The Downgrading of India’s Democracy
2 years, 8 months ago

The Downgrading of India’s Democracy

The Diplomat  

India’s democracy is in peril. Of 179 countries assessed in the 2022 report, India stands 93rd on the V-Dem’s Liberal Democracy Index and 100th in the Electoral Democracy Index. The U.S.-based Freedom House described India as a “partly free democracy” in its Freedom in the World 2022 report and gave it a”Global Freedom Score’” of 66 out of 100 – the same as Malawi and Bolivia. India’s score and ranking would have been far worse had Kashmir been assessed as part of India; the report assesses Indian Kashmir separately and gave it a score of 27, describing it as “not free.” When India emerged independent from colonial rule in 1947 and declared itself a democratic republic in its 1950 Constitution, many western scholars were skeptical of India’s democratic aspirations. India’s democracy stood out especially in comparison to neighbors like Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were under direct or indirect military rule for most of their post-independence years.

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History of this topic

What can be done to arrest the trend of democratic decline worldwide? | In Focus podcast
3 months ago

What can be done to arrest the trend of democratic decline worldwide? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is a Stockholm-based intergovernmental organisation that advocates for democracy worldwide. Titled, ‘The Global State of Democracy 2024: Strengthening the Legitimacy of Elections in a Time of Radical Uncertainty’, the report has found that while one in four countries have improved in democratic metrics, a greater proportion—four out of nine – have declined. …

Satire | Let’s make our own democracy index like North Korea
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Satire | Let’s make our own democracy index like North Korea

The Hindu  

It is a matter of great pride that for the first time in its history, Indian democracy is getting its own democracy index. As it happens, Indian democracy has the world’s lowest deaths per capita from gun violence.” “Brilliant.” This column is a satirical take on life and society. Look at Europe’s brutality towards migrants, and look at our CAA, …

India's Democracy Index: Alternative to Western Think Tanks or Political Move?
8 months, 3 weeks ago

India's Democracy Index: Alternative to Western Think Tanks or Political Move?

The Quint  

However, not everybody thinks that indices developed in the west are necessarily the best indicators to gauge the strength of India's democracy. Democratic standards need to be seen in a contextual way," AK Mohapatra, Professor of international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told The Quint. "Creating a homegrown index is a very good initiative because we also need to put …

Indian democracy is at a significant crossroads
9 months ago

Indian democracy is at a significant crossroads

Live Mint  

It was India’s second prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who famously said, “There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the crossroads of history and must choose which way to go." The second development is former president Ram Nath Kovind committee’s multi-volume report on One Nation One Election, which has expended thousands of pages …

India ‘one of the worst autocratisers’: V-Dem report on democracy
9 months, 1 week ago

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

The Hindu  

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 …

India is mother of democracy: PM Modi
1 year, 6 months ago

India is mother of democracy: PM Modi

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: Seeking to dispel any doubts about India’s position as the world’s largest democracy and the fifth-largest economy that will soon be the third-largest economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a joint sitting of the, on Thursday that “India is the mother of democracy” and that “democracy is one of our sacred and shared values”, adding that “we are …

Indian democracy is a global good and its collapse will impact the world: Rahul Gandhi in Washington
1 year, 6 months ago

Indian democracy is a global good and its collapse will impact the world: Rahul Gandhi in Washington

The Hindu  

Indian democracy is a global good and its collapse would have an impact on the world, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told journalists at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, even while reiterating that he considers it an internal battle. During the nearly hour-long interaction, Mr. Gandhi fielded wide-ranging questions, from India’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war and its …

Aakar Patel | Civil liberties & democracy: Why is India's rank so low?
1 year, 8 months ago

Aakar Patel | Civil liberties & democracy: Why is India's rank so low?

Deccan Chronicle  

In 2014 Dr Manmohan Singh had said: “I sincerely believe it will be disastrous for the country to have Narendra Modi as India’s Prime Minister.” Four years later, he said he recognised his words had been harsh but he added that the “time is not far off when the public at large would have the chance to pronounce on the …

India’s democratic values have eroded significantly: V­Dem
1 year, 9 months ago

India’s democratic values have eroded significantly: V­Dem

The Hindu  

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi delivered a lecture titled ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’ at the University of Cambridge on February 28, 2023. Data from the V-Dem Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg show that democratic values have eroded significantly in recent years in India. In 2022, a citizen is “likely” to be arrested for posting political content online …

India’s democracy, diminished and declining
1 year, 9 months ago

India’s democracy, diminished and declining

The Hindu  

The captivating Republic Day parade in January this year showcased the nation’s soft and hard power, sending out a message to the world of India’s arrival on the global scene. But the truth about India’s declining democracy has taken the sheen away from an otherwise impressive story of the nation’s significant accomplishments. In recent days, the expunging of parliamentary statements …

Democracy and its structural slippages
1 year, 11 months ago

Democracy and its structural slippages

The Hindu  

The democracy that is functional around the world today — even as it has a long history of evolution — was essentially a 19th century to 20th century western creation. The uniformity takes the form of periodic multi-party “free and fair” elections and guarantees of various kinds of freedoms, especially of the market. But the practice of elections belies even …

