India scored very good in the electoral process but failed at other categories
India slipped to 51st place from 41st place in the latest Democracy Index global rankings published by The Economist Intelligence Unit. India’s score declined to 6.90 in 2019 from 7.23 in 2018. It is India’s lowest score in the Democracy Index since the global rankings began in 2006. The report covers all the population and ranks 165 states and two territories.
The Democracy Index is based on five categories. Electoral process and pluralism, political culture, political participation, the functioning of government and civil liberties are the five categories. Every country is given scores (1to10) in all these categories. India scored 8.67 in the electoral process, 5.63 in political culture, 6.67 in political participants, 6.67 in political participation and 6.76 in civil liberties.
Why India’s score fell down in Global democracy index?
The report said that the primary cause of the decline was ‘civil liberties’ in the country. The abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, deployment of thousands of soldiers before the announcement, ban on Internet and communication for many weeks are one of the reasons. The exclusion of 1.9 million people from the final NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam also led to a decline in numbers. The way protest against Citizenship Amendment Bill was received by the government is also considered one of the reasons why our scores were less this year.
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How India fared in comparison to other countries in the global democracy index?
Based on the overall score, countries are classified as “full democracy” (who have scores greater than 8), flawed democracy (scores between 6 to 8), hybrid regime (scores between 4 to 6) and lastly authoritarian regime (scores less than 4).
India’s score of 7.23 keeps India in the flawless democracy category. Pakistan has a score of 4.25, Bangladesh has 5.88, China has 2.26, North Korea has 1.08. Norway was the top scorer in the Democracy Index global rankings with 9.87 score. Following Norway at the top was Iceland with a score of 9.58, Sweden with a score of 9.39, and New Zealand scored 9.26.
Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are few other countries who could manage to get the full democracy tag. The United States of America just missed the elite list with a score of 7.96. On average, the overall global score fell to 5.44 in 2019 from 5.48 in 2018, the worst ever since 2006.
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