor-hindu-newspaper-resigns-8925384.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|1448886974}}}}</ref>

On 2 April 2013 ''The Hindu'' started "The Hindu in School" with S. Shivakumar as editor. This is a new edition for young readers, to be distributed through schools as part of ''The Hindu'''s "Newspaper in Education" programme. It covers the day's important news developments, features, sports, and regional news.<ref name="thehindu.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/the-hindu-goes-to-school/article3269801.ece |location=Chennai, India |work=The Hindu |first=Liffy |last=Thomas |title=''The Hindu'' goes to school |date=2 April 2012 |access-date=16 September 2013 |archive-date=23 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023064115/http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/the-hindu-goes-to-school/article3269801.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> On 16 September 2013, The Hindu group launched its [[Tamil language|Tamil]] edition with K. Ashokan as editor.<ref name="livemint.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/dLro0NLJ7ujfKJbTswsGgL/The-Hindu-to-launch-Tamil-newspaper-on-16-September.html |title='The Hindu' to launch Tamil newspaper on 16 September |author=S. Bridget Leena |work=Livemint |date=4 September 2013 |access-date=2 October 2013 |archive-date=10 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010033348/http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/dLro0NLJ7ujfKJbTswsGgL/The-Hindu-to-launch-Tamil-newspaper-on-16-September.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 21 October 2013, changes were made in Editorial as well as business of ''The Hindu''.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> N. Ravi took over as Editor-in-chief of ''The Hindu'' and Parthasarathy as Editor of ''The Hindu''. As a consequence, Siddarth Varadarajan submitted his resignation. N. Ram became Chairman of Kasturi & Sons Limited and Publisher of The Hindu and Group publications; and N. Murali, Co-chairman of the company.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

During the [[2015 South Indian floods]], for the first time since its founding in 1878, the newspaper did not publish a print edition in Chennai market on 2 December, as workers were unable to reach the press building.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chennai floods: The Hindu not published for first time since 1878 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34981328 |work=BBC News |date=2 December 2015 |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106214809/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34981328 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 5 January 2016, Parthasarathy resigned with immediate effect. It was reported by the media that she resigned her post, Malini found herself involved in several disputes with the editorial team. In a recent incident, she engaged in a discussion with RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy regarding The Hindu's fact-checking of the 'sengol' controversy. The newspaper had contradicted the Union government's claim that the 'sengol' was presented to then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Gurumurthy contested the findings of the fact-checking article.<ref name="Actual reason of Resignation">{{Cite web |url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/malini-parthasarathy-resigns-from-the-hindu-group-publishing-cites-narrowed-scope-for-editorial-views |title=Malini Parthasarathy Resigns from the Hindu Group Publishing, Cites 'Narrowed Scope' for Editorial Views |access-date=28 July 2023 |archive-date=28 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728113947/https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/malini-parthasarathy-resigns-from-the-hindu-group-publishing-cites-narrowed-scope-for-editorial-views |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/malini-parthasarathy-resigns-hindu-s-board-178095 |title=Malini Parthasarathy resigns from the Hindu's board |date=5 June 2023 |access-date=5 June 2023 |archive-date=5 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605200249/https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/malini-parthasarathy-resigns-hindu-s-board-178095 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, she continues to be a Wholetime Director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/resignation-of-editor-interim-arrangements-in-place/article8069501.ece?homepage=true |title=Resignation of Editor & interim arrangements in place |newspaper=The Hindu |date=5 January 2016 |access-date=5 January 2016 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629113257/https://www.thehindu.com/news/Resignation-of-Editor-amp-interim-arrangements-in-place/article13988442.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2020, she became the chairperson of the group. On 5 June 2023, she stepped down, upon completion of her non-extendable three-year term as chairperson, and Nirmala Lakshman was unanimously appointed as chairperson of the group.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-05 |title=Malini Parthasarathy resigns from The Hindu's board |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/malini-parthasarathy-resigns-hindu-s-board-178095 |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=The News Minute |language=en |archive-date=5 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605200249/https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/malini-parthasarathy-resigns-hindu-s-board-178095 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Management==
Over the course of its history, the Kasturi Ranga Iyengar family has usually run ''The Hindu'' through the presence of family in editorial and business operations as well as on the Board. It was headed by G. Kasturi from 1965 to 1991, N. Ravi from 1991 to 2003, and by his brother, N. Ram, from 27 June 2003 to 18 January 2011.<ref name="Outlook 2010"/>

As of 2010, there are 12 directors in the board of Kasturi & Sons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/battleforcontrolbreaksoutinthehinduverydividedfamily/595373/0 |title=Battle for control breaks out in The Hindu very divided family |author=Archna Shukla |date=25 March 2010 |work=The Indian Express |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-date=30 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330073159/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/battleforcontrolbreaksoutinthehinduverydividedfamily/595373/0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Managing directors==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2021}}
[[File:The Hindu front.jpg|thumb|A close-up view of the entrance to Kasturi Buildings, the head office of ''The Hindu'']]

*[[M. Veeraraghavachariar]] (1878–1904)
*[[S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar]] (1904–1923)
*[[K. Srinivasan]] (1923–1959)
*[[G. Narasimhan]] (1959–1977)
*[[N. Ram]] (1977–2011)
*[[K. Balaji (publisher)|K. Balaji]] (2011–2012)
*Rajiv C. Lochan (2013- 2019)
* L. V. Navaneeth (2019–present)

==Editors==

*[[G. Subramania Iyer]] (1878–1898)
*[[C. Karunakara Menon]] (1898–1905)
*[[S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar]] (1905–1923)
*[[S. Rangaswami Iyengar]] (1923–1926)
*K. Srinivasan (1926–1928)
*[[A. Rangaswami Iyengar]] (1928–1934)
*K. Srinivasan (1934–1959)
*[[S. Parthasarathy]] (1959–1965)
*[[G. Kasturi]] (1965–1991)
*[[N. Ravi]] (1991–2003)
*[[N. Ram]] (2003–2011)
*[[Siddharth Varadarajan]] (2011–2013)<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 20, 2011 |title=Siddharth Varadarajan appointed Hindu editor |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Chennai/Siddharth-Varadarajan-appointed-Hindu-editor/Article1-723450.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919085611/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Chennai/Siddharth-Varadarajan-appointed-Hindu-editor/Article1-723450.aspx |archive-date=September 19, 2013 |access-date=May 21, 2023 |website=[[Hindustan Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Choudhary |first=Vidhi |date=2013-10-21 |title=Siddharth Varadarajan quits The Hindu; family rift resurfaces |url=https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/7Igh9ncxU6SfsvAg9sukZL/Siddharth-Varadarajan-resigns-from-The-Hindu.html |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=mint |language=en |archive-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409012051/https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/7Igh9ncxU6SfsvAg9sukZL/Siddharth-Varadarajan-resigns-from-The-Hindu.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[N. Ravi]] (2013–2015)<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/changes-at-the-helm-editorial-and-business/article5257829.ece?homepage=true |location=Chennai, India |work=The Hindu |title=Changes at the Helm: Editorial and Business |date=21 October 2013 |access-date=22 October 2013 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225122227/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/changes-at-the-helm-editorial-and-business/article5257829.ece?homepage=true |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Malini Parthasarathy]] (2015–2016)<ref name="ReferenceC" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/change-at-the-helm-at-the-hindu/article6805809.ece |title=Malini Parthasarathy is the Editor of The Hindu |newspaper=The Hindu |date=20 January 2015 |access-date=3 March 2015 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108095005/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/change-at-the-helm-at-the-hindu/article6805809.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>
*Mukund Padmanabhan (2016–2019)<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/mukund-padmanabhan-is-editor-of-the-hindu-raghavan-srinivasan-becomes-business-line-editor/article8390017.ece?homepage=true |title=Mukund Padmanabhan is Editor of The Hindu; Raghavan Srinivasan becomes Business Line Editor |newspaper=The Hindu |date=23 March 2016 |access-date=23 March 2016 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225122230/https://www.thehindu.com/news/mukund-padmanabhan-is-editor-of-the-hindu-raghavan-srinivasan-becomes-business-line-editor/article8390017.ece?homepage=true |url-status=live }}</ref>
*Suresh Nambath (2019–present)<ref name="Editorial transition">{{cite news |title=Editorial transition |newspaper=The Hindu |date=March 2019 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/editorial-transition/article26401002.ece |access-date=1 March 2019 |archive-date=16 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116054135/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/editorial-transition/article26401002.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Online presence==
''The Hindu'' was the first newspaper in India to have a website, launched in 1995.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-its-20-year-the-hindu-website-wins-major-award/article6937451.ece |title=In its 20th year, The Hindu website wins major award |date=26 February 2015 |work=The Hindu |access-date=8 May 2019 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809053659/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-its-20-year-the-hindu-website-wins-major-award/article6937451.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 15 August 2009, the 130-year-old newspaper launched the beta version of its redesigned website at [https://web.archive.org/web/20091020110349/http://beta.thehindu.com/ beta.thehindu.com]. This was the first redesign of its website since its launch. On 24 June 2010 the beta version of the website went fully live at [http://www.thehindu.com www.thehindu.co.in].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/23/stories/2010062362190100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626110341/http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/23/stories/2010062362190100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 June 2010 |title=Our new website goes fully live on 29 June |date=23 June 2010 |work=The Hindu}}</ref>

On 15 August 2022, for the first time in its 144-year-old history, ''The Hindu'' started publishing Hindi-translated editorials on its website.<ref>{{Cite web |last=प्रितम |first=अनमोल |title=144 सालों में पहली बार हिंदी में हाथ आजमा रहा है 'द हिंदू' |url=https://hindi.newslaundry.com/2022/08/18/the-hindu-news-paper-editorial-in-hindi |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=Newslaundry |date=18 August 2022 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818142048/https://hindi.newslaundry.com/2022/08/18/the-hindu-news-paper-editorial-in-hindi |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Editorial policy and reputation==
{{update|section|date=April 2021}}
[[File:The Hindu Chennai.jpg|thumb|Headquarters of ''The Hindu'' in [[Anna Salai]], [[Chennai]]]]
In 1965, ''[[The Times]]'' listed ''The Hindu'' as one of the world's ten best newspapers. Discussing each of its choices in separate articles, ''The Times'' wrote: "''The Hindu'' takes the general seriousness to lengths of severity... published in Madras, it is the only newspaper which in spite of being published only in a provincial capital is regularly and attentively read in Delhi. It is read not only as a distant and authoritative voice on national affairs but as an expression of the most liberal—and least provincial—southern attitudes... Its Delhi Bureau gives it outstanding political and economic dispatches and it carries regular and frequent reports from all state capitals, so giving more news from states, other than its own, than most newspapers in India... It might fairly be described as a national voice with a southern accent. ''The Hindu'' can claim to be the most respected paper in India."<ref name="DevelopPaperNewReader" /><ref>{{cite news |work=The Times |date=3 March 1965 |title=Newspapers of the World: VI - The Hindu |page=11 |issue=56260}}</ref>

In 1968, the [[American Newspaper Publishers Association]] awarded ''The Hindu'' its World Press Achievement Award. An extract from the citation reads:
"Throughout nearly a century of its publication The Hindu has exerted wide influence not only in Madras but throughout India. Conservative in both tone and appearance, it has wide appeal to the English-speaking segment of the population and wide readership among government officials and business leaders... ''The Hindu'' has provided its readers a broad and balanced news coverage, enterprising reporting and a sober and thoughtful comment... It has provided its country a model of journalistic excellence... It has fought for a greater measure of humanity for India and its people... and has not confined itself to a narrow chauvinism. Its Correspondents stationed in the major capitals of the world furnish ''The Hindu'' with world-wide news coverage... For its championing of reason over emotion, for its dedication to principle even in the face of criticism and popular disapproval, for its confidence in the future, it has earned the respect of its community, its country, and the world."<ref name="DevelopPaperNewReader" />{{Primary source inline|date=December 2022}}

In 2012, ''The Hindu'' became the only Indian newspaper to appoint a Readers Editor, an independent internal news ombudsman.<ref>{{cite news |title=Panneerselvan, The Hindu's new Readers' Editor |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/panneerselvan-the-hindus-new-readers-editor/article3911966.ece |work=The Hindu |date=18 September 2012 |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-date=16 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116053648/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/panneerselvan-the-hindus-new-readers-editor/article3911966.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=December 2022}}

A 2014 article in the ''[[Indian Journal of Pharmacology]]'' praised ''The Hindu'''s ongoing journalism and critique of [[clinical trials in India]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Y. K. |last1=Gupta |last2=Kumar |first2=B. Dinesh |title=Clinical trials and evolving regulatory science in India |journal=Indian Journal of Pharmacology |date=2014 |volume=46 |issue=6 |pages=575–578 |doi=10.4103/0253-7613.144887 |pmid=25538325 |pmc=4264069 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

On October 7, 2019, ''The Hindu'' announced that "Two editorial meetings a month will be opened up to readers in order to expand conversations and build trust", a first in India's media industry.<ref>{{cite news |author=A. S. Panneerselvan |title=Dialogue to bridge divides |work=The Hindu |date=7 October 2019 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/dialogue-to-bridge-divides/article29611507.ece |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-date=16 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116053650/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/dialogue-to-bridge-divides/article29611507.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=December 2022}}

The newspaper currently has foreign bureaus in eleven locations – [[Islamabad]], [[Colombo]], [[Dhaka]], [[Kathmandu]], [[Beijing]], [[Moscow]], [[Paris]], [[Dubai]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[London]], and most recently [[Addis Ababa]].<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Hindu |title=''The Hindu'' returns to Africa |date=22 August 2012 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-returns-to-africa/article3804615.ece |location=Chennai, India |access-date=22 October 2012 |archive-date=2 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502020345/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-returns-to-africa/article3804615.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==

*[[Business Line|''The Hindu Business Line'']]
*[[Frontline (magazine)|''Frontline'' magazine]]
*[[The Hindu Group]]
*[[List of newspapers in India]]
*[[List of newspapers in India by readership]]
*[[The Hindu Literary Prize|''The Hindu'' Literary Prize]]
*[[Lit for Life]]
*[[Sportstar]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=John C. |first2=Harold A. |last2=Fisher |title=The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers |year=1980 |pages=162–169}}
* {{cite web |author=T. S. Subramanian |title=The Hindu at 125 |work=The Hindu |date=10 October 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20031010005512800.htm&date=fl2020%2F&prd=fline |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430123920/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20031010005512800.htm&date=fl2020%2F&prd=fline |archive-date=30 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web |author=N. Ram |title=Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300500100.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219213310/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300500100.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=19 February 2007 |url-status=dead}}
* Looking Back: The history of ''The Hindu'' as told by historian S. Muthiah.
** {{cite web |title=Willing to strike and not reluctant to wound |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300770200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050929154239/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300770200.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=29 September 2005 |url-status=dead}}
** {{cite web |title=Making news the family business |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300800200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310193335/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300800200.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=10 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}
** {{cite web |title=A clarion call against the Raj |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300810200.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112002540/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300810200.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=12 January 2009 |url-status=dead}}
** {{cite web |title=Treading softly – but modernizing apace |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300820400.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015064319/http://hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300820400.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=15 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}
** {{cite web |title=Developing a paper for a new reader |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300830500.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310193354/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091300830500.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=10 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web |author=N. Murali |title=Core values and high quality standards |work=The Hindu |date=13 September 2003 |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091301020800.htm&date=2003/09/13/&prd=th125& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127134111/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003091301020800.htm&date=2003%2F09%2F13%2F&prd=th125& |archive-date=27 November 2007 |url-status=dead}}

==External links==
* {{official website}}
* {{Twitter|id=the_hindu}}

{{KasturiSons}}
{{Newspapers in India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindu, The}}
[[Category:1878 establishments in India]]
[[Category:Asian news websites]]
[[Category:English-language newspapers published in India]]
[[Category:Mass media in Chennai]]
[[Category:National newspapers published in India]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Chennai]]
[[Category:Daily newspapers published in India]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1878]]
[[Category:The Hindu Group]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Coimbatore]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Tiruchirappalli]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Patna]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Bangalore]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Vijayawada]]

St. John de Britto Church, Sesurajapuram

2023-07-06T18:40:22Z

Anshuman Tiwari:

{{Infobox church
| name = John de Britto Church
| other name = Arul Anandar Church
| coordinates = {{coord|12.2720|77.7432|display=inline,title}}
| fullname =
| native_name = புனித அருளானந்தர் ஆலயம்
| native_name_lang = ta
| image = John De Britto Church, Sesurajapuram.jpg
| caption = Front View of this church

| location = [[Sesurajapuram]], Natrapalayam, [[Krishnagiri district|Krishnagiri Dt]], [[Tamil Nadu]]
| country = [[India]]

| denomination = [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]
| religious institute = [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]]
| cult = [[Catholic devotions]]
| founded date = 1955
| founder = Fr. Thomas Kuruvilla

| status = [[Parish church]]
| functional status = Active
| former name =
| dedication = [[John de Britto]]
| architectural type = [[Church (building)|Church]]
| style = Modern Architecture
| groundbreaking = 1981
| completed date = 1983

| parish = [[Sesurajapuram]]
| deanery = [[Denkanikottai]]
| archdiocese = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore|Pondicherry and Cuddalore]]
| diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Dharmapuri|Dharmapuri]]
| episcopalarea = [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of India|TNBC]]

| archbishop = [[Antony Anandarayar]]
| bishop = Lawrence Pius Dorairaj
| priest = Fr. P. John Kennedy
}}
'''The John De Britto Church''' in Sesurajapuram is a renowned [[Roman Catholic]] parish church located in Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu, India. It falls under the administration of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Dharmapuri|Dharmapuri Diocese]].<ref>https://dharmapuridiocese.org/parishes/lists.html</ref>

==History==
In the early 1920s, the [[Mettur Dam]] project began, leading to the relocation of villagers from Nayambadi village. Some of these migrants settled near Natrampalayam village, which eventually became known as Sesurajapuram.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Parsons|first=Michael|title=The Cork house that time forgot|work=[[The Irish Times]]}}</ref> In the 1940s, priests from Savariyarpalayam (Mettur) and [[Martalli]] (Karnataka) sent a request to the [[Kovilur, Dharamapuri |Kovilur]] priest, seeking spiritual support for the Catholics residing near Natrampalayam. The request was accepted, and Kovilur priests began visiting Sesurajapuram to conduct occasional masses. Over time, priests from Kovilur, [[Dharmapuri]], and [[Dasarapalli|Dasarahalli]] Parishes provided care and support to the villagers of Sesurajapuram, with many baptisms recorded in [[St. Francis Xavier Church, Kovilur|Kovilur Church's]] baptism register between 1952 and 1974.

During the tenure of Dharmapuri Parish Priest Fr. Thomas Kuruvilla, this church became an official sub-station in 1968. '''Fr. Kuruvilla''' assisted the villagers in registering their farm lands, facilitating the acquisition of land deeds ([[Patta (land deed)|Patta]]) with the help of register officers. The villagers named a lake in his memory as Kuruvilla lake.<ref>https://salemdiocese.org/necrology/</ref>

From 1974 to 1979, the church came under the care of Dasarapalli Parish. During this period, a priest from the [[Congregation of Holy Cross]] (C.S.C) resided in Sesurajapuram and managed the church activities.<ref>https://holycrosscongregation.org/news/six-newly-ordained-priests-in-india/</ref> Notably, '''Br. Kulandhai Francis''' worked in this village and later founded the NGO called IVDP in Krishnagiri, which focused on women's empowerment and later he helped by the construction of low-head dams in this village.<ref>https://ivdpkrishnagiri.org/about-us/founder-president/</ref>

In 1979, the Sesurajapuram church was established as a Parish Church, with Fr. P. Lourdsamy appointed as its first parish priest. He resided in the village and oversaw the demolition of the old church, replacing it with a new church dedicated to ''martyr'' '''John de Britto'''. The new church was inaugurated on February 4, 1983, with the blessings of Salem Diocese Bishop Michael Bosco Duraisamy.<ref>https://dharmapuridiocese.org/priests/lists/diocesan_priests.html</ref>

[[Sebastianappan Singaroyan|Fr. S. Singaroyan]], who later became the Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Salem|Salem Diocese]], served as the parish priest of this church. During his tenure, a parish house was constructed and opened on August 26, 1985. In 2000, a bell tower was built near the church in celebration of the 50-year jubilee.<ref name=Catholic-Hierarchy>{{cite web|title=Bishop Singaroyan Sebastianappan at Catholic-Hierarchy|url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsing.html|accessdate= 20 July 2021}}</ref>

==Sub-station Churches==
Catholics who worked in [[Kolar Gold Fields|KGF]] relocated and formed a settlement near Masanatty village, which they named Arokiyapuram. In response to the spiritual needs of the Arokiyapuram villagers, Fr. K. Arokiya James built the '''Arokiya Madha Church''', which was opened to the public on September 22, 2010.<ref>https://www.ucanews.com/directory/parishes-stations/india-dharmapuri/62/30</ref>

To the north of Sesurajapuram hill, people have been celebrating yearly Pongal festival for [[Anthony of the Desert|Saint Anthony of the Desert]] for many years. In 2004, during Fr. Zacharias's tenure, a small chapel was built for this purpose. Every year on January 17, the feast of St. Anthony is celebrated there.

During the tenure of Fr. P. Lourdsamy, a grotto dedicated to [[Our Lady of Lourdes]] was built on the eastern side of Sesurajapuram hill. It was later renovated during Fr. Rosario's period. Every year on February 2, the feast is celebrated at this grotto.

==Schools==
Education was of great importance to the priests of Sesurajapuram. As the village was located within a reserved forest, there was only one primary school near Nattrampalayam village, making it challenging for students to pursue high schools studies. To address this issue, the fathers sent students to Catholic boarding schools in Adaikalapuram, Madhakondapalli, Elathagiri, and Salem.<ref>https://stackschools.com/schools/33311711001/pups-natrampalayam</ref>

During the tenure of Fr. S. Singaroyan, 1.4 acres of land were acquired, and '''St. Peter's Primary School''' was established in Arokiyapuram village in 1989. In 1985, the FIHM Sisters from Pondicherry arrived and started their service and convent in Sesurajapuram, taking care of the school as well.<ref>https://stackschools.com/schools/33311713602/stjosephs-hss-sesurajapuram</ref>

In 1993, '''St. Joseph Middle School''' was built to provide education to students who had completed primary education. It was later upgraded to a high school in 1997 and further upgraded to a higher secondary school in 2011.<ref>https://stackschools.com/schools/33311700801/stpeters-primary-aided</ref>

==See also==
* [[Christ the King Church, Dasarapalli]]
* [[St. Francis Xavier Church, Kovilur]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Dharmapuri}}

[[Category:Roman Catholic churches in Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Churches in Krishnagiri District]]
[[Category:Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore]]

Kazakhstan

2022-06-29T04:54:06Z

Anshuman Tiwari: Created a new article format.

{{Short description|Country straddling Central Asia and Eastern Europe}}
{{Redirect|Qazaqstan|the Kazakh state television broadcaster|Qazaqstan (channel)}}

{{Use dmy dates}}
{{very long}}

{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Republic of Kazakhstan
| common_name = Kazakhstan
| native_name = {{ubl|{{native name|kk|Қазақстан Республикасы|italics=off}} {{smaller|{{lang|kk-Latn|Qazaqstan Respublikasy}}}}|{{native name|ru|Республика Казахстан|italics=off}} {{smaller|{{transliteration|ru|Respublika Kazakhstan}}}}}}
| image_flag = Flag of Kazakhstan.svg
| flag_width = 135
| image_coat = Emblem of Kazakhstan latin.svg
| symbol_width = 85
| symbol_type = Emblem
| national_anthem = {{native name|kk|Менің Қазақстаным|italics=off|nolink=yes}} {{transliteration|kk|[[Menıñ Qazaqstanym]]}} "My Kazakhstan"{{parabr}}{{center|[[File:National anthem of Kazakhstan, performed by the United States Navy Band.wav]]}}
| image_map = Kazakhstan (orthographic projection).svg
| capital = [[Astana]] {{Coord|51|10|N|71|26|E|type:city}}
| largest_city = [[Almaty]] {{Coord|43|16|39|N|76|53|45|E|type:city}}
| official_languages = {{hlist|[[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] | [[Russian language|Russian]]}}
| ethnic_groups = {{unbulleted list
| 70.7% [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]]
| 15.2% [[Russians in Kazakhstan|Russian]]
| 3.3% [[Uzbeks in Kazakhstan|Uzbek]]
| 1.9% [[Ukrainians in Kazakhstan|Ukrainian]]
| 1.5% [[Uyghurs in Kazakhstan|Uyghur]]
| 1.1% [[Germans in Kazakhstan|German]]
| 1.1% [[Tatars in Kazakhstan|Tatar]]
| 5.2% [[Ethnic demography of Kazakhstan|Others]]
}}
| ethnic_groups_ref = <ref>https://stat.gov.kz/upload/iblock/a12/57roawwnluccyhgdg2y3e95w057obbi8/%D2%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D2%9B%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%20%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BF%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%8B%20%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%BB%D2%9B%D1%8B%D0%BD%D1%8B%D2%A3%20%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8B.pdf</ref><ref>https://stat.gov.kz/api/iblock/element/20969/file/kk/</ref>
| ethnic_groups_year = 2023
| religion = {{unbulleted list
| 69.3% [[Islam in Kazakhstan|Islam]]
| 17.2% [[Christianity in Kazakhstan|Christianity]]
| 11.01% No response
| 2.25% [[Irreligion in Kazakhstan|Atheism]]
| 0.2% [[Religion in Kazakhstan|Others]]
}}
| religion_ref = <ref name="2021EthnicStatistics">{{Cite web |url=https://stat.gov.kz/api/getFile/?docId=ESTAT464825 |title=2021 жылғы Қазақстан Республикасы халқының ұлттық санағының қорытындылары |trans-title=Results of the 2021 Population Census of the Republic of Kazakhstan |publisher=Agency of Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan National Bureau of Statistics |access-date=19 September 2022 |language=Kazakh}}</ref><ref name="Viktorova">{{cite web |last1=Viktorova |first1=Polina |title=How the Number of Believers Changed in Kazakhstan |url=https://cabar.asia/en/how-the-number-of-believers-changed-in-kazakhstan |website=CABAR.asia |publisher=The Institute for War & Peace Reporting |access-date=11 March 2023}}</ref>
| religion_year = 2021
| demonym = Kazakhstani{{efn|"Kazakhstani" refers to all citizens of Kazakhstan, regardless of ethnicity. In contrast, "Kazakh" refers only to ethnic [[Kazakhs]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schneider|first1=Johann F.|last2=Larsen|first2=Knud S.|last3=Krumov|first3=Krum|last4=Vazow|first4=Grigorii|title=Advances in International Psychology: Research Approaches and Personal Dispositions, Socialization Processes and Organizational Behavior|date=2013|publisher=Kassel university press GmbH|isbn=978-3-86219-454-4|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_TauaCvBdUC|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164424/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_TauaCvBdUC|archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref>}}
| government_type = [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[dominant-party system|dominant-party]] [[Presidential system|presidential]] [[republic]]
| leader_title1 = [[President of Kazakhstan|President]]
| leader_name1 = [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]]
| leader_title2 = [[Prime Minister of Kazakhstan|Prime Minister]]
| leader_name2 = [[Älihan Smaiylov]]
| legislature = [[Parliament of Kazakhstan|Parliament]]
| upper_house = [[Senate of Kazakhstan|Senate]]
| lower_house = [[Majilis]]
| sovereignty_type = [[History of Kazakhstan|Formation]]
| established_event1 = [[Kazakh Khanate]]
| established_date1 = 1465
| established_event2 = [[Alash Autonomy]]
| established_date2 = 13 December 1917
| established_event3 = [[Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (1920–25)|Kirghiz ASSR]]
| established_date3 = 26 August 1920
| established_event4 = [[Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic|Kazakh ASSR]]
| established_date4 = 19 June 1925
| established_event5 = [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]]
| established_date5 = 5 December 1936
| established_event6 = Declaration of sovereignty
| established_date6 = 25 October 1990
| established_event7 = Reconstituted as the Republic of Kazakhstan
| established_date7 = 10 December 1991
| established_event8 = Independence from the [[Soviet Union|USSR]]
| established_date8 = 16 December 1991
| established_event9 = [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Recognised]]
| established_date9 = 26 December 1991
| established_event10 = [[Constitution of Kazakhstan|Current constitution]]
| established_date10 = 30 August 1995
| area_km2 = 2,724,900
| area_rank = 9th
| area_sq_mi = 1,052,085 
| percent_water = 1.7
| population_estimate = 19,398,331<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Kazakhstan|access-date=24 September 2022|year=2022}}</ref>
| population_estimate_rank = 64th
| population_estimate_year = 2022
| population_density_km2 = 7
| population_density_sq_mi = 18 
| population_density_rank = 236th
| GDP_PPP = {{increase}} $596.666 billion<ref name=IMF>{{cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2022/October/weo-report?c=916,&s=NGDPD,PPPGDP,NGDPDPC,PPPPC,&sy=2020&ey=2027&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 |title=World Economic Outlook Database, October 2022 |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |website=IMF.org |access-date=2 January 2023}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year = 2022
| GDP_PPP_rank = 41st
| GDP_PPP_per_capita = {{increase}} $30,827<ref name=IMF />
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 53rd
| GDP_nominal = {{increase}} $224.338 billion<ref name=IMF />
| GDP_nominal_year = 2022
| GDP_nominal_rank = 55th
| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{increase}} $11,591<ref name=IMF />
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 69th
| Gini = 27.8 
| Gini_year = 2018
| Gini_change = increase 
| Gini_ref = <ref name=WB1>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=KZ |title=GINI index (World Bank estimate) |publisher=[[World Bank]] |website=data.worldbank.org |access-date=25 December 2022 |archive-date=18 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518140724/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=KZ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| HDI = 0.811 
| HDI_year = 2021
| HDI_change = decrease
| HDI_ref = <ref name="UNHDR">{{cite web|url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf|title=Human Development Report 2021/2022|language=en|publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]]|access-date=25 December 2022}}</ref>
| HDI_rank = 56th
| currency = [[Kazakhstani tenge|Tenge]] (₸)
| currency_code = KZT
| time_zone = [[Time in Kazakhstan|West{{\}}East]]
| utc_offset = [[UTC+05:00|+5]]{{\}}[[UTC+06:00|+6]]
| date_format = yyyy.dd.mm{{efn|dd.mm.yyyy in Russian.}}
| drives_on = right
| calling_code = +7 (6xx / 7xx)
| cctld = {{unbulleted list |[[.kz]] |[[.қаз]]}}
}}

