The 2024 Democracy Report shows that India which was earlier labeled as an 'electoral autocracy' in 2018b has further worsened confirming India's status as a major autocracy.

The Report has been released by the V-Dem Institute at Sweden's University of Gothenburg. V-Dem Institute tracks democratic freedoms worldwide. Almost all of the components of democracy have worsened particularly the right to freedom of expression, free and fair elections and freedom of forming associations are the three worst components that are seen in countries that are autocratising.

The V-Dem Report categorises countries into four regime types based on their score in the Liberal Democratic Index (LDI): Liberal Democracy, Electoral Democracy, Electoral Autocracy and Closed Autocracy. Their report and data matrix analyses countries if they are democratising or autocratizing. Report observed that around 42 countries are undergoing autocratisation.

India that holds 18% of the world's population is again trending down in the index of democratic strands. Democratising was seen happening only in 18 countries which constitute only 5% of the world's population.

The level of democracy enjoyed by the 'average person in the world has come down to 1985 levels' with the greatest decline seen in Eastern Europe, and South and Central Asia. The latter regression is happening significantly in democratic indicators.

When Indira Gandhi declared a State of Emergency in 1975...in comparison to that... average India experienced further low levels of democracy.

What is a Liberal Democracy as per the V-Dem Classification?

It is one where the requirements of an electoral democracy are freely available such as regular free and fair elections, mechanisms for Independence and Integrated Judiciary. Constraints on tyranny of the Executive is also underlined and simultaneous commitment to the protection of civil liberties and practice of equality before law. India stands as a multi-party democracy as elections co-exist with insufficient levels of basic fundamental rights.

India is seen as a country where there has been a compromise of media, crackdown on social media, criticism of journalists itself and attacks on civil society. The report details as to how the ruling party in India has used laws on sedition, defamation and counter-terrorism to shut the critics out there.

It has also been contested that the government attempts to suppress the freedom of religious rights. Intimidating political adversaries and people who stand against government policies as well as silencing dissent in academia. The only liberal democracy that has been left in South Asia was Bhutan.

Report underlined the concern that elections are critical events that can either trigger democratisation or autocratisation. Elections in 2024 shall stand as a critical year that shall define the future of democracy in the world.

Given the third term of the ruling party, there are further chances that India can autocratise further as already many freedoms have been curtailed for a long period.

V-Dem's Democracy Report is a collaborative project involving 4,200 scholars from 180 countries and is based on 31 million datasets that cover 202 countries studying in the timeline from 1789 to 2023.

India is at rank 104 in Liberal Democratic Index, it has slipped down in the Electoral Democracy Index to 110 while India is at rank 92 in Liberal Component Index.

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Reference:

• thehindu.com
• v-dem.net
• forumias.com