“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” —Martin Luther King Jr.
August 15, 1947, India broke the chains of colonial rule and embraced the dream of a free, sovereign nation. The Indian Constitution, adopted in 1950, promised liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship. Yet, 77 years later, a critical question echoes across newsrooms, universities, courtrooms, and social media feeds: India is free, but are Indians really enjoying freedom today?
We must go beyond the performative celebration of the national flag and delve into how India fares in global freedom indexes being the largest democracy in the world. The tenure of 21 years of BJP led Indian Democracy rather compels to introspect as instances reveal that Indians are experiencing a journey from being a Welfare State to Totalitarian state where scars of oppression are quite prominent. Let’s throw some light.
Independent assessments that evaluate nations based on civil liberties, political rights, press freedom, internet freedom, religious freedom, and democratic health are rather unfolding a different reality. The findings are unsettling.
According to Freedom House Index (2024), India is labelled “Partly Free” securing the Global Rank: 100/210 in terms of
Freedom Status: Partly Free
Score: 66/100.The Freedom House, a US-based democracy watchdog, downgraded India’s freedom status from “Free” to “Partly Free” in 2021, and it has remained the same since.
Key Observations made by the agency are:
Political Rights Score: 33/40
Civil Liberties Score: 33/60
The report cited increased pressure on journalists, civil society, and dissenters, the use of sedition and anti-terror laws, and intimidation of minorities and critics.
Notably, events such as internet shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir, arrests of student activists under UAPA, and media censorship were highlighted.
While India remains a vibrant electoral democracy, basic freedoms like expression, assembly, and press freedom are under increasing strain.
Reporters Without Borders, which measures World Press Freedom Index, positioned India with global rank 159 out of 180 nations with a categorical remark: “Difficult Situation”. India’s media environment is being labelled as “toxic for journalists”. Key Issues that are highlighted are targeting of journalists through legal harassment, arrests, and physical attacks, rising ownership concentration of media houses aligned with government-friendly businesses, increasing self-censorship in mainstream media, growing attacks on independent digital media.
High-profile cases like the arrest of journalists under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the raids on NewsClick, and labelling of fact-checkers as “anti-national” are creating a culture of fear.
A democracy without a free and critical press is a democracy only in its name. If the press cannot question power, freedom becomes an illusion.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index 2023 India’s Rank is 108/167 with a status: “Flawed Democracy”.
The EIU measures electoral process, pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
India, once hailed as the “world’s largest democracy”, has seen a decline in its scores due to the erosion of judicial independence, majoritarian political narrative, suppression of dissent.
India still votes. But the space between elections is shrinking in terms of freedoms.
The V-Dem Institute (Sweden) Democracy Report 2024 classified India as an ‘Electoral Autocracy’. This is perhaps the most alarming designation. According to the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute, India has moved from being a liberal democracy in 2014 to an electoral autocracy by 2020, and this trend continues.
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Factors behind the decline are; government control over electronic media, harassment of academic and civil society voices, rising use of religions polarization in politics
Elections are not sufficient to ensure democracy. When elected leaders use legal and institutional mechanisms to curb freedom, democracy becomes hollow.
Freedom on the Net Report 2023 suggests India is “Not Free” in terms of the use of the Internet.
India has consistently topped the global list for internet shutdowns, often justified in the name of national security or public order. While this may sometimes be necessary, frequent misuse affects:
The shutdown in Manipur (2023) lasted for several months, stalling both civic life and accountability. A nation cannot claim digital progress while denying its citizens digital freedom.
According to Cato Institute – Human Freedom Index 2023, India ranks 117/165.
The Human Freedom Index covers personal, civil, and economic freedoms, such as: Rule of law, Security and safety, Religious freedom, freedom of expression, and independence of Identity and relationships.
US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated India as a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC)”. In recent reports, the USCIRF has repeatedly expressed concern over:
- Anti-conversion laws
- Attacks on places of worship
- Lynching and hate crimes
- Impunity for perpetrators of religious violence
Although the Indian government rejects these claims as biased, the ground-level data from civil society organizations corroborates such fears.
Freedom of religion, a core part of India’s constitutional promise, is under increasing threat, especially for minorities.
The Indian government often dismisses international indexes as biased, Western, or agenda-driven. While it’s valid to critically assess external evaluations, it’s also necessary to reflect on why multiple indexes from different continents are showing similar trends. Also, domestic developments—arrests of students, sedition cases against comedians, FIRs against academicians, book bans, polarization of education by eliminating history —reinforce what these indexes are indicating.
Freedom today is often contingent—on who you are, what you say, and whom you oppose.
Independence is not enough without freedom as freedom ensures independence. Yes, India is politically independent. But freedom is not merely the absence of colonial rule—it is the presence of rights, dignity, choices, and checks on power.
As global rankings reveal, India’s democracy is becoming increasingly majoritarian, centralized, and performative.
In 2025, as India celebrates 78 years of independence, it must ask itself: Is freedom just symbolic? Or is it lived, felt, and defended every day?
The answer just does not lie in symbolic flag hoisting ceremonies and patriotic Bollywood songs but in listening to dissent, empowering the marginalised, and building a democracy that does not merely exist—but thrives.