'''Kazakhstan''',{{efn|{{bulleted list|{{lang-kk|Қазақстан|Qazaqstan}}, {{IPA-kk|qɑzɑqsˈtɑn|pron}}|{{lang-ru|Казахстан|Kazakhstan}}}}}} officially the '''Republic of Kazakhstan''',{{efn|{{bulleted list|{{lang-kk|Қазақстан Республикасы|Qazaqstan Respublikasy}}|{{lang-ru|Республика Казахстан|Respublika Kazakhstan}}}}}} is a [[List of transcontinental countries|transcontinental]] [[landlocked country]] located mainly in [[Central Asia]] and partly in [[Eastern Europe]].{{efn|About 4% of Kazakhstan's territory, west of the [[Ural (river)|Ural River]], lies in [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Malcolm|last1=Porter|first2=Keith|last2=Lye|title=Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXn6qEGYv0QC&q=area+of+kazakhstan+in+europe+sq+km&pg=PA14|publisher=Cherrytree Books|date=2008|isbn=978-1-84234-461-3|page=14|access-date=11 October 2021|archive-date=12 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112032648/https://books.google.com/books?id=nXn6qEGYv0QC&q=area+of+kazakhstan+in+europe+sq+km&pg=PA14|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Factbook-Ural">{{Cite book | title=World Factbook | date=29 September 2021 | url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/ | location=Washington, D.C. | publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] | access-date=23 January 2021 | archive-date=9 January 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109132304/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan | url-status=live }} Kazakhstan: Geography</ref>}} It borders [[Russia]] to [[Kazakhstan–Russia border|the north and west]], [[China]] to [[China–Kazakhstan border|the east]], [[Kyrgyzstan]] to [[Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border|the southeast]], [[Uzbekistan]] to [[Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border|the south]], and [[Turkmenistan]] to [[Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan border|the southwest]], with a coastline along the [[Caspian Sea]]. Its capital is [[Astana]], known as Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022. [[Almaty]], Kazakhstan's largest city, was the country's capital until 1997. Kazakhstan is the world's [[List of countries and dependencies by area|ninth-largest country by land area]] and the world's largest landlocked country. It has a population of 19 million people and [[List of countries and dependencies by population density|one of the lowest population densities]] in the world, at fewer than {{convert|6|/km2|/mi2|disp=preunit|people |people}}. Ethnic [[Kazakhs]] constitute a majority of the population, while [[Russians in Kazakhstan|ethnic Russians]] form a significant minority. Officially secular, Kazakhstan is a [[Muslim world|Muslim-majority country]], although ethnic Russians in the country form a sizeable [[Eastern Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan|Christian community]].

The territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic groups and empires. In antiquity, the ancient [[List of ancient Iranian peoples|Iranian]] nomadic [[Scythians]] inhabited the land, and the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian Empire]] expanded towards the southern territory of the modern country. [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] nomads, who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states such as the [[First Turkic Khaganate]] and the [[Second Turkic Khaganate]], have inhabited the country from as early as the 6th century. In the 13th century, the territory was subjugated by the [[Mongol Empire]] under [[Genghis Khan]]. In the 15th century, as a result of disintegration of [[Golden Horde]], the [[Kazakh Khanate]] was established on much of the lands that would later form the territory of modern Kazakhstan.

By the 18th century, Kazakh Khanate disintegrated into three {{lang|kk-latn|[[jüz]]}} which were absorbed and conquered by the [[Russian Empire]]; by the mid-19th century, the Russians nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire and liberated all of the slaves that the Kazakhs had captured in 1859.<ref>{{cite web |last=Galiev |first=Anuar |title=Traditional Institutions in Modern Kazakhstan |url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/97summer/galiev.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904124830/http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/97summer/galiev.html |archive-date=4 September 2019 |access-date=4 December 2011 |publisher=Src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp}}</ref> Following the [[Russian Revolution|1917 Russian Revolution]] and subsequent outbreak of the [[Russian Civil War]], the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganized several times. In 1936, it was established as the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]] within the [[Soviet Union]]. Kazakhstan was the last of the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]] to declare independence during the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] from 1988 to 1991. Human rights organizations have described the [[Government of Kazakhstan|Kazakh government]] as authoritarian, and regularly describe [[Human rights in Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan's human rights situation]] as poor.

The country dominates Central Asia [[Economy of Kazakhstan|economically]] and [[Politics of Kazakhstan|politically]], generating 60 percent of the region's [[Gross domestic product|GDP]], primarily through its [[Oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan|oil and gas industry]]; it also has vast mineral resources.<ref name="time">{{cite news|last=Zarakhovich|first=Yuri|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1539999,00.html|title=Kazakhstan Comes on Strong|magazine=Time|access-date=13 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207235354/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1539999,00.html|archive-date=7 December 2015}}</ref> It is ''de jure'' a democratic, [[Unitary state|unitary]], constitutional republic;<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan/Qazaqstan Constitution |url=http://www.parlam.kz/en/constitution |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202170929/http://www.parlam.kz/en/constitution |archive-date=2 December 2016 |access-date=27 December 2016 |website=[[Parliament of Kazakhstan]]}}</ref> however, it is ''de facto'' an [[authoritarian regime]]<ref name="index2010"/><ref name="index2022"/> with no free elections.<ref name="kaz2"/> Nevertheless, since Nazarbayev's resignation there have been incremental efforts at democratization and political reform, such as imposing a presidential [[term limit]], decentralization, transferring more powers to Parliament, greater representational government, and the complete abolition of the [[capital punishment in Kazakhstan|death penalty]].

Kazakhstan has the highest [[List of countries by Human Development Index|Human Development Index]] ranking in the region. Kazakhstan is a member state of the [[United Nations]], [[World Trade Organization]], [[Commonwealth of Independent States]], [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]], [[Eurasian Economic Union]], [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]], [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]], [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation|Organization of Islamic Cooperation]], [[Organization of Turkic States]], and [[International Organization of Turkic Culture]].

== Etymology ==
The English word ''Kazakh'', meaning a member of the Kazakh people, derives from {{Lang-ru|казах}}.<ref>{{Cite OED|term=Kazakh}}</ref> The native name is {{Lang-kk|қазақ|translit=qazaq}}. It might originate from the Turkic word verb ''qaz-'', 'to wander', reflecting the Kazakhs' [[Eurasian nomads|nomadic]] culture.<ref name=etym>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cossack (n.) |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=Cossack&allowed_in_frame=0 |dictionary=The Online Etymology Dictionary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002024126/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Cossack&allowed_in_frame=0 |archive-date=2 October 2015 }}</ref> The term '[[Cossacks|Cossack]]' is of the same origin.<ref name=etym /> The [[Persian language|Persian]] suffix {{lang|fa-Latn|[[-stan]]}} means "land" or "place of", so ''Kazakhstan'' ({{Lang-kk|Қазақстан|translit=Qazaqstan}}) can be literally translated as "land of the wanderers".

In [[Turko-Persian]] sources, the term ''Özbek-Qazaq'' first appeared during the middle of the 16th century, in the ''Tarikh-i-Rashidi'' by [[Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat]], a [[Chagatai Khan|Chagatayid]] prince of [[Kashmir]]. In this manuscript, the author locates Kazakh in the eastern part of ''[[Desht-i Qipchaq]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Qazaq Khanate as Documented in Ming Dynasty Sources|author=Kenzheakhmet Nurlan|page=133|year=2013}}</ref> According to [[Vasily Bartold]], the Kazakhs likely began using that name during the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book|first=V. V.|last=Barthold|title=Four Studies on the History of Central Asia|translator=V. & T. Minorsky|location=Leiden|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|volume= 3|pages=129}}</ref>

Though ''Kazakh'' traditionally referred only to [[Kazakhs|ethnic Kazakhs]], including those living in China, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other neighbouring countries, the term is increasingly being used to refer to any inhabitant of Kazakhstan, including residents of other ethnicities.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Surucu |first=Cengiz |s2cid=145155985 |title=Modernity, Nationalism, Resistance: Identity Politics in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan |journal=[[Central Asian Survey]] |year= 2002 |pages=385–402 |doi=10.1080/0263493032000053208 |volume=21 |issue=4}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of Kazakhstan}}
{{More citations needed|section}}
[[File:Scythia-Parthia 100 BC.png|thumb|Approximate extent of [[Scythia]] in the 1st century BC]]

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the [[Paleolithic]] era.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZHmpRGYtTEC&q=kazakhstan+paleolithic&pg=PA91|title=Early Paleolithic in South and East Asia|last=Ikawa-Smith|first=Fumiko|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-081003-5|page=91|language=en|access-date=14 November 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417174608/https://books.google.com/books?id=yZHmpRGYtTEC&q=kazakhstan+paleolithic&pg=PA91|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Botai culture]] (3700–3100 BC) is credited with the first domestication of horses. The Botai population derived most of their ancestry from a deeply European-related population known as [[Ancient North Eurasian]]s, while also displaying some [[Genetic history of East Asians|Ancient East Asian]] admixture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jeong |first1=Choongwon |last2=Balanovsky |first2=Oleg |last3=Lukianova |first3=Elena |last4=Kahbatkyzy |first4=Nurzhibek |last5=Flegontov |first5=Pavel |last6=Zaporozhchenko |first6=Valery |last7=Immel |first7=Alexander |last8=Wang |first8=Chuan-Chao |last9=Ixan |first9=Olzhas |last10=Khussainova |first10=Elmira |last11=Bekmanov |first11=Bakhytzhan |title=The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=3 |issue=6 |pages=966–976 |doi=10.1038/s41559-019-0878-2 |issn=2397-334X |pmc=6542712 |pmid=31036896 }}</ref> [[Pastoralism]] developed during the [[Neolithic]], as the region's climate and terrain are best suited to a nomadic lifestyle. The population was [[Caucasian race|Caucasoid]] during the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and [[Iron Age]] period.<ref>{{Cite journal
|last=Ismagulov |first=O
| year = 2010
| title = Physical Anthropology of Kazakh People and their Genesis
| journal = Science of Central Asia
| url = http://www.scientificfund.kz/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=4&Itemid=28
|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/nomadic-herders-left-strong-genetic-mark-europeans-and-asians|first=Ann|last=Gibbons|title=Nomadic herders left a strong genetic mark on Europeans and Asians|journal=Science|publisher=AAAS}}
</ref>

The Kazakh territory was a key constituent of the Eurasian trading [[Steppe Route]], the ancestor of the terrestrial [[Silk Road UNESCO World Heritage Sites|Silk Roads]]. Archaeologists believe that humans first [[domestication of the horse|domesticated the horse]] (i.e., ponies) in the region's vast steppes. During recent prehistoric times, Central Asia was inhabited by groups such as the possibly Indo-European [[Afanasievo culture]],<ref>According to Allentoft et al. (2015) and Haak et al. (2015),</ref> later early Indo-Iranian cultures such as [[Andronovo culture|Andronovo]],<ref name="Beckwith49">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=49}}: "Archaeologists are now generally agreed that the Andronovo culture of the Central Steppe region in the second millennium BC is to be equated with the Indo-Iranians."</ref> and later Indo-Iranians such as the [[Saka]] and [[Massagetae]].<ref name="B_68">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=68}} "Modern scholars have mostly used the name Saka to refer to Iranians of the Eastern Steppe and Tarim Basin"</ref><ref name="D_37">{{harvnb|Dandamayev|1994|p=37}} "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan to distinguish them from the related Massagetae of the Aral region and the Scythians of the Pontic steppes. These tribes spoke Iranian languages, and their chief occupation was nomadic pastoralism."</ref> Other groups included the nomadic [[Scythians]] and the Persian [[Achaemenid Empire]] in the southern territory of the modern country. The Andronovo and [[Srubnaya culture]]s, precursors to the peoples of the [[Scythian cultures]], were found to harbor mixed ancestry from the [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] [[Western Steppe Herders|Steppe herders]] and peoples of the Central European Middle Neolithic.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Narasimhan|first1=Vagheesh M.|title=The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]|volume=365|issue=6457|pages= eaat7487|biorxiv=10.1101/292581|doi=10.1126/science.aat7487|pmc= 6822619|pmid= 31488661}}</ref>

In 329 BC, [[Alexander the Great]] and his [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonian]] army fought in the [[Battle of Jaxartes]] against the [[Scythians]] along the Jaxartes River, now known as the [[Syr Darya]] along the southern border of modern Kazakhstan.

=== Cuman-Kipchak and Golden Horde ===
{{main|Cumania|Golden Horde|Turco-Mongol tradition}}
[[File:Cumania (1200) eng.png|thumb|right|[[Cumania|Cuman–Kipchak confederation]] in Eurasia circa 1200. The Kazakhs are descendants of [[Kipchaks]], [[Nogai Horde|Nogais]] and other Turkic and medieval Mongol tribes.]]

The main [[Turkic migration|migration]] of [[Turkic peoples]] occurred between the 5th and 11th centuries when they spread across most of Central Asia. The Turkic peoples slowly replaced and assimilated the previous [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]-speaking locals, turning the population of Central Asia from largely [[Indo-Iranians|Iranian]], into primarily of East Asian descent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Damgaard |first1=Peter de Barros |last2=Marchi |first2=Nina |last3=Rasmussen |first3=Simon |last4=Peyrot |first4=Michaël |last5=Renaud |first5=Gabriel |last6=Korneliussen |first6=Thorfinn |last7=Moreno-Mayar |first7=J. Víctor |last8=Pedersen |first8=Mikkel Winther |last9=Goldberg |first9=Amy |last10=Usmanova |first10=Emma |last11=Baimukhanov |first11=Nurbol |title=137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |language=en |volume=557 |issue=7705 |pages=369–374 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2 |pmid=29743675 |bibcode=2018Natur.557..369D |hdl=1887/3202709 |s2cid=13670282 |issn=1476-4687 |quote=The wide distribution of the Turkic languages from Northwest China, Mongolia and Siberia in the east to Turkey and Bulgaria in the west implies large-scale migrations out of the homeland in Mongolia.|hdl-access=free }} The quotation is from pp. 4–5.</ref>

The [[first Turkic Khaganate]] was founded by [[Bumin Qaghan|Bumin]] in 552 on the Mongolian Plateau and quickly spread west toward the Caspian Sea. The [[Göktürks]] drove before them various peoples: [[Xionites]], [[Uar (tribe)|Uar]], [[Onogurs|Oghur]]s and others. These seem to have merged into the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] and [[Old Great Bulgaria|Bulgars]]. Within 35 years the [[Eastern Turkic Khaganate|eastern half]] and the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]] were independent. The Western Khaganate reached its peak in the early 7th century.

The [[Cuman people|Cumans]] entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the [[Kipchak people|Kipchak]] and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. While ancient cities [[Taraz]] (Aulie-Ata) and [[Hazrat-e Turkestan]] had long served as important way-stations along the [[Silk Road]] connecting Asia and Europe, true political consolidation began only with the Mongol rule of the early 13th century. Under the [[Mongol Empire]], the first strictly structured administrative districts (Ulus) were established. After the [[division of the Mongol Empire]] in 1259, the land that would become modern-day Kazakhstan was ruled by the [[Golden Horde]], also known as the Ulus of Jochi. During the Golden Horde period, a [[Turco-Mongol tradition]] emerged among the ruling elite wherein [[Turkification|Turkicised]] descendants of [[Genghis Khan]] followed [[Islam]] and continued to reign over the lands.

=== Kazakh Khanate ===
{{Main|Kazakh Khanate}}

In 1465, the [[Kazakh Khanate]] emerged as a result of the dissolution of the [[Golden Horde]]. Established by [[Janibek Khan]] and [[Kerei Khan]], it continued to be ruled by the [[Turco-Mongol tradition|Turco-Mongol]] clan of Tore ([[Jochi]]d dynasty). Throughout this period, traditional [[nomad]]ic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the [[steppe]]. In the 15th century, a distinct [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] identity began to emerge among the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribes. This was followed by the [[Kazakh War of Independence]], where the Khanate gained its sovereignty from the [[Shaybanids]]. The process was consolidated by the mid-16th century with the appearance of the Kazakh [[Kazakh language|language]], culture, and economy.

[[File:Жуз.svg|thumb|250px|Approximate areas occupied by the three Kazakh jüz in the early 20th century
{|
|{{legend|#ccff99|[[Junior Juz]]}}
|{{legend|#fdd99b|[[Middle Juz]]}}
|{{legend|#ffaaaa|[[Great Juz]]}}
|}]]

Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh [[emir]]s and the neighbouring [[Persian language|Persian-speaking peoples]] to the south. At its height, the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control [[Cumania]]. The Kazakh Khanate's territories would expand deep into Central Asia. By the early 17th century, the Kazakh Khanate was struggling with the impact of tribal rivalries, which had effectively divided the population into the Great, Middle and Little (or Small) hordes (''[[jüz]]''). Political disunion, tribal rivalries, and the diminishing importance of overland trade routes between east and west weakened the Kazakh Khanate. The [[Khiva Khanate]] used this opportunity and annexed the [[Mangyshlak Peninsula]]. Uzbek rule there lasted two centuries until the Russian arrival.

During the 17th century, the Kazakhs fought the [[Oirats]], a federation of western [[Mongols|Mongol]] tribes, including the [[Dzungar people|Dzungar]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan/Cultural-life#toc73648 |title=Kazakhstan to c. AD 1700 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811050147/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan/Cultural-life#toc73648 |archive-date=11 August 2015}}</ref> The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. During this period the Little Horde participated in the 1723–1730 [[Kazakh-Dzungar Wars|war against the Dzungar Khanate]], following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territory. Under the leadership of [[Abul Khair Khan]], the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungar at the Bulanty River in 1726 and at the [[Battle of Añyraqai]] in 1729.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/2282291?zid=306&ah=1b164dbd43b0cb27ba0d4c3b12a5e227 |title=Country Briefings: Kazakhstan |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208113054/http://www.economist.com/node/2282291?zid=306&ah=1b164dbd43b0cb27ba0d4c3b12a5e227 |archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

[[Ablai Khan]] participated in the most significant battles against the Dzungar from the 1720s to the 1750s, for which he was declared a "''batyr''" ("hero") by the people. The Kazakhs suffered from the frequent raids against them by the Volga [[Kalmyks]]. The [[Kokand Khanate]] used the weakness of Kazakh jüzs after Dzungar and Kalmyk raids and conquered present Southeastern Kazakhstan, including [[Almaty]], the formal capital in the first quarter of the 19th century. Also, the [[Emirate of Bukhara]] ruled [[Shymkent]] before the Russians gained dominance.<ref>{{Cite web|last=January 2018|first=Assel Satubaldina in Tourism on 17|title=Shymkent – the city of medieval culture and vibrant modern lifestyle|url=https://astanatimes.com/2018/01/shymkent-the-city-of-medieval-culture-and-vibrant-modern-lifestyle/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=The Astana Times|language=en|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107122740/https://astanatimes.com/2018/01/shymkent-the-city-of-medieval-culture-and-vibrant-modern-lifestyle/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Russian Kazakhstan ===
[[File:Battle Cossacks with Kyrgyz 1826.JPG|thumb|[[Ural Cossacks]] skirmish with Kazakhs]]
[[File:Карта_Киргизского_края.jpg|thumb|Map of the Kazakh Territory in 1903]]
[[File:Kazakhs 19th Century 4.jpg|thumb|Kazakh woman in wedding clothes, 19th century]]

In the first half of the 18th century, the [[Russian Empire]] constructed the Irtysh line, a series of forty-six forts and ninety-six redoubts, including [[Omsk]] (1716), [[Semey|Semipalatinsk]] (1718), [[Pavlodar]] (1720), [[Orenburg]] (1743) and [[Petropavl]]ovsk (1752),<ref>"''Russian Colonization and the Genesis of Kazak National Consciousness''". S. Sabol (2003). Springer. p.27 {{ISBN|0230599427}}</ref> to prevent Kazakh and Oirat raids into Russian territory.<ref>"''Central Asia, 130 Years of Russian Dominance: A Historical Overview''". Edward A. Allworth, Edward Allworth (1994). Duke University Press. p. 10. {{ISBN|0822315211}}</ref> In the late 18th century the Kazakhs took advantage of [[Pugachev's Rebellion]], which was centred on the Volga area, to raid Russian and [[Volga Germans|Volga German]] settlements.{{citation needed}} In the 19th century, the [[Russian Empire]] began to expand its influence into Central Asia. The "[[Great Game]]" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the [[Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907]]. The [[tsar]]s effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Russian Empire introduced a system of administration and built military garrisons and barracks in its effort to establish a presence in Central Asia in the so-called "Great Game" for dominance in the area against the [[British Empire]], which was extending its influence from the south in India and Southeast Asia. Russia built its first outpost, [[Orsk]], in 1735. Russia introduced the Russian language in all schools and governmental organisations.

Russia's efforts to impose its system aroused the resentment of the [[Kazakhs|Kazakh people]], and, by the 1860s, some Kazakhs resisted its rule. Russia had disrupted the traditional nomadic lifestyle and livestock-based economy, and people were suffering from hunger and starvation, with some Kazakh tribes being decimated. The Kazakh national movement, which began in the late 19th century, sought to preserve the native language and identity by resisting the attempts of the Russian Empire to assimilate and stifle Kazakh culture.

From the 1890s onward, ever-larger numbers of settlers from the Russian Empire began [[Colonization|colonizing]] the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, in particular, the province of [[Semirechye]]. The number of settlers rose still further once the [[Trans-Aral Railway]] from [[Orenburg]] to [[Tashkent]] was completed in 1906. A specially created Migration Department (Переселенческое Управление) in [[St. Petersburg]] oversaw and encouraged the migration to expand Russian influence in the area. During the 19th century, about 400,000 Russians immigrated to Kazakhstan, and about one million Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan |title=Kazakhstan |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=9 September 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617101159/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan |archive-date=17 June 2015}}</ref> [[Vasile Balabanov]] was the administrator responsible for the resettlement during much of this time.

The competition for land and water that ensued between the Kazakhs and the newcomers caused great resentment against colonial rule during the final years of the [[Russian Empire]]. The most serious uprising, the [[Central Asian revolt of 1916|Central Asian revolt]], occurred in 1916. The Kazakhs attacked Russian and [[Cossacks|Cossack]] settlers and military garrisons. The revolt resulted in a series of clashes and in brutal massacres committed by both sides.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566451_8/Kazakhstan.html|title=Kazakhstan|encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia|archive-date=15 April 2005|access-date=29 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050415185833/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566451_8/Kazakhstan.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Both sides resisted the communist government until late 1919.

=== Kazakh SSR ===
{{Main|Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic}}
[[File:Stanitsa Sofiiskaya.jpg|thumb|Stanitsa Sofiiskaya, [[Talgar]], 1920s]]
[[File:Young Pioneers in Kazakh SSR.jpg|thumb|[[Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union|Young Pioneers]] at a Young Pioneer camp in the Kazakh SSR]]

Following the [[October Revolution|collapse of central government]] in [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] in November 1917, the Kazakhs (then in Russia officially referred to as "Kirghiz") experienced a brief period of [[Autonomous entity|autonomy]] (the [[Alash Autonomy]]) before eventually succumbing to the [[Bolshevik]]s′ rule. On 26 August 1920, the [[Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (1920–25)|Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic]] within the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR) was established. The Kirghiz ASSR included the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, but its administrative centre was the mainly Russian-populated town of [[Orenburg]]. In June 1925, the Kirghiz ASSR was renamed the [[Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazak ASSR]] and its administrative centre was transferred to the town of [[Kyzylorda]], and in April 1927 to [[Almaty|Alma-Ata]].

Soviet repression of the traditional elite, along with forced [[collectivisation]] in the late 1920s and 1930s, brought [[famine]] and high fatalities, leading to unrest (see also: [[Famine in Kazakhstan of 1932–33]]).<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://zhe.stanford.edu/spring05/Kazakhstan2.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060903203830/http://zhe.stanford.edu/spring05/Kazakhstan2.pdf|archive-date= 3 September 2006|title= The Kazakh Catastrophe and Stalin's Order of Priorities, 1929–1933: Evidence from the Soviet Secret Archives|author= Simon Ertz|journal= Stanford's Student Journal of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies|volume= 1|pages= 1–12|access-date= 1 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author= Pianciola, Niccolò |url= http://monderusse.revues.org/2623?file=1 |title= Famine in the Steppe. The collectivization of agriculture and the Kazak herdsmen, 1928–1934 |journal= Cahiers du monde russe |year= 2004 |volume= 45 |pages= 137–192 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151023090501/http://monderusse.revues.org/2623?file=1 |archive-date= 23 October 2015 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> During the 1930s, some members of the Kazakh intelligentsia were executed – as part of the [[Political repression in the Soviet Union|policies of political reprisals]] pursued by the Soviet government in Moscow.

On 5 December 1936, the [[Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] (whose territory by then corresponded to that of modern Kazakhstan) was detached from the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR) and made the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]], a full [[Republics of the Soviet Union|union republic]] of the USSR, one of eleven such republics at the time, along with the [[Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic]].

The republic was one of the destinations for exiled and convicted persons, as well as for mass resettlements, or deportations affected by the central USSR authorities during the 1930s and 1940s, such as approximately 400,000 [[Volga Germans]] deported from the [[Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] in September–October 1941, and then later the [[Greeks in Kazakhstan|Greeks]] and [[Deportation of the Crimean Tatars|Crimean Tatars]]. Deportees and prisoners were interned in some of the biggest [[Gulag|Soviet labour camps]] (the Gulag), including [[Akmol|ALZhIR]] camp outside Astana, which was reserved for the wives of men considered "enemies of the people".<ref>[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/01/01/2003342918 Children of the gulag live with amnesia]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223853/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/01/01/2003342918 }}, ''Taipei Times'', 1 January 2007</ref> Many moved due to the policy of [[population transfer in the Soviet Union]] and others were forced into [[involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union]].

