Is the Freedom House Foundation Report on Freedoms in India Accurate?

Abstract

The report on the status of freedom in different countries in the world by the Freedom House Foundation (FH) caused an uproar in India because it downgraded India’s status from “free” to “partly free.” While the government of India dismissed the report without giving any good reason, the report has caused many to question whether the report gives an accurate picture of freedom in India. The report causes consternation to many Indians who are worried about eroding freedoms in India.

To decide whether the report is based on fact, I have investigated every claim of FH and found that almost every one of them is based on fact. Further, I have also noticed that the FH has missed out many important events in India which, if taken into account, would give India an even lower rating than FH has given it. In such cases, I have given my own rating that takes such events into account.

In what follows, I have investigated every claim of FH and checked if there is a news article that justifies their concern. I have added the hyperlink to that article. I have also given hyperlinks to events which FH has missed and which I think have an impact on freedom in India.

Based on FH's points and my additional points, I believe FH has been very generous with their rating of 67. My own rating comes to only 50.

Introduction

On March 6, a report released by the Freedom House Foundation (FH) caused an uproar in India. The report said that, based on a number of metrics, India had slipped from a status of “free” to “partly free” over the last year. India's rating, based on a total score of 100, fell from 71 the previous year to 67 this year.

When asked about the report, India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, dismissed it by saying that since the Freedom House report did not depict India’s maps accurately, she saw no reason to respond to the report.

The only problem with India’s map in the report on India was that it showed the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) separately. India traditionally likes to show the whole of pre-Independence Jammu and Kashmir, which includes what is currently PoK, as well as Chinese-occupied Kashmir (Aksai Chin), as part of India. Unfortunately for India, India’s stance is not accepted globally.

Freedom House's Map of India, Which Gave Separate Ratings to Kashmir and to the Rest of India

If India were to object to everyone who showed maps that do not reflect the Indian government’s official position, then India would be unable to work with even the US State Department, which also uses a similar map.

The CIA Map of India

A lot of people in India are wondering if the FH report is accurate in terms of characterizing freedom in India or if the report exaggerates the reduction in freedom in India in the last several years.

I have examined the FH report on Freedom in India and looked at the various criteria on which the rating had been given, in order to understand for myself whether or not the ratings of the agency on India are reasonable. I have checked to see if their claims are evidence-based and have searched the news for articles that would corroborate their claims. When I do find corroboration, I have included hyperlinks to those events.

Further, as a resident and citizen of India, I read about events in the news every day. I noticed that some important events that happen in India have been missed by FH. I have added links to those as well.

Below, I give the various questions posed by Freedom House, verbatim, and give FH’s ratings for each question. They have 25 questions, each of which has a 0-4 score, for a total of 100 points. When they have given 4/4, I have agreed with them, and do not give their reasons. (Some may question why I am willing to accept that the country is perfect in the areas that Freedom House thinks it is, but I wish to be charitable.)

But when their rating is less than 4/4, I mention their reasons and investigate their reasons for the same. If I know of other instances which should lead to an even lower rating, I include those as well. Nothing here is my own construction. I have only mentioned what is available in the public media.

I should also point out that my rating is based on the current situation. FH gave its rating based on what it observed in 2020. I am including what I am seeing in 2021. Below is the full list of 25 categories of ratings, for a maximum possible of 100 points.

Political Rights

Electoral Process
1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? (4/4)
2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? (4/4)
3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? (4/4)
Political Pluralism and Participation
1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? (4/4)
2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? (4/4)
3. Are the people’s political choices free from domination by forces that are external to the political sphere, or by political forces that employ extrapolitical means? (3/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Insurgent violence in certain areas hampers political participation
    - Political actors inflame communal tensions to intimidate opponents
4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, racial, religious, gender, LGBT+, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Muslims only have 26/545 of Lok Sabha seats (5%) despite being 14% of the population
    - The government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which gives citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from neighboring countries, while going ahead with the creation of a National Register of Citizens, which many people feel is a tool to disenfranchise Indian Muslims by calling them illegal immigrants, especially in Assam.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - The ruling BJP does not have a single Muslim MP in the lower house (Lok Sabha), which means Muslims have no real say in lawmaking.
Functioning of Government
1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? (4/4)
2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Authorities have been accused of selective, partisan enforcement of anti-corruption drives.
    - Slow implementation of Lokpal and Lokayuktas to investigate corruption against public servants and politicians.
  - My additional reasons and rating (0/4):
    - The introduction of electoral bonds by the Modi government allows anyone to contribute to the BJP (the party in power) with zero transparency. This potentially allows corporations to buy unfettered access to power and influence with the ruling party.
3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? (3/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - The 2014 Whistleblowers Act was limited in scope.
    - The Modi government has weakened the Right to Information Act (RTI), partly by placing the salaries and tenures of the central and state information commissioners under the control of the Central Government, a move that could undermine their independence. Many of the positions have been filled by ruling party loyalists.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - In 7 years, the PM has not given a single press conference, unlike any other head of government in a democracy. The PM does not allow anyone to ask him hard questions. The last time anyone was allowed to ask Narendra Modi a hard question was in 2007, when he walked out of an interview with Karan Thapar. The only questions that people are allowed to ask him are whether he likes to eat mangoes, and how, how he works so hard, and other questions of that ilk.

