The V-dem Democracy Index ranks India at its lowest since 1975

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) supporters celebrate Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation after protests over alleged examination irregularities and NEET paper leak | Photo credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

Last week, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in its first review of India since 2007, said it was “gravely concerned” by “reports of widespread violations by law enforcement agencies”. The committees’ observations included concerns about the exclusion of large numbers of voters, especially Muslims, in a particularly intensive revision of the electoral roll.

The criticism of UN CERD appears to be in line with some of the observations in the latest report on democracy by the Gothenburg-based Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) institute, which takes a multidimensional approach to “conceptualizing and measuring democracy”.

Published – 01 Sep 2026 15:00 IST