Time to Rethink Coalition Governments at the Centre

As per the Human Freedom Index 2021 released by the Cato Institute, Washington, DC and the Fraser Institute, Canada, India ranked 119 out of 165 countries, faring worse than Nepal and Bhutan. When a member of Parliament questioned why India slid to the 53rd position in the Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) headquartered in London, the Ministry of External Affairs wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat to disallow the question. These developments also provide a reason for why the EIU described India as a “flawed democracy” in its report. The 2021 “Freedom in the World Rankings” report published by the Freedom House, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) funded by the United States (US) government, designated India to be “partly free” and stated that

the constitution guarantees civil liberties including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but harassment of journalists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other government critics has increased under Modi’s tenure. Muslims, Scheduled Castes (Dalits), and Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) remain economically and socially marginalised.