Civil Liberties

Freedom of Expression and Belief
1. Are there free and independent media? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Government authorities have used national security, defamation, sedition, and hate speech laws, as well as contempt-of-court charges, to quiet critical voices.
    - Hindu nationalist campaigns aimed at discouraging forms of expression deemed “anti-national” have exacerbated self-censorship.
    - Revelations of close relationships between politicians, business executives, and lobbyists, on the one hand, an leading media personalities and owners of media outlets, on the other, have dented public confidence in the press.
    - Journalists critical of the government’s handling of Covid-19 were arrested.
    - Media outlets faced pressure to praise the government’s response.
    - PM Modi, in a video conference with the heads of India’s largest newspapers, called on media not to criticize the government over the pandemic, which was viewed as a warning.
    - Journalists are routinely attacked in the performance of their work, and those who are guilty are rarely punished.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - FH is seriously mistaken on the independence of private media in India. There is not a single truly independent TV channel in India. Most media outlets are terrified of contradicting the government or asking tough questions.
2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - Restrictions on inter-religious marriage that have come up all over India under the guise of stopping “love-jihad.” (essentially, measures to prevent Muslims from marrying Hindus.) Muslims who marry Hindus are routinely put in jail in some Indian states.
3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Intimidation of professors, students, and institutions over political and religious issues has increased. Members of the student wing of the RSS have engaged in violence on campuses across the country, including attacks on students and professors.
    - Pressure on academics not to discuss topics deemed sensitive by the BJP government, particularly India-Pakistan relations and conditions in the Kashmir valley.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - Textbooks in several states ruled by the BJP have been changed to include flat-out lies, such as alleging that flying airplanes were known 5000 years ago to Indians, that Indians possessed atomic bombs in antiquity, and that modern medical advances were known to ancient Hindus, with no evidence, only because Hindu texts seem to have mentioned such things. They also falsify known events in Indian history, such as the loss by Rana Pratap to the Mughal Emperor Akbar at the battle of Haldighati, by asserting that the reverse happened; and try to claim that the Wright Brothers did not invent the airplane, but that it was invented by an Indian.
4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? (3/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Routine use of Colonial-era sedition laws to curb free speech, including in anti-CAA protests and free-Kashmir protests.
    - Critical discussion of the Covid-19 pandemic was sought to be suppressed by invoking sections of the IT act.
    - A woman was arrested in Kolkata for saying that a doctor had contracted the virus.
    - Similar arrests under the IT act in response to discussion of Covid-19 were reported in UP, Karnataka, Mizoram, and Rajasthan.
    - The “Aarogya Setu” app designed by the government to control the pandemic was viewed by many as invasive of privacy. Private information about individuals’ health status was released without their consent.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - The Supreme Court has become very touchy about criticism of its rulings that have been favorable towards the government. The Supreme Court initiated contempt of court proceedings against a comedian, Kunal Kamra, just because he had criticized them.
    - A comedian, Munawar Faruqui, was arrested and detained for a month for a joke he did not even make.
Association and Organizational Rights
1. Is there freedom of assembly? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights– and governance-related work? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Many NGOs, particularly those investigating human rights abuses, face threats, legal harassment, excessive police force, and occasionally lethal violence.
    - The Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) has been used by the central government to target perceived political opponents, especially Amnesty International, which was thought to be punished by the government for criticizing New Delhi’s human rights record, for its criticism of the government’s complicity in the February violence in Delhi, and for its expose of a spyware campaign targeting human rights activists. Nearly 15,000 associations have been deregistered under the FCRA.
3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? (3/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Laws such as the Essential Services Maintenance Act have enabled the government to ban certain strikes.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - After the lockdown, the government decided that for the economy to recover, labor laws were a pesky annoyance. Most protections for India's labor force were suspended for 2-3 years in most states ruled by the BJP.
Rule of Law
1. Is there an independent judiciary? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Judges in lower courts have shown signs of increasing politicization.
    - Several key SC rulings in recent years have been favorable to the BJP, including the 2019 decision allowing the construction of a Hindu Temple on the site of a demolished mosque, and the court’s March 2020 decision to deny bail to a scholar and prominent critic of Modi who was charged with supporting a banned Maoist group.
    - The government appointed a recently-retired Chief Justice (Ranjan Gogoi) to the Rajya Sabha, violating the separation of powers.
    - A judge was transferred in 2020 after he issued rulings that criticized the Delhi police for their failure to address communal violence and related hate speech by BJP politicians.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - I do not dare state my additional reasons. Criticizing the Indian SC is a very risky affair. Of late, the SC has become very sensitive to criticism and has begun to use the contempt power quite freely, and I do not wish to go to jail.
2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Citizens face substantial obstacles in the pursuit of justice, including demands for bribes for filing a First Information Report (FIR).
    - Police force is corrupt.
    - The justice system is severely backlogged and understaffed.
    - There is lengthy pre-trial detention for suspects, often more than the sentence they might have received if convicted.
    - Many security laws allow detention without charge or based on vaguely-defined offenses.
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - Three names: Disha Ravi, Munawar Faruqui, Nodeep Kaur.
3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Torture, abuse, and rape by law enforcement and security officials is rampant.
    - A bill intended to prevent torture remains pending.
    - Abuses by prison staff against prisoners, especially belonging to marginalized groups, is common.
    - Security forces who commit atrocities are rarely prosecuted.
    - The Maoist insurgency in Chattisgarh, AP, and Odisha, continues, and rebels have imposed illegal taxes, seized food and places of shelted, engaged in abduction, and forced recruitment of children and adults. Local civilians and journalists who are seen to be pro-government are attacked. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the violence.
    - More than 40 insurgent factions in the Northeast continue to attack security forces and engage in inter-tribal violence. They have been implicated in bombings, killings, abductions, and rapes of civilians.
4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
  - My additional reasons and rating (0/4):
    - Muslims are routinely not allowed to stay in the same housing complexes as Hindus. This forces them to ghettoize.
Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights
1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? (3/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Property rights are somewhat tenuous for tribal groups and other marginalized communities. Members of these groups are often denied adequate resettlement opportunities and compensation when their lands are forcibly seized for development projects.
    - Muslim personal laws and traditional Hindu practices discriminate against women in terms of property rights and inheritance.
3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
  - My additional reasons and rating (1/4):
    - The new love jihad laws prevent Hindus from marrying Muslims, period.
4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? (2/4)
  - FH Reasons for Low Rating:
    - Child labor and exploitation is still rampant.
    - Bonded labor in India still exists.