[[File:International conference on Primary Health Care - Conferencia Internacional sobre Atención Primaria de Salud - Almaty -1978.jpg|thumb|The International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978, known as the [[Alma Ata Declaration|Alma-Ata Declaration]]]]

The [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Soviet-German War]] (1941–1945) led to an increase in industrialisation and [[mineral extraction]] in support of the war effort. At the time of [[Joseph Stalin]]'s death in 1953, however, Kazakhstan still had an overwhelmingly agricultural economy. In 1953, Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] initiated the [[Virgin Lands Campaign]] designed to turn the traditional pasturelands of Kazakhstan into a major grain-producing region for the Soviet Union. The Virgin Lands policy brought mixed results. However, along with later modernisations under Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] (in power 1964–1982), it accelerated the development of the agricultural sector, which remains the source of livelihood for a large percentage of Kazakhstan's population. Because of the decades of privation, war and resettlement, by 1959 the [[Kazakhs]] had become a minority in the country, making up 30 percent of the population. Ethnic [[Russians]] accounted for 43 percent.<ref>Flynn, Moya (1994). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=YLeAxHLmgR8C&pg=PA15 Migrant Resettlement in the Russian Federation: Reconstructing 'Homes' and 'Homelands'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905163322/https://books.google.com/books?id=YLeAxHLmgR8C&pg=PA15 }}''. Anthem Press. p. 15. {{ISBN|1-84331-117-8}}</ref>

In 1947, the USSR government, as part of its [[Soviet atomic bomb project|atomic bomb project]], founded an [[Semipalatinsk Test Site|atomic bomb test site]] near the north-eastern town of [[Semey|Semipalatinsk]], where the [[RDS-1|first Soviet nuclear bomb]] test was conducted in 1949. Hundreds of nuclear tests were conducted until 1989 with adverse consequences for the nation's environment and population.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/kazakhstans-painful-nuclear-past-looms-large-over-its-energy-future/275795/|title=Kazakhstan's Painful Nuclear Past Looms Large Over Its Energy Future|last=Keenan|first=Jillian|newspaper=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=27 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202233241/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/kazakhstans-painful-nuclear-past-looms-large-over-its-energy-future/275795/|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> The [[Anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan]] became a major political force in the late 1980s.

In December 1986, mass demonstrations by young ethnic Kazakhs, later called the [[Jeltoqsan]] riot, took place in Almaty to protest the replacement of the [[General Secretary|First Secretary]] of the [[Communist Party of Kazakhstan|Communist Party]] of the Kazakh SSR [[Dinmukhamed Konayev]] with [[Gennady Kolbin]] from the [[Russian SFSR]]. Governmental troops suppressed the unrest, several people were killed, and many demonstrators were jailed.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Putz|first=Catherine|title=1986: Kazakhstan's Other Independence Anniversary|url=https://thediplomat.com/2016/12/1986-kazakhstans-other-independence-anniversary/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=thediplomat.com|language=en-US|archive-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328214923/https://thediplomat.com/2016/12/1986-kazakhstans-other-independence-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the waning days of Soviet rule, discontent continued to grow and found expression under Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s policy of ''[[glasnost]]'' ("openness").

{{anchor|Independence}}

=== Independence ===

On 25 October 1990, Kazakhstan declared its [[sovereignty]] on its territory as a republic within the Soviet Union. Following the August 1991 aborted [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup attempt]] in Moscow, Kazakhstan declared [[Kazakhstani Independence Day|independence]] on 16 December 1991, thus becoming the last Soviet republic to declare independence. Ten days later, the Soviet Union itself [[dissolution of the Soviet Union|ceased to exist]].

Kazakhstan's communist-era leader, [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]], became the country's first President. Nazarbayev ruled in an authoritarian manner. An emphasis was placed on converting the country's economy to a market economy while political reforms lagged behind economic advances. By 2006, Kazakhstan was generating 60 percent of the GDP of Central Asia, primarily through its oil industry.<ref name="time" />

In 1997, the government moved the capital to [[Astana]], renamed Nur-Sultan on 23 March 2019,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Nursultan: Kazakhstan renames capital Astana after ex-president|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47638619|access-date=2021-01-05|archive-date=25 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225212541/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47638619|url-status=live}}</ref> from [[Almaty]], Kazakhstan's largest city, where it had been established under the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Capital change: A look at some countries that have moved their capitals – Nigeria: Lagos to Abuja|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/capital-change-a-look-at-some-countries-that-have-moved-their-capitals/kazakhstan-almaty-to-nur-sultan/slideshow/69183884.cms|access-date=2021-01-05|website=The Economic Times|archive-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420174234/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/capital-change-a-look-at-some-countries-that-have-moved-their-capitals/kazakhstan-almaty-to-nur-sultan/slideshow/69183884.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2019, Nazarbayev resigned 29 years after taking office. However, he continued to lead the influential security council and held the formal title Leader of the Nation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakh leader Nazarbayev resigns after three decades |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47628854 |work=BBC News }}</ref> [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]] succeeded Nazarbayev as the [[President of Kazakhstan]]. His first official act was to rename the capital after his predecessor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan renames capital as new president takes office |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190320-kazakhstan-capital-new-president-astana-nursultan |work=France 24 |language=en}}</ref> In June 2019, the new president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, won Kazakhstan's presidential [[2019 Kazakh presidential election|election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Nazarbayev protégé wins Kazakhstan elections marred by protests |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190610-kazakhstan-presidential-election-tokayev-nazarbayev-protesters-arrested |work=France 24 |language=en}}</ref>

In January 2022, the country plunged into [[2022 Kazakhstan unrest|political unrest]] following a spike in fuel prices.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kazakhstan protests: government resigns amid rare outbreak of unrest.|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/04/kazakhstan-president-declares-state-of-emergency-in-protest-hit-areas|access-date=2022-01-05|website=the Guardian|language=en|archive-date=5 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105122522/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/04/kazakhstan-president-declares-state-of-emergency-in-protest-hit-areas|url-status=live}}</ref> In consequence, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over as head of the powerful Security Council, removing his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev from the post.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev handed over security council job on his own will: Spokesman |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/kazakhstan-s-nazarbayev-handed-over-security-council-job-on-his-own-will-spokesman/2469352 |work=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref> In September 2022, the name of the country's capital was changed back to Astana from Nur-Sultan.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan to change name of capital from Nur-sultan back to Astana |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/14/kazakhstan-to-change-name-of-capital-from-nur-sultan-back-to-astana |work=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of Kazakhstan|List of cities in Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Kazakhstan BMNG.jpg|thumb|right|Satellite image of Kazakhstan (November 2004)]]

As it extends across both sides of the [[Ural River]], considered the dividing line separating Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan is one of only two [[Landlocked country|landlocked countries]] in the world that [[transcontinental countries|has territory in two continents]] (the other is [[Azerbaijan]]).

With an area of {{convert|2700000|km2}}{{spaced ndash}}equivalent in size to Western Europe{{spaced ndash}}Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country and largest landlocked country in the world. While it was part of the [[Russian Empire]], Kazakhstan lost some of its territory to China's [[Xinjiang]] province,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1SpCwAAQBAJ&q=kazakhstan+lost+some+of+its+territory+to+russia+and+china&pg=PT85|title=Xinjiang – China's Northwest Frontier|last=Warikoo|first=K.|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-29028-5|language=en|access-date=14 November 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417184150/https://books.google.com/books?id=i1SpCwAAQBAJ&q=kazakhstan+lost+some+of+its+territory+to+russia+and+china&pg=PT85|url-status=live}}</ref> and some to Uzbekistan's [[Karakalpakstan]] autonomous republic during Soviet years.

[[File:Eurasian steppe belt.jpg|thumb|The [[Kazakh Steppe]] is part of the [[Eurasian Steppe]] Belt (in {{Colorsample|#AAEEFF}} on the map).]]

It shares borders of {{convert|6846|km}} with Russia, {{convert|2203|km}} with [[Uzbekistan]], {{convert|1533|km}} with China, {{convert|1051|km}} with [[Kyrgyzstan]], and {{convert|379|km}} with [[Turkmenistan]]. Major cities include [[Astana]], [[Almaty]], [[Karagandy]], [[Shymkent]], [[Atyrau]], and [[Oskemen]]. It lies between latitudes [[40th parallel north|40°]] and [[56th parallel north|56° N]], and longitudes [[46th meridian east|46°]] and [[88th meridian east|88° E]]. While located primarily in Asia, a small portion of Kazakhstan is also located west of the [[Urals]] in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Kazakhstan – MSN Encarta |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761566451 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601203047/http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761566451 |archive-date= 1 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's terrain extends west to east from the [[Caspian Sea]] to the [[Altay Mountains]] and north to south from the plains of [[Siberia|Western Siberia]] to the oases and deserts of Central Asia. The [[Kazakh Steppe]] (plain), with an area of around {{convert|804500|km2}}, occupies one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry [[steppe]] region. The steppe is characterised by large areas of [[grassland]]s and sandy regions. Major seas, lakes and rivers include [[Lake Balkhash]], [[Lake Zaysan]], the [[Charyn Canyon|Charyn River and gorge]], the [[Ili River|Ili]], [[Irtysh River|Irtysh]], [[Ishim River|Ishim]], [[Ural River|Ural]] and [[Syr Darya]] rivers, and the [[Aral Sea]] until it largely dried up in one of the world's worst environmental disasters.<ref>{{cite news|author=Daily Telegraph|title=Aral Sea 'one of the planet's worst environmental disasters'| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7554679/Aral-Sea-one-of-the-planets-worst-environmental-disasters.html|access-date=1 May 2010| location=London|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408214552/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7554679/Aral-Sea-one-of-the-planets-worst-environmental-disasters.html|archive-date=8 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Charyn Canyon]] is {{convert|80|km}} long, cutting through a red [[sandstone]] plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern [[Tian Shan]] ("Heavenly Mountains", {{convert|200|km|0|abbr=on}} east of Almaty) at {{coord|43|21|1.16|N|79|4|49.28|E}}. The steep canyon slopes, columns and arches rise to heights of between {{convert|150|and|300|m|ft|abbr=off}}. The inaccessibility of the canyon provided a safe haven for a rare [[ash tree]], ''Fraxinus sogdiana'', which survived the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] there and has now also grown in some other areas.{{citation needed}} [[Bigach crater]], at {{coord|48|30|N|82|00|E}}, is a [[Pliocene]] or [[Miocene]] [[asteroid]] [[impact crater]], {{convert|8|km|0|abbr=on}} in diameter and estimated to be 5±3 million years old.

Kazakhstan's [[Almaty]] region is also home to the [[Mynzhylky mountain plateau]].

=== Natural resources ===
{{See also|Energy policy of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Reserve Karkaraly.jpg|thumb|[[Karaganda Region]]]]

Kazakhstan has an abundant supply of accessible mineral and fossil fuel resources. Development of petroleum, natural gas, and mineral extractions has attracted most of the over $40 billion in foreign investment in Kazakhstan since 1993 and accounts for some 57 percent of the nation's industrial output (or approximately 13 percent of gross domestic product). According to some estimates,<ref name="Homestead">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070507024507/http://www.homestead.com/prosites-kazakhembus/MineralWealth.html Mineral Wealth]. homestead.com</ref> Kazakhstan has the second largest [[uranium]], [[chromium]], lead, and [[zinc]] reserves; the third largest [[manganese]] reserves; the fifth largest copper reserves; and ranks in the top ten for coal, iron, and gold. It is also an exporter of diamonds. Perhaps most significant for economic development, Kazakhstan also has the 11th largest proven reserves of both petroleum and natural gas.<ref>International Crisis Group. (May 2007). [http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/central-asia/133-central-asias-energy-risks.aspx Central Asia's Energy Risks, Asia Report No. 133] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225435/http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/central-asia/133-central-asias-energy-risks.aspx }}</ref> One such location is the [[Tokarevskoye gas condensate field]].

In total, there are 160 deposits with over {{convert|2.7|e9t|e9lt|abbr=off}} of petroleum. Oil explorations have shown that the deposits on the [[Caspian sea|Caspian shore]] are only a small part of a much larger deposit. It is said that {{convert|3.5|e9t|e9lt|abbr=off}} of oil and {{convert|2.5|e9m3|e9cuft|abbr=off}} of gas could be found in that area. Overall the estimate of Kazakhstan's oil deposits is {{convert|6.1|e9t|e9lt|abbr=off}}. However, there are only three [[Oil refinery|refineries]] within the country, situated in [[Atirau|Atyrau]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kazworld.info/?p=58130|title=Company Overview of Atyrau Refinery LLP – KazWorld.info|work=kazworld.info|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026232217/http://kazworld.info/?p=58130|archive-date=26 October 2016}}</ref> [[Pavlodar]], and [[Shymkent]]. These are not capable of processing the total crude output, so much of it is exported to Russia. According to the US [[Energy Information Administration]], Kazakhstan was producing approximately {{convert|1540000|oilbbl}} of oil per day in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/cfapps/STEO_Query/steotables.cfm?periodType=Annual&startYear=2005&startMonth=1&endYear=2009&endMonth=12&tableNumber=29 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090409081928/http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/cfapps/STEO_Query/steotables.cfm?periodType=Annual&startYear=2005&startMonth=1&endYear=2009&endMonth=12&tableNumber=29 |archive-date= 9 April 2009 |title=Table 3b. Non-OPEC Petroleum Supply |work=U.S. Energy Information Administration. Independent Statistics and Analysis. |publisher=Tonto.eia.doe.gov |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Kazakhstan also possesses large deposits of [[phosphorite]]. Two of the largest deposits include the Karatau basin with 650 million tonnes of P2O5 and the Chilisai deposit of the [[:ru:Актобинский фосфоритоносный бассейн|Aqtobe phosphorite basin]] located in northwestern Kazakhstan, with resources of 500–800{{nbsp}}million tonnes of 9 percent ore.<ref>[http://www.sunkarresources.com/en/news/chilisai_Phosphate_Project_ore_reserve_update/ Chilisai Phosphate Project Ore Reserve Update] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402211127/http://www.sunkarresources.com/en/news/chilisai_phosphate_project_ore_reserve_update }} // SUNKAR RESOURCES PLC</ref><ref>[http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/1997/9422097.pdf#page=7 THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF KAZAKHSTAN—1997] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303091425/http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/1997/9422097.pdf }} // USGS: Phosphate Rock – Reserves</ref>

On 17 October 2013, the [[Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative]] (EITI) accepted Kazakhstan as "EITI Compliant", meaning that the country has a basic and functional process to ensure the regular disclosure of natural resource revenues.<ref>[http://eiti.org/news/kazakhstan-accepted-eiti-compliant Kazakhstan accepted as 'EITI Compliant'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101051159/https://eiti.org/news/kazakhstan-accepted-eiti-compliant }}. EITI (17 October 2013). Retrieved 8 March 2014.</ref>

=== Climate ===
[[File:Kazakhstan map of Köppen climate classification.svg|thumb|Kazakhstan map of Köppen climate classification]]

Kazakhstan has an "extreme" [[continental climate]], with hot summers and very cold winters. Indeed, Astana is the second coldest capital city in the world after [[Ulaanbaatar]]. [[Precipitation (meteorology)|Precipitation]] varies between arid and semi-arid conditions, the winter being particularly dry.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Coldest Capital Cities In The World|url=http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-coldest-capital-cities-in-the-world.html|website=WorldAtlas.com|access-date=15 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108040732/http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-coldest-capital-cities-in-the-world.html|archive-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto;"
|+Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for large cities in Kazakhstan<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/city.php3?c=KZ&name=Kazakhstan|title=Kazakhstan climate information|publisher=Weatherbase|access-date=4 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102193331/http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/city.php3?c=KZ&name=Kazakhstan|archive-date=2 January 2016}}</ref>
|-
!Location
!July (°C)
!July (°F)
!January (°C)
!January (°F)
|-
|[[Almaty]] || 30/18 || 86/64 || 0/−8 || 33/17
|-
|[[Shymkent]] || 32/17 || 91/66 || 4/−4 || 39/23
|-
|[[Karaganda]] || 27/14 || 80/57 || −8/−17 || 16/1
|-
|[[Astana]]|| 27/15 || 80/59 || −10/−18 || 14/−1
|-
|[[Pavlodar]] || 28/15 || 82/59 || −11/−20 || 12/−5
|-
|[[Aktobe]] || 30/15 || 86/61 || −8/−16 || 17/2
|}

=== Wildlife ===
{{Main|Wildlife of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Vulpes corsac.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Corsac fox]]]]

There are ten [[List of protected areas of Kazakhstan|nature reserves]] and ten [[List of national parks of Kazakhstan|national parks]] in Kazakhstan that provide safe haven for many rare and endangered plants and animals. Common plants are ''[[Astragalus]]'', ''[[Gagea]]'', ''[[Allium]]'', ''[[Carex]]'' and ''[[Oxytropis]]''; endangered plant species include native wild apple (''[[Malus sieversii]]''), wild grape (''[[Vitis vinifera]]'') and several wild [[tulip]] species (e.g., ''[[Tulipa greigii]]'') and rare onion species ''[[Allium karataviense]]'', also ''[[Iris willmottiana]]'' and ''[[Tulipa kaufmanniana]]''.<ref>A.F. Kovshar (Ed.): ''Monitoring biologicheskogo raznoobraziya Zapovednika Aksu-Dzhabagly''. In: ''Tethys Biodiversity Research''. Tom 1, S. 17–21.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Celestial Silk Road 5th–21st June 2016 |url=http://www.viranatura.com/Product_100001_Celestial-Silk-Road-5th-21st-June-2016 |publisher=viranatura.com |access-date=26 May 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305045058/http://www.viranatura.com/Product_100001_Celestial-Silk-Road-5th-21st-June-2016 |archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> Kazakhstan had a 2019 [[Forest Landscape Integrity Index]] mean score of 8.23/10, ranking it 26th globally out of 172 countries.<ref name="FLII-Supplementary">{{cite journal|last1=Grantham|first1=H. S.|last2=Duncan|first2=A.|last3=Evans|first3=T. D.|last4=Jones|first4=K. R.|last5=Beyer|first5=H. L.|last6=Schuster|first6=R.|last7=Walston|first7=J.|last8=Ray|first8=J. C.|last9=Robinson|first9=J. G.|last10=Callow|first10=M.|last11=Clements|first11=T.|last12=Costa|first12=H. M.|last13=DeGemmis|first13=A.|last14=Elsen|first14=P. R.|last15=Ervin|first15=J.|last16=Franco|first16=P.|last17=Goldman|first17=E.|last18=Goetz|first18=S.|last19=Hansen|first19=A.|last20=Hofsvang|first20=E.|last21=Jantz|first21=P.|last22=Jupiter|first22=S.|last23=Kang|first23=A.|last24=Langhammer|first24=P.|last25=Laurance|first25=W. F.|last26=Lieberman|first26=S.|last27=Linkie|first27=M.|last28=Malhi|first28=Y.|last29=Maxwell|first29=S.|last30=Mendez|first30=M.|last31=Mittermeier|first31=R.|last32=Murray|first32=N. J.|last33=Possingham|first33=H.|last34=Radachowsky|first34=J.|last35=Saatchi|first35=S.|last36=Samper|first36=C.|last37=Silverman|first37=J.|last38=Shapiro|first38=A.|last39=Strassburg|first39=B.|last40=Stevens|first40=T.|last41=Stokes|first41=E.|last42=Taylor|first42=R.|last43=Tear|first43=T.|last44=Tizard|first44=R.|last45=Venter|first45=O.|last46=Visconti|first46=P.|last47=Wang|first47=S.|last48=Watson|first48=J. E. M.|title=Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material|journal=Nature Communications|volume=11|issue=1|year=2020|page=5978|issn=2041-1723|doi=10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3|pmid=33293507|pmc=7723057|bibcode=2020NatCo..11.5978G |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Common mammals include the [[wolf]], [[red fox]], [[corsac fox]], [[moose]], [[argali]] (the largest species of sheep), [[Eurasian lynx]], [[Pallas's cat]], and [[snow leopards]], several of which are protected.
Kazakhstan's Red Book of Protected Species lists 125 vertebrates including many birds and mammals, and 404 plants including fungi, algae and lichens.<ref>{{cite web|title=Red Book|url=http://enrin.grida.no/biodiv/biodiv/national/kazakh/nav/species/red.htm|publisher=[[United Nations Environment Programme]] (UNEP)|access-date=8 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205173757/http://enrin.grida.no/biodiv/biodiv/national/kazakh/nav/species/red.htm|archive-date=5 February 2017}}</ref>

== Government and politics ==
{{Main|Government of Kazakhstan|Politics of Kazakhstan}}

=== Political system ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:right; margin-right:9px; margin-left:2px;"
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (2019-11-07) 01.jpg|120px]]
| style="text-align:center;"| [[File:Älihan Smaiylov (2022-01-24) (cropped).jpg|120px]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|[[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]] [[President of Kazakhstan|President]]
| style="text-align:center;"|[[Alihan Smaiylov]] [[Prime Minister of Kazakhstan]]
|}

Officially, Kazakhstan is a democratic, secular, constitutional [[unitary republic]]; [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]] led the country from 1991 to 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/02/07/yes-kazakhstan-should-change-its-name-this-map-shows-why/|title=Yes, Kazakhstan should change its name. This map shows why.|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=11 August 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811145614/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/02/07/yes-kazakhstan-should-change-its-name-this-map-shows-why/|archive-date=11 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47628854|title=Kazakh leader resigns after three decades|access-date=19 March 2019|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425061650/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47628854|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> He was succeeded by [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-03-19/president-of-kazakhstan-nursultan-nazarbayev-resigns|title=Kazakhstan's Leader Nazarbayev Resigns After Three Decades in Power|last=Auyezov|first=Olzhas|website=US News|access-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401081832/https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-03-19/president-of-kazakhstan-nursultan-nazarbayev-resigns|archive-date=1 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="tokayev-wins">{{cite news|title=Nazarbayev ally wins big in Kazakhstan election after hundreds arrested|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/09/hundreds-arrested-as-kazakhs-protest-against-rigged-election|agency=The Guardian|access-date=12 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712033625/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/09/hundreds-arrested-as-kazakhs-protest-against-rigged-election|archive-date=12 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The president may veto legislation that has been passed by the [[Parliament of Kazakhstan|parliament]] and is also the [[commander in chief]] of the [[Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan|armed forces]]. The prime minister chairs the cabinet of ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government. There are three deputy prime ministers and sixteen ministers in the cabinet.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Republic of Kazakhstan {{!}} CIS Legislation|url=https://cis-legislation.com/cis/kazakhstan/index.html|access-date=2021-01-05|website=cis-legislation.com|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109232202/https://cis-legislation.com/cis/kazakhstan/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan has a [[bicameral]] parliament composed of the ''[[Majilis]]'' (the [[lower house]]) and [[Senate of Kazakhstan|senate]] (the [[upper house]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.akorda.kz/en/category/kazakhstan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323103659/http://akorda.kz/en/category/kazakhstan |archive-date=23 March 2013 |title=Official site of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan |publisher=Akorda.kz |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> Single-mandate districts popularly elect 107 seats in the ''Majilis''; there also are ten members elected by party-list vote. The senate has 48 members. Two senators are selected by each of the elected assemblies ([[mäslihat]]s) of Kazakhstan's sixteen principal [[Administrative divisions of Kazakhstan|administrative divisions]] (fourteen regions plus the cities of Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent). The president appoints the remaining fifteen senators. ''Majilis'' deputies and the government both have the right of legislative initiative, though the government proposes most legislation considered by the parliament.

In 2020, [[Freedom House]] rated Kazakhstan as a "consolidated [[authoritarian]] regime", stating that [[freedom of speech]] is not respected and "Kazakhstan’s electoral laws do not provide for [[free and fair election]]s."<ref name="kaz2">{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan: Nations in Transit 2020 Country Report |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/kazakhstan/nations-transit/2020 |website=Freedom House |access-date=30 May 2021 |language=en |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602212641/https://freedomhouse.org/country/kazakhstan/nations-transit/2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Political reforms===
Reforms have begun to be implemented after the election of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in June 2019. Tokayev supports a culture of opposition, public assembly, and loosening rules on forming political parties.<ref name="poleform">{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan to Liberalize Rules on Protests and Political Parties |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-12-20/kazakhstan-to-liberalize-rules-on-protests-and-political-parties |agency=REUTERS |publisher=USNews |access-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224202342/https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-12-20/kazakhstan-to-liberalize-rules-on-protests-and-political-parties |archive-date=24 December 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2019, on the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev the National Council of Public Trust have been established as a platform in which wider society can discuss different views and strengthen the national conversation regarding government policies and reforms.<ref name="Iran Daily">{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan President Tokayev's initiatives on public safety, rule of law, human rights |url=http://www.iran-daily.com/News/263944.html |website=www.iran-daily.com |access-date=8 April 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114194339/http://www.iran-daily.com/News/263944.html |url-status=live }} [[File:CC BY icon.svg|50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016050101/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ }}.</ref> In July 2019, the President of Kazakhstan announced a concept of a ‘listening state’ that quickly and efficiently responds to all constructive requests of the country's citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/long-take/first-glimpses-of-tokayevs-kazakhstan/|title=First glimpses of Tokayev's Kazakhstan: The listening state?|website=Atlantic Council|language=en-US|access-date=7 April 2020|archive-date=20 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920081417/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/long-take/first-glimpses-of-tokayevs-kazakhstan/|url-status=live}}</ref> A law will be passed to allow representatives from other parties to hold chair positions on some Parliamentary committees, to foster alternative views and opinions.{{when}} The minimum membership threshold needed to register a political party will be reduced from 40,000 to 20,000 members.<ref name="Iran Daily"/> Special places for peaceful rallies in central areas will be allocated and a new draft law outlining the rights and obligations of organisers, participants and observers will be passed.<ref name="Iran Daily"/> In an effort to increase public safety, President Tokayev has strengthened the penalties for those who commit crimes against individuals.<ref name="Iran Daily"/>

On 17 September 2022, Tokayev signed a decree that limits presidential tenure to one term of seven years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kazakhstan limits presidential term, renames capital |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/17/kazakhstan-limits-presidential-term-renames-capital |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref> He furthermore announced the preparation of a new reform package to "decentralize" and "distribute" power between government institutions, such as ministries and regional heads. The reform package also seeks to modify the electoral system and increase the decision-making authorities of Kazakhstan's regions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Tokayev bites the reform bullet |url=https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/11/19/tokayev-bites-the-reform-bullet/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=East Asia Forum |language=en}}</ref> The powers of the parliament were expanded at the expense of those of the president, relatives of whom are now also barred from holding government positions, while the Constitutional Court was restored and the death penalty abolished.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kazakhstan: Voters back reforms to reject founder's legacy – DW – 06/06/2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/kazakhstan-voters-back-reforms-to-reject-founders-legacy/a-62037144 |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== Elections ===
[[File:Резиденция президента - panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[Ak Orda Presidential Palace]]]]

[[Elections in Kazakhstan|Elections to the Majilis]] in September 2004, yielded a lower house dominated by the pro-government [[Nur-Otan|Otan Party]], headed by President Nazarbayev. Two other parties considered sympathetic to the president, including the agrarian-industrial bloc AIST and the [[Asar Party]], founded by President Nazarbayev's daughter, won most of the remaining seats. The opposition parties which were officially registered and competed in the elections won a single seat. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was monitoring the election, which it said fell short of international standards.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Parliamentary Elections, 19 September and 3 October 2004|url=https://www.osce.org/node/57857|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.osce.org|language=en|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108211859/https://www.osce.org/node/57857|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Kazakh Parliament Astana.jpg|thumb|left|[[Parliament of Kazakhstan]]]]

On 4 December 2005, Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected in an apparent landslide victory. The electoral commission announced that he had won over 90% of the vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded the election did not meet international standards despite some improvements in the administration of the election.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2ml5vt5j2_M&refer=top_world_news |title=Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev Wins Re-election With 91% of Vote |publisher=Bloomberg.com |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202133917/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2ml5vt5j2_M&refer=top_world_news |archive-date=2 December 2010}}</ref>

On 17 August 2007, elections to the lower house of parliament were held and a coalition led by the ruling [[Nur-Otan]] party, which included the [[Asar Party]], the Civil Party of Kazakhstan, and the [[Agrarian Party of Kazakhstan|Agrarian Party]], won every seat with 88% of the vote. None of the opposition parties has reached the benchmark 7% level of the seats. Opposition parties made accusations of serious irregularities in the election.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6952452.stm |title=World|Asia-Pacific|Kazakh poll fairness questioned |work=BBC News |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218084014/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6952452.stm |archive-date=18 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6949764.stm |title=World|Asia-Pacific|Q&A: Kazakhstan parliamentary election Kazakh poll fairness questioned |work=BBC News |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028093733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6949764.stm |archive-date=28 October 2009}}</ref>

