India slips to 42nd position in EIU Democracy Index

London [UK], Jan 31 (ANI): India slipped to 42nd position out of 167 countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Democracy Index report due to a rise of conservative religious ideologies, increasing atrocities against minorities as well as other dissenting voices, according to the EIU.

The country dropped 10 places from 32nd position last year to 42nd position. The Scandinavian countries- Norway, Iceland and Sweden occupied the top three positions.

The EIU observed that India 's overall score in the index fell to 7.23 points, even as it scored well on electoral process and pluralism.

"It has not managed to score so well on other four parameters- political culture, functioning of government, political participation and civil liberties," according to the EIU.

Despite India's dip in the ranking, it remained the highest in South Asia region.

India's neighbours such as Pakistan (120th), Afghanistan (149th), Bhutan (99th), Nepal (94th) Bangladesh (92nd), Sri Lanka (66th), China (139th) and Myanmar (120th) were ranked much lower.

Syria (166th) and North Korea (167th) occupied the bottom positions in the index.

The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories- electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of governmenpolitical participation and political culture.

Founded in 1946, the EIU provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 countries with its Democratic Index, which is published every year.

It categorises the countries into four parts- full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime. (ANI)