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"India, the world’s most populous democracy, dropped from Free to Partly Free status in Freedom in the World 2021. " - that's basically a 14% drop right there.

"India, the world’s most populous democracy, dropped from Free to Partly Free status in Freedom in the World 2021. " - that's basically a 14% drop right there. I live in India and while there are definitely questionable things the Government does, I really don't understand these arbitrary labeling of "Free" or removing such labels. Conflating the handling of the lockdown during the pandemic, as one reason for or even contributing to the "free" derating only makes the whole thing less credible.

naravara 6y ago
GOI's handling of relocation during the lockdowns was a negative indicator in the same way famines are indicators (https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert-famine.html https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert...). It was directed top-down, imposed unreasonable and dangerous burdens on people with no recourse for restitution, and overall just betrayed a total callousness and lack of concern for the difficulties faced by migrant or itinerant laborers. It's not the ONLY cause of down-ranking India, but it is definitely another piece of evidence on the pile in addition to adoption of fairly authoritarian tactics for suppressing dissent. The corruption and patronage, sending out party goons to rough up detractors, and the corrupt and unprofessional standards in policing have always been black marks on Indian democracy. But once it expands to cutting off communication to regions, laws that are clearly intended to target religious minorities, applying those same goon-squad pressure tactics towards journalists and academics, etc. it all indicates a society that is at risk of crossing a threshold that will be difficult to come back from.
kasperni 6y ago
Where do you get the 14% from? India went from a 71 score (2019) to a 67 score. You can read more about the methodology here [1]. [1] https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world-research-methodology https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world...
- Lunrtick 6y ago
  I think that was a ±14% drop in the number of people living in a free country now that India is relabeled
- slindsey 6y ago
  Presumably saying that India represents 14% of the world population. Recent look suggests it's 17%.
- swaits 6y ago
  I think they’re saying India represents 14% of the world population. That means that the delisting of India is most of the “20%” mentioned in the headline.
  - dopamean 6y ago
    I think that 14% would make up a large percentage of the 80% not the 20.
- astatine 6y ago
  India did decline by 4%. But, the headline 20% considers only the population of countries that are "Free". India gets excluded from that list, as far as I can see, because of its new "partly free" status. Hence the entire pop of India, or around 14% of global pop, is a contributor to the drop.
cedilla 6y ago
In Freedom House's report on India[1] you can read about how they arrived at "partly free" for India. While the COVID lockdowns and their effect on marginalized groups where highlighted as events of 2020, if you look at the particular categories outlined below, you'll see that a lot more is going on that it warrants the rating of "partly free" in their opinion. 1: https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2021 https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2021
dgellow 6y ago
Isn’t it caused by the bill that makes it impossible for Muslims to become citizens? I’m not that familiar with Indian politics but from what I read[0] that’s more than just a small detail in my book, that’s a clear authoritarian move. So far everything I’ve seen regarding Modi’s politics has this same authoritarian flavor. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/india-to-bring-in-law-denying-citizenship-to-muslim-migrants https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/india-to-bring...
- astatine 6y ago
  There are questionable things the government has done. My point was really about the criteria itself. How would a criteria of "Is an external territory still under occupation?" do? Or perhaps "Is there freedom for women to get parental planning services?" Or "Are policies on immigration?" These are just random questions, but I think the questions imply a certain definition of freedom which is where arbitrariness might creep in.
  - bwb 6y ago
    At the end of day someone defines a criteria, experts, and then they apply it. You can argue they are not valid criteria, but get detailed about which criteria they apply you don't like :).
- ganti_r 6y ago
  What has freedom got to do with a change in laws on how it deals with citizenship of illegal migrants. There is lot of fud spread without understanding
freed5666 6y ago
There are also the numerous imprisonment of activists, journalists, opposing politicians etc. Basically an atmosphere of fear for people vocally opposing the government.

naravara 6y ago

GOI's handling of relocation during the lockdowns was a negative indicator in the same way famines are indicators (https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert-famine.html https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert...). It was directed top-down, imposed unreasonable and dangerous burdens on people with no recourse for restitution, and overall just betrayed a total callousness and lack of concern for the difficulties faced by migrant or itinerant laborers. It's not the ONLY cause of down-ranking India, but it is definitely another piece of evidence on the pile in addition to adoption of fairly authoritarian tactics for suppressing dissent. The corruption and patronage, sending out party goons to rough up detractors, and the corrupt and unprofessional standards in policing have always been black marks on Indian democracy. But once it expands to cutting off communication to regions, laws that are clearly intended to target religious minorities, applying those same goon-squad pressure tactics towards journalists and academics, etc. it all indicates a society that is at risk of crossing a threshold that will be difficult to come back from.

kasperni 6y ago

Where do you get the 14% from? India went from a 71 score (2019) to a 67 score. You can read more about the methodology here [1]. [1] https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world-research-methodology https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world...

Lunrtick 6y ago
I think that was a ±14% drop in the number of people living in a free country now that India is relabeled
slindsey 6y ago
Presumably saying that India represents 14% of the world population. Recent look suggests it's 17%.
swaits 6y ago
I think they’re saying India represents 14% of the world population. That means that the delisting of India is most of the “20%” mentioned in the headline.
- dopamean 6y ago
  I think that 14% would make up a large percentage of the 80% not the 20.
astatine 6y ago
India did decline by 4%. But, the headline 20% considers only the population of countries that are "Free". India gets excluded from that list, as far as I can see, because of its new "partly free" status. Hence the entire pop of India, or around 14% of global pop, is a contributor to the drop.

cedilla 6y ago

In Freedom House's report on India[1] you can read about how they arrived at "partly free" for India. While the COVID lockdowns and their effect on marginalized groups where highlighted as events of 2020, if you look at the particular categories outlined below, you'll see that a lot more is going on that it warrants the rating of "partly free" in their opinion. 1: https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2021 https://freedomhouse.org/country/india/freedom-world/2021

dgellow 6y ago

Isn’t it caused by the bill that makes it impossible for Muslims to become citizens? I’m not that familiar with Indian politics but from what I read[0] that’s more than just a small detail in my book, that’s a clear authoritarian move. So far everything I’ve seen regarding Modi’s politics has this same authoritarian flavor. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/india-to-bring-in-law-denying-citizenship-to-muslim-migrants https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/india-to-bring...

astatine 6y ago
There are questionable things the government has done. My point was really about the criteria itself. How would a criteria of "Is an external territory still under occupation?" do? Or perhaps "Is there freedom for women to get parental planning services?" Or "Are policies on immigration?" These are just random questions, but I think the questions imply a certain definition of freedom which is where arbitrariness might creep in.
- bwb 6y ago
  At the end of day someone defines a criteria, experts, and then they apply it. You can argue they are not valid criteria, but get detailed about which criteria they apply you don't like :).
ganti_r 6y ago
What has freedom got to do with a change in laws on how it deals with citizenship of illegal migrants. There is lot of fud spread without understanding

freed5666 6y ago

There are also the numerous imprisonment of activists, journalists, opposing politicians etc. Basically an atmosphere of fear for people vocally opposing the government.