[[File:Nur Otan Astana.JPG|thumb|[[Nur Otan]] Headquarters in [[Astana]]]]

In 2010, president Nazarbayev rejected a call from supporters to hold a referendum to keep him in office until 2020. He insisted on presidential elections for a five-year term. In a vote held on 3 April 2011, president Nazarbayev received 95.54% of the vote with 89.9% of registered voters participating.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-witt/kazakhstans-presidential-_b_847612.html |title=Daniel Witt: Kazakhstan's Presidential Election Shows Progress |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |access-date=4 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113164659/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-witt/kazakhstans-presidential-_b_847612.html |archive-date=13 November 2012}}</ref> In March 2011, Nazarbayev outlined the progress made toward democracy by Kazakhstan.<ref>Nazarbayev, Nursultan (28 March 2011). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kazakhstans-steady-progress-toward-democracy/2011/03/28/AF1XPKCC_story.html OP Ed: "Kazakhstan’s steady progress toward democracy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210234358/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kazakhstans-steady-progress-toward-democracy/2011/03/28/AF1XPKCC_story.html }}, ''Washington Post''</ref> {{As of|2010}}, Kazakhstan was reported on the [[Democracy Index]] by ''[[The Economist]]'' as an [[authoritarian regime]],<ref name="index2010">{{cite web |url=https://graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Democracy_Index_2010_web.pdf |title=Democracy Index 2010: Democracy in retreat |publisher=Economist Intelligence Unit |access-date=26 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213120004/http://graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Democracy_Index_2010_web.pdf |archive-date=13 December 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> which was still the case as of the 2022 report.<ref name="index2022">[https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2022/ Democracy Index 2022]</ref>

On 26 April 2015, the fifth presidential election was held in Kazakhstan.<ref name=foxnews2>{{cite news|title=Nearly 10 mn voters to head to polls to elect Kazakh president|url=http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/04/25/nearly-10-mn-voters-to-head-to-polls-to-elect-kazakh-president/|publisher=latino.foxnews.com|access-date=5 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101051159/http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/04/25/nearly-10-mn-voters-to-head-to-polls-to-elect-kazakh-president/|archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref> Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected with 97.7% of votes.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Kazakh leader gains crushing election victory|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32471428|access-date=2021-01-05|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108152632/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32471428|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 19 March 2019, Nazarbayev announced his resignation from the presidency.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47628854|title=Kazakh leader resigns after three decades|work=BBC News|access-date=19 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425061650/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47628854|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Kazakhstan's senate speaker [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]] became acting president after Nursultan Nazarbayev's resignation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan's senate speaker Tokayev to serve as acting president |url=https://tass.com/world/1049389 |website=TASS |access-date=15 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815174134/https://tass.com/world/1049389 |archive-date=15 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Later, Tokayev won the [[2019 Kazakh presidential election|2019 presidential election]] that was held on 9 June.<ref>{{cite web |title=CEC announces preliminary results of 2019 Presidential Election in Kazakhstan |url=https://www.inform.kz/en/cec-announces-preliminary-results-of-2019-presidential-election-in-kazakhstan_a3536331 |website=inform.kz |access-date=15 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815174133/https://www.inform.kz/en/cec-announces-preliminary-results-of-2019-presidential-election-in-kazakhstan_a3536331 |archive-date=15 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{Main|Regions of Kazakhstan|Districts of Kazakhstan}}

Kazakhstan is divided into seventeen [[Regions of Kazakhstan|regions]] ({{lang-kk|облыстар}}, {{lang|kk-latn|oblystar}}; {{lang-ru|link=no|области}}, {{lang|ru-latn|oblasti}}) plus three cities (Almaty, Astana and Shymkent) which are independent of the region in which they are situated. The regions are subdivided into 177 [[Districts of Kazakhstan|districts]] ({{lang-kk|аудандар}}, {{lang|kk-latn|audandar}}; {{lang-ru|link=no|районы}}, {{lang|ru-latn|rayony}}).<ref name="OECD" >{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan, Unitary County|url=https://www.oecd.org/regional/regional-policy/profile-Kazakhzstan.pdf|publisher=www.oecd.org|access-date=6 February 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206190320/https://www.oecd.org/regional/regional-policy/profile-Kazakhzstan.pdf|archive-date=6 February 2018}}</ref> The districts are further subdivided into rural districts at the lowest level of administration, which include all rural settlements and villages without an associated municipal government.<ref name="Adilet">{{cite web|title=On Administrative-Territorial Division of the Republic of Kazakhstan, The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 8 December 1993|url=http://adilet.zan.kz/eng/docs/Z930004200_|website=Adilet|publisher=Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan Republican Center of Legal Information|access-date=7 February 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207124434/http://adilet.zan.kz/eng/docs/Z930004200_|archive-date=7 February 2018}}</ref>

{{anchor|special status cities}}
The cities of [[Almaty]] and [[Astana]] have status "state importance" and do not belong to any region. The city of [[Baikonur]] has a special status because it is being leased until 2050 to Russia for the [[Baikonur cosmodrome]].<ref name="CIA">[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/ Kazakhstan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109132304/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan }} . ''CIA World Factbook''.</ref> In June 2018 the city of [[Shymkent]] became a "city of republican significance".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.akorda.kz/ru/events/akorda_news/akorda_other_events/publichnoe-podpisanie-ukaza-o-nekotoryh-voprosah-administrativno-territorialnogo-ustroistva-respubliki-kazahstan |script-title=ru:Публичное подписание Указа "О некоторых вопросах административно-территориального устройства Республики Казахстан" |trans-title=Public signing of the Decree "On some issues of the administrative and territorial structure of the Republic of Kazakhstan" |publisher=President of Kazakhstan |language=ru |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/2018.06.20-020328/http://www.akorda.kz/ru/events/akorda_news/akorda_other_events/publichnoe-podpisanie-ukaza-o-nekotoryh-voprosah-administrativno-territorialnogo-ustroistva-respubliki-kazahstan |archive-date=20 June 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Each region is headed by an [[Akim|äkim]] (regional governor) appointed by the president. District ''äkimi'' are appointed by regional ''akim''s. Kazakhstan's government relocated its capital from Almaty, established under the Soviet Union, to Astana on 10 December 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kazakhstan renames capital to honour ex-leader|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/23/kazakhstan-renames-capital-to-honour-ex-leader|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.aljazeera.com|language=en|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108232741/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/23/kazakhstan-renames-capital-to-honour-ex-leader|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Municipal divisions ===
Municipalities exist at each level of administrative division in Kazakhstan. Cities of republican, regional, and district significance are designated as urban inhabited localities; all others are designated rural.<ref name="Adilet" /> At the highest level are the cities of Almaty and Astana, which are classified as ''cities of republican significance'' on the administrative level equal to that of a region.<ref name="OECD"/> At the intermediate level are ''cities of regional significance'' on the administrative level equal to that of a district. Cities of these two levels may be divided into city districts.<ref name="OECD" /> At the lowest level are ''cities of district significance'', and over two-thousand ''villages and rural settlements'' ({{lang|ru-latn|aul}}) on the administrative level equal to that of rural districts.<ref name="OECD" />

=== Urban centres ===
{{Largest cities
| country = Kazakhstan
| stat_ref = <ref>http://stat.gov.kz/api/getFile/?docId=ESTAT305821</ref>
| list_by_pop =
| div_name = Region
| div_link =

|city_1 = Almaty
|div_1 = Almaty
|pop_1 = 1,854,656
|img_1 = View of Almaty from the hills.png

|city_2 = Astana
|div_2 = Astana
|pop_2 = 1,078,384
|img_2 = Astana 020000, Kazakhstan - panoramio (15).jpg

|city_3 = Shymkent
|div_3 = Turkistan Region{{!}}Turkistan
|pop_3 = 1,009,086
|img_3 = Unnamed Road, Kazakhstan - panoramio (44).jpg

|city_4 = Karaganda
|div_4 = Karagandy Region{{!}}Karagandy
|pop_4 = 497,712
|img_4 = Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan.jpg

|city_5 = Aktobe
|div_5 = Aktobe Region{{!}}Aktobe
|pop_5 = 487,994

|city_6 = Taraz
|div_6 = Jambyl Region{{!}}Jambyl
|pop_6 = 357,791

|city_7 = Pavlodar
|div_7 = Pavlodar Region{{!}}Pavlodar
|pop_7 = 333,989

|city_8 = Oskemen
|div_8 = East Kazakhstan Region{{!}}East Kazakhstan
|pop_8 = 331,614

|city_9 = Semey
|div_9 = East Kazakhstan Region{{!}}East Kazakhstan
|pop_9 = 323,138

|city_10 = Atyrau
|div_10 = Atyrau Region{{!}}Atyrau
|pop_10 = 269,720

}}

=== Foreign relations ===
{{Main|Foreign relations of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Dmitry Medvedev in South Korea, March 2012-15.jpeg|thumb|President [[Nursultan Nazarbayev|Nazarbayev]] with U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] and Russian President [[Dmitry Medvedev]] in 2012]]

Kazakhstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the [[Economic Cooperation Organization]] and the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]]. The nations of Kazakhstan, Russia, [[Belarus]], Kyrgyzstan and [[Tajikistan]] established the [[Eurasian Economic Community]] in 2000, to revive earlier efforts to harmonise trade tariffs and to create a free trade zone under a customs union. On 1 December 2007, it was announced that Kazakhstan had been chosen to chair the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] for the year 2010. Kazakhstan was elected a member of the [[UN Human Rights Council]] for the first time on 12 November 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/politics_sub/Kazakhstan-became-member-of-UN-Human-Rights-Council--14431/ |title=Kazakhstan became member of UN Human Rights Council |work=Tengrinews.kz English |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101051159/http://en.tengrinews.kz/politics_sub/Kazakhstan-became-member-of-UN-Human-Rights-Council--14431/ |archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref>

Kazakhstan is also a member of the United Nations, [[Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe]], [[Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council]], [[Turkic Council]], and [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]] (OIC). It is an active participant in the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|North Atlantic Treaty Organisation]] [[Partnership for Peace]] program.<ref name="pfpsigs">{{cite web|author=North Atlantic Treaty Organization|title=Signatures of Partnership for Peace Framework Document|url=http://www.nato.int/pfp/sig-cntr.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061129213256/http://www.nato.int/pfp/sig-cntr.htm|archive-date=29 November 2006}}</ref>

In 1999, Kazakhstan had applied for observer status at the [[Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly]]. The official response of the Assembly was that because Kazakhstan is partially located in Europe,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewHTML.asp?FileID=9998|title=Situation in Kazakhstan and its relations with the Council of Europe|last=Iwiński|first=Tadeusz|website=Council of Europe – Parliamentary Assembly|url-status=live|archive-url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qT4wuwEEvisJ:assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewHTML.asp%3FFileID%3D9998+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d|archive-date=15 January 2020|access-date=14 February 2020|quote=For its part, the Assembly might decide, already at this stage, to interpret Rule 59 of its Rules of procedure, concerning special guests, in such a way as to include the Eurasian States. Two Council of Europe member States, Turkey and Russia, belong geographically to both Europe and Asia and are therefore Eurasian. Strictly speaking, the three South Caucasus States, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are located in Asia, yet their membership of political Europe is no longer in doubt. [...] This being the case, Kazakhstan, as a Eurasian State participating in the OSCE and a signatory to the International covenant on civil and political rights and the International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, would meet the criteria laid down in Rule 59, making it eligible to apply for special guest status with the Assembly.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://isdp.eu/content/uploads/2017/10/2017-cornell-engvall-kazakhstan-in-europe-why-not.pdf|title=Kazakhstan in Europe: Why Not?|last1=Cornell|first1=Svante|last2=Engvall|first2=Johan|website=Institute for Security & Development Policy|access-date=15 February 2020|quote=However, by 2006, a Rapporteur for the Political Affairs Committee concluded that because of Kazakhstan’s nature as a European country, the country should be considered 'eligible to apply for a special guest status.'|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024154030/https://isdp.eu/content/uploads/2017/10/2017-cornell-engvall-kazakhstan-in-europe-why-not.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> it could apply for full membership, but that it would not be granted any status whatsoever at the council until its democracy and human rights records improved.

Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has pursued what is known as the "multivector foreign policy" ({{lang-kk|көпвекторлы сыртқы саясат}}), seeking equally good relations with its two large neighbours, Russia and China, as well as with the United States and the rest of the Western world.<ref>{{cite news |last=Blank |first=Stephen |title=Kazakhstan's Foreign Policy in a Time of Turmoil |publisher=EurasiaNet |url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav042705.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045839/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav042705.shtml |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=9 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Ariel |title=Kazakh foreign minister insists balanced foreign policy remains intact |publisher=Business News Europe |url=http://www.businessneweurope.eu/story1291 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817020006/http://www.businessneweurope.eu/story1291 |archive-date=17 August 2009}}</ref> Russia leases approximately {{convert|6000|km2|0|abbr=out}} of territory enclosing the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] space launch site in south central Kazakhstan, where the first man was launched into space as well as Soviet space shuttle [[Buran (spacecraft)|Buran]] and the well-known space station [[Mir]].

On 11 April 2010, presidents Nazarbayev and [[Barack Obama|Obama]] met at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., and discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between the United States and Kazakhstan. They pledged to intensify bilateral co-operation to promote nuclear safety and non-proliferation, regional stability in Central Asia, economic prosperity, and universal values.<ref>[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/joint-statement-meeting-between-president-obama-and-kazakhstan-president-nazarbayev Joint Statement on the meeting between President Obama and Kazakhstan president Nazarbayev | The White House] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216172644/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/joint-statement-meeting-between-president-obama-and-kazakhstan-president-nazarbayev }}. Whitehouse.gov (11 April 2010). Retrieved 14 January 2013.</ref>

In April 2011, Obama called Nazarbayev and discussed many cooperative efforts regarding nuclear security, including securing nuclear material from the BN-350 reactor. They reviewed progress on meeting goals that the two presidents established during their bilateral meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in 2010.<ref>[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/30/readout-presidents-call-president-nazarbayev-kazakhstan "Readout of the President's Call to President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan" | The White House] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205173907/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/30/readout-presidents-call-president-nazarbayev-kazakhstan }}. Whitehouse.gov (30 April 2011). Retrieved 14 January 2013.</ref> Since 2014 the Kazakhstani government has been bidding for a non-permanent member seat on the UN Security Council for 2017–2018.<ref name=AT5>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan, UN Continue Building on Two-Decades of Cooperation|url=http://astanatimes.com/2014/10/kazakhstan-un-continue-building-two-decades-cooperation/|website=Astanatimes.com|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219170610/http://astanatimes.com/2014/10/kazakhstan-un-continue-building-two-decades-cooperation/|archive-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> On 28 June 2016 Kazakhstan was elected as a non-permanent member to serve on the UN Security Council for a two-year term.<ref name=UN>{{cite web|title=Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan elected to Security Council|url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54350#.WDczqbXXfYU|website=un.org| date=28 June 2016 |access-date=23 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125045313/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54350#.WDczqbXXfYU|archive-date=25 November 2016}}</ref>

Kazakhstan has supported UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Western Sahara, and Côte d'Ivoire.<ref name=TN1>{{cite news|title=Kazakh peacekeepers in Western Sahara|url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/military/Kazakh-peacekeepers-in-Western-Sahara-257039/|publisher=Tengrinews|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108204101/http://en.tengrinews.kz/military/Kazakh-peacekeepers-in-Western-Sahara-257039/|archive-date=8 November 2014}}</ref> In March 2014, the Ministry of Defense chose 20 Kazakhstani military men as observers for the UN peacekeeping missions. The military personnel, ranking from captain to colonel, had to go through specialised UN training; they had to be fluent in English and skilled in using specialised military vehicles.<ref name="TN1" />

In 2014, Kazakhstan gave Ukraine humanitarian aid during the conflict with Russian-backed rebels. In October 2014, Kazakhstan donated $30,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross's humanitarian effort in Ukraine. In January 2015, to help the humanitarian crisis, Kazakhstan sent $400,000 of aid to [[Novorossiya (confederation)|Ukraine's southeastern regions]].<ref name=gpostukraine1>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine |url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/agencia-efe/150111/kazakhstan-delivers-humanitarian-aid-ukraine |work=Global Post |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205230451/https://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/agencia-efe/150111/kazakhstan-delivers-humanitarian-aid-ukraine |archive-date=5 February 2015}}</ref> President Nazarbayev said of the war in Ukraine, "The fratricidal war has brought true devastation to eastern Ukraine, and it is a common task to stop the war there, strengthen Ukraine's independence and secure territorial integrity of Ukraine."<ref name=ukrainenaz>{{cite news|title=Nazarbayev Offers to Mediate in Ukraine, Stresses Kazakhstan's Economic Resilience|url=http://astanatimes.com/2014/12/nazarbayev-offers-mediate-ukraine-stresses-kazakhstans-economic-resilience/|work=The Astana Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208182750/http://astanatimes.com/2014/12/nazarbayev-offers-mediate-ukraine-stresses-kazakhstans-economic-resilience/|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref> Experts believe that no matter how the Ukraine crisis develops, Kazakhstan's relations with the European Union will remain normal.<ref name=CarnegieUkraniepiece>{{cite web|title=Nazarbayev as Mediator|url=http://carnegie.ru/commentary/?fa=57771|publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Moscow Center|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208144059/http://carnegie.ru/commentary/?fa=57771|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref> It is believed that Nazarbayev's mediation is positively received by both Russia and Ukraine.<ref name="CarnegieUkraniepiece" />

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on 26 January 2015: "We are firmly convinced that there is no alternative to peace negotiations as a way to resolve the crisis in south-eastern Ukraine."<ref name=ukrainejan26statement>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan Urges Peaceful Resolution to Ukraine Conflict, Reiterates Minsk Agreements|url=http://astanatimes.com/2015/01/kazakhstan-urges-peaceful-resolution-ukraine-conflict-reiterates-minsk-agreements/|work=The Astana Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208154047/http://astanatimes.com/2015/01/kazakhstan-urges-peaceful-resolution-ukraine-conflict-reiterates-minsk-agreements/|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref> In 2018, Kazakhstan signed the UN [[treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en |title=Chapter XXVI: Disarmament – No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons |publisher=United Nations Treaty Collection |access-date=16 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806220546/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en |archive-date=6 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Vladimir Putin (2019-04-03) 03.jpg|thumb|President [[Kassym-Jomart Tokayev]] with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] in 2019]]

On 6 March 2020, the Concept of the Foreign Policy of Kazakhstan for 2020–2030 was announced. The document outlines the following main points:

* An open, predictable and consistent foreign policy of the country, which is progressive in nature and maintains its endurance by continuing the course of the First President – the country at a new stage of development;
* Protection of human rights, development of humanitarian diplomacy and environmental protection;
* Promotion of the country's economic interests in the international arena, including the implementation of state policy to attract investment;
* Maintaining international peace and security;
* Development of regional and multilateral diplomacy, which primarily involves strengthening mutually beneficial ties with key partners – Russia, China, the United States, Central Asian states and the EU countries, as well as through multilateral structures – the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inform.kz/en/article/3622809|title=President approves new concept of Kazakhstan's foreign policy for 2020–2030|last=INFORM.KZ|website=www.inform.kz|language=ru|access-date=7 April 2020|archive-date=7 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407103930/https://www.inform.kz/en/article/3622809|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:CSTOMap.png|thumb|Member states of the [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] (CSTO)]]

Kazakhstan's memberships of international organisations include:

* [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS)
* [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] (CSTO)
* [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]]
* [[Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council]]
* [[Individual Partnership Action Plan]], with [[NATO]], Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, [[Moldova]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] and [[Montenegro]]
* [[Turkic Council]] and the [[TÜRKSOY]] community. (The national language, [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], is related to the other [[Turkic languages]], with which it shares cultural and [[Turkic peoples|historical ties]])
* United Nations
* [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (OSCE)
* [[UNESCO]], where Kazakhstan is a member of its [[World Heritage Committee]]<ref name=UNESCO>{{cite web |title=Twelve new members elected to World Heritage Committee |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1082/ |publisher=UNESCO |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160218004512/https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1082 |archive-date=18 February 2016}}</ref>
* [[Nuclear Suppliers Group]] as a participating government
* [[World Trade Organization]]<ref name="wtokz">{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan and the WTO|url=https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/kazakhstan_e.htm|website=World Trade Organization|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701122807/https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/kazakhstan_e.htm|archive-date=1 July 2017}}</ref>
* [[Organization of Islamic Cooperation]] (OIC)<ref name="oicmems">{{cite web|title=Member States|url=http://www.oic-oci.org/states/?lan=en|website=OIC|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609063319/http://www.oic-oci.org/states/?lan=en|archive-date=9 June 2017}}</ref>
Based on these principles, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kazakhstan has increasingly pursued an independent foreign policy, defined by its own foreign policy objectives and ambitions<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sanchez |first=Wilder Alejandro |title=A Rising Global Player: Kazakhstan's Foreign Policy in the 2020s |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/uploads/documents/KI_200514_cable%2051_v1.pdf |website=Wilson Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Umarov |first=Temur |title=Kazakhstan Is Breaking Out of Russia's Grip |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/16/kazakhstan-russia-ukraine-war/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref> through which the country attempts to balance its relations with "all the major powers and an equally principled aversion towards excessive dependence in any field upon any one of them, while also opening the country up economically to all who are willing to invest there."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kazakhstan asserts its independent foreign policy |url=https://trendsresearch.org/insight/kazakhstan-asserts-its-independent-foreign-policy/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=trendsresearch.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Military ===
{{Main|Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Kazakhstan Republican Guard.JPEG|right|thumb|[[Republican Guard (Kazakhstan)|Kazakhstan Republican Guard]]]]
[[File:A Kazakh Sukhoi Su-27P(modified).jpg|thumb|A Kazakhstan [[Sukhoi Su-27]]]]

Most of Kazakhstan's military was inherited from the [[Soviet Armed Forces]]' [[Turkestan Military District]]. These units became the core of Kazakhstan's new military. It acquired all the units of the [[40th Army (Soviet Union)|40th Army]] (the former 32nd Army) and part of the 17th Army Corps, including six land-force divisions, storage bases, the 14th and 35th air-landing brigades, two rocket brigades, two artillery regiments, and a large amount of equipment that had been withdrawn from over the Urals after the signing of the [[Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe]]. Since the late 20th century, the Kazakhstan Army has focused on expanding the number of its armoured units. Since 1990, armoured units have expanded from 500 to 1,613 in 2005.

The Kazakh air force is composed mostly of Soviet-era planes, including 41 [[MiG-29]]s, 44 [[MiG-31]]s, 37 [[Su-24]]s and 60 [[Su-27]]s. A small naval force is maintained on the Caspian Sea.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Putz|first=Catherine|title=Yes, Kazakhstan Has a Navy|url=https://thediplomat.com/2015/04/yes-kazakhstan-has-a-navy/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=thediplomat.com|language=en-US|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107065311/https://thediplomat.com/2015/04/yes-kazakhstan-has-a-navy/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan sent 29 military engineers to [[Iraq]] to assist the [[History of Iraq (2003–2011)|US post-invasion mission in Iraq]].<ref>{{Cite news|author=Reuters Staff|title=Kazakhstan withdraws soldiers from Iraq|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-kazakhstan-idUSTRE49K4UL20081021|access-date=2021-01-05|archive-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222181157/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-kazakhstan-idUSTRE49K4UL20081021|url-status=live}}</ref> During the second Iraq War, Kazakhstani troops dismantled 4 million mines and other explosives, helped provide medical care to more than 5,000 coalition members and civilians, and purified {{convert|718|m3|abbr=out}} of water.<ref>{{cite web |title=Steppe Eagle military exercises cover broad spectrum of scenarios |url=http://www.kazakhembus.com/content/steppe-eagle-military-exercises-cover-broad-spectrum-scenarios |publisher=Central Asia Newswire |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208141550/http://www.kazakhembus.com/content/steppe-eagle-military-exercises-cover-broad-spectrum-scenarios |archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's [[National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan|National Security Committee]] (UQK) was established on 13 June 1992. It includes the Service of Internal Security, Military Counterintelligence, Border Guard, several Commando units, and Foreign Intelligence (Barlau). The latter is considered the most important part of KNB. Its director is [[Nurtai Abykayev]].

