CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INDIA’S POSITION IN

HUMAN FREEDOM INDEX

Human Freedom Index is an index published by CATO Institute and FRASER Institute. The
main purpose of this index is to give the clear picture of the freedom enjoyed by the citizens
in that particular country and as well as over all freedom enjoyed in the world as a whole. In
2008 we were 89th in the HFI index, in 2009 we improved and were given the 86th rank.
Though still, it is not something to boast about at least we were improving and a ray of hope
for a prosperous life was there in the eyes of the citizens of my beloved nation. Now let’s
move a little ahead in time, The year is 2021 and the rank of India is 119. It is very dismaying
but not shocking. In 2021, the lowest score was observed in the rule of law parameter which
was 4.3. Hence, it is evident the governance in the country is weakening with years.

From the given data, there are many significant parameters falling over the years which are
crucial for a citizen to enjoy his/her freedom. Over the period of time, it is evident enough
that the criminal justice is weakening due to pendency of cases, corruption, lack of
coordination and system approach and cumbersome procedure1. Thereby, resulting in delay in
justice or no justice at all. The rule of law in the country is weakening due to which there
have been increase in homicide, communal riots and physical hostilities which is ultimately,
leading to increase in religious suppression and thereby causing infringement of freedom and
speech. The root cause of all these problems is the ever-growing population of this country.
Over-population strains political institutions and increases pressure on their services as well
as it leads to inadequate uses of resources2.

There are many parameters to shed light on which are severely affected, casing a drastic drop
in India’s rank in human freedom index but, in this report, we are going to focus on the
labour market regulations and the freedom of expression and information in India.

EXPRESSION AND INFORMATION:

1
(Reforms needed in the Indian criminal justice system - iPleaders, 2022)
2
(Population pressures: threat to democracy, 2022)
From 2008-2018, the score for expression and information has been decreased from 8.8 to
8.3. Even in 2020, India scored 8.3 in the same parameter. However, in 2021, the score
drastically decreased to 5.9. The lowest score was given to self-censorship in India. Self-
censoring is an act of censoring or classifying one’s own discourse. This is usually done out
of fear or deterrence. The media house has rampant ties with the politicians and are favouring
a particular party or politician thereby, compromising the integrity, authenticity and freedom.
In world press freedom 2021, India ranked 142nd, below Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The
Observer research foundation reported, “India’s Press Council received more than 7,000
complaints from 2003 to 2016, while it received more than 9,000 complaints from 1990-
2000.” These rising figures raised severe threats to the quality of journalism and depicted
India’s failure of self-governance.3
The Modi government have been repeatedly blamed for controlling the media. Since the
Modi government have came into power, the cabinet notes and meeting agendas have become
unavailable to the media as well as the inter-ministerial meetings are held away from the eyes
of media. The major reason as to why media houses are becoming the puppet of government
is the revenue collection.

The atrocities against journalists are increasing day by day. Even the world press freedom
report says that India is “one of the dangerous countries for journalists” Journalists “are
exposed to every kind of attack, including police violence against reporters, ambushes by
political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials” and,
the report said, ever since “the general elections in the spring of 2019, won overwhelmingly
3
(SELF-CENSORSHIP OF INDIAN MEDIA: PLAGUE OF THE FREEDOM OF PRESS, 2022)
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, pressure has increased on the media to toe the
Hindu nationalist government’s line”4. The government misuses the sedition law, Anti- terror
laws and the AFSPA Act to arrest these journalists. Mandeep Punia, a freelance journalist
who writes for The Caravan, was arrested on the evening of 30 January, shortly after The
Caravan published a story in which he reported that the ruling BJP had sent activists to attack
the protesting farmers. Initially accused of obstructing the police, and then of violence, he
was placed in detention for an initial period of 14 days without being allowed to see a
lawyer5.

The government often tried to control twitter trends during farmer’s protest. Government
blocked 100 critical tweets, including by opposition lawmakers, journalists and other civil
society figures, ordered Twitter to suspend 500 accounts and block access to several others
amplifying the Indian farmer’s protests and highlighting the government’s poor handling. The
government justification was to ‘curb misinformation and inflammatory content’. It served
Twitter with a non-compliance notice, threatening jail for executives in India6.

There’s lack of academic freedom in India as well. There are lot of restriction in the
educational sector including, restriction on and subversion of institutional autonomy,
subversion of faculty selection, Political appointments to university leadership, Institutional
harassment of faculty and students who dissent, Restrictions on intra-mural freedom to teach,
study and have an opinion, Freedom of academic exchange and dissemination7.

4
(World Press Freedom index: India retains 142 of 180 spot, remains “one of the world’s most dangerous
countries” for journalists, 2022)
5
(India: Harassment of reporters covering New Delhi farmers’ protests | Reporters without borders, 2022)

6
(Bharti, 2022)
7
(Academic Freedom In India, 2022)
LABOUR MARKET REGULATIONS

The labour market, or the job market, is concerned with the supply and demand of labour,
with workers providing the supply and employers providing the demand. It is an important
part of every economy, and it is intertwined with the financial, commodity, and service
markets. At the macroeconomic level, supply and demand are influenced by domestic and
international market dynamics, as well as characteristics like globalization, population size,
and educational attainment. On a microeconomic level, different enterprises deal with
workers, hiring, dismissing, and raising or decreasing compensation and hours.

The regulation of the labour market to safeguard individuals' interests is traditionally viewed
as an external intervention in the workings of the market mechanism, resulting in a variety of
distortions and inefficiencies, including increased unemployment. In a study undertaken by
