India’s falling democracy

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

The Freedom in the World 2021 report has downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’.

• Earlier, Sweden-based V-Dem Institute was harsher in its latest report on democracy. It said India had become an “electoral autocracy”. 
• India was also described as a “flawed democracy”, slipped two places to 53rd position in the latest Democracy Index published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
• The report sparked outrage in the Indian government, which sought to challenge the rating. 
• Indian officials had sought details on the sample size; the other aspects of the methodology; the details of agencies/authors or contributor; and consultations with government agencies, if any.
• EIU informed Indian government officials that the scoring for the index was done on the basis of political opposition to certain new laws.

Reasons for India are downgrading:

• Increased pressure being put on human rights organisations and press freedom:
  • EIU has reportedly asserted that incidents like the shutdown of Kashmir in 2019 and the Citizenship Amendment Act have brought about this demotion. 
  • The Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Report has placed India 167th out of 183 countries. 
  • Freedom House has also given India a score of 2 out of 4 in terms of press freedom, and has stated that the Indian press is “partially free”. 
• Hate and polarisation are rampant. The most worrying trend has been the government’s crackdown on freedom of speech, with statistics showing a 165 per cent increase in sedition cases between 2016 and 2019.
• The rejection of global democratic indexes is a pathetic move to hide the country’s downslide on most parameters.

Concerns:

• Lack of transparency and data manipulation: For several years now, there have been active efforts to suppress data pertaining to the nosediving economy, record unemployment and even Covid cases. 
• Not showcasing actual data is making it difficult for policymakers to attempt to remedy the situation.
• This downgrading of Indian democratic values in global reports and the Indian government’s harsh reaction regarding it seems to be a clear case of shooting the messenger. 
  • Recently, a question asked by a member of Parliament on declining democratic indices was disallowed as it was “very sensitive in nature”. 

The desire to introspect and analyse what needs to be done to improve is correct and laudable. But trying to bully or influence the rating agencies to doctor data to suit us is reprehensible. Let NITI Aayog and all concerned organisations focus on improving our performance in all the declining indicators. In this regard, our focus on “ease of doing business” which led to a phenomenal improvement in our ranking within a year is a success story to emulate.

The Indian Express Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/indian-democracy-freedom-of-speech-7509086/

Question: Decline in the democratic values and ethos at home affects the International image of India. Comment.