FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2021 :DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT

Why In News?

U.S.-based human rights watchdog Freedom House downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’, in its annual report.

• India’s score was 67, a drop from 71/100 from last year (reflecting 2019 data) downgrading it from the free category last year (based on 2020 data).
  
  
• According to the report “Freedom in the World 2021: Democracy under Siege”, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its State-level allies continued to crack down on critics during the year.
  
  
• The ruling Hindu nationalist movement also encouraged the scapegoating of Muslims, who were disproportionately blamed for the spread of the virus.
  
  
• The U.S. dropped three points over one year, down to 83/100.
  
  
• China, classified as ‘not free’, dropped a point from last year going down to 9/100.

Background:

Freedom House, which is largely funded through U.S. government grants, has been tracking the course of democracy since 1941. Pointing to a decline in global democracy over the last 15 years, it said that nearly 75 percent of the world’s population lived in a country that faced deterioration over the last year.