Often claimed to be the world's largest democracy, India has now had that accolade removed.
Freedom House, a non-profit organisation which conducts research on political freedom and human rights, has had India's status as a free country has changed to "partly free".
Civil liberties in India have been in decline since PM Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, said Freedom House in its report Democracy under Siege. Since 2014, it says, increased pressure on human rights organisations, intimidation of journalists and activists, and a spate of attacks, especially those against Muslims, had led to a deterioration of political and civil liberties in the country. And this decline "accelerated" after 2019, it added.
It added that India's "fall from the upper ranks of free nations" could have a more damaging effect on the world's democratic standards.
"Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all," the report said.
The global freedom report also added that "the countries with declines in political rights and civil liberties outnumbered those with gains by the largest margin recorded during the 15-year period".
It downgraded the freedom scores of 73 countries, representing 75% of the global population.
India is now only 'partly free' under Modi, says report - BBC News
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