The story so far: 2024 is the biggest year for democracy in election history. Half of the world’s population will head to polls this year, and almost a fourth of them live in India. While India will be the nucleus of democracy’s biggest litmus test, the strength of its democracy is under scrutiny. V-Dem Institute’s recent democracy index termed India “one of the worst autocratisers”— it had already ceased to be a democracy on this index in 2018. Similar indices have downgraded India’s democratic standing in recent years: India is only ‘partly free’ (Freedom House), is home to a “flawed democracy” (The Economist Intelligence Unit) and is better classified as an “electoral autocracy.”
The Indian Government has refuted these assessments. It now plans to release its own democracy index, which, according to an Al Jazeera report, will help India “counter recent downgrades in ratings and severe criticisms by international groups”.
Both democracy and its global estimations are under challenge in India. The Hindu breaks down the makings of a global ‘democracy index’: how democracy is defined, what parameters are picked, which methodology is employed and why there can be no one perfect measure for democracy.
