Republic Day celebrations needs to include hard talk on issues that are destroying the republic

Republic Day celebrations ensued with much fanfare but a conspicuous silence over the things that are eating away the Republic that India is.

India is at its worst in recent history if we look at the global performance indicators. According to former Amnesty India Executive Director Aakar Patel, India fell on 40 indicators between 2014 and 2020. This performance worsened during the period 2021.

During 2021, India’s ranking declined on 10 out of the 18 global indexes (Human Development Index, Global Hunger Index, Freedom of Religion Report, Corruption Perception Index, Rule of Law Index, Education Expenditure, World Democracy Index, Economic Freedom Index, Global Peace Index, Global Right to Information Rating) and ‘severely declined’ in three (Global Gender Gap Report, Human Freedom Index, and World Press Freedom Index).

According to Oxfam India’s Inequality Kills – India Supplement 2022 report more than 4.6 crore Indians are estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty (nearly half of the global new poor according to the United Nations). During same time the number of billionaires increased from 102 to 142 and the collective wealth of India’s 100 richest people hit a record high of INR 57.3 lakh crore (USD 775 billion).

India is performing worse than both Pakistan and Bangladesh in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. In the 2020 GHI report, India ranked at 94th among 132 countries assessed. In the latest report India fell to 101st position among 135 countries clocking a decline of 7 positions. Pakistan’s position last year was at 88th, Bangladesh was at 75th, Nepal was at 73rd, and Sri Lanka at 64th making India the worst performing nation in South Asia except Afghanistan which was at 99th position. This year too India fared worse than both Pakistan which is at 92nd and Bangladesh 76th position.

India has been consistently declining in the World Democracy Index prepared by The Economist Intelligence Unit. 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 regimes: full democracy; flawed democracy; hybrid regime; and authoritarian regime. India fell 10 places and ranked 51st and was marked as flawed democracy in the 2019 report. In the 2020 Democracy Index report, India fell by another 2 places and ranked at 53rd position. Bangladesh was at 80th position in the 2019 report which was an improvement of 8 position. In the latest report Bangladesh made further improvement of 4 places and ranked 76th.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) prepares its annual report on Freedom of Religion which does not provide any ranking but places countries in various categories. India was categorized as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in 2020 report. India has always been a Country of Special Concern (CSC) except once - after the 2002 Gujarat carnage when India got this tag. India's freedom of religion deteriorated during Modi's rule giving us this CPC tag once again. “Ideally, India should be on par with the Scandinavian countries, the US and Canada. Today, Afghanistan, Sudan, Indonesia and Egypt have a higher ranking than us,” Faizan Mustafa wrote in a column in response to the report.

Narendra Modi’s whimsical and ill-conceived demonetisation scheme severely hit the nation’s economy taking us back by decades it was said to be a small price for the greater good which was eradication of corruption. Ironically, India has been consistently falling in the Corruption Perception Index prepared by Transparency International. In the 2019 report India ranked at the 80th position among 198 countries falling 2 places from previous report. This year India declined to 86th position out of 180 countries.

One of the most shocking declines have been in the Global Gender Gap report prepared by World Economic Forum which benchmarks countries on their progress towards gender parity in four dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. In the 2020 report which was the 14th edition covering 153 countries, India slipped to 112th spot from its 108th position in 2018. This year India fell 28 steps and ranked at 140 registering a severe decline.

The Human Freedom Index co‐published by the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute is yet another significant Index in which India register serious decline. It evaluates criteria such as personal, civil, and economic freedom, dignity of individuals and is defined as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. In 2019 India ranked 94th. The 2020 report placed India at the 111th, a fall of 17 places. In the 2021 report, India fell 5 more spots and is now at 119th position, registering a total decline of 22 places in 3 years.

In the Press Freedom Index, India registered a shocking 60 places decline since this report was first published in 2002. The index evaluates criteria such as pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information. In the 2020 report India ranked 142 among 180 countries falling 2 places from 2019. There is no change since last report.

Remarkably, India is still among the world’s top 10 countries in the Global Right To Information Rating despite a fall of 4 places in the latest report published in 2018. This Index was created by created by Access Info Europe (AIE) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) in 2011 when India made a debut at the second position. From being the second best, India slipped four positions in seven years, to settle at number at 6 in the 2018 report.

Another significant Index respected widely is the Human Development Index created by UNDP 30 years ago as a new way to conceive and measure progress. Key dimensions of human developments considered by the report are, a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. In the latest available report India ranked at 131 falling 2 places from 129 in the previous report. Between 1990 to 2010 India had a sharp rise in the index, but the curve has been more or less flat since last 10 years. India, along with Pakistan and Bangladesh fall in the mid-development slab, with India doing slightly better however Bangladesh showing faster growth.

India ranked 69th out of 128 countries in the 2020 Rule of Law Index by World Justice Project which provides scores and rankings based on eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory, Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice. In the 2021 Report India declined by almost 10 places and ranked at 79th out of 139 countries. Bangladesh is the only country among the South Asian countries which has improved its ranking.

Any celebration of the Republic Day, whether by the government or political leaders or media and civil society without acknowledging these worrying figures is a great betrayal to the people of India.