World Press Freedom Index 2021 released
Recently, the World Press Freedom Index 2021, covering 180 countries, has been released. In which India is ranked 142. Earlier India was also ranked 142 in 2020.
The World Press Freedom Index is released every year by “Reporters Without Borders” (RSF), a non-profit organization of international journalism.
The first edition of ‘World Press Freedom Index’ released by RSF was published for the first time in the year 2002.
Key points:
- Norway ranks first in this index. Even before this, Norway has been in the first place for five consecutive years. Finland is ranked second in the index and Denmark is ranked third.
- The country of Eritrea is ranked at the lowest (180th) position in this index, followed by China, Turkmenistan and North Korea at 177th, 178th, and 179th, respectively.
- It should be noted that India is doing worse than its neighbors in this index. Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan rank 106th, 127th and 65th respectively in this index. While Pakistan is ranked 145
Reasons behind India’s poor performance:
- The report attributed the fear-mongering atmosphere created by the government, often terming them as anti-state or anti-national.
- Several incidents of harassment of journalists by police and paramilitary forces have been reported in Kashmir.
- Plurality of attacks on journalists and police violence against journalists, victimization by political activists and punishment by criminal groups or corrupt local authorities
Source – The Hindu
