In Feb 2021, according to a Democracy Index published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) where in India was on 53rd position and was described as a “flawed democracy”. The EIU Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of world democracy for 165 independent states and two territories.
Series of such rankings and reports have rattled Mr Modi’s government and cast a shadow on the global image of India’s democracy. Foreign ministry has gone ahead with dismissing these reports and declared them “inaccurate and distorted”.
Some months ago Indian government officials reached out to EIU to seek clarifications regarding the Democracy Index. Indian officials sought details on the sample size; the other aspects of the methodology; the details of agencies/authors or contributor; and consultations with government agencies, if any.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, the Union government asked the High Commission of India (HC) in London to understand from the EIU based in London, “the assessment mechanism of the Democracy Index (DI)” and the “methodology, sample size, consultations with government agencies, details of authors and agencies that were used to curate this index”.
According to documents reviewed by HT, the Union government asked the High Commission of India (HC) in London to understand from the EIU based in London, “the assessment mechanism of the Democracy Index (DI)” and the “methodology, sample size, details of authors and agencies that were used to curate this index”.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has declined the offer from the Indian government to provide official data for its “Democracy Index” rankings.
EIU has released a statement which says-
“EIU relies on the annual reports of US based think-tanks like Freedom House and Pew Research, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders). For example, the action of RSF to recently downgrade India from completely free to partially free in terms of press freedom will definitely resonate in EU country forecasts.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime or authoritarian regime.
The rankings blame Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP government for the backsliding of democracy. Under Mr Modi’s watch, they say, there has been increased pressure on human rights groups, intimidation of journalists and activists, and a spate of attacks, especially against Muslims. This, they add, has led to a deterioration of political and civil liberties in the country.
This, the documents suggested, include political opposition to certain new laws, and mentioned issues such as the Land Report Bill, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and the state-backed blackout of the internet in Jammu & Kashmir that may have led to a downgrade.
What is EIU?
EIU are the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, the sister company to The Economist newspaper. It was Created in 1946.
The EIU released the Democracy Index in 2008 (with updates in 2008, 2010 and every year since), which is an index compiled by examining the state of democracy in 167 countries (of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states).
The Economist’s Democracy Index is based on measuring electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties”.
According to EIU, almost 70% of countries covered by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index recorded a decline in their overall score, as country after country locked down to protect lives from a novel coronavirus. The global average score fell to its lowest level since the index began in 2006.