Since 2002, the joint tactical peacekeeping exercise "Steppe Eagle" has been hosted by the Kazakhstan government. "Steppe Eagle" focuses on building coalitions and gives participating nations the opportunity to work together. During the Steppe Eagle exercises, the [[KAZBAT]] peacekeeping battalion operates within a multinational force under a unified command within multidisciplinary peacekeeping operations, with NATO and the U.S. Military.<ref name=steppe1>{{cite news|title=Steppe Eagle – 2015 Multinational Peacekeeping Exercises to be Held in April and June|url=http://astanatimes.com/2015/02/steppe-eagle-2015-multinational-peacekeeping-exercises-held-april-june/|work=The Astana Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208095229/http://astanatimes.com/2015/02/steppe-eagle-2015-multinational-peacekeeping-exercises-held-april-june/|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

In December 2013, Kazakhstan announced it will send officers to support United Nations Peacekeeping forces in Haiti, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast and Liberia.<ref name=un1>{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan to Join U.N. Peacekeeping for First Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/12/20/world/20reuters-kazakhstan-un.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

=== Human rights ===
{{Main|Human rights in Kazakhstan}}

The [[Economist Intelligence Unit]] has consistently ranked Kazakhstan as an "authoritarian regime" in its [[Democracy Index]], ranking it 128th out of 167 countries for 2020.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-bad-year|title=Global democracy has a very bad year|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|access-date=22 March 2021|archive-date=26 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726221509/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-bad-year|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/01/22/global-democracy-has-another-bad-year|title=Global democracy has another bad year|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=22 March 2021|archive-date=23 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323135217/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/01/22/global-democracy-has-another-bad-year|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan was ranked 122th out of 180 countries in [[Reporters Without Borders]]' [[Press Freedom Index]] for 2022; previously it ranked 155th for 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rsf.org/en/kazakhstan|title=Kazakhstan|work=Reporters Without Borders|access-date=8 June 2022}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's human rights situation has been described as poor by independent observers. In its 2015 report of human rights in the country, [[Human Rights Watch]] said that "Kazakhstan heavily restricts freedom of assembly, speech, and religion."<ref name="World Report 2015: Kazakhstan">[[Human Rights Watch]], [https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/kazakhstan World Report 2015: Kazakhstan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028020227/https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/kazakhstan }}, accessed October 2015.</ref> It has also described the government as authoritarian.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/05/kazakhstan-elections-and-transition-wasnt|title=The Kazakhstan elections and the transition that wasn't|website=hrw.org|access-date=22 March 2021|archive-date=1 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301011034/https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/05/kazakhstan-elections-and-transition-wasnt|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, authorities closed newspapers, jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful but unsanctioned protests, and fined or detained worshipers for practising religion outside state controls. Government critics, including opposition leader [[Vladimir Kozlov (politician)|Vladimir Kozlov]], remained in detention after unfair trials. In mid-2014, Kazakhstan adopted new criminal, criminal executive, criminal procedural, and administrative codes, and a new law on trade unions, which contain articles restricting fundamental freedoms and are incompatible with international standards. Torture remains common in places of detention."<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]], [https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/kazakhstan World Report 2015: Kazakhstan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028020227/https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/kazakhstan }}, accessed September 2016.</ref> However, Kazakhstan has achieved significant progress in reducing the prison population.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Trochev|first1=Alexei|title=Trials and Tribulations: Kazakhstan's Criminal Justice Reforms|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-981-13-6693-2_5|work=Kazakhstan and the Soviet Legacy|pages=75–99|editor-last=Caron|editor-first=Jean-François|place=Singapore|publisher=Springer Singapore|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-981-13-6693-2_5|isbn=978-981-13-6692-5|access-date=2020-12-04|last2=Slade|first2=Gavin|s2cid=159320888}}</ref> The 2016 Human Rights Watch report commented that Kazakhstan "took few meaningful steps to tackle a worsening human rights record in 2015, maintaining a focus on economic development over political reform."<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]], [https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/country-chapters/kazakhstan World Report 2016: Kazakhstan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914160847/https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/country-chapters/kazakhstan }}, accessed September 2016.</ref> Some critics of the government have been [[COVID-19 misinformation#Efforts to combat misinformation|arrested]] for allegedly spreading [[false information]] about the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakh Opposition Activist Detained For 'Spreading False Information' |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-suraev-opposition-activist-detained-false-information-toqaev/30563253.html |work=Human Rights Watch |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728232222/https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-suraev-opposition-activist-detained-false-information-toqaev/30563253.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Various police reforms, like creation of local police service and zero-tolerance policing, aimed at bringing police closer to local communities have not improved cooperation between police and ordinary citizens.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Slade|first1=Gavin|last2=Trochev|first2=Alexei|last3=Talgatova|first3=Malika|title=The Limits of Authoritarian Modernisation: Zero Tolerance Policing in Kazakhstan|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2020.1844867|journal=Europe-Asia Studies|volume=73|language=en|pages=178–199|doi=10.1080/09668136.2020.1844867|s2cid=229420067|issn=0966-8136|access-date=4 December 2020|archive-date=19 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119120806/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2020.1844867|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to a U.S. government report released in 2014, in Kazakhstan:

<blockquote><poem>The law does not require police to inform detainees that they have the [[right to an attorney]], and police did not do so. Human rights observers alleged that law enforcement officials dissuaded detainees from seeing an attorney, gathered evidence through preliminary questioning before a detainee's attorney arrived, and in some cases used corrupt defense attorneys to gather evidence. [...]<ref name="countryreport" />

The law does not adequately provide for an [[independent judiciary]]. The executive branch sharply limited judicial independence. Prosecutors enjoyed a quasi-judicial role and had the authority to suspend court decisions. Corruption was evident at every stage of the judicial process. Although judges were among the most highly paid government employees, lawyers and human rights monitors alleged that judges, prosecutors, and other officials solicited [[bribes]] in exchange for favorable rulings in the majority of criminal cases.<ref name="countryreport">[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=220395#wrapper "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013: Kazakhstan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618054438/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=220395#wrapper }}, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Retrieved 1 November 2015.</ref></poem></blockquote>

Kazakhstan's global rank in the [[World Justice Project]]'s 2015 Rule of Law Index was 65 out of 102; the country scored well on "Order and Security" (global rank 32/102), and poorly on "Constraints on Government Powers" (global rank 93/102), "Open Government" (85/102) and "Fundamental Rights" (84/102, with a downward trend marking a deterioration in conditions).<ref name=WJP2015>{{cite web|title=Rule of Law Index 2015|url=http://data.worldjusticeproject.org/#groups/KAZ|website=World Justice Project|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429071718/http://data.worldjusticeproject.org/#groups/KAZ|archive-date=29 April 2015}}</ref>

The [[ABA Rule of Law Initiative]] of the American Bar Association has programs to train justice sector professionals in Kazakhstan.<ref name=ABArol>{{cite web |title=Rule of Law in Kazakhstan |url=http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan.html |publisher=American Bar Association |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225822/http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan.html |archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=ABAback>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan Background |url=http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan/background.html |publisher=American Bar Association |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231239/http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan/background.html |archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's Supreme Court has taken steps to modernise and to increase transparency and oversight over the country's legal system. With funding from the US Agency for International Development, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative began a new program in April 2012 to strengthen the independence and accountability of Kazakhstan's judiciary.<ref name=ABAjr>{{cite web|title=Judicial Reform|url=http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan/news.html|publisher=American Bar Association|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230348/http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan/news.html|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

In an effort to increase transparency in the criminal justice and court system, and improve human rights, Kazakhstan intended to digitise all investigative, prosecutorial and court records by 2018.<ref name="digitise">{{cite news|title=Kazakh criminal justice system to be digitised by 2018|url=https://astanatimes.com/2017/11/kazakh-criminal-justice-system-to-be-digitised-by-2018/|agency=The Astana Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034931/https://astanatimes.com/2017/11/kazakh-criminal-justice-system-to-be-digitised-by-2018/|archive-date=1 December 2017}}</ref> Many criminal cases are closed before trial on the basis of reconciliation between the defendant and the victim because they simplify the work of the law-enforcement officers, release the defendant from punishment, and pay little regard to the victim's rights.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Trochev|first=Alexei|title=Between Convictions and Reconciliations: Processing Criminal Cases in Kazakhstani Courts|url=https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/research/ILJ/upload/Trochev-final.pdf|journal=Cornell Journal of International Law|volume=50|pages=107–145|access-date=4 December 2020|archive-date=20 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720082506/https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/research/ILJ/upload/Trochev-final.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Homosexuality has been legal in Kazakhstan since 1997, although it is still socially unacceptable in most areas.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kazakhstan |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides; Third edition |isbn=978-1-78477-092-1|page= 40 |author1=Paul Brummell }}</ref> Discrimination against [[LGBT rights in Kazakhstan|LGBT people]] in Kazakhstan is widespread.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kazakhstan: LGBT Community Living in Fear |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/23/kazakhstan-lgbt-community-living-fear |work=Human Rights Watch |access-date=16 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727005543/https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/23/kazakhstan-lgbt-community-living-fear |archive-date=27 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Life in the Closet: The LGBT Community in Central Asia |url=https://thediplomat.com/2019/01/life-in-the-closet-the-lgbt-community-in-central-asia/ |work=The Diplomat |access-date=16 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802051901/https://thediplomat.com/2019/01/life-in-the-closet-the-lgbt-community-in-central-asia/ |archive-date=2 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Central Downtown Astana 2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Downtown [[Astana]]]]
[[File:Historical economic growth of Kazakhstan.jpg|thumb|right|GDP per capita development, since 1973]]
[[File:Kazakhstan Product Exports (2019).svg|upright=1.35|thumb|right|A proportional representation of Kazakhstan exports, 2019]]

Kazakhstan's economy, supported by rising oil output and prices, grew at an average of 8 percent per year until 2013, before suffering a slowdown in 2014 and 2015.<ref name=imfarticleiv>{{cite web|title=IMF Executive Board Article IV consultation1 with Kazakhstan|url=https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2013/pr13308.htm|website=Imf.org|publisher=International Monetary Fund|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183248/https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2013/pr13308.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> Kazakhstan was the first former Soviet Republic to repay all of its debt to the International Monetary Fund, 7 years ahead of schedule.<ref name=IMFrepay>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan profile|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/kazakhstan/47484.htm|website=State.gov|publisher=US State Department|access-date=14 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804164708/https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/kazakhstan/47484.htm|archive-date=4 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan has a GDP of $179.332 billion and an annual growth rate of 4.5 percent. Per capita, Kazakhstan's GDP stands at $9,686.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stat.gov.kz/official/dynamic|title=stat.gov.kz|website=stat.gov.kz|access-date=7 April 2020|archive-date=17 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017035705/https://stat.gov.kz/official/dynamic|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's increased role in global trade and central positioning on the [[Belt and Road Initiative|new Silk Road]] gave the country the potential to open its markets to billions of people.<ref name="priSilkRoad">{{cite web|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-09-14/chinas-new-silk-road-traverses-kazakhstan-some-kazakhs-are-skeptical-chinese|publisher=pri.org|title=China's new Silk Road traverses Kazakhstan. But some Kazakhs are skeptical of Chinese influence|access-date=2021-05-27|archive-date=8 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508141306/https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-09-14/chinas-new-silk-road-traverses-kazakhstan-some-kazakhs-are-skeptical-chinese|url-status=live}}</ref> Kazakhstan joined the World Trade Organization in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/kazakhstan_e.htm|publisher=WTO.org|title=WTO: Kazakhstan|access-date=2021-05-28|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701122807/https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/kazakhstan_e.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Buoyed by high world [[crude oil]] prices, GDP growth figures were between 8.9 percent and 13.5 percent from 2000 to 2007 before decreasing to 1 to 3 percent in 2008 and 2009, and then rising again from 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531180249/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG |archive-date=31 May 2011 |title=GDP growth (annual %) |work=The World Bank. World Bank.org |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other major exports of Kazakhstan include wheat, textiles, and livestock. Kazakhstan is a leading exporter of uranium.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kazatomprom.kz/en/news/2/%E2%84%96_1_in_the_world |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722142342/http://www.kazatomprom.kz/en/news/2/%E2%84%96_1_in_the_world |archive-date=22 July 2011 |title=№ 1 in the world |work=The Atomic Company Kazatomprom, Kazatomprom.kz |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/others/uranium-in-central-asia.aspx#:~:text=Uranium%20and%20Nuclear%20Power%20in%20Kazakhstan%20%28Updated%20June,2019%2C%20Kazakhstan%20produced%2043%25%20of%20the%20world%27s%20uranium. |title=Uranium and Nuclear Power in Kazakhstan |publisher=world-nuclear.org |access-date=13 Jan 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326045234/http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-G-N/Kazakhstan/ |archive-date=26 March 2013}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's economy grew by 4.6 percent in 2014.<ref name=BRICplus>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan: The Latest Emerging Opportunity|url=http://www.bricplusnews.com/business/kazakhstan-the-latest-emerging-opportunity/|publisher=BRIC Plus|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620181513/http://www.bricplusnews.com/business/kazakhstan-the-latest-emerging-opportunity/|archive-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> The country experienced a slowdown in economic growth from 2014 sparked by falling oil prices and the effects of the Ukrainian crisis.<ref>[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c4a55aa6-dd04-11e3-b73c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3mCiNSOzr Kazakhs battle to stave off chill blowing in from Russian steppe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519084837/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c4a55aa6-dd04-11e3-b73c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3mCiNSOzr }}, [[Financial Times]], 21 May 2014</ref> The country devalued its currency by 19 percent in February 2014.<ref>"Tenge Fever", [[The Economist]], 22 February 2014</ref> Another 22 percent devaluation occurred in August 2015.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/business/international/kazakhstans-currency-plunges.html Kazakhstan's currency plunges] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205174742/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/business/international/kazakhstans-currency-plunges.html }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 21 August 2015</ref>

Kazakhstan's government continued to follow a conservative fiscal policy by controlling budget spending and accumulating oil revenue savings in its Oil Fund – Samruk-Kazyna. The global financial crisis forced Kazakhstan to increase its public borrowing to support the economy. Public debt increased to 13.4 per cent in 2013 from 8.7 per cent in 2008. Between 2012 and 2013, the government achieved an overall fiscal surplus of 4.5 per cent.<ref name=kzwbprofile>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan Profile|url=http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kazakhstan|publisher=The World Bank|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911201346/http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kazakhstan|archive-date=11 September 2014}}</ref>

Since 2002, Kazakhstan has sought to manage strong inflows of foreign currency without sparking inflation. Inflation has not been under strict control, however, registering 6.6 percent in 2002, 6.8 percent in 2003, and 6.4 percent in 2004.

In March 2002, the [[US Department of Commerce|U.S. Department of Commerce]] granted Kazakhstan [[market economy]] status under [[Trade Act of 2002|US trade law]]. This change in status recognised substantive market economy reforms in the areas of currency convertibility, wage rate determination, openness to foreign investment, and government control over the means of production and allocation of resources.

Kazakhstan weathered the global financial crisis {{Citation needed}} by combining fiscal relaxation with monetary stabilisation. In 2009, the government introduced large-scale support measures such as the recapitalisation of banks and support for the real estate and agricultural sectors, as well as for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The total value of the stimulus programs amounted to $21 billion, or 20 per cent of the country's GDP, with $4 billion going to stabilise the financial sector.<ref name=ft21bn>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan unveils $21bn rescue package|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/209897de-ba5a-11dd-aecd-0000779fd18c,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F209897de-ba5a-11dd-aecd-0000779fd18c.html%3Fsiteedition%3Duk&siteedition=uk&_i_referer=#axzz3tPa3koLN|work=Financial Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016002103/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/209897de-ba5a-11dd-aecd-0000779fd18c,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F209897de-ba5a-11dd-aecd-0000779fd18c.html%3Fsiteedition%3Duk&siteedition=uk&_i_referer=#axzz3tPa3koLN|archive-date=16 October 2015}}</ref> During the global economic crisis, Kazakhstan's economy contracted by 1.2 percent in 2009, while the annual growth rate subsequently increased to 7.5 percent and 5 percent in 2011 and 2012, respectively.<ref name="imfarticleiv" />

[[File:35Aktau główna ulica.JPG|thumb|[[Aktau]] is Kazakhstan's only seaport on the [[Caspian Sea]].]]

In September 2002, Kazakhstan became the first country in the CIS to receive an investment grade [[credit rating]] from a major international [[credit rating agency]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kazakhstan Investment and Business Guide Volume 1 Strategic and Practical Information |publisher=IBP, Inc. |year=2015 |isbn=9781514528488 |pages=51}}</ref> By late December 2003, Kazakhstan's gross foreign debt was about $22.9 billion. Total governmental debt was $4.2 billion, 14 percent of GDP. There has been a reduction in the ratio of debt to GDP. The ratio of total governmental debt to GDP was 21.7 percent in 2000, 17.5 percent in 2001, and 15.4 percent in 2002. In 2019, it rose to 19.2 percent.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fitch Affirms Kazakhstan at "BBB"; Outlook Stable|url=https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/fitch-affirms-kazakhstan-at-bbb-outlook-stable-21-08-2020|access-date=2021-01-05|website=www.fitchratings.com|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108071514/https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/fitch-affirms-kazakhstan-at-bbb-outlook-stable-21-08-2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

Economic growth, combined with earlier [[tax reform|tax]] and financial sector reforms, has dramatically improved government finance from the 1999 [[budget deficit]] level of 3.5 percent of GDP to a deficit of 1.2 percent of GDP in 2003. Government revenues grew from 19.8 percent of GDP in 1999 to 22.6 percent of GDP in 2001, but decreased to 16.2 percent of GDP in 2003. In 2000, Kazakhstan adopted a new [[tax code]] in an effort to consolidate these gains.

On 29 November 2003, the Law on Changes to Tax Code which reduced [[Tax rates around the world|tax rates]] was adopted. The [[value added tax]] fell from 16% to 15%, the social tax, payable by all employers, from 21 percent to 20 percent, and the personal [[income tax]], from 30 percent to 20 percent. On 7 July 2006, the personal income tax was reduced even further to a flat rate of 5 percent for personal income in the form of dividends and 10 percent for other personal income. Kazakhstan furthered its reforms by adopting a new land code on 20 June 2003, and a new customs code on 5 April 2003.

[[File:2013Kazakhstani imports.PNG|thumb|upright=1.6|A map of Kazakhstan's imports, 2013]]

Energy has been the leading economic sector. Production of crude oil and [[natural gas condensate]] from the [[oil and gas basins of Kazakhstan]] amounted to {{convert|79.2|e6t|e6LT e6ST|lk=out|abbr=off}} in 2012 up from {{convert|51.2|e6t|e6LT e6ST|abbr=off}} in 2003. Kazakhstan raised oil and gas condensate exports to 44.3 million tons in 2003, 13 percent higher than in 2002. Gas production in Kazakhstan in 2003, amounted to {{convert|13.9|e9m3|e9cuft|lk=out|abbr=off}}, up 22.7 percent compared to 2002, including natural gas production of {{convert|7.3|e9m3|e9cuft|abbr=off}}. Kazakhstan holds about {{convert|4|e9t|e9LT e9ST|abbr=off}} of proven recoverable oil reserves and {{convert|2000|km3|cumi|abbr=off}} of gas. Kazakhstan is the 19th largest oil-producing nation in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kazakhstan energy profile – Analysis|url=https://www.iea.org/reports/kazakhstan-energy-profile|access-date=2021-01-05|website=IEA|language=en-GB|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108085609/https://www.iea.org/reports/kazakhstan-energy-profile|url-status=live}}</ref> Kazakhstan's oil exports in 2003, were valued at more than $7 billion, representing 65 percent of overall exports and 24 percent of the GDP. Major oil and gas fields and recoverable [[oil reserves]] are [[Tengiz Field|Tengiz]] with {{convert|7|Goilbbl|e9m3|abbr=off}}; [[Karachaganak Field|Karachaganak]] with {{convert|8|Goilbbl|e9m3|abbr=off}} and {{convert|1350|km3|cumi|abbr=off}} of natural gas; and [[Kashagan Field|Kashagan]] with 7 to {{convert|9|Goilbbl|e9m3|abbr=off}}.

[[KazMunayGas]] (KMG), the national oil and gas company, was created in 2002 to represent the interests of the state in the oil and gas industry. The [[Tengiz Field]] was jointly developed in 1993 as a 40-year [[Tengizchevroil]] venture between [[Chevron Texaco]] (50 percent), US [[ExxonMobil]] (25 percent), [[KazMunayGas]] (20 percent), and [[LukArco]] (5 percent).<ref>{{Citation |title=Chevron-led Kazakh oil firm hits record output in 2013 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/oil-kazakhstan-tengizchevroil-idUSL5N0L11CD20140127 |year=2014 |publication-place=International |publisher=[[Reuters]] |access-date=7 January 2022 |archive-date=7 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107181047/https://www.reuters.com/article/oil-kazakhstan-tengizchevroil-idUSL5N0L11CD20140127 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Karachaganak Field|Karachaganak]] natural gas and gas condensate field is being developed by [[BG Group|BG]], [[Agip]], ChevronTexaco, and [[Lukoil]].<ref name=ogj280612>{{cite news
|url= http://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/06/karachaganak-field-agreement-takes-effect.html
|title= Karachaganak field agreement takes effect
|publisher= [[PennWell Corporation]]
|newspaper= [[Oil & Gas Journal]]
|access-date= 7 January 2022
|archive-date= 7 January 2022
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220107183535/https://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/06/karachaganak-field-agreement-takes-effect.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref> Also [[China|Chinese]] oil companies are involved in Kazakhstan's oil industry.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tracing the Chinese Footprints in Kazakhstan's Oil and Gas Industry |url=https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/tracing-the-chinese-footprints-in-kazakhstans-oil-and-gas-industry/ |work=The Diplomat |access-date=7 January 2022 |archive-date=7 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107181048/https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/tracing-the-chinese-footprints-in-kazakhstans-oil-and-gas-industry/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kazakhstan instituted a pension reform program in 1998. By January 2012, the pension assets were about $17 billion (KZT 2.5 trillion). There are 11 saving pension funds in the country. The State Accumulating Pension Fund, the only state-owned fund, was [[Privatization|privatised]] in 2006. The country's unified financial regulatory agency oversees and regulates pension funds. The growing demand of pension funds for investment outlets triggered the development of the debt [[Security (finance)|securities]] market. Pension fund capital is being invested almost exclusively in corporate and government [[Bond (finance)|bonds]], including the government of Kazakhstan Eurobonds. The government of Kazakhstan was studying a project to create a unified national pension fund and transfer all the accounts from the private pension funds into it.<ref>{{cite news |title=Unified Pension Fund Recommended in Kazakhstan |url=http://gca.satrapia.com/+unified-pension-fund-recommended-in-kazakhstan+ |newspaper=The Gazette of Central Asia |publisher=Satrapia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208121242/http://gca.satrapia.com/+unified-pension-fund-recommended-in-kazakhstan+ |archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

The [[National Bank of Kazakhstan|Kazakh National Bank]] introduced deposit insurance in a campaign to strengthen the banking sector. Several major foreign banks had branches in Kazakhstan, including [[Royal Bank of Scotland|RBS]], [[Citibank]], and [[HSBC]]. [[Kookmin Bank|Kookmin]] and [[UniCredit]] both entered Kazakhstan's financial services market through acquisitions and [[Equity (finance)|stake]]-building. {{citation needed}}

According to the 2010–11 World Economic Forum in Global Competitiveness Report, Kazakhstan was ranked 72nd in the world in economic competitiveness.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2010-11.pdf |title=The Global Competitiveness Report 2010–2011 |access-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206104835/http://www3.weforum.org//docs//WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2010-11.pdf |archive-date=6 December 2010}}</ref> One year later, the [[Global Competitiveness Report]] ranked Kazakhstan 50th in most competitive markets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kazakh-tv.kz/en/view/news_kazakhstan/page_27706_kazakhstan-enters-top-50-most-competitive-countries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220035746/http://www.kazakh-tv.kz/en/view/news_kazakhstan/page_27706_kazakhstan-enters-top-50-most-competitive-countries |archive-date=20 February 2014 |title=Kazakh TV – Kazakhstan enters top 50 most competitive countries |publisher=Kazakh-tv.kz |access-date=9 September 2013}}</ref>

In 2012, Kazakhstan attracted $14 billion of [[foreign direct investment]] inflows into the country at a 7 percent growth rate.<ref>[http://www.ey.com/KZ/en/Issues/Business-environment/Kazakhstan-attractiveness-survey-2013 Kazakhstan attractiveness survey 2013]. EY.com {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308092531/http://www.ey.com/KZ/en/Issues/Business-environment/Kazakhstan-attractiveness-survey-2013 }}</ref> In 2018, $24 billion of FDI was directed into Kazakhstan, a significant increase since 2012.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan targets to invite USD 34 bln of investments by 2025 |url=https://www.inform.kz/en/kazakhstan-targets-to-invite-usd-34-bln-of-investments-by-2025_a3569720 |website=Kazinform |access-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024190130/https://www.inform.kz/en/kazakhstan-targets-to-invite-usd-34-bln-of-investments-by-2025_a3569720 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Caspian region oil and natural gas infrastructure.png|thumb|200px|Kazakhstan has the largest proven [[Energy policy of Kazakhstan|oil reserves]] in the Caspian Sea region.{{citation needed}}]]

Kazakhstan climbed to 41st on the 2018 Economic Freedom Index published by ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' and [[The Heritage Foundation]].<ref name="EFI2018">{{cite web|title=Economic Freedom Index|url=https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking |publisher=[[The Heritage Foundation]] |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026110910/http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking|archive-date=26 October 2017}}</ref>

Kazakhstan's economy grew at an average of 8 percent per year over the past decade on the back of hydrocarbon exports.<ref name="imfarticleiv" /> Despite the lingering uncertainty of the global economy, Kazakhstan's economy has been stable. GDP growth in January–September 2013 was 5.7 percent, according to preliminary calculations of the Ministry Economy and Budget Planning.<ref name=kzgdp2013>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan's GDP grows 5.7 percent|url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/finance/Kazakhstans-GDP-grows-57-percent-24023/|agency=TengriNews|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905001444/http://en.tengrinews.kz/finance/Kazakhstans-GDP-grows-57-percent-24023/|archive-date=5 September 2014}}</ref>

From January to September 2014 Kazakhstan's GDP grew at 4 percent.<ref name=BSt1>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan's GDP expected to grow five per cent in 2014|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/kazakhstan-s-gdp-expected-to-grow-five-per-cent-in-2014-114110400256_1.html|work=Business Standard|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104221743/http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/kazakhstan-s-gdp-expected-to-grow-five-per-cent-in-2014-114110400256_1.html|archive-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> According to the results from the first half of the year, the current account surplus is $6.6 billion, a figure two times higher than that of the first half of 2013.<ref name="BSt1" /> According to the Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Kairat Kelimbetov, the increase was caused by a trade surplus of 17.4 per cent, or approximately US$22.6 billion.<ref name="BSt1" /> The overall inflation rate for 2014 is forecasted at 7.4 percent.<ref name="BSt1" />

China is one of the main economic and trade partners of Kazakhstan. In 2013, China launched the [[Belt and Road Initiative]] (BRI) in which Kazakhstan functions as a transit hub.<ref>Vakulchuk, Roman and Indra Overland (2019) "[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329310641 China’s Belt and Road Initiative through the Lens of Central Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024180554/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329310641_China%27s_Belt_and_Road_Initiative_through_the_lens_of_Central_Asia }}", in Fanny M. Cheung and Ying-yi Hong (eds) ''Regional Connection under the Belt and Road Initiative. The Prospects for Economic and Financial Cooperation''. London: Routledge, pp. 115–133.</ref>

=== Foreign trade ===
Kazakhstan's foreign trade turnover in 2018 was $93.5 billion, which is 19.7 percent more compared to 2017. Export in 2018 reached $67 billion (up 25.7 percent in comparison to 2017) and import was $32.5 billion (up 9.9 percent in comparison to 2017).<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan's foreign trade turnover rises by 19.7% in 2018 |url=https://www.inform.kz/en/kazakhstan-s-foreign-trade-turnover-rises-by-19-7-in-2018_a3497852 |website=Kazinform |access-date=29 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029200840/https://www.inform.kz/en/kazakhstan-s-foreign-trade-turnover-rises-by-19-7-in-2018_a3497852 |archive-date=29 October 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Exports accounted for 40.1 percent of Kazakhstan's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018. Kazakhstan exports 800 products to 120 countries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan increased exports nearly 25 percent in 2018 |url=https://astanatimes.com/2019/04/kazakhstan-increased-exports-nearly-25-percent-in-2018/ |website=astanatimes.com |access-date=27 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806005648/https://astanatimes.com/2019/04/kazakhstan-increased-exports-nearly-25-percent-in-2018/ |archive-date=6 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
{{Main|Agriculture in Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Песня жаворонка(3264-2448).jpg|thumb|right|Grain fields near [[Kokshetau]]]]

[[Agriculture in Kazakhstan|Agriculture]] accounts for approximately 5 percent of Kazakhstan's GDP.<ref name="CIA" /> Grain, potatoes, grapes, vegetables, melons and livestock are the most important agricultural commodities. Agricultural land occupies more than {{convert|846000|km2|sqmi}}. The available agricultural land consists of {{convert|205000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of arable land and {{convert|611000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of [[pasture]] and hay land. Over 80 percent of the country's total area is classified as agricultural land, including almost 70 percent occupied by pasture. Its arable land has the second highest availability per inhabitant (1.5 hectares).<ref name=wb1>{{cite web|title=Arable Land per inhabitant World Bank database.|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC|publisher=The World Bank|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210004356/http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC|archive-date=10 February 2015}}</ref>

Chief livestock products are [[dairy product]]s, leather, meat, and [[wool]]. The country's major crops include wheat, [[barley]], cotton, and rice. Wheat exports, a major source of [[hard currency]], rank among the leading commodities in Kazakhstan's export trade. In 2003 Kazakhstan harvested 17.6 million tons of grain in gross, 2.8% higher compared to 2002. Kazakhstani agriculture still has many environmental problems from mismanagement during its years in the Soviet Union. Some [[Kazakh wine]] is produced in the mountains to the east of Almaty.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shepard|first=Wade|title=How Kazakhstan Is Becoming The Next Frontier For World-Class Wine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/02/29/could-kazakhstan-become-the-next-frontier-for-world-class-wine/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Forbes|language=en|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107122830/https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/02/29/could-kazakhstan-become-the-next-frontier-for-world-class-wine/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan is thought to be one of the places that the apple originated, particularly the wild [[ancestor]] of ''Malus domestica'', ''[[Malus sieversii]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire/apple-sweetness.php |title=Apple sweetness |first=Michael |last=Pollan |author-link=Michael Pollan |year=2009 |work=[[The Botany of Desire]] |publisher=[[KQED (TV)|KQED]] |location=San Francisco |access-date=29 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010130036/http://www.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesire/apple-sweetness.php |archive-date=10 October 2010}}</ref> It has no common name in English, but is known in its native Kazakhstan as ''alma''. The region where it is thought to originate is called ''Almaty'': "rich with apple".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.almaty.kz/page.php?page_id=166&lang=3 |title=The official site of Almaty city: History |publisher=Almaty.kz |access-date=1 June 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013194235/http://almaty.kz/page.php?page_id=166&lang=3 |archive-date=13 October 2010}}</ref> This tree is still found wild in the mountains of Central Asia, in southern Kazakhstan, [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]] and [[Xinjiang]] in China.

=== Infrastructure ===
{{Main|Transport in Kazakhstan|Telecommunications in Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Railway Map of Kazakhstan (kk).png|thumb|Map of Kazakhstan railway network]]
[[File:KTZ 2TE10U Aynabulak.jpg|thumb|Train 22 Kyzylorda – Semipalatinsk, hauled by a Kazakhstan Temir Zholy 2TE10U diesel locomotive. Picture taken near Aynabulak, Kazakhstan.]]

Railways provide 68 percent of all cargo and passenger traffic to over 57 percent of the country. There are {{convert|15333|km|mi|abbr=on}} in common carrier service, excluding industrial lines.<ref name=ciafactbook>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109132304/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan|url-status=live}}</ref>{{convert|15333|km|mi|abbr=on}} of {{Track gauge|1520mm|lk=on}} gauge, {{convert|4000|km|mi|abbr=on}} electrified, in 2012.<ref name=ciafactbook /> Most cities are connected by railroad; high-speed trains go from [[Almaty]] (the southernmost city) to [[Petropavl]] (the northernmost city) in about 18 hours.

