The Ministry of External Affairs may come up with its own “world democracy report” and a “global press freedom index” by an independent Indian think tank. It was reported that the discussions to do this were going on before recent reports by Freedom House and V-Dem Institute downgraded India.
After US-based human rights think tank Freedom House deemed India to be 'partly-free' a step down from the earlier 'free' status, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar slammed the report, calling it "hypocrisy" by a group of "self-appointed custodians of the world".
(Published 18 March 2021, 00:50 IST)