V-dem’s democracy index rates India at its lowest since 1975

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters celebrate as Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns after protests over alleged examination irregularities and NEET paper leak | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP Last week, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), said it was “gravely concerned” about “reports of large-scale violations perpetrated by law enforcement officials” in its first review of India since 2007. The committees’ observations included concerns over the exclusion of large number of voters, Muslims in particular, as part of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.UN CERD’s criticism seems to be in line with some of the observations in the latest democracy report by the University of Gothenburg-based Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, which uses a multidimensional approach to “conceptualising and measuring democracy.”It noted India as one of the countries that is “autocratising” slowly with a systematic dismantling of democratic institutions. This is reflected in the institute’s electoral democracy index released in March. While India’s performance has gradually declined since 2009, the latest index score is India’s lowest since 1975, when the country was under Emergency rule.India’s scores across parameters such as judicial accountability and corruption, autonomy of the Election Management Body (EMB), and impartial administration by public officials are at their lowest in 50 years. The decline in autonomy of institutions, as per the report, seems to have accompanied deteriorations in freedom of academic and cultural expression and harassment of journalists.Academic freedom measured through indicators such as freedom of academic expression, freedom to research and teach, and institutional autonomy have also declined.The data for the charts were sourced from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Gauri Singavarapu is interning with The Hindu’s Data team Published - September 01, 2026 03:00 pm IST