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I looked in the past, and as I read, 1 year visa is more difficult to obtain the first time. You may get few short term visa, and then you can ask a long term visa. If you have good reasons, you can apply also the first time for a long term visa.
If I remember correctly the short term visa is valid for 3 months (you have 3 mouths for the first entry), so it should be enough if there are delays. From consular person (not for India), it seems that having non-used visa is always seen as positive fact (for further visas).
Personally, I would not think too much about getting a long term visa, but I would try to apply as early as possible. The website is not the most userfriendly, and fields are not well designed (you probably will fill the "countries you visited last 10 years: as European it is easier to get enough countries to fill all the space), you will get a visa confirmation on email, but it is not the visa [which is hidden on their website]. And the different format requirements of photo of passport and of your face? Good luck also for the payment system. You have time, but do not wait too much.