Summary and Conclusions

When one looks at the 62 different points of criticism mentioned by FH, one can see that there are only two points where Freedom House has got its conclusions wrong:

The criticism under question 14, “Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution?” that “A woman was arrested in Kolkata for saying that a doctor had contracted the virus ” is not justifiable, because the said woman was lying and was arrested for making false statements about the said doctor.
I was unable to find any media or research links for the first point under question 18, “Judges in lower courts have shown signs of increasing politicization.” Quite to the contrary, I found a media link suggesting that lower courts in India are upholding fundamental rights better than the Supreme Court; and a carefully researched study showing that, compared to other countries, lower courts in India show no evidence of in-group bias by gender or religion towards co-gender and co-religion defendants.

It is still remarkable and exceptional that FH got 60 out of 62 criticisms of the absence of freedom in India correct – I was able to find reliable news links or links to research articles for the remaining 60 points, often finding multiple links to justify each point. In addition, as stated in the beginning, I had my own observations about the erosion of freedoms in India which FH had failed to register.

When I accounted for the erosions of freedom not accounted for in FH's list, my overall rating is a score of 50, as opposed to FH’s 67. My political rights score for India comes out to be 29/40 (FH: 34) and my civil liberties score for India comes out to be 21/60 (FH: 33), for a total of 50/100, which is still a partly-free country, but far less free than what Freedom House had estimated. Part of the reason for this discrepancy is that FH had missed some key changes in India, and part of the reason is that they would have used data only for 2020, whereas the situation in India has continued to deteriorate in 2021.

It is important for the government to realize that these ratings are not to be scoffed at. The Indian government may dismiss these ratings, but foreign agencies and companies that are evaluating India as an investment decision take these ratings very seriously. It is also important for Indians not to get defensive. These are real problems with our country, as the data show, and we cannot solve problems which we are unwilling to acknowledge. People should also stop looking at this through a political prism. Many of the problems mentioned (for example, dowry or bonded labor) are legacy problems that India has been trying to address for decades. It is in everyone's interest that these problems are solved.

Therefore, the Indian government should take reports such as these very seriously and work on fixing the lacunae that these reports have identified. It would be ideal if a task force was set up to correct these lacunae and give recommendations to the government, which would then be promptly acted upon, leading to greater freedom for all Indians.

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Thursday, 11 March 2021

Is the Freedom House Report on Freedoms in India Accurate?