From Democracy Index to Social Mobility, ‘Sab Changa Si’ Is a Lie

Let’s play a game – I’ll tell you some facts and at the end, you tell me whether India mein sab changa si.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video editor: Ashish Maccune

Let’s play a game – I’ll tell you some facts and at the end, you tell me whether India mein sab changa si (Everything is fine in India). Okay? Let’s go.

On the Social Mobility Index of the World Economic Forum, India ranked 76th among 82 countries due to our poor performance on improving the quality of access to education and health.

• On the Democracy Index 2019 by The Economist Intelligence Unit, India’s position dropped by 10 places to 51st, due to “an erosion of civil liberties in the country”.
  
• Gita Gopinath, the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced that India is responsible for over 80 percent of the lowering of the global growth estimate.
  
• And an Oxfam report shows that the richest 1 percent of Indians own 42.5 percent of the national wealth, while the bottom half owns a mere 2.8 percent.

India’s staggering wealth inequality.(GIF: The Quint)

ALL of the above headlines are from January 2020.

Now, before we further discuss what these reports tell us about the state of our nation, you tell me – does it sound like sab changa si?

Erosion of Civil Liberties

First, let’s talk about India’s downslide on the Democracy Index, which is an annual list compiled by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

In the 2019 rankings, India was placed 51st among 165 countries and two territories, having received its lowest score since the index was first published in 2006.

India’s score fell from 7.81 in 2016, to 7.23 in 2017 and 2018, and now 6.90 in 2019.

India’s downslide on the Democracy Index, which is an annual list compiled by The Economist Intelligence Unit.(Photo: The Quint)

The parameters on which this index is based include political culture and civil liberties.

As per the report, the aspect that primarily caused India’s drop in rankings is “an erosion of civil liberties in the country”. The issues and examples highlighted by The Economist Intelligence Unit include the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the house arrests of politicians opposing the move, the prolonged internet shutdown there, the botched-up NRC exercise in Assam, and the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

And coupled with the kind of hate speech you hear from our politicians, are you really surprised that we have fared so miserably?

Here, sample this:

• BJP MLA G Somasekhara Reddy recently issued a public threat to a minority, "We are 80 percent and you are just 17 percent. Imagine what will happen to you if we turn against you."
  
• And Karnataka’s Tourism and Culture Minister CT Ravi’s threat menacingly reminded Muslims of the Gujarat riots of 2002. He said, “I advise you to look back and see what happens when the patience of the majority community runs out."

Hate speech by elected political representatives has become extremely rampant.(Photo: The Quint)

And these are just a couple of recent examples from dozens and dozens of such hateful comments by those in power. And there’s no action taken against them either.

A blot on our democracy? Undoubtedly so.

Economic Woes Mount, But Denial and Data Suppression Continues

India’s GDP growth rate slipped to 4.5 percent, its weakest pace in more than six years in the quarter from July to September 2019. The slowdown is so severe that the IMF is citing it as the reason for trimming the global growth forecast.

Yet those in power continue to exhibit sheer denial, or worse, attempt to suppress worrisome data.

• Unemployment in India was found to be at a 45-year high. So, what did the government do? It discredited the NSSO report and refused to release it for several months, till after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
  
• Consumer expenditure declined for the first time in over four decades. So, what did the government do? It refused to release its own report.

It’s almost like if there’s data showing a cause for concern, instead of bothering about the concern, let’s hide the data instead.

Misplaced Priorities

Part of the reason India has ranked so low on the WEF’s social mobility index – we’re seventh last in a list of 82 countries – is our poor performance in areas like access to healthcare and education.

Out of the 82 countries, India ranks:

• 73rd in healthcare
• 77th in education quality and equity
• 75th in work opportunities
• 79th in fair wage
• 76th in social protection

Part of the reason India has ranked so low on the WEF’s social mobility index is our poor performance in areas like access to healthcare and education.(GIF: The Quint)

India ranks in the bottom 10 in five out of a total of 10 categories.

Now think long and hard – when was the last time you remember the political discourse in this country focusing on either education or healthcare, two massively important policy areas?

As an analysis of TV news debates by the online content creator Official PeeingHuman showed, both the mainstream media and those in power are happy to continue attacking either Pakistan or the Opposition in their news coverage and political communication.

Sometimes, as BJP candidate in Delhi Kapil Mishra has shown most recently, you can even conflate Pakistan and the Opposition to try and achieve your goal.

BJP candidate Kapil Mishra’s controversial tweet about the upcoming Delhi election.(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

Meanwhile, budgets for top educational institutions are slashed, and some 2.4 million Indians die of treatable conditions every year, the worst situation among 136 nations studied for a report published in The Lancet in 2018.

Another barrier to social mobility is the deeply entrenched caste system in the country. For example, more than 27 percent of Indian households are estimated to practice untouchability and one manual scavenger dies every five days while cleaning sewers and septic tanks.

From healthcare to education, to caste discrimination and unemployment, these are the issues that should be priorities of the government.

But given the misplaced list of priorities and the government’s tendency to deny that anything is wrong, these recent global rankings only reflect a reality that this administration possibly cannot hide – India is sliding down on parameters ranging from civil liberties to economic growth, and saying sab changa si will not magically sort this mess.