American democracy makes a comeback
2 years, 1 month ago

American democracy makes a comeback

Hindustan Times  

The recent midterm elections may arguably go down as one of the most significant set of Congressional, gubernatorial and local races in recent American history. While anti-abortion Republicans have won, and the road to protection of abortion rights nationally will be long and hard, there was a wider public rejection of abortion-related restrictions across states. In terms of the international …

Republic of India: Planet’s only billion people democracy calls for broader perspective
2 years, 1 month ago

Republic of India: Planet’s only billion people democracy calls for broader perspective

Firstpost  

It is pertinent to ask if the models underlying the “indices of democracy” have adequately accounted for the unique challenges that democracy at the scale of a billion people poses Democracy in India has been the subject of much critical debate lately in International Media. Challenges of one size fits all approach It is a matter of debate whether the …

Deepening democracy
2 years, 4 months ago

Deepening democracy

Hindustan Times  

In their speeches to mark 75 years of Independence, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the miracle that is the thriving of democracy in India. In the expansion of voting among women, the gradual removal of social hurdles for lower castes, disabled people and minorities of various hues, and the rise of politicians from erstwhile marginalised groups, …

A nation fighting against all odds
2 years, 4 months ago

A nation fighting against all odds

The Hindu  

While technically India may have become a constitutional democracy only from January 26, 1950, with the promulgation of Constitution, there was a broad agreement across the political spectrum at the time of Independence that it would tread this path. Morris-Jones’ Parliament in India, which provides a celebratory account of the first general elections and the rooting of parliamentary democracy in …

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before
2 years, 4 months ago

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before

LA Times  

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, center in blue mask, and other lawmakers participate in a protest in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. “And now, 75 years on, to witness it being dismantled systematically and in shockingly violent ways is traumatic.” Modi’s ministers say India’s democratic principles are robust, even thriving. Then he promised: “To the nations and peoples …

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before
2 years, 4 months ago

At 75, India’s democracy is under pressure like never before

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — The Aug. 5 demonstrations by India’s main opposition Congress party against soaring food prices and unemployment began like any other recent protest — an electorally weak opposition taking to the New Delhi streets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s massively popular government. “And now, 75 years on, to witness it being dismantled systematically and in shockingly violent ways …

India, democracy and the promised republic
2 years, 4 months ago

India, democracy and the promised republic

The Hindu  

Within a few days, India will complete 75 years as an independent political entity. To build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions that will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.” This understanding of the goal of Indian independence by the most consequential Indian of the moment …

'Democracy can deliver, democracy has delivered': PM reinforces Indian democratic values at UNGA
3 years, 2 months ago

'Democracy can deliver, democracy has delivered': PM reinforces Indian democratic values at UNGA

India TV News  

PM Modi UNGA Speech: From the stage of the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday sought to showcase India's impregnable democracy while recalling his humble background as a 'little boy who once sold tea'. "The strength of our democracy is demonstrated by the fact that a little boy who at one time used to help his father at …

Assessing the quality of Indian democracy
3 years, 6 months ago

Assessing the quality of Indian democracy

Hindustan Times  

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his seventh year in office, India’s perceived democratic backsliding has invariably formed the underlying context of political assessments of his tenure. These concerns were validated by a host of annual democracy rankings earlier this year, which downgraded India’s status to a “flawed democracy” or “electoral autocracy”. Notwithstanding political rhetoric, these institutes follow a very …

Retreat of democracy: The terror of laws
3 years, 9 months ago

Retreat of democracy: The terror of laws

The Hindu  

Three international studies based on indices of freedom and democracy by renowned global research institutions were published in the months of February and March 2021, and all three of them contained one common observation − that India’s democracy is backsliding, leading to a rapid and alarming deterioration of political and civil liberties. Specifically categorising the Indian situation, the V-Dem Institute …

Aakar Patel | Democracy Index: Why India's rank now falling
3 years, 10 months ago

Aakar Patel | Democracy Index: Why India's rank now falling

Deccan Chronicle  

The Economist is a magazine though it refers to itself as a newspaper. This is mainly, the Economist Intelligence Unit says, because “democratic norms have been under pressure since 2015”, and as a result India’s “global ranking slipped from 27th to 53rd as a result of democratic backsliding under the leadership of Narendra Modi”. “However, there are significant weaknesses in …

The reality of an India at the crossroads
4 years ago

The reality of an India at the crossroads

The Hindu  

Individual events are often an indicator of broader trends. India’s forays in its Near Abroad in West Asia are yet to yield results, even though, on the surface, relations with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are better. Comment | The shifting trajectory of India’s foreign policy Signs of rigid policies Far more serious, however, are concerns being voiced …

Yogendra Yadav's Book Explains Why Social Inequality is the Biggest Pitfall of Indian Democracy
4 years, 3 months ago

Yogendra Yadav's Book Explains Why Social Inequality is the Biggest Pitfall of Indian Democracy

News 18  

In his latest book, Making Sense of Indian Democracy: Theory as Practice, Yogendra Yadav combines his decades of experience as a political thinker, activist as well as a politician, and audits the 50 years of democratic politics in India to examine the ways in which democracy has succeeded and failed in our country. The first part contains two long essays …

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