Democracy in India
India was the 19th mostelectoral democratic country in Asiaaccording toV-Dem Democracy indicesin 2023 with a score of 0.399 out of 1.[1] The Economist Democracy Indexin 2022 considered India aflawed democracy.[2]
Democratic backsliding
[edit]According toV-Dem Institute,laws on sedition, defamation, and counterterrorism are used to silence critics,[3]and describes India as "one of the worstautocratisersin the last 10 years ".[4]Free political speech is limited.[5]Gerrymanderingis another challenge to democracy in India.[6][7]
History
[edit]EarlyShakyas,Koliyas,Mallakas,andLicchavisclaim assemblies open to all men, rich and poor,[8]which could be considered a form ofdirect democracy.Othersaṅghasandgaṇashad councils of unelected nobles, which don't meet the standards of democracy. Greek historianDiodoruswrites two centuries after the time ofAlexander the Greatabout democratic states in India,[9]but lacks evidence for elections considering the word "democracy" around the 3rd century BCE could mean any autonomous state.[10][11]In the 10th century, the election of local representatives for the village bodies during theChola Empireis claimed inVaikunda Perumal Temple's inscriptions.[12][13][14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^V-Dem Institute (2023)."The V-Dem Dataset".Retrieved3 February2024.
- ^Dutta, Anisha (22 June 2023)."India secretly works to preserve reputation on global Democracy Index".The Guardian.
- ^Pillai, Shreeya and Lindberg, Staffan I. (2021) "Democracy Broken Down: India" inDemocracy Report 2021: Autocratization Turns Viralpp.20–21.V-Dem Institute
- ^"India Is 'One of the Worst Autocratisers in the Last 10 Years,' Says 2023 V-Dem Report".The Wire.7 March 2023.
- ^"Democratic Backsliding in India, the World's Largest Democracy".V-Dem Institute.24 February 2020. Archived fromthe originalon 27 February 2021.Retrieved3 January2021.
- ^Forbes India Investigation: India's most gerrymandered constituencies, Karthik Shashidhar, 2019
- ^India 'gerrymanders' Kashmir region in redrawn electoral map, 2022
- ^Robinson, 1997, p. 23
- ^Diodorus 2.39
- ^Larsen, 1973, pp. 45–46
- ^de Sainte, 2006, pp. 321–3
- ^R., Nagaswamy (2003).Uttaramerur.Chennai: Tamil Arts Academy. pp. 12–16.
- ^Padmaja, T. (7 March 2024).Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu.Abhinav Publications. p. 88.ISBN9788170173984.
- ^Vaikunta perumal temple inscriptions, Uttiramerur, TN and democratic election practices 1000 years ago, Navrang India, September 02, 2022
