India slips two places to 53rd spot in EIU's 2020 Democracy Index

India slipped two places in the 2020 Democracy Index's global ranking. India slipped to 53rd position due to 'democratic backsliding' by authorities and 'crackdowns' on civil liberties, said The Economist Intelligence Unit. India was ahead of most of its neighbours, while Norway topped the list.

India's overall score fell from 6.9 in 2019 to 6.61 in the index. The Democracy Index shows the current state of democracy worldwide for 167 countries. "With mounting pressure on India's democratic norms, India's score fell from a peak of 7.92 in 2014 to 6.61 in 2020 and its global ranking slipped from 27th (in 2014) to 53rd as a result of democratic backsliding under the current regime," The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said.

Norway took the lead in the report called 'Democracy in sickness and in health?', followed by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Canada comprising the top five.

The Democracy Index classified 23 countries as full democracies, 52 as flawed democracies, 35 as hybrid regimes and 57 as authoritarian regimes. India has been classified as a 'flawed democracy', along with other countries such as the US, Brazil, France and Belgium.

The EIU report also said the Narendra Modi-led government has "introduced a religious element to the conceptualisation of Indian citizenship, a step that many critics see as undermining the secular basis of the Indian state".

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