India's downgrade by global bodies not credible, says Economic Advisory Council

New Delhi, November 22

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) on Tuesday released a working paper challenging India’s consistent downgrading by top global perception-based indices. It said the government should request the World Bank to demand accountability from the western think tanks. Authors Sanjeev Sanyal and Aakanksha Arora further recommend that independent think-tanks in India should be encouraged to research.

The working paper looks at three indices which are inputs into the World Bank’s World Governance Indicators that, in turn, have approximately 18-20% weightage in sovereign ratings. The paper looks at Freedom in the World Index, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index and Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) indices.

Freedom Index dropped India’s score on civil liberties from 42 till 2018 to 33 by 2022. The score on political rights dropped from 35 to 33. The working paper also questions India’s score on other indices.