India Slips 10 Spots To 51st Rank In Annual Democracy Index Due To Erosion Of Civil Liberties

India has slipped by 10 positions in the Democracy Index’s global rankingIndia managed to secure 51st position on the index for the year 2019India’s overall score fell from 7.23 out of 10 in 2018 to 6.90 last year

In the Asia and Australia region, India ranked eighth, behind countries such as Timor-Leste, Malaysia and Taiwan. (Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: In yet another global setback, India has slipped by 10 positions in the Democracy Index’s global ranking, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit and retained its status as a 'flawed democracy'. According to a report by Bloomberg, India managed to secure 51st position on the index for the year 2019 - marking its lowest since the rankings began in 2006. The Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide including 165 independent states and two territories. In the ranking, a country is ranked on five basis measures - electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties. In the 2019 index the average global score for democracy fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44. The research group also observed it to be the worst average global score since 2006. As per the index report, India’s overall score fell from 7.23 out of 10 in 2018 to 6.90 last year, mainly due to an “erosion of civil liberties”. The country was ranked 42 in 2017 and 41 in 2018. India Slips 10 Ranks In Global Democracy Index | WATCH REPORT The index ranks countries based on their scores on 60 indicators, and then classifies them as one of four types of regime: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime. In the Asia and Australia region, India ranked eighth, behind countries such as Timor-Leste, Malaysia and Taiwan. The slip in India's ranking comes on the backdrop of abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, last year and the controversial implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the report noted describing what it said was  a 'democratic regression' in India. “The Indian government stripped the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state of its special status by repealing two key constitutional provisions granting it powers of autonomy,” the report said referring to revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating it into two Union Territories (UTs). The report also noted restriction of internet services and deployment of large number of troops in the valley. “The new citizenship law has enraged the large Muslim population, stoked communal tensions and generated large protests in major cities,” the report added. Three countries - Chile, France and Portugal - was  “flawed democracy” category to the “full democracy” category, while Malta moved in the opposite direction, falling out of “full democracy” to become a “flawed democracy”.