The state of democracy

India moves up in the latest index but challenges remain

Indians, especially from the political establishment, have good reason to take heart from India’s promotion in the latest Democracy Index, an annual exercise conducted by The Economist newspaper’s Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), from 35 in 2015 to 32 in 2016. The fact that the world’s most populous democracy has outperformed the world’s most powerful democracy, the United States, on all parameters but one may be considered even more encouraging. Compared within the BRIC rubric, India’s performance positively sparkles. Brazil, which, just like India, falls in the category the EIU has designated “Flawed democracies”, weighs in at 51, equalling India only