After India’s status was downgraded from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free‘ by the US government-funded NGO Freedom House, the Centre is considering coming up with a home-bred ‘world democracy report’ and a ‘global press freedom index.’
According to a report by Hindustan Times, the ministry of external affairs is in talks about two new indices to be brought out by an independent Indian think tank. Reports say discussions on the move were being planned before recent reports by Freedom House and V-Dem Institute downgraded India’s democratic rankings.
In March this year, the Centre issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the report by Freedom House that downgraded India’s ranking on its freedom index and classified it as a ‘Partly Free’ country. In its statement, the government had said that the ‘Freedom in the World’ report is “misleading, incorrect and misplaced”.