India's low ranking in some of the global indices on freedom and democracy is due to "serious problems" with the methodology used in the surveys, says a working paper issued on November 22 by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
The working paper, titled 'Why India does poorly on global perception indices', analyses three perception-based indices: Freedom in the World Index, V-DEM indices, and EIU Democracy Index.
"Freedom in the World Index and V-DEM indices have placed India at the same level as during the Emergency of the 1970s. Moreover, India has been placed below countries like Northern Cyprus. Surely, this is not credible," the working paper authored by Sanjeev Sanyal, member of EAC-PM Aakanksha Arora, the advisory group's deputy director.
India had scored 66 out of 100 in the Freedom of the World Index released in March, and was categorised as 'partly free'. The country ranked 93rd out of 179 countries in the V-DEM Indices issued in March, and was placed at the 46th spot in the EIU Democracy Index released in February.
Sanyal and Arora's working paper highlighted four major points, which, according to them, has adversely affected India's ranking.
"There are serious problems with the methodology used in these perception-based indices. First, these indices are primarily based on the opinions of a tiny group of unknown 'experts'," it said.
Second, the questions that are used are "subjective" and are worded in a way that is "impossible to answer objectively even for a country, let alone compare across countries", the paper added.
"Third, there are questions that should be asked but are excluded. Fourth, certain questions used by these indices are not an appropriate measure of democracy across all countries," it further said.
Since these indices are inputs into the World Governance Indicators, the World Bank should ensure greater transparency and accountability from these institutions, the authors said.
Meanwhile, independent Indian think tanks should be encouraged to do similar perception-based indices for the world in order to "break the monopoly of a handful of western institutions", the paper noted.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
