It was alarming to read a news item that the world's largest democracy India, has plummeted ten places to 51st position in Global Democracy Index 2019.  The white paper released by The Economic Intelligence Unit lucidly points out that the credit for this ignominy goes to our iron-fisted policies of the party in power, like NRC, J&K, Internet clampdowns, CAA, etc. This index is the barometer to how the international community is looking at us in this scenario. The news item has also pointed out that if things continue to worsen in this manner, India will find itself on the brink of getting demoted into an authoritarian state. The last time Indian democracy faced an existential threat was during the Emergency. Unfortunately, we are repeating history.

We should follow Norway, which is one of the most secular and democratic countries of the world, instead of paying undue attention to Pakistan. Some countries that were above our country's index have slipped to 51st position, with a score of 6.90 out Of 10. We must try to beat the champions Norway (score 9.87) instead of slowly moving towards Pakistan( score 4.25).

A vibrant democracy and secular ideals also helped Norway achieve the top rank in the 2019 Human Development Index. India should try to emulate Norway and improve our 129th rank in HDI instead of being obsessed with Pakistan that got 152nd rank.

It is a matter of grave concern that India's downward trend continues even with the World Press Freedom Index, where it dropped from 133rd rank in 2016 to 140 in 2019. Alarmingly we are inching closer to 150th ranked Pakistan. We must reverse this trend and have a healthy competition with numero-uno Norway.