How Free Is India Today?

As India's decline continued on global indices, the government first blamed methodology and then motives. This is where we remain today as we wish each other and ourselves a happy Independence Day, points out Aakar Patel.

Independence is linked to freedom and is a meaningless word without it. A few years ago I had surveyed the state of freedom in India as the world saw it.

I had done this for one of my books but periodically I revisit this list of indices to see what changes have come.

On Independence Day I thought it would be apposite to do this. Some of the organisations referred to here may be unfamiliar to readers but they are reputable and their findings are respected.

We shall look at what the government says about them at the end. Let us start.

The Pew Research Center is an American organisation that monitors long term trends. It reviews government restrictions and social hostilities around the world.

Its latest finding is that India has high levels of the former and 'very high' levels of social hostilities. By 2019, India was in the top 10 in each of the following categories:

• Countries with high levels of social hostilities related to religious norms
• Countries with high levels of inter-religious tension and violence
• Countries with high levels of religious violence by organised groups
• Countries with high levels of individual and social group harassment

CIVICUS is the global alliance of civil society organisations. It monitors freedom of association, of peaceful assembly and expression.

In its rating India's civic space fell from 'Obstructed' to 'Repressed'. It says that the 'deterioration of India's civic space is alarming -- particularly its assault on freedom of expression using an array of restrictive laws and its attempts to impede human rights groups'.

Because of this, 'India has been added to a watchlist of countries that have seen a rapid decline in civic freedoms'.

The Economist Intelligence Unit is part of the Economist magazine based in the UK. It publishes a Democracy Index in which it classifies India as a 'flawed democracy'.

It says this is the 'result of democratic backsliding under the leadership of Narendra Modi' and the 'increasing influence of religion under Modi, whose policies have fomented anti-Muslim feeling and religious strife, has damaged the political fabric of the country.'

Founded in 1941, Freedom House says it is 'the oldest American organization devoted to the support and defense of democracy around the world'.

In its Freedom in the World report India fell from 'free' in 2014 to 'partly free'. Kashmir, which is rated separately is 'not free'.

It says that the 'BJP has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting Muslims'.

Press Freedom Ranking Raises Concerns

The Washington-based World Justice Project says it is an 'independent, multidisciplinary organization working to advance the rule of law worldwide'.

Its Rule of Law Index monitors accountability, just law, open government, and accessible and impartial justice. India fell from 66th in the world to 77th in 2022 to 86th now.

Reporters Without Borders is based in Paris and produces an annual World Press Freedom Index.

India is ranked 157th in the world and the reasons cited include a 'rise in violence against journalists, highly concentrated media ownership, and outlets with increasingly overt political alignment'.

Founded in Washington in 1977, the Cato Institute says its vision is 'a free and open society in which liberty allows every individual to pursue a life of prosperity and meaning in peace.'

In its Human Freedom Index India has fallen from 87th to 110th in the world with low scores on personal freedom and economic freedom.

Berlin-based Transparency International says it 'holds the powerful and corrupt to account, by exposing the systems and networks that enable corruption'.

India's rank has fallen in its Corruption Perceptions Index from 85th to 91st. Its survey says 39% of Indians had to pay a bribe in the last 12 months.

The International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington publishes the Global Hunger Index. India is ranked 102 with a hunger ranking that is 'serious'.

The University of Gothenburg produces the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Index which examines institutional democracy and autocratisation.

After 2014, it says India has seen 'one of the most dramatic shifts among all countries in the world over the past 10 years'.

India lost its status as a democracy and was classified as an 'electoral autocracy', joining nations like Hungary and Turkey.

On freedom of expression, media and civil society, India was 'as autocratic as is Pakistan, and worse than both Bangladesh and Nepal'.

India had introduced 'discrimination by religion' through its citizenship laws.

Government's Global Indices Strategy

In 2020, concerned by the findings, the government ordered that a 'single, informative dashboard' be prepared for 32 global indices.

This monitoring exercise was 'not just to improve rankings but to improve systems and drive reforms to attract investments and to shape India's perception globally'.

Later the government said it would launch 'a massive publicity campaign' that would 'shape India's perception' through advertising and 'micro-sites of ministries' and it would also 'publicise the problems, parameters and data sources of global indices'.

This did not stop the decline, which was linked to performance and not perception and could not be corrected through media or publicity.

As decline continued, the government first blamed methodology and then motives. This is where we remain today as we wish each other and ourselves a happy Independence Day.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff