India ‘one of the worst autocratisers’: V-Dem report on democracy

India, which was downgraded to the status of an “electoral autocracy” in 2018, has declined even further on multiple metrics to emerge as “one of the worst autocratizers”, according to the ‘Democracy Report 2024’ released by the Gothenburg-based V-Dem Institute that tracks democratic freedoms worldwide. The level of democracy enjoyed by the “average person in the world is down to 1985-levels”, the report said, with the sharpest decline occurring in Eastern Europe, and South and Central Asia. Noting that India’s “autocratisation process has been well documented, including gradual but substantial deterioration of freedom of expression, compromising independence of the media, crackdowns on social media, harassments of journalists critical of the government, as well as attacks on civil society,” the report detailed how the “anti-pluralist” BJP government has “used laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism to silence critics”. Noting that elections on autocratising countries are “critical events” that can “either trigger democratisation, enable autocratisation, or aid stabilisation of autocratic regimes”, the report stated that “a majority” of elections in 2024 would be in highly contested spaces, making 2024 a critical year for the “future of democracy in the world”.