[[Kazakhstan Temir Zholy]] (KTZ) is the national railway company. KTZ cooperates with French locomotive manufacturer Alstom in developing Kazakhstan's railway infrastructure. Alstom has more than 600 staff and two joint ventures with KTZ and its subsidiary in Kazakhstan.<ref>{{cite web|title=Loco manufacturer obtains first IRIS certification in Kazakhstan|url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/business/single-view/view/loco-manufacturer-obtains-first-iris-certification-in-kazakhstan.html|website=www.railwaygazette.com|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513011411/http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/business/single-view/view/loco-manufacturer-obtains-first-iris-certification-in-kazakhstan.html|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In July 2017, Alstom opened its first locomotive repairing centre in Kazakhstan. It is the only repairing centre in Central Asia and the Caucasus.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alstom inaugurated first locomotive repairing centre in Kazakhstan|url=http://www.raillynews.com/2017/alstom-inaugurated-first-locomotive-repairing-centre-kazakhstan/|website=www.raillynews.com|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513011359/http://www.raillynews.com/2017/alstom-inaugurated-first-locomotive-repairing-centre-kazakhstan/|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

As the Kazakhstani rail system was designed during the Soviet era, rail routes reflected the goals of Soviet planning. This has caused anomalies such as the route from [[Oral, Kazakhstan|Oral]] to [[Aktobe]] now passes briefly through Russian territory.{{citation needed}}

[[Astana Nurly Zhol railway station]], the most modern railway station in Kazakhstan, was opened in Astana on 31 May 2017. The opening of the station coincided with the start of the [[Expo 2017]] international exhibition. According to Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ), the 120,000m2 station was expected to be used by 54 trains and would have the capacity to handle 35,000 passengers a day.<ref>{{cite web|title=Astana Nurly Zhol station inaugurated|url=http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/asia/astana-nurly-zhol-station-opens.html|website=www.railjournal.com|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513012912/http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/asia/astana-nurly-zhol-station-opens.html|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

There is a small {{convert| 8.56|km|mi|abbr=on}} [[rapid transit|metro]] system in [[Almaty]]. Second and third metro lines were planned for the future. The second line would intersect with the first line at [[Alatau (Almaty Metro)|Alatau]] and [[Zhibek Zholy (Almaty Metro)|Zhibek Zholy]] stations.<ref name=urbanrail.net>{{cite web|url=http://www.urbanrail.net/as/alma/almaty.htm|title=urbanrail.net|access-date=25 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425050228/http://www.urbanrail.net/as/alma/almaty.htm|archive-date=25 April 2015}}</ref> In May 2011, the construction of the second phase of the Almaty Metro line 1 began. The general contractor is Almatymetrokurylys. More{{when}} than {{convert|300|m|ft|abbr=on}} of tunnels on the extension project have been excavated. The extension includes five new stations and will connect the downtown area of Almaty with [[Kalkaman]] in the suburbs. Its length will be {{convert|8.62|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Almaty_metro_website>{{cite web|url=http://www.almatymetro.kz/page.php|title=Алматыметро :: Главная страница|access-date=25 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815102546/http://www.almatymetro.kz/page.php|archive-date=15 August 2012}}</ref> The construction is divided into 3 phases. The first phase (the current{{when}} phase) will be the addition of two stations: Sairan and Moscow, a length of {{convert|2.7|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Almaty_metro_website" /> For more details see: [[Almaty Metro]].There was a tram system of 10 lines which operated from 1937 to 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.subways.net/kazakstan/almaty.htm|title=Subways and Trams In Kazakstan: Almaty's Metro|website=www.subways.net|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729141530/http://www.subways.net/kazakstan/almaty.htm|archive-date=29 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Astana Metro]] system has been under construction, but was abandoned at one point in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/industry_infrastructure/No-Light-Rail-Transport-for-Astana-24346/|title=No Light Rail Transport for Astana|website=Tengrinews.kz|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926042415/https://en.tengrinews.kz/industry_infrastructure/No-Light-Rail-Transport-for-Astana-24346/|archive-date=26 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2015, an agreement was signed for the project to be resumed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news/asia/single-view/view/astana-light-rail-framework-agreement-signed.html|title=Astana light rail framework agreement signed|first=DVV Media|last=UK|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702011816/http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news/asia/single-view/view/astana-light-rail-framework-agreement-signed.html|archive-date=2 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> There is an {{convert|86|km|mi|abbr=on}} tram network, which began service in 1965 with, as of 2012, 20 regular and three special routes.<ref name=Pavlodar>[[Pavlodar]]</ref>

The Khorgos Gateway dry port is one of Kazakhstan's primary dry ports for handling trans-Eurasian trains, which travel more than {{convert|9000|km|abbr=on}} between China and Europe. The Khorgos Gateway dry port is surrounded by Khorgos Eastern Gate SEZ which officially commenced operations in December 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=Khorgos: The New Silk Road's Central Station Comes To Life|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/02/20/khorgos-the-new-silk-roads-central-station-comes-to-life/2/#4770e6ab5322|website=forbes.com|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513012524/https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/02/20/khorgos-the-new-silk-roads-central-station-comes-to-life/2/#4770e6ab5322|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2009 the [[European Commission]] blacklisted all Kazakh air carriers with a sole exception of [[Air Astana]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Anonymous|title=Aviation Safety: Commission updates EU air safety list – Iran and Africa make progress|url=https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/news/2016-06-16-air-ban_en|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Mobility and Transport – European Commission|language=en|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107073308/https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/news/2016-06-16-air-ban_en|url-status=live}}</ref> Thereafter, Kazakhstan took measures to modernise and revamp its air safety oversight. In 2016 the European air safety authorities removed all Kazakh airlines from the blacklist, saying there was "sufficient evidence of compliance" with international standards by Kazakh Airlines and the Civil Aviation Committee.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sustained safety effort pulled Kazakhstan off EU blacklist|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/sustained-safety-effort-pulled-kazakhstan-off-eu-bla-432336/|website=www.flightglobal.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107014911/https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/sustained-safety-effort-pulled-kazakhstan-off-eu-bla-432336/|archive-date=7 November 2017}}</ref>

=== Tourism ===
{{Main|Tourism in Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Казахстан. Боровое, вид с Болектау, осень, вечер.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Burabay]], view from Mount Bolectau]]
[[File:Верхняя точка горнолыжной трассы курорта Чимбулак..JPG|thumb|[[Shymbulak]] ski resort in Almaty]]

Kazakhstan is the [[List of countries and dependencies by area|ninth-largest country by area]] and the largest landlocked country in the world. As of 2014, tourism accounted for 0.3 percent of Kazakhstan's GDP, but the government had plans to increase it to 3 percent by 2020.<ref name="theguardian1">{{cite web |author=Joanna Lillis for EurasiaNet, part of the New East |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/kazakhstan-eases-visa-restrictions-attract-tourists |title=Summer holiday in Kazakhstan? Astana eases visa restrictions to attract tourists | World news |work=The Guardian |access-date=18 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503182321/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/kazakhstan-eases-visa-restrictions-attract-tourists |archive-date=3 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68601 |title=Kazakhstan: Astana Announces Visa-Free Travel for 10 High-Investing States |publisher=EurasiaNet.org |access-date=18 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117123606/http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68601 |archive-date=17 November 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the [[World Economic Forum]]'s [[Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report]] of 2017, travel and tourism industry GDP in Kazakhstan was $3.08 billion or only 1.6 percent of total GDP. The WEF ranked Kazakhstan 80th in its 2019 report.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wef.ch/3129pen|title=Rankings|access-date=19 November 2020|archive-date=25 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925161646/https://wef.ch/3129pen|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2017, Kazakhstan ranked 43rd in the number of tourist arrivals. In 2014, [[The Guardian]] described tourism in Kazakhstan as, "hugely underdeveloped", despite the country's mountain, lake and desert landscapes.<ref name=Lillis /> Factors hampering an increase in tourism were said to include high prices, "shabby infrastructure," "poor service" and the difficulties of travel in a large underdeveloped country.<ref name=Lillis /> Even for Kazakhs, going for holiday abroad may have cost only half the price of taking a holiday in Kazakhstan.<ref name=Lillis>{{cite news|last1=Lillis|first1=Joanna|title=Summer holiday in Kazakhstan? Astana eases visa restrictions to attract tourists|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/kazakhstan-eases-visa-restrictions-attract-tourists|access-date=11 December 2015|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503182321/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/kazakhstan-eases-visa-restrictions-attract-tourists|archive-date=3 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Kazakh Government, long characterised as authoritarian with a history of human rights abuses and suppression of political opposition,<ref name="time" /> in 2015 issued a "Tourism Industry Development Plan 2020." It aimed to establish five tourism clusters in Kazakhstan: [[Astana]] city, [[Almaty]] city, [[East Kazakhstan Region|East Kazakhstan]], [[South Kazakhstan Region|South Kazakhstan]], and [[West Kazakhstan Region|West Kazakhstan]] Oblasts. It also sought investment of $4 billion and the creation of 300,000 new jobs in the tourism industry by 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/environment/Kazakhstan-to-develop-its-tourism-industry-254241/ |title=Kazakhstan to develop its tourism industry. Environment. Tengrinews.kz |publisher=En.tengrinews.kz |access-date=18 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119065420/http://en.tengrinews.kz/environment/Kazakhstan-to-develop-its-tourism-industry-254241/ |archive-date=19 November 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Lillis />

Kazakhstan has offered a permanent visa-free regime for up to 90 days to citizens of [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]], Georgia, [[Moldova]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Mongolia]], Russia and [[Ukraine]], and for up to 30 days to citizens of [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[Ecuador]], [[Serbia]], [[South Korea]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkey]], [[UAE]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. It also established a visa-free regime for citizens of 54 countries, including the [[European Union]] and [[OECD#Member countries|OECD member states]], the [[United States|U.S.]], [[Japan]], [[Mexico]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref name="tim">{{Timatic Visa Policy|country=KZ|accessdate=1 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="mfa.kz">{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.kz/ru/content-view/vizovyj-rezhim-rk-s-drugimi-gosudarstvami |title=Visa Regime of Kazakhstan with other countries |publisher=The Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan |access-date=22 June 2017 |language=ru |archive-date=9 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609052952/http://www.mfa.kz/ru/content-view/vizovyj-rezhim-rk-s-drugimi-gosudarstvami |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Green economy ===
[[File:Expo 2017 "Nur Alem" Pavilion Glass Pathway 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Astana [[Expo 2017]] "Nur Alem" Pavilion]]

Kazakhstan launched the Green Economy Plan in 2013. It committed Kazakhstan to meet 50 percent of its energy needs from alternative and renewable sources by 2050.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan: Green economy reforms gain momentum |url=https://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2018/kazakhstan--green-economy-reforms-gain-momentum.html |website=UNDP |access-date=27 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127212947/https://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2018/kazakhstan--green-economy-reforms-gain-momentum.html |archive-date=27 November 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The green economy was projected to increase GDP by 3 percent and create some 500,000 jobs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Uyzbayeva|first=Aigerim|title=Towards Achieving Energy Efficicency in Kazakhstan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281963073|journal=International Conference on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technology (ICEERET2015)|volume=9|via=ResearchGate|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012043609/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281963073_Towards_Achieving_Energy_Efficicency_in_Kazakhstan|archive-date=12 October 2017}}</ref> The government set prices for energy produced from renewable sources. The price of 1 kilowatt-hour for energy produced by wind power plants was set at 22.68 tenge ($0.12), for 1 kilowatt-hour produced by small hydro-power plants 16.71 tenges ($0.09), and from biogas plants 32.23 tenges ($0.18).<ref name=renewableprices>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan Sets Prices for Energy From Renewable Sources|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-13/kazakhstan-sets-prices-for-energy-from-renewable-sources|publisher=Bloomberg News|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309165647/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-13/kazakhstan-sets-prices-for-energy-from-renewable-sources|archive-date=9 March 2017}}</ref>

=== Foreign direct investment ===
Kazakhstan has attracted $330 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) from more than 120 countries since its independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://astanatimes.com/2019/09/kazakhstan-attracts-330-billion-fdi-since-1991/|title=Kazakhstan attracts $330 billion FDI since 1991|last=September 2019|first=Dilshat Zhussupova in Nation on 11|website=The Astana Times|language=en|access-date=7 April 2020|archive-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911192654/https://astanatimes.com/2019/09/kazakhstan-attracts-330-billion-fdi-since-1991/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, the U.S. State Department said Kazakhstan was widely considered to have the best investment climate in the region.<ref name="2013ICS">{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/241825.pdf|title=2015 Investment Climate Statement – Kazakhstan|publisher=US State Department|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730094555/https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/241825.pdf|archive-date=30 July 2019|access-date=21 May 2019}}</ref> In 2014,
President Nazarbayev signed into law tax concessions to promote foreign direct investment which included a 10-year exemption from corporation tax, an eight-year exemption from property tax, and a 10-year freeze on most other taxes.<ref name=taxnews>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan Enacts Investor Tax Breaks|url=http://www.tax-news.com/news/Kazakhstan_Enacts_Investor_Tax_Breaks____65000.html|publisher=Tax News|access-date=18 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701081052/http://www.tax-news.com/news/Kazakhstan_Enacts_Investor_Tax_Breaks____65000.html|archive-date=1 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Other incentives include a refund on capital investments of up to 30 percent once a production facility is in operation.<ref name="taxnews" />

In 2014, the [[European Bank of Reconstruction and Development]] (EBRD) and Kazakhstan created the partnership for Re-Energizing the Reform Process in Kazakhstan to work with international financial institutions to channel US$2.7 billion provided by the Kazakh government into important sectors of Kazakhstan's economy.<ref name=EBRDprrp>{{cite web|title=EBRD and Kazakhstan agree historic partnership to boost reform and investment|url=http://www.ebrd.com/pages/news/press/2014/140523.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525223329/http://www.ebrd.com/pages/news/press/2014/140523.shtml|archive-date=25 May 2014|publisher=EBRD}}</ref>

As of May 2014, Kazakhstan had attracted $190 billion in gross foreign investments since its independence in 1991 and it led the CIS countries in terms of FDI attracted per capita.<ref name=AstanaT>{{cite web|title=Nazarbayev Announces Plans for New Major Incentives for Foreign Investors|url=http://astanatimes.com/2014/05/nazarbayev-announces-plans-new-major-incentives-foreign-investors/|website=Astanatimes.com|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219170550/http://astanatimes.com/2014/05/nazarbayev-announces-plans-new-major-incentives-foreign-investors/|archive-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> One of the factors that attract foreign direct investments is country's political stability.

The OECD 2017 Investment Policy Review noted that "great strides" had been made to open up opportunities to foreign investors and improve policy to attract FDI.<ref name="oecdkzpolicyreview">{{cite web|title=OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Kazakhstan 2017|url=http://www.oecd.org/investment/oecd-investment-policy-reviews-kazakhstan-2017-9789264269606-en.htm|website=OECD.org|publisher=OECD|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117001653/http://www.oecd.org/investment/oecd-investment-policy-reviews-kazakhstan-2017-9789264269606-en.htm|archive-date=17 November 2017}}</ref>

=== Banking ===
The banking industry of Kazakhstan went through a boom-and-bust cycle in the early 21st century. After several years of rapid expansion in the mid-2000s, the banking industry collapsed in 2008. Several large banking groups, including [[BTA Bank]] J.S.C. and Alliance Bank, defaulted soon thereafter. The industry shrank and was restructured, with system-wide loans dropping from 59 percent of GDP in 2007 to 39 percent in 2011. Although the Russian and Kazakhstani banking systems share some common features, there are key differences: Banks in Kazakhstan experienced a lengthy period of political stability and economic growth, which helped push Kazakhstan's banking system to a higher level of development. Banking technology and personnel qualifications were stronger in Kazakhstan. On the negative side, past stability in Kazakhstan arose from the concentration of virtually all political power in the hands of a single individual – the key factor in any assessment of system or country risk.<ref>{{cite news |title=S&P Maintains Kazakhstan BICRA at Group "8" |url=http://gca.satrapia.com/sp-maintains-kazakhstan-bicra-at-group-8 |access-date=4 August 2012 |newspaper=The Gazette of Central Asia |publisher=Satrapia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208120431/http://gca.satrapia.com/sp-maintains-kazakhstan-bicra-at-group-8 |archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

=== Bond market ===
In October 2014, Kazakhstan introduced its first overseas dollar bonds in 14 years.<ref name=bloom1>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan Sells First Overseas Dollar Bonds in 14 Years|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-06/kazakhstan-sells-first-overseas-dollar-bonds-in-14-years|agency=Bloomberg L.P.|first=Katia|last=Porzecanski|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309163443/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-06/kazakhstan-sells-first-overseas-dollar-bonds-in-14-years|archive-date=9 March 2017}}</ref> Kazakhstan issued $2.5 billion of 10- and 30-year bonds on 5 October 2014, in what was the nation's first dollar-denominated overseas sale since 2000.<ref name="bloom1" /> Kazakhstan sold $1.5 billion of 10-year dollar bonds to yield 1.5 percentage points above midswaps and $1 billion of 30-year debt at two percentage points over midswaps.<ref name="bloom1" /> The country drew bids for $11 billion.<ref name="bloom1" />

=== Housing market ===
[[File:TV-Turm Almaty - 3.jpg|thumb|[[Almaty]]]]

As of 2016, the total housing area in Kazakhstan was {{convert|342.6|e6m2|e6sqft|abbr=off}}, an average of {{cvt|21.4|m2|sqft}} per person.<ref name="UNECE-CP">{{cite web|url=https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/CP_Kazakhstan_web.ENG_.pdf|publisher=[[United Nations Economic Commission for Europe]]|title=Country Profiles on the Housing Sector — Republic of Kazakhstan|accessdate=2022-12-31}}</ref> The housing area per person increased by 20% in the period from 2005 to 2016,<ref name="UNECE-CP"/> but remained below the UN's recommended standard of {{convert|30|m2|sqft|abbr=off}} per person.

=== "Nurly Jol" economic policy ===
On 11 November 2014, the President of Kazakhstan [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]] delivered an unexpected state-of-the-nation address in Astana at an extended session of the Political Council of the Nur Otan party, introducing a "Nurly Jol" (Bright Path), a new economic policy that implies massive state investment in infrastructure over the next several years.<ref name=NZ1>{{cite news|title=In Surprise State of the Nation Address, Kazakh President Unveils Massive Infrastructure Investments|url=http://astanatimes.com/2014/11/surprise-state-nation-address-kazakh-president-unveils-massive-infrastructure-investments/|work=Astana Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208103737/http://astanatimes.com/2014/11/surprise-state-nation-address-kazakh-president-unveils-massive-infrastructure-investments/|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref> The "Nurly Zhol" policy is accepted as preventive measures needed to help steer the economy towards sustainable growth in the context of the modern global economic and geopolitical challenges, such as the 25 percent-reduction in the oil price, reciprocal sanctions between the West and Russia over Ukraine, etc.<ref name="NZ1" /> The policy embraces all aspects of economic growth, including finances, industry and social welfare, but especially emphasises investments into the development of infrastructure and construction works.<ref name="NZ1" /> Given recent decreases in revenues from the export of raw materials, funds will be used from Kazakhstan's National Fund.<ref name="NZ1" />

=== Economic competitiveness ===
In the 2020 Doing Business Report by the World Bank, Kazakhstan ranked 25th globally and as the number one best country globally for protecting minority investors’ rights.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/country/k/kazakhstan/KAZ.pdf |title=Doing Business 2020 |website=Doing Business |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=5 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105075707/https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/country/k/kazakhstan/KAZ.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Kazakhstan achieved its goal of entering the top 50 most competitive countries in 2013 and has maintained its position in the 2014–2015 World Economic Forum [[Global Competitiveness Report]] that was published at the beginning of September 2014.<ref name=AT1>{{cite web|title=Staying Competitive in a Toughening External Environment|url=http://astanatimes.com/2014/09/staying-competitive-toughening-external-environment/|website=Astanatimes.com|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219170605/http://astanatimes.com/2014/09/staying-competitive-toughening-external-environment/|archive-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> Kazakhstan is ahead of other states in the CIS in almost all of the report's pillars of competitiveness, including institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market development, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation, lagging behind only in the category of health and primary education.<ref name="AT1" /> The Global Competitiveness Index gives a score from 1 to 7 in each of these pillars, and Kazakhstan earned an overall score of 4.4.<ref name="AT1" />

=== Corruption ===
In 2005, the [[World Bank]] listed Kazakhstan as a corruption hotspot, on a par with [[Angola]], [[Bolivia]], [[Kenya]], [[Libya]] and [[Pakistan]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/business/yourmoney/05giffen.html?pagewanted=all Oil, Cash and Corruption] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205174501/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/business/yourmoney/05giffen.html?pagewanted=all }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 5 November 2006</ref> In 2012, Kazakhstan ranked low in an index of the least corrupt countries<ref name="OECD1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=BU7uK583X8MC&dq=kazakhstan+corruption+ranking&pg=PA112 OECD Investment Policy Reviews] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227164424/https://books.google.com/books?id=BU7uK583X8MC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=kazakhstan+corruption+ranking&source=bl&ots=ZI50X8c9BL&sig=TiPEPwdRpIq41eJ1a5PxX_GsgYs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBTgKahUKEwib2f2FzYPIAhVmcHIKHePYBpE }}, P112, [[OECD]], 2012</ref> and the [[World Economic Forum]] listed corruption as the biggest problem in doing business in the country.<ref name="OECD1" /> A 2017 OECD report on Kazakhstan indicated that Kazakhstan has reformed laws with regard to the civil service, judiciary, instruments to prevent corruption, [[access to information]], and prosecuting corruption.<ref name="oecdreport2017">{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan should build on its efforts to fight corruption and push forward with reforms|url=http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/kazakhstan-should-build-on-efforts-to-fightcorruption-and-push-forwar-with-reforms.htm|publisher=OECD|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026054105/http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/kazakhstan-should-build-on-efforts-to-fightcorruption-and-push-forwar-with-reforms.htm|archive-date=26 October 2017}}</ref> Kazakhstan has implemented anticorruption reforms that have been recognised by organizations like Transparency International.<ref name="tpi">{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan removed from list of most corrupt countries |url=https://astanatimes.com/2018/03/kazakhstan-removed-from-list-of-most-corrupt-countries/ |publisher=The Astana Times |access-date=25 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225134558/https://astanatimes.com/2018/03/kazakhstan-removed-from-list-of-most-corrupt-countries/ |archive-date=25 December 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2011 Switzerland confiscated US$48 million in Kazakhstani assets from Swiss bank accounts, as a result of a bribery investigation in the United States.<ref name=basel>{{cite web |url = https://www.baselgovernance.org/sites/collective.localhost/files/documents/131024_selected_case_studies.pdf |title = Returning Stolen Assets – Learning from past practice: Selected case studies |author1 = Gretta Fenner Zinkernagel |author2 = Kodjo Attisso |publisher = International Centre for Asset Recovery |page = 5 |via = Basel Institute on Governance |access-date = 19 July 2016 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160818075353/https://www.baselgovernance.org/sites/collective.localhost/files/documents/131024_selected_case_studies.pdf |archive-date = 18 August 2016 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> US officials believed the funds represented bribes paid by American officials to Kazakhstani officials in exchange for oil or prospecting rights in Kazakhstan. Proceedings eventually involved US$84 million in the US and another US$60 million in Switzerland.<ref name=basel />

The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the Kazakh Anti-Corruption Agency signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in February 2015.<ref name=MLATfeb15>{{cite web|title=Signing of a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty Between the United States and Kazakhstan|newspaper=U.S. Department of State |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/02/237732.htm|publisher=US State Department|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130211231/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/02/237732.htm|archive-date=30 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Transparency International]]'s 2022 [[Corruption Perceptions Index]], which scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"), gave Kazakhstan a score of 36. When ranked by score, Kazakhstan ranked 101st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is calculated |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/news/how-cpi-scores-are-calculated |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=Transparency.org|language=en}}</ref> For comparison, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the worst score was 12 (ranked 180), and the average score was 43.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Corruption Perceptions Index 2022: Kazakhstan |url=https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022/index/kaz |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=Transparency.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Science and technology ===
{{Main|Science and technology in Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Trends in GERD GDP ratio in Central Asia, 2001−2013.svg|thumb|Trends in research expenditure in Central Asia, as a percentage of GDP, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: 2030 (2015), Figure 14.3.]]

Research remains largely concentrated in Kazakhstan's largest city and former capital, Almaty, home to 52 percent of research personnel. Public research is largely confined to institutes, with universities making only a token contribution. Research institutes receive their funding from national research councils under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education and Science. Their output, however, tends to be disconnected from market needs. In the business sector, few industrial enterprises conduct research themselves.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|title=Innovation Performance Review|publisher=United Nations Economic Commission for Europe|year=2012|location=New York and Geneva}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Central Asia. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030|last=Mukhitdinova|first=Nasiba|publisher=UNESCO|year=2015|isbn=978-92-3-100129-1|location=Paris|pages=365–387}}</ref>

[[File:The irradiation experiments at the ion accelerator DC-60. Astana, Kazakhstan.JPG|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Group of Kazakhstan physicists in collaboration with Uzbek researchers working at the ion accelerator DC-60]]

One of the most ambitious targets of the State Programme for Accelerated Industrial and Innovative Development adopted in 2010 is to raise the country's level of expenditure on research and development to 1 percent of GDP by 2015. By 2013, this ratio stood at 0.18 percent of GDP. It will be difficult to reach the target as long as economic growth remains strong.{{Update inline}} Since 2005, the economy has grown faster (by 6 percent in 2013) than gross domestic expenditure on research and development, which only progressed from PPP$598 million to PPP$714 million between 2005 and 2013.<ref name=":1" />

Innovation expenditure more than doubled in Kazakhstan between 2010 and 2011, representing KZT 235 billion (''circa'' US$1.6 billion), or around 1.1 percent of GDP. Some 11 percent of the total was spent on research and development. This compares with about 40 to 70 percent of innovation expenditure in developed countries. This augmentation was due to a sharp rise in product design and the introduction of new services and production methods over this period, to the detriment of the acquisition of machinery and equipment, which has traditionally made up the bulk of Kazakhstan's innovation expenditure. Training costs represented just 2 percent of innovation expenditure, a much lower share than in developed countries.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":1" /> Kazakhstan was ranked 79th in the [[Global Innovation Index]] in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Innovation Index 2021 |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2021/|work=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]]|publisher=[[United Nations]]|access-date=2022-03-05 |language=en}}</ref>

In December 2012, President [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]] announced the ''[[Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy]]'' with the slogan "Strong Business, Strong State." This pragmatic strategy proposes sweeping socio-economic and political reforms to hoist Kazakhstan among the top 30 economies by 2050. In this document, Kazakhstan gives itself 15 years to evolve into a knowledge economy. New sectors are to be created during each five-year plan. The first of these, covering the years 2010–2014, focused on developing industrial capacity in car manufacturing, aircraft engineering and the production of locomotives, passenger and cargo railroad cars. During the second five-year plan to 2019, the goal is to develop export markets for these products. To enable Kazakhstan to enter the world market of geological exploration, the country intends to increase the efficiency of traditional extractive sectors such as oil and gas. It also intends to develop rare earth metals, given their importance for electronics, laser technology, communication and medical equipment. The second five-year plan coincides with the development of the ''Business 2020'' roadmap for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which makes provision for the allocation of grants to SMEs in the regions and for microcredit. The government and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs also plan to develop an effective mechanism to help start-ups.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:Soyuz expedition 19 launch pad.jpg|thumb|[[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] is the world's oldest and largest operational [[spaceport]].]]

During subsequent five-year plans to 2050, new industries will be established in fields such as mobile, multi-media, nano- and space technologies, robotics, genetic engineering and alternative energy. Food processing enterprises will be developed with an eye to turning the country into a major regional exporter of beef, dairy and other agricultural products. Low-return, water-intensive crop varieties will be replaced with vegetable, oil and fodder products. As part of the shift to a "green economy" by 2030, 15% of acreage will be cultivated with water-saving technologies. Experimental agrarian and innovational clusters will be established and drought-resistant [[genetically modified crops]] developed.<ref name=":1" />

The [[Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy]] fixes a target of devoting 3 percent of GDP to research and development by 2050 to allow for the development of new high-tech sectors.<ref name=":1" />

The Digital Kazakhstan program was launched in 2018 to boost the country's economic growth through the implementation of digital technologies. Kazakhstan's digitization efforts generated 800 billion tenges (US$1.97 billion) in two years. The program helped create 120,000 jobs and attracted 32.8 billion tenges (US$80.7 million) of investment into the country.

