Biased Global Indices and Implications on India

Today, India is the fastest growing major economy and the fifth largest by nominal GDP. It is also the world’s largest functional democracy whose constitution ensures free press and freedom of opinion. The economy and the society are largely free from any unwarranted state interference. Millions of people are being uplifted from poverty every year and there has been a substantial improvement in the living standards. The central government offers free insurance coverage to crores of people and public healthcare has shown remarkable improvements in recent years. There are no major internal disturbances in the country at present. Yet even after all these good things happening, you will always find India ranking from lower middle to bottom in global indices released by  global institutions. There are widespread allegations of the (Western) ‘deep state’ trying to show India in a poor light and creating a negative perception about the nation. Therefore, it is important to understand the credibility of these indexes and their hidden agenda.

The question  is why would any international organisation defame India through tendentious reports? Many reports and opinion pieces on international media outlets are highly biased and opinionated against India. The presence of a government that won’t succumb to the West’s pressure tactics is undoubtedly a reason for this biased reporting. Over the years, India has become a destination for investors from all across the world. Therefore creating a negative perception against India can tarnish its image globally and make investors reluctant to invest. Hostile propagandists want the world to believe that India is still a land of snake charmers and a risky place to invest.

Even though these ratings or indexes are based on highly subjective, they cannot be ignored altogether because they also affect sovereign ratings. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) indices are introduced into investment decisions of all major Multinational Corporations (MNCs). These indices also influence some rating agencies that use the World Bank’s World Governance Indicators (WGI) from which certain parameters like political stability, law and order, corruption, freedom of the press, governance issues, and others such are used. This includes international rating agencies like Moody’s and Fitch. Global investors consider these ratings before making any such investments. Such reports can put the nation on the back foot when India is vying to assume more global responsibilities including permanent membership to the UN Security Council and other international organizations.

India is ranked 126th in the global happiness index, 163rd in the global terrorism index, 105th in the global hunger index, 126th in the international peace index, and holds 41st place (as an allegedly flawed democracy) in the democracy index. Therefore India fares poorly in all major indices. Here we are taking three important but biased indices to expose misleading stats regarding India. These are the Democracy Index (by the Economist Intelligence Unit), the World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders), and the Global Hunger Index (GHI).

India is one of the most successful democracies in the world with over 96 crore people who were eligible to cast their votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Free and fair elections are conducted regularly and the transfer of power happens peacefully. Still India is listed in the category of a flawed democracy by EIU, a subsidiary of the Economist magazine. Electoral process, Pluralism, Functioning of government, Political participation, Political culture, and Civil liberties are the five parameters based on which this index is prepared. Around sixty questions are asked on these parameters and these questions are highly subjective. Out of the sixty questions, forty-five questions are answered by ‘experts’ on this field while the other fifteen are left to the public polls. The report does not reveal any background information about the consulted experts or their their subject of expertise. Also, the public polls  can easily be manipulated. From the very first issue of this report in 2006, India was categorised as a flawed democracy. India’s ranking went further down after 2014. Almost all the European nations, even those smaller than most states in India, find a way to the topmost ratings in this index despite ongoing controversies about the fairness and transparency of elections in some of them.

 The website of ‘Reporters without borders’ states that ‘the purpose of the World Press Freedom Index is to compare the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories.’ The report is based on five parameters including political context, legal framework, economic context, socio-cultural context, and safety. Here the problem is that the methodology relies heavily on  subjective surveys mong journalists, which makes it biased. India is placed at the 161st position, even below Pakistan (at 152). This index clearly shows a white supremacist approach and a negative bias towards Asian countries. This organisation is loosely aligned with the controversial billionaire George Soros whose ‘Open Society Foundation’ is accused of plotting for regime changes in various nations. India’s foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar had referred to Soros as “Old, rich, opinionated and dangerous”.

RSF is accused of plotting regime changes in various ‘developing’ countries on behalf of the Western great powers. This ranges from plotting  coup against Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, and Evo Morales in Bolivia. RSF is allegedly working closely with the US State Department which funds its activities. George Soros and other Deep State actors have made clear on multiple occasions their antagonism towards the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. RSF’s involvement in regime changes in other countries explains their anti-India stance.

The Global Hunger Index is yet another report used to portray India as a poor, hungry nation. India has achieved significant milestones in the past few decades in alleviating poverty and uplifting the poor. The government of India rejected this report in 2022 citing ‘erroneous measures of hunger and suffering from serious methodological issues’. “Misinformation seems to be the hallmark of the annually released Global Hunger India,” said the government of India in a statement. During its economic crisis of 2022, Sri Lanka faced acute food shortage, and food and essential products were given as aid by India. According to the 2024 index, Sri Lanka was ranked at the 56th position, while India is in 105th position. African nations facing food shortages like Djibouti, Tanzania, Congo, Burkina Faso and others are placed above India.  Namibia, which even planned to kill its elephants to feed its citizens, is in the 86th position, 19 places above India. GHI has faced immense criticism for its inadequate parameters to measure poverty. GHI uses child stunting and wasting as proxies for hunger, which does not give a full picture.

Another important index widely quoted is the Global Happiness Index where India is ranked 126th. According to the report, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine, Myanmar, and Iran stand above India. Ukraine, which is at war with Russia and whose infrastructure has been largely destroyed and damaged, was also ranked at a high level. India is also below Palestine, which has been devastated by Israeli carpet bombings and massacres since October 2023. At a time when India’s per capita income is increasing substantially and the overall living standards of people are rising putting India into a lower bracket is done with a definite intent.

From the various indices examined, it is clear that there is an anti-India bias in all the global indices. As a growing economy, India has already achieved a significant place in the international political setup. There is a systematic attempt to show India in poor light while ignoring many achievements. By 2050, India is projected to be the third-largest economy and it worries certain dominant powers. There is a disinformation campaign against India, and these global indices prove it. Not just such reports but certain media outlets like the TRT news (Turkey), AL-Jazeera (Qatar), BBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and others publish highly opinionated editorials against India. Therefore, the onus is on civil society and public intellectuals to fact-check such biased reports and expose the ulterior motives of agencies that generate and circulate such reports.