Around 82 percent of all public services became automated as part of the Digital Kazakhstan program.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kazakhstan's Digitization Program Brings Additional $2 billion Into the Economy |url=https://astanatimes.com/2020/06/kazakhstans-digitization-program-brings-additional-2-billion-into-the-economy/ |website=The Astana Times |access-date=20 June 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622014433/https://astanatimes.com/2020/06/kazakhstans-digitization-program-brings-additional-2-billion-into-the-economy/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Kazakhstan}}
{{See also|Kazakhs}}
[[File:Population pyramid Kazakhstan 2020.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Population pyramid]], 2020]]
[[File:Central Asia Ethnic en.svg|thumb|Central Asian ethnolinguistic patchwork, 1992]]

The [[US Census Bureau]] International Database lists the population of Kazakhstan as 18.9 million (May 2019),<ref>{{cite web |title=Population Clock: World |url=https://www.census.gov/popclock/world/kz |website=www.census.gov |access-date=30 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530184512/https://www.census.gov/popclock/world/kz |archive-date=30 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> while United Nations sources such as {{UN Population|source}} give an estimate of {{UN Population|Kazakhstan}}. Official estimates put the population of Kazakhstan at 18.711 million as of May 2020.<ref name="Негізгі">{{cite web |title=Негізгі |url=http://stat.gov.kz |website=stat.gov.kz |access-date=30 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530193655/http://stat.gov.kz/ |archive-date=30 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2013, Kazakhstan's population rose to 17,280,000 with a 1.7 percent growth rate over the past year according to the Kazakhstan Statistics Agency.<ref>[http://bnews.kz/en/news/obshchestvo/kazakhstans_population_increases_by_17_per_cent_over_a_year-2013_08_15-1026973 Kazakhstan’s population increases by 1.7 per cent over a year] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208063807/http://bnews.kz/en/news/obshchestvo/kazakhstans_population_increases_by_17_per_cent_over_a_year-2013_08_15-1026973 }}. bnews.kz. 15 August 2013</ref>

The 2009 population estimate is 6.8 percent higher than the population reported in the last census from January 1999. The decline in population that began after 1989 has been arrested and possibly reversed. Men and women make up 48.3 and 51.7 percent of the population, respectively.

=== Ethnic groups ===
{{Main|Ethnic demography of Kazakhstan}}

As of 2021, ethnic [[Kazakhs]] are 70.4 percent of the population and ethnic [[Russians in Kazakhstan|Russians]] are 15.5 percent.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |last=Тольц |first=Марк |title=Итоги переписи населения СССР 1939 г.: две проблемы адекватности |journal=Демографическое обозрение |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=100–117 |doi=10.17323/demreview.v7i1.10822 |s2cid=219657282 |issn=2409-2274|doi-access=free }}</ref> Other groups include [[Tatars]] (1.1 percent), [[Ukrainians]] (2.0 percent), [[Uzbeks]] (3.2 percent), [[Germans]] (1.2 percent), [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]] (1.5 percent), [[Azerbaijanis]], [[Dungans]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], [[Koreans]], [[Poles in the former Soviet Union|Poles]], and [[Lithuanians]]. Some minorities such as [[Ukrainians]], [[Koreans]], [[Volga Germans]] (0.9 percent), [[Chechens]],<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3509933.stm Remembering Stalin's deportations] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606174402/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3509933.stm }}, BBC News, 23 February 2004</ref> [[Meskhetian Turks]], and Russian political opponents of the regime, had been [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported to Kazakhstan]] in the 1930s and 1940s by Josef Stalin. Some of the largest Soviet [[labour camp]]s ([[Gulag]]) existed in the country.<ref>{{cite web |last=Clarey |first=Christopher |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/01/news/kazakh.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104084902/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/01/news/kazakh.php |archive-date=4 January 2007 |title=Politics, economics and time bury memories of the Kazakh gulag |work=International Herald Tribune |access-date=9 September 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Dzhasybay beach.jpg|thumb|Kazakhstanis on a [[Lake Jasybay]] beach, [[Pavlodar Region]] ]]

Significant Russian immigration was also connected with the [[Virgin Lands Campaign]] and [[Soviet space program]] during the [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchev]] era.<ref>{{cite news |last=Greenall |first=Robert |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm |title=Russians left behind in Central Asia |work=BBC News |access-date=9 September 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911080317/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm |archive-date=11 September 2013}}</ref> In 1989, ethnic Russians were 37.8 percent of the population and Kazakhs held a majority in only 7 of the 20 regions of the country. Before 1991 there were about 1 million [[Germans of Kazakhstan|Germans in Kazakhstan]], mostly descendants of the [[Volga Germans]] deported to Kazakhstan during World War II. After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], most of them emigrated to Germany.<ref>[http://www.irinnews.org/report/28051/kazakhstan-special-report-on-ethnic-germans Kazakhstan: Special report on ethnic Germans] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208125555/http://www.irinnews.org/report/28051/kazakhstan-special-report-on-ethnic-germans }}, IRIN Asia, 1 February 2005</ref> Most members of the smaller [[Pontian Greek]] minority have emigrated to Greece. In the late 1930s thousands of [[Koreans]] in the Soviet Union were [[Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union|deported to Central Asia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Central Asia's Koreans in Korea: There and (Mostly) Back Again|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/central-asias-koreans-in-korea-there-and-mostly-back-again/|access-date=2021-01-05|website=openDemocracy|language=en|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109105937/https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/central-asias-koreans-in-korea-there-and-mostly-back-again/|url-status=live}}</ref> These people are now known as [[Koryo-saram]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=From Samarkand to Seoul: Central Asian migrants in South Korea {{!}} Eurasianet|url=https://eurasianet.org/from-samarkand-to-seoul-central-asian-migrants-in-south-korea|access-date=2021-01-05|website=eurasianet.org|language=en|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109014339/https://eurasianet.org/from-samarkand-to-seoul-central-asian-migrants-in-south-korea|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1990s were marked by the emigration of many of the country's [[Russians]], [[Ukrainians in Kazakhstan|Ukrainians]] and [[Volga Germans]], a process that began in the 1970s. This has made indigenous Kazakhs the largest ethnic group.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kazakhstan – People|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=17 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617101159/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan|url-status=live}}</ref> Additional factors in the increase in the Kazakhstani population are higher birthrates and [[Oralman|immigration of ethnic Kazakhs]] from China, [[Mongolia]], and Russia.

{| class="wikitable"
|+
'''Population of Kazakhstan according to ethnic group 1926–2021'''
|- style="background:#e0e0e0;"
! rowspan=2 | Ethnic group
! colspan=2 | census 19261
! colspan="2" |census 19392
! colspan="2" |census 19593
! colspan=2 | census 19704
! colspan=2 | census 19895
! colspan=2 | census 19996
! colspan=2 | census 20097
| colspan="2" | '''census 20218'''
|- style="background:#e0e0e0;"
! Number
! %
!Number
! %
!Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
| '''Number'''
| '''%'''
|-
| [[Kazakhs]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,627,612
| style="text-align:right;"| 58.5
|2,327,625
|37.8
|2,794,966
|30.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,161,164
| style="text-align:right;"| 32.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,534,616
| style="text-align:right;"| 39.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 8,011,452
| style="text-align:right;"| 53.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 10,096,763
| style="text-align:right;"| 63.1
|13,497,891
|70.4
|-
| [[Russians]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,275,055
| style="text-align:right;"| 20.6
|2,458,687
|40.0
|3,974,229
|42.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,499,826
| style="text-align:right;"| 42.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,227,549
| style="text-align:right;"| 37.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,480,675
| style="text-align:right;"| 29.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,793,764
| style="text-align:right;"| 23.7
|2,981,946
|15.5
|-
| [[Uzbeks]]

| style="text-align:right;"| 129,407
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.1
|120,655
|2.0
|136,570
|1.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 207,514
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.6
| style="text-align:right;"| 332,017
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 370,765
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 456,997
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.8
|614,047
|3.2
|-
| [[Ukrainians]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 860,201
| style="text-align:right;"| 13.9
|658,319
|10.7
|762,131
|8.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 930,158
| style="text-align:right;"| 7.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 896,240
| style="text-align:right;"| 5.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 547,065
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 333,031
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.1
|387,327
|2.0
|-
| [[Germans]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 51,094
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.8
|92,571
|1.5
|659,751
|7.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 839,649
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 957,518
| style="text-align:right;"| 5.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 353,462
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 178,409
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.1
|226,092
|1.2
|-
| colspan="22" | 1 Source:<ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208033435/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_26.php }}.
demoscope.ru.</ref> 2 Source:<ref>[http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_39.php?reg=10 "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года"].
demoscope.ru.</ref> 3 Source:<ref>[http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_59.php?reg=91 "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1959 года"]. demoscope.ru.</ref> 4 Source:<ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_70.php "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1970 года"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091203151519/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_70.php }}. demoscope.ru.</ref> 5 Source:<ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316172713/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php }}. demoscope.ru.</ref> 6 Source:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130120133116/http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Download/Mes/pdf/51_02.pdf Ethnodemographic situation in Kazakhstan]. ide.go.jp</ref> 7 Source:<ref name="Census2009">{{cite web |script-title=ru:Перепись населения Республики Казахстан 2009 года. Краткие итоги. (Census for the Republic of Kazakhstan 2009. Short Summary) |url=http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8C%20%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81.pdf |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5uvOtyVTC?url=http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8C%20%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81.pdf |archive-date=12 December 2010 |publisher=Republic of Kazakhstan Statistical Agency |access-date=10 December 2010 |language=Russian |url-status=dead}}</ref> 8Source:<ref name="auto"/>
|}

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Languages of Kazakhstan}}

Kazakhstan is officially a bilingual country.<ref>[https://www.akorda.kz/en/official_documents/constitution_ "Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan"]. Official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.</ref> [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] (part of the Kipchak family of [[Turkic languages]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Kazakhstan |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides; Third edition |isbn=978-1-78477-092-1|page= 22 |author1=Paul Brummell }}</ref> is spoken natively by 64.4 percent of the population and has the status of "state language". Russian is spoken by most Kazakhs,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.studycountry.com/guide/KZ-language.htm|title=The Languages spoken in Kazakhstan|website=Studycountry|language=en-US|access-date=11 August 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811144650/http://www.studycountry.com/guide/KZ-language.htm|archive-date=11 August 2017}}</ref> has equal status to Kazakh as an "official language", and is used routinely in business, government, and inter-ethnic communication.<ref>"[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-language/lost-in-translation-kazakh-leader-bans-cabinet-from-speaking-russian-idUSKCN1GB1EJ Lost in translation? Kazakh leader bans cabinet from speaking Russian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525033358/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-language/lost-in-translation-kazakh-leader-bans-cabinet-from-speaking-russian-idUSKCN1GB1EJ }}". Reuters. 27 February 2018.</ref>

The government announced in January 2015 that the [[Latin alphabet]] will replace [[Cyrillic]] as the writing system for the Kazakh language by 2025.<ref name="inform.kz">[http://www.inform.kz/eng/article/2741711 Kazakh language to be converted to Latin alphabet – MCS RK] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219113151/http://www.inform.kz/en/kazakh-language-to-be-converted-to-latin-alphabet-mcs-rk_a2741711}}. Inform.kz (30 January 2015). Retrieved 28 September 2015.</ref> Other minority languages spoken in Kazakhstan include [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]], and [[Tatar language|Tatar]]. English, as well as Turkish, have gained popularity among younger people since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Education across Kazakhstan is conducted in either Kazakh, Russian, or both.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.gov.kz/getImg?id=ESTAT091498|title=Kazakhstan in 2013|work=Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Committee on Statistics|page=33|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929031425/http://www.stat.gov.kz/getImg?id=ESTAT091498|archive-date=29 September 2015}}</ref> In Nazarbayev's resignation speech of 2019, he projected that the people of Kazakhstan in the future will speak three languages (Kazakh, Russian and English).<ref>{{cite web|title=Address of the Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev to the people of Kazakhstan|url=http://kazakhstanun.com/address-of-the-head-of-state-nursultan-nazarbayev-to-the-people-of-kazakhstan/|publisher=Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations|access-date=22 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322165432/http://kazakhstanun.com/address-of-the-head-of-state-nursultan-nazarbayev-to-the-people-of-kazakhstan/|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Kazakhstan}}

{{Bar box
| title=Religion in Kazakhstan, 2021<ref name="2021EthnicStatistics"/><ref name="Viktorova"/>
| titlebar=#ddd
| float=right
| bars=
{{Bar percent|[[Islam in Kazakhstan|Islam]]|green|69.3}}
{{Bar percent|[[Christianity in Kazakhstan|Christianity]]|blue|17.2}}
{{Bar percent|No response|red|11.01}}
{{Bar percent|[[Irreligion in Kazakhstan|Atheism]]|grey|2.25}}
{{Bar percent|[[Religion in Kazakhstan|Other religions]]|purple|0.2}}
}}
[[File:Zenkov Cathedral Winter.jpg|thumb|[[Ascension Cathedral, Almaty|Ascension Cathedral]] in Almaty]]
[[File:Khazret Sultan Mosque.jpg|thumb|right|[[Khazret Sultan Mosque]] is the biggest mosque in Kazakhstan.]]

According to the 2021 census, 69.3% of the population is [[Islam in Kazakhstan|Muslim]], 17.2% are [[Christianity in Kazakhstan|Christian]], 0.2% follow [[Religion in Kazakhstan|other religions]] (mostly [[Buddhism in Kazakhstan|Buddhist]] and [[History of the Jews in Kazakhstan|Jewish]]), 11.01% chose not to answer, and 2.25% identify as [[atheist]].<ref name="2021EthnicStatistics"/><ref name="Viktorova"/>

Kazakhstan is a [[secular state]] whose constitution guarantees religious freedoms. Article 39 of the constitution states: "Human rights and freedoms shall not be restricted in any way." Article 14 prohibits "discrimination on religious basis" and Article 19 ensures that everyone has the "right to determine and indicate or not to indicate his/her ethnic, party and religious affiliation." The Constitutional Council affirmed these rights in a 2009 declaration, which stated that a proposed law limiting the rights of certain individuals to practice their religion was declared unconstitutional.<ref>{{Cite web|last=AsiaNews.it|title=Restrictive new law on religious freedom is unconstitutional|url=http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Restrictive-new-law-on-religious-freedom-is-unconstitutional-14477.html|access-date=2021-01-05|publisher=www.asianews.it|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108041316/http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Restrictive-new-law-on-religious-freedom-is-unconstitutional-14477.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Islam in Kazakhstan|Islam]] is the largest religion in Kazakhstan, followed by [[Eastern Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan|Eastern Orthodox Christianity]]. After decades of [[Religion in the Soviet Union|religious suppression by the Soviet Union]], the coming of independence witnessed a surge in the expression of ethnic identity, partly through religion. The free practice of [[Religion|religious beliefs]] and the establishment of full freedom of religion led to an increase of religious activity. Hundreds of mosques, churches, and other religious structures were built in the span of a few years, with the number of religious associations rising from 670 in 1990 to 4,170 today.<ref name="kazakhrel" />

Some figures show that [[non-denominational Muslims]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-1-religious-affiliation/#identity |title=Pew Forum on Religious & Public life, Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation |access-date=27 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226113158/http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-1-religious-affiliation/#identity |archive-date=26 December 2016}}</ref> form the majority, while others indicate that most Muslims in the country are [[Sunni Islam|Sunnis]] following the [[Hanafi]] school.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kazakhstan |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides; Third edition |isbn=978-1-78477-092-1|page= 23 |author1=Paul Brummell }}</ref> These include ethnic [[Kazakhs]], who constitute about 70% of the population, as well as ethnic [[Uzbeks]], [[Uighurs]], and [[Tatars]].<ref name="usstate">[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2008/108501.htm Kazakhstan – International Religious Freedom Report 2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002182320/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2008/108501.htm }} U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 7 September 2009.</ref> Less than 1% are part of the Sunni [[Shafi`i]] school (primarily [[Chechens]]). There are also some [[Ahmadiyya|Ahmadi]] Muslims.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1577 | title=KAZAKHSTAN: Ahmadi Muslim mosque closed, Protestants fined 100 times minimum monthly wage | publisher=Forum 18 | access-date=6 June 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606214920/http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1577 | archive-date=6 June 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> There are a total of 2,300 mosques,<ref name="kazakhrel">[http://www.religions-congress.org/content/view/151/35/lang,english/ Religious Situation Review in Kazakhstan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511052119/http://www.religions-congress.org/content/view/151/35/lang,english }} Congress of World Religions. Retrieved 7 September 2009.</ref> all of them are affiliated with the "Spiritual Association of Muslims of Kazakhstan", headed by a supreme [[mufti]].<ref>[http://www.religions-congress.org/content/view/121/35/lang,english/ Islam in Kazakhstan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918045538/http://www.religions-congress.org/content/view/121/35/lang,english/ }}. Retrieved 7 September 2009.</ref> Unaffiliated mosques are forcefully closed.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1498 | title=KAZAKHSTAN: "Mosques cannot be independent" | publisher=Forum 18 | access-date=6 June 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606205847/http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1498 | archive-date=6 June 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[Eid al-Adha]] is recognised as a national holiday.<ref name="kazakhrel" /> One quarter of the population is Russian Orthodox, including ethnic Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.<ref name="USCOIRFk2009">{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127366.htm |title=Kazakhstan |work=[[United States Commission on International Religious Freedom]] |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |access-date=3 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522225421/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127366.htm |archive-date=22 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other Christian groups include [[Catholic Church in Kazakhstan|Roman Catholics]], [[Greek Catholics]], and [[Protestants]].<ref name="usstate" /> There are a total of 258 Orthodox churches, 93 Catholic churches (9 [[Greek Catholic]]), and over 500 Protestant churches and prayer houses. The Russian Orthodox Christmas is recognised as a national holiday in Kazakhstan.<ref name="kazakhrel" /> Other religious groups include Judaism, the [[Baháʼí Faith in Kazakhstan|Baháʼí Faith]], [[Hinduism in Kazakhstan|Hinduism]], [[Buddhism in Central Asia|Buddhism]], and [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].<ref name="usstate" />

According to the 2009 Census data, there are very few Christians outside the Slavic and Germanic ethnic groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2.rar |title=Нац состав.rar |access-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723084232/http://www.stat.kz/p_perepis/Documents/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%20%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2.rar |archive-date=23 July 2011 }}</ref>

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Palace of Arts Shabyt.jpg|thumb|Kazakh National University of Arts]]

Education is universal and mandatory through to the [[Secondary education|secondary level]] and the [[List of countries by literacy rate|adult literacy rate]] is 99.5%.<ref name="collegeatlas">{{cite web | url=http://www.collegeatlas.org/kazakhstan-colleges-universities.html | title=Kazakhstan Colleges and Universities | publisher=CollegeAtlas | access-date=3 June 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606223224/http://www.collegeatlas.org/kazakhstan-colleges-universities.html | archive-date=6 June 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> On average, these statistics are equal to both women and men in Kazakhstan.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kazakhstan |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides; Third edition |isbn=978-1-78477-092-1|page= 24 |author1=Paul Brummell }}</ref>

Education consists of three main phases: primary education (forms 1–4), basic general education (forms 5–9) and senior level education (forms 10–11 or 12) divided into continued general education and vocational education. Vocational Education usually lasts three or four years.<ref name="UNEVOC">{{cite web | url=http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/go.php?q=World+TVET+Database&ct=KAZ | title=Vocational Education in Kazakhstan | date=August 2012 | access-date=3 June 2014 | author=UNESCO-UNEVOC | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607000448/http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/go.php?q=World+TVET+Database&ct=KAZ | archive-date=7 June 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> (Primary education is preceded by one year of pre-school education.) These levels can be followed in one institution or in different ones (e.g., primary school, then secondary school). Recently, several secondary schools, specialised schools, magnet schools, [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasiums]], [[Lyceum#Lyceums in today's education|lyceums]] and linguistic and technical gymnasiums have been founded. Secondary professional education is offered in special professional or technical schools, lyceums or colleges and vocational schools.<ref name="collegeatlas" />

At present, there are [[List of universities in Kazakhstan|universities]], [[Academy|academies]] and institutes, [[College or university school of music|conservatories]], higher schools and higher colleges. There are three main levels: basic higher education that provides the fundamentals of the chosen field of study and leads to the award of the [[Bachelor's degree]]; specialised higher education after which students are awarded the Specialist's Diploma; and scientific-pedagogical higher education which leads to the master's degree. Postgraduate education leads to the ''[[Kandidat Nauk]]'' ("Candidate of Sciences") and the Doctor of Sciences (PhD). With the adoption of the Laws on Education and on Higher Education, a private sector has been established and several private institutions have been licensed.

Over 2,500 students in Kazakhstan have applied for student loans totalling about $9 million. The largest number of student loans come from Almaty, Astana and Kyzylorda.<ref>[http://bnews.kz/en/news/obshchestvo/more_than_25_thousand_students_get_loans_in_kazakhstan-2013_07_26-1033423 More than 2.5 thousand students get loans in Kazakhstan – News Feed – Bnews.kz: breaking news] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208051507/http://bnews.kz/en/news/obshchestvo/more_than_25_thousand_students_get_loans_in_kazakhstan-2013_07_26-1033423 }}. Bnews.kz. Retrieved 20 August 2013.</ref>

The training and skills development programs in Kazakhstan are also supported by international organisations. For example, on 30 March 2015, the World Banks' Group of Executive Directors approved a $100 million loan for the Skills and Job project in Kazakhstan.<ref name=WB11>{{cite web|title=World Bank Supports Better Skills for Quality Jobs in Kazakhstan|url=http://finchannel.com/index.php/society/jobs/item/42191-world-bank-supports-better-skills-for-quality-jobs-in-kazakhstan|website=Finchannel.com|access-date=14 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309080855/http://finchannel.com/index.php/society/jobs/item/42191-world-bank-supports-better-skills-for-quality-jobs-in-kazakhstan|archive-date=9 March 2016}}</ref> The project aims to provide training to unemployed, unproductively self-employed, and employees in need of training.<ref name="WB11" />

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Kazakhstan|Kazakh clothing|Kazakh wedding ceremony}}
[[File:Equestrian heritage, Kazakhstan.JPEG|thumb|upright|left|A Kazakhstani performer demonstrates the long equestrian heritage as part of the gala concert during the opening ceremonies of the Central Asian Peacekeeping Battalion.]]

Before the Russian colonisation, the Kazakhs had a highly developed culture based on their nomadic pastoral economy. [[Islam]] was introduced into the region with the arrival of the [[Arabs]] in the 8th century. It initially took hold in the southern parts of [[Turkestan]] and spread northward.<ref>Atabaki, Touraj. ''Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora'', pg. 24</ref> The [[Samanids]] helped the religion take root through zealous missionary work. The [[Golden Horde]] further propagated Islam amongst the tribes in the region during the 14th century.<ref>Ibn Athir, volume 8, pg. 396</ref>

[[File:GUWSatpayev.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Kanysh Satpayev]], one of the founders of Soviet-era [[metallogeny]], principal advocate and the first president of [[Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences]]]]

Kazakhstan is home to a large number of prominent contributors to literature, science and philosophy: [[Abay Qunanbayuli]], [[Mukhtar Auezov]], [[Gabit Musirepov]], [[Kanysh Satpayev]], [[Mukhtar Shakhanov]], [[Saken Seyfullin]], [[Jambyl Jabayev]], among many others.

Tourism is a rapidly growing industry in Kazakhstan and it is joining the international tourism networking. In 2010, Kazakhstan joined The Region Initiative (TRI) which is a Tri-regional Umbrella of Tourism-related organisations. TRI is functioning as a link between three regions: South Asia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Ukraine are now partners, and Kazakhstan is linked with other South Asian, Eastern European, and Central Asian countries in the tourism market.

=== Literature ===
{{Main|Kazakh literature}}

Kazakh literature is defined as "the body of literature, both [[oral literature|oral]] and written, produced in the [[Kazakh language]] by the [[Kazakh people]] of Central Asia".<ref name="Feldman">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Kazakh-literature |title=Kazakh literature |author=Walter Feldman |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=31 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402083053/https://www.britannica.com/art/Kazakh-literature |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kazakh literature expands from the current territory of Kazakhstan, also including the era of [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]], Kazakh recognised territory under the [[Russian Empire]] and the [[Kazakh Khanate]]. There is some overlap with several complementary themes, including the literature of Turkic tribes that inhabited Kazakhstan over the course of its history and literature written by ethnic Kazakhs.

[[File:USSR stamp A.Qunanbayuli 1965 4k.jpg|thumb|1965 [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] stamp honouring Kazakh essayist and poet [[Abai Qunanbaiuly]]]]
According to Chinese written sources from the 6th–8th centuries CE, the Turkic tribes of Kazakhstan had an oral poetry tradition. These came from earlier periods and were primarily transmitted by [[bard]]s: professional storytellers and musical performers.<ref name="Nurmanova">{{Cite journal|title=La tradition historique orale des Kazakhs|author=Aitjan Nurmanova|translator=Alié Akimova|journal=Cahiers d'Asie Centrale|issue=8|volume=2000|pages=93–100|url=https://asiecentrale.revues.org/597|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108202604/https://asiecentrale.revues.org/597|archive-date=8 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Traces of this tradition are shown on [[Old Turkic alphabet|Orkhon script]] stone carvings dated 5th–7th centuries CE that describe rule of Kultegin and Bilge, two early Turkic rulers ("kagans").{{Citation needed|reason=We need a source to reference this information.}} Amongst the Kazakhs, the bard was a primarily, though not exclusively, male profession. Since at least the 17th century, Kazakh bards could be divided into two main categories: the zhıraws (zhiraus, žyraus), who passed on the works of others, usually not creating and adding their own original work; and the [[aqyn]]s (akyns), who improvised or created their own poems, stories or songs.<ref name="Feldman" /> There were several types of works, such as [[didactic]] ''termes'', [[elegiac]] ''tolgaws'', and [[epic (genre)|epic]] ''zhırs''.<ref name="Feldman" /> Although the origins of such tales are often unknown, most of them were associated with bards of the recent or more distant past, who supposedly created them or passed them on, by the time most Kazakh poetry and prose was first written down in the second half of the 19th century.<ref name="Feldman" /> There are clear stylistic differences between works first created in the 19th century, and works dating from earlier periods but not documented before the 19th century, such as those attributed to such 16th- and 17th-century bards as Er Shoban and Dosmombet Zhıraw (also known as Dospambet Žyrau; he appeared to have been literate, and reportedly visited [[Constantinople]]), and even to such 15th-century bards as Shalkiz and Asan Qayghı.<ref name="Feldman" />

Other notable bards include Kaztugan Žyrau, Žiembet Žyrau, Axtamberdy Žyrau, and Buxar Žyrau Kalkamanuly, who was an advisor to [[Ablai Khan]], and whose works have been preserved by Mäšhür Žüsip Köpeev.<ref name="Nurmanova" /> ''Er Targhın'' and ''[[Alpamysh|Alpamıs]]'' are two of the most famous examples of Kazakh literature to be recorded in the 19th century.<ref name="Feldman" /> The ''[[Book of Dede Korkut]]'' and Oguz Name (a story of an ancient Turkic king [[Oghuz Khan]]) are the most well-known Turkic heroic legends. Initially created around the 9th century CE, they were passed on through generations in oral form. The legendary tales were recorded by Turkish authors in 14–16th centuries C.E.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Meeker|first=Michael E.|title=The Dede Korkut Ethic|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=24|issue=3|pages=395–417|doi=10.1017/S0020743800021954|s2cid=162799102 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=GÖMEC|first=Saadettin|title=The Identity of Oguz Kagan, the Oguz in the History and the Epics of Oguz Kagan|journal=Turkish Studies|volume=4|issue=8|pages=133–145}}</ref>

The preeminent role in the development of modern literary Kazakh belongs to [[Abai Qunanbaiuly]] ({{lang-kk|Абай Құнанбайұлы}}, sometimes Russified to Abay Kunanbayev, Абай Кунанбаев) (1845–1904), whose writings did much to preserve Kazakh folk culture. Abai's major work is ''The Book of Words'' ({{lang-kk|қара сөздері, Qara sözderi}}), a philosophical treatise and collection of poems where he criticises Russian colonial policies and encourages other Kazakhs to embrace education and literacy. The literary magazines ''[[Ay Qap]]'' (published between 1911 and 1915 in Arabic script) and ''Qazaq'' (published between 1913 and 1918) played an important role in the development of the intellectual and political life among early 20th-century Kazakhs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y3Sk7GeUe5oC&pg=PA79|title=Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics|first=Rafis|last=Abazov|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=9780313056185|via=Google Books}}</ref>

=== Music ===
{{Main|Music of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Stamp of Kazakhstan 659.jpg|thumb|[[Nowruz]] on stamp of Kazakhstan]]

The modern state of Kazakhstan is home to the Kazakh State Kurmangazy Orchestra of Folk Instruments, the Kazakh State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kazakh National Opera and the Kazakh State Chamber Orchestra. The folk instrument orchestra was named after [[Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly]], a famous composer and dombra player from the 19th century. The Musical-Dramatic Training College, founded in 1931, was the first institute of higher education for music. Two years later, the Orchestra of Kazakh Folk Musical Instruments was formed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/46/touda/touda-eng.html|title=From Folklore to Soviet National Culture: The Process of Formation of "Kazak National Music" (1920–1942)|website=src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp|access-date=18 September 2021|archive-date=18 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918141923/https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/46/touda/touda-eng.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
The Foundation Asyl Mura is archiving and publishing historical recordings of great samples of Kazakh music both traditional and classical. The leading conservatoire is in Almaty, the Qurmanghazy Conservatoire. It competes with the national conservatoire in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital.

When referring to traditional Kazakh music, authentic folklore must be separated from "folklorism". The latter denotes music executed by academically trained performers who aim at preserving the traditional music for coming generations. As far as can be reconstructed, the music of Kazakhstan from the period before a strong Russian influence consists of instrumental music and vocal music. Instrumental music, with the pieces ("Küy") being performed by soloists. Text is often seen in the background (or "program") for the music, as a lot of Küy titles refer to stories. Vocal music, either as part of a ceremony such as a wedding (mainly performed by women), or as part of a feast. Here we might divide into subgenres: epic singing, containing not only historical facts, but as well the tribe's genealogy, love songs, and didactic verses; and as a special form the composition of two or more singers in public (Aitys), of dialogue character and usually unexpectedly frankly in content.

[[File:Astudio.jpg|thumb|[[A-Studio]] was created in 1982 in [[Almaty]], then called Alma-Ata, hence called "Alma-Ata Studio".]]

The Russian influence on the music life in Kazakhstan can be seen in two spheres: first, the introduction of musical academic institutions such as concert houses with opera stages, and conservatories, where European music was performed and taught, and second, by trying to incorporate Kazakh traditional music into these academic structures. Controlled first by the [[Russian Empire]] and then the [[Soviet Union]], Kazakhstan's folk and classical traditions became connected with [[ethnic Russian music]] and Western European music. Prior to the 20th century, Kazakh folk music was collected and studied by [[ethnography|ethnographic]] research teams including composers, music critics and [[musicology|musicologists]]. In the first part of the 19th century, Kazakh music was transcribed in linear [[musical notation|notation]]. Some composers of this era set Kazakh folk songs to Russian-style [[European classical music]].

The Kazakhs themselves, however, did not write their own music in notation until 1931. Later, as part of the Soviet Union, Kazakh folk culture was encouraged in a sanitised manner designed to avoid political and social unrest. The result was a bland derivative of real Kazakh folk music. In 1920, [[Aleksandr Zatayevich]], a Russian official, created major works of art music with melodies and other elements of Kazakh folk music. Beginning in 1928 and accelerating in the 1930s, he also adapted traditional Kazakh instruments for use in Russian-style ensembles, such as by increasing the number of [[fret]]s and [[strings (music)|strings]]. Soon, these styles of modern orchestral playing became the only way for musicians to officially play; Kazakh folk was turned into patriotic, professional and socialist endeavours.<ref>{{Cite web|title=From Folklore to Soviet National Culture- The Process of Formation of "Kazak National Music"(1920–1942)-|url=https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/46/touda/touda-eng.html|access-date=2021-09-18|website=src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp|archive-date=18 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918141923/https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/46/touda/touda-eng.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The current situation could be described as the effort to rediscover traditional music as it had been practised before the heavy influence of European musical styles. Contemporary musicians performing in traditional folk music are trained professionals (Rauchan Orazbaeva, Ramazan Stamgazi).

Another very challenging aspect arises from the young composers' generation, and the rock and jazz musicians, as they aim to incorporate their traditional heritage into the music they learned from the western cultures, thus forming a new stage of "ethnic contemporary classics", respectively ethnic rock or jazz music that sounds distinctly Kazakh. For the classical sector outstanding: Aqtoty Raimkulova, [[Turan ensemble]]; for jazz: "Magic of Nomads"; for rock: Roksonaki, [[Urker]], [[Ulytau]], Alda span.

=== Fine arts ===
{{Main|Kazakh art}}

In Kazakhstan, the fine arts, in the classical sense, have their origins in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. It was largely influenced by Russian artists, such as Vasily Vereshchagin and Nikolai Khludov, who intensively travelled in Central Asia. Khludov had a particular influence on the development of the local school of painting, becoming the teacher of many local artists. The most famous of these is Abilkhan Kasteyev, after whom the State Museum of Art of Kazakhstan was renamed in 1984.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A. KASTEYEV STATE MUSEUM OF ARTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN|url=https://www.gmirk.kz/en/home|access-date=5 January 2021|archive-date=10 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110041209/https://www.gmirk.kz/en/home|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Kazakh school of fine arts was fully formed by the 1940s and flourished in the 1950s. Local painters, graphic artists and sculptors, trained under the unified Soviet system of artist education, began active work, often using national motifs in their art. The painters O. Tansykbaev, J. Shardenov, K. Telzhanov, and S. Aitbaev, graphic artists E. Sidorkina and A. Duzelkhanov, and sculptors H. Nauryzbaeva and E. Sergebaeva are today counted among the key figures of Kazakhstani art.

=== Cuisine ===
{{Main|Kazakh cuisine}}

In the national cuisine, livestock meat, like [[horse meat]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=10 Most Popular Kazakhstani Dishes|url=https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-dishes-in-kazakhstan|access-date=2021-03-25|website=www.tasteatlas.com|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417192354/https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-dishes-in-kazakhstan|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[beef]] can be cooked in a variety of ways and is usually served with a wide assortment of traditional bread products. Refreshments include black tea, often served with milk and dried fruits (such as dried apricots) and nuts. In southern provinces, people often prefer [[green tea]]. Traditional milk-derived drinks such as [[ayran]], [[shubat]] and [[kymyz]]. A traditional Kazakh dinner involves a multitude of appetisers on the table, followed by a soup and one or two main courses such as [[pilaf]] and [[beshbarmak]]. They also drink their national beverage, [[Kumis|kumys]], which consists of fermented mare's milk.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cuisine of Kazakhstan|url=https://kazakhstan.orexca.com/kazakhstan_cuisine.shtml|website=Oriental Express Central Asia|access-date=17 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118053709/https://kazakhstan.orexca.com/kazakhstan_cuisine.shtml|archive-date=18 January 2017}}</ref>

=== Sport ===
{{Main|Sport in Kazakhstan}}

Kazakhstan consistently performs in Olympic competitions. It is especially successful in [[boxing]]. This has brought some attention to the Central Asian nation and increased world awareness of its athletes. [[Dmitry Karpov]] and [[Olga Rypakova]] are among the most notable Kazakhstani athletes. [[Dmitry Karpov]] is a distinguished decathlete, taking bronze in both the [[2004 Summer Olympics]], and the [[2003 World Championships in Athletics|2003]] and [[2007 World Athletics Championships]]. [[Olga Rypakova]] is an athlete, specialising in [[triple jump]] (women's), taking silver in the [[2011 World Championships in Athletics]] and Gold in the [[2012 Summer Olympics]].

[[File:FC Astana vs. Celtic FC UCL 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Astana Arena]] opened in 2009.]]

Kazakhstan's city of [[Almaty]] submitted bids twice for the [[Winter Olympics]]: in [[Almaty bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics|2014]] and again for the [[2022 Winter Olympics]]. [[Astana]] and [[Almaty]] hosted the [[2011 Asian Winter Games]].<ref>{{cite news|title=2011 Asian Winter Games|url=http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/championships/asia/2011-asian-games/|access-date=5 November 2017|publisher=International Ice Hockey Federation|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012714/http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/championships/asia/2011-asian-games/|archive-date=7 November 2017}}</ref>

Popular sports in Kazakhstan include football, basketball, ice hockey, bandy, and boxing.

[[Association football|Football]] is the most popular sport in Kazakhstan. The [[Football Federation of Kazakhstan]] is the sport's national governing body. The FFK organises the [[Kazakhstan national football team|men's]], [[Kazakhstan women's national football team|women's]], and [[futsal]] national teams.

Kazakhstan's most famous basketball player was [[Alzhan Zharmukhamedov]], who played for [[PBC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] and the [[Soviet Union's national basketball team]] in the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout his career, he won multiple titles and medals at some of the world's most prestigious basketball competitions, including the [[Basketball at the Summer Olympics|Summer Olympics]], the [[Basketball World Cup]], the [[EuroBasket]] (the European Basketball Championship), and the [[EuroLeague]]. In 1971 he earned the title [[Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR|Master of Sports of the USSR, International Class]] and a year later he was awarded the [[Order of the Badge of Honor]]. [[Kazakhstan's national basketball team]] was established in 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since its foundation, it has been competitive at the continental level. Its greatest accomplishment was at the [[Basketball at the 2002 Asian Games – Men|2002 Asian Games]], where it defeated the [[Philippines men's national basketball team|Philippines]] in its last game to win the bronze medal. At the official [[Asian Basketball Championship]], now called FIBA Asia Cup, the Kazakhs' best finish was 4th place in 2007.

The [[Kazakhstan national bandy team]] is among the best in the world, and has many times won the bronze medal at the [[Bandy World Championship]], including the [[2012 Bandy World Championship|2012 edition]] when Kazakhstan hosted the tournament on home ice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bandy2012.kz/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124005338/http://bandy2012.kz/en/|url-status=dead |title=Ставки на Футбол – bandy2012.kz|archivedate=24 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bandyvm2015.ru/assets/images/gruppa-a/sas_2882-800x532.jpg |title=Team picture after the bronze medal had been captured in WCS 2015|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409225605/http://bandyvm2015.ru/assets/images/gruppa-a/sas_2882-800x532.jpg |archive-date=9 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[2011 Bandy World Championship|2011 tournament]], they were an extra-time in the semi-final from reaching the final for the first time. In 2012, they were even closer when they took it to a penalty shootout. The team won the first [[Bandy at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|bandy tournament at the Asian Winter Games]]. During the Soviet time, Dynamo Alma-Ata won the [[List of Russian bandy champions|Soviet Union national championships]] in 1977 and 1990 and the [[European Cup (bandy)|European Cup]] in 1978. Bandy is developed in ten of the country's seventeen administrative divisions (eight of the fourteen regions and two of the three cities which are situated inside of but are not part of regions).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bandyvm2015.ru/en/news/?newsid=365|title=News – XXXV Чемпионат мира по хоккею с мячом|website=bandyvm2015.ru|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604031406/http://bandyvm2015.ru/en/news/?newsid=365|archive-date=4 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Akzhaiyk]] from [[Oral, Kazakhstan|Oral]], however, is the only professional club.

[[File:Nik Antropov Jets 2012-02-11.JPG|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Nikolai Antropov]]]]

The [[Kazakhstan men's national ice hockey team|Kazakh national ice hockey team]] have competed in [[ice hockey]] in the 1998 and [[2006 Winter Olympics]], as well as in the [[2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships]]. The [[Kazakhstan Hockey Championship]] is held since 1992. [[Barys Astana]] is the main domestic Kazakhstani ice hockey professional team, and having played in the Kazakhstani national league until the 2008–09 season, when they were transferred to play in the [[Kontinental Hockey League]]. Meanwhile, the [[Kazzinc-Torpedo]] and play in the [[Supreme Hockey League]] since 1996 and the [[Saryarka Karagandy]] since 2012. Top Kazakhstani ice hockey players include [[Nik Antropov]], Ivan Kulshov and [[Evgeni Nabokov]].

[[Kazakhstan national amateur boxing athletes|Kazakh boxers]] are generally well known in the world. In the last three Olympic Games, their performance was assessed as one of the best and they had more medals than any country in the world, except [[Cuba]] and Russia (in all three games). In 1996 and 2004, three Kazakhstani boxers ([[Vassiliy Jirov]] in 1996, [[Bakhtiyar Artayev]] in 2004 and [[Serik Sapiyev]] in 2012) were recognised as the best boxers for their techniques with the [[Val Barker Trophy]], awarded to the best boxer of the tournament. In [[boxing]], Kazakhstan performed well in the [[2000 Summer Olympics]] in Sydney. Two boxers, [[Bekzat Sattarkhanov]] and [[Yermakhan Ibraimov]], earned [[gold medal]]s. Another two boxers, [[Bulat Zhumadilov]] and [[Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov]], earned [[silver medal]]s. [[Oleg Maskaev]], born in [[Taraz|Zhambyl]], representing Russia, was the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] Heavyweight Champion after knocking out [[Hasim Rahman]] on 12 August 2006. The reigning [[World Boxing Association|WBA]], WBC, IBF and [[International Boxing Organization|IBO]] [[list of middleweight boxing champions|middleweight champion]] is Kazakh boxer [[Gennady Golovkin]]. [[Natascha Ragosina]], representing Russia, but from [[Karaganda]] held seven versions of the women's super middleweight title, and two heavyweight titles during her boxing career. She holds the record as the longest-reigning WBA female super middleweight champion, and the longest-reigning WBC female super middleweight champion.

=== Film ===
{{Main|Cinema of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Red Carpet at AIAFF.jpg|thumb|[[International Astana Action Film Festival]], 2010]]

Kazakhstan's film industry is run through the state-owned [[Kazakhfilm]] studios based in Almaty. The studio has produced award-winning movies such as ''[[Myn Bala]]'', ''[[Harmony Lessons]]'', and ''Shal''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kazakhfilm Studios|url=https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0036615/|publisher=IMDbPro.com|accessdate=2022-10-10}}</ref> Kazakhstan is the host of the [[International Astana Action Film Festival]] and the [[Eurasia International Film Festival]] held annually. Hollywood director [[Timur Bekmambetov]] is from Kazakhstan and has become active in bridging Hollywood to the Kazakhstan film industry.{{citation needed}}

Kazakhstan journalist Artur Platonov won Best Script for his documentary "Sold Souls" about Kazakhstan's contribution to the struggle against terrorism at the 2013 Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards.<ref>[http://ortcom.kz/en/news/artur-platonov-wins-cannes-corporate-media--tv-award-2013.2571 CCS · Artur Platonov wins Cannes Corporate Media & TV Award 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101051159/http://ortcom.kz/en/news/artur-platonov-wins-cannes-corporate-media--tv-award-2013.2571 }}. Ortcom.kz (5 November 2013). Retrieved 8 March 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.cannescorporate.com/en/winners2013.php Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards: Winners 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907030048/http://www.cannescorporate.com/en/winners2013.php }}. Cannescorporate.com. Retrieved 8 March 2014.</ref>

Serik Aprymov's ''Little Brother'' (''Bauyr'') won at the Central and Eastern Europe Film Festival [[goEast]] from the German Federal Foreign Office.<ref name=EEC>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan's Little Brother takes Federal Foreign Office award at goEast|url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/cinema_and_music/Kazakhstans-Little-Brother-takes-Federal-Foreign-Office-award-at-goEast-253027/|publisher=TengriNews|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712032054/http://en.tengrinews.kz/cinema_and_music/Kazakhstans-Little-Brother-takes-Federal-Foreign-Office-award-at-goEast-253027/|archive-date=12 July 2014}}</ref>

=== Media ===
{{Main|Media of Kazakhstan}}
[[File:Timur Bekmambetov by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Timur Bekmambetov]], a notable Kazakh director]]

Kazakhstan is ranked 161 out of 180 countries on the [[World Press Freedom Index]], compiled by [[Reporters Without Borders]].<ref>{{cite web|title=World Press Freedom Index 2014|url=https://rsf.org/en/ranking/2014|website=Reporters Without Borders|access-date=31 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214120404/http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php|archive-date=14 February 2014}}</ref> A mid-March 2002 [[court order]], with the government as a [[plaintiff]], stated that ''[[Respublika (Kazakh newspaper)|Respublika]]'' were to stop printing for three months.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|author=Wines, Michael|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/13/world/the-saturday-profile-bruised-but-still-jabbing-kazakh-heavyweights.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Wines 2012|work=The New York Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928072344/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/13/world/the-saturday-profile-bruised-but-still-jabbing-kazakh-heavyweights.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|archive-date=28 September 2013}}</ref> The order was evaded by printing under other titles, such as ''Not That Respublika''.<ref name="nytimes.com" /> In early 2014, a court also issued a cease publication order to the small-circulation Assandi-Times newspaper, saying it was a part of the Respublika group. Human Rights Watch said: "this absurd case displays the lengths to which Kazakh authorities are willing to go to bully critical media into silence."<ref>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan: Newspaper Closing a Blow to Free Speech|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/22/kazakhstan-newspaper-closing-blow-free-speech|website=Human Rights Watch|access-date=31 August 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830121944/http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/22/kazakhstan-newspaper-closing-blow-free-speech|archive-date=30 August 2014}}</ref>

With support from the US Department of State's Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative opened a media support centre in Almaty to bolster free expression and journalistic rights in Kazakhstan.<ref name=aba>{{cite web |title=Access to Justice and Human Rights |url=http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan/programs_past.html |publisher=American Bar Association |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025650/http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/rule_of_law/where_we_work/europe_eurasia/kazakhstan/programs_past.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=27 November 2013 }}</ref>

=== UNESCO World Heritage sites ===
Kazakhstan has three cultural and two natural sites on the [[UNESCO]] World Heritage list. The cultural sites are:

* [[Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi|Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yassaui]], added in 2003
* Petroglyphs within the Archaeological Landscape of [[Tamgaly]], added in 2004
* [[Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor]], added in 2014

The natural sites are:

* [[Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan]], added in 2008
* Western [[Tien Shan]], added in 2016<ref name=UNESCOkz>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/KZ/|publisher=UNESCO|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530104414/https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/Kz|archive-date=30 May 2016}}</ref>

=== Public holidays ===
{{Main|Public holidays in Kazakhstan}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Asia|Europe}}
* [[Outline of Kazakhstan]]
* [[Index of Kazakhstan-related articles]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
{{Free-content attribution
| title = UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030
| author = UNESCO
| publisher = UNESCO Publishing
| page numbers = 365–387
| source =
| documentURL = http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf
| license statement URL =
| license = CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{See also|Bibliography of the history of Central Asia}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{Cite book|title=Uneasy Alliance: Relations Between Russia and Kazakhstan in the Post-Soviet Era, 1992–1997 |first=Mikhail |last=Alexandrov |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1999 |isbn=0-313-30965-5 }}
* Cameron, Sarah. (2018) ''The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan'' (Cornell University Press, 2018) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55459 online review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410142038/https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55459 }}
*{{Cite book|title=Lonely Planet Guide: Central Asia |first1=Paul |last1=Clammer |first2=Michael |last2=Kohn |name-list-style=amp |first3=Bradley |last3=Mayhew |location=Oakland, CA |publisher=Lonely Planet |year=2004 |isbn=1-86450-296-7}}
*{{Cite book|title=Kazakhstan: Power and the Elite |first=Sally |last=Cummings |location=London |publisher=Tauris |year=2002 |isbn=1-86064-854-1}}
*{{Cite book|title=The Russian Colonization of Kazakhstan |first=George |last=Demko |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |isbn=0-7007-0380-2 }}
*{{Cite book|title=Kazakhstan: Coming of Age |first1=Michael |last1=Fergus |name-list-style=amp |first2=Janar |last2=Jandosova |location=London |publisher=Stacey International |year=2003 |isbn=1-900988-61-5}}
*{{Cite book|title=Journey into Kazakhstan: The True Face of the Nazarbayev Regime |first=Alexandra |last=George |location=Lanham |publisher=University Press of America |year=2001 |isbn=0-7618-1964-9}}
*{{Cite book|title=Law and Custom in the Steppe |first=Virginia |last=Martin |location=Richmond |publisher=Curzon |year=2000 |isbn=0-7007-1405-7}}
* Nahaylo, Bohdan and Victor Swoboda. ''Soviet Disunion: A History of the Nationalities problem in the USSR'' (1990) [https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Disunion-Bohdan-Nahaylo/dp/0029224012/ excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316000833/https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Disunion-Bohdan-Nahaylo/dp/0029224012/ }}
*{{Cite book|title=Epicenter of Peace |first=Nursultan |last=Nazarbayev |location=Hollis, NH |publisher=Puritan Press |year=2001 |isbn=1-884186-13-0 }}
*{{Cite book|title=Post-Soviet Chaos: Violence and Dispossession in Kazakhstan |first=Joma |last=Nazpary |location=London |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7453-1503-8}}
*{{Cite book |title=Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise |first=Martha Brill |last=Olcott |location=Washington, DC |publisher=[[Brookings Institution Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=0-87003-189-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/kazakhstanunfulf00olco }}
*{{Cite book |title=Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East? |first=Ted |last=Rall |location=New York |publisher=NBM |year=2006 |isbn=1-56163-454-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/silkroadtoruinis0000rall }}
* Rashid, Ahmed. ''The Resurgence of Central Asia: Islam or Nationalism?'' (2017)
*{{Cite book|title=In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared |first=Christopher |last=Robbins |location=London |publisher=Profile Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-86197-868-4}}
*{{Cite book|title=Once in Kazakhstan: The Snow Leopard Emerges |first=Keith |last=Rosten |location=New York |publisher=iUniverse |year=2005 |isbn=0-595-32782-6}}
* Smith, Graham, ed. ''The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union'' (2nd ed. 1995)
*{{Cite book |title=The Lost Heart of Asia |first=Colin |last=Thubron |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1994 |isbn=0-06-018226-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lostheartofasia00thub }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==


'''General'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160101051159/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552643 Caspian Pipeline Controversy] from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160115205405/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1298071.stm Country Profile] from [[BBC News]].
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/ Kazakhstan]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
* [https://2009-2017.state.gov/p/sca/ci/kz/ Kazakhstan] information from the [[United States Department of State]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100309085822/http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/amed/kazakhstan/kazakhstan.html Portals to the World] from the United States [[Library of Congress]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053245/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/kazakhstan.htm Kazakhstan] at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''.
* [http://mfa.kz/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929145154/http://mfa.kz/ }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110929170237/http://www.worldbank.org.kz/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/KAZAKHSTANEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20212143~menuPK:361895~pagePK:1497618~piPK:217854~theSitePK:361869,00.html World Bank Data & Statistics for Kazakhstan]
* [http://en.encyclopedia.kz/ Kazakhstan Internet Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.economist.com/node/21541853 Kazakhstan at 20 years of independence, The Economist, 17 December 2011]
* [https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/12/unrest-kazakhstan "Blowing the lid off" – Unrest in Kazakhstan, The Economist, 20 December 2011]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181104065103/http://theregionaltourism.org/ The Region Initiative (TRI)]
* {{curlie|Regional/Asia/Kazakhstan}}
* {{Wikiatlas|Kazakhstan}}
* {{osmrelation-inline|214665}}
* [http://www.kazakhstandiscovery.com/kazakhstan-facts.html Country Facts] from [http://www.kazakhstandiscovery.com/ Kazakhstan Discovery]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090226175009/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/sca/119135.htm 2008 Human Rights Report: Kazakhstan. Department of State; Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor]
* [http://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_CountryProfile.aspx?Country=KZ Key Development Forecasts for Kazakhstan] from [[International Futures]].

'''Government'''
* [http://www.mfa.kz/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929145154/http://www.mfa.kz/ }}
* [http://e.gov.kz/wps/portal?lang=en E-Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan]
* [https://www.gov.kz/ Government of Kazakhstan]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130917225116/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/world-leaders-k/kazakhstan.html Chief of State and Cabinet Members]

'''Trade'''
* [http://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/Country/KAZ/Year/2012/Summary World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Kazakhstan]

{{Kazakhstan topics}}
{{Navboxes
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{{Sovereign states of Europe}}
{{Countries of Asia}}
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{{Shanghai Cooperation Organisation}}
{{TURKSOY}}
{{Organization of Turkic States}}
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}}
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Bharatpedia:User pages

2021-05-19T05:05:29Z

Anshuman Tiwari: edit

{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Anshuman Tiwari
|image = AnshunTiwari Musician.jpg
|alt = Photo of Anshuman Tiwari
|caption = Musician
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1996| 7|18}}
|birth_place = [[Dehradun]], ([[Uttarakhand]]), [[India]]
|nationality = [[India]]n
|occupation = [[Singer]], [[Song-writer]], [[Guitarist]]
|education = [[Bsc.IT]] ([[Bacheler Science Information Technology]])
[[Bacheler of Science Information Technology|Bsc.IT]], (Bacheler's degree in Information Technology)
|instrument = [[Vocals]], [[Piano]], [[Guitar]]
}}

'''Anshuman Tiwari''' (born 18 July 1996) is an Indian Musical Artist, He is multi talented in this fields such as Singer, Song-writer, Guitarist. "anshuman tiwari" is an independent artist.

'''Founder and CEO At ARK Films'''

He Founded Film and Music Production Company ARK Films Provide Music & Entertainment Videos

Music Video & Entertainment Video, Social Media Advertising, Video Marketing, Website Design, App Design, Photography, We Provide Various Types Of Services To Our Client.

'''Personal Life'''

Anshuman Tiwari Has Established A Reputation As A Successful Musician. Is An Indian Musician, Guitarist And Photographer. Instagram Personality From Dehradun, India. He Is Known For His Instagram Model And Instagram Content Creator. Is A Young Musician On The Rise, He Himself Owns A Huge Followers Network On The Instagram Platform To Entertain And Make His Followers Laugh He Is Committed To Growing His Platform And Spreading Positively And Laugher Through His Pages On The Platform. He Owns The Pages @anshumantiwari With Many Opportunities That Come With His Big Number Of Followers. On Instagram He Goes By “anshuman tiwari” As His Name That Everyone Knows Him By.

Anshuman Tiwari as an Artist (Guitarist) : Anshuman Tiwari, better known as Anshuman Tiwari Musician, is an Indian guitarist and actor. He was introduced to the music industry introducing his first song "Modern Hip-Hop" on SoundCloud first. After a few days he releases his song on various music platforms like Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, JioSaavn and many more. Anshuman Tiwari has released his songs on foreign music streaming platforms such as Deezer, Tidal and Napster. You can find Anshuman Tiwari music on TikTok, Instagram or the Facebook library too.

Basically, Anshuman Tiwari is starting his first career as a technical blogger or YouTuber. As is often the case later, you enter the music industry. Now if you search on youtube about Anshuman Tiwari then you will find all the information about Anshuman Tiwari. YouTube has officially confirmed its youtube channel as an official artist. Youtube has given him a guaranteed music badge on youtube. Microsoft bing also officially confirmed Anshuman Tiwari in their bing search. You will find the official information panel of Anshuman Tiwari in bing search like youtube personality.

'''Available On:'''

Spotify,
Google Play Music,
Apple Music,
iTunes,
Amazon Music,
JioSaavn

'''Music Platform Account links'''

Anshuman Tiwari use alsomst all music platform profiles like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, JioSaavn

'''Knowledge Graph'''

Google Creat His Name Knowledge Graph This Not Easy to Creat for Everyone Some People Or Notable Identity Google Created Knowledge Graph

'''Social Media'''

Anshuman Tiwari use alsomst all social media profiles like Blogger, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest his own websites.

2021 saw Anshuman Tiwari release "Modern Hip-Hop"<ref>{{cite news |title=Latest Instrumental Song 'Modern Hip-Hop' Music By Anshuman Tiwari |url=https://open.spotify.com/album/3sRHKpSPUbji6BcGmmFvRM |access-date=24 April 2021 |work=Spotify |date=24 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://activepages.com.au/25-year-old-musician-anshuman-tiwari-creating-success-1220https://activepages.com.au/25-year-old-musician-anshuman-tiwari-creating-success-1220]
* [https://open.spotify.com/album/3sRHKpSPUbji6BcGmmFvRM]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiwari, Anshuman}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1996 births]]
[[Category:Indian male musician]]
[[Category:Male musician from Dehradun]]
[[Category:Musician from Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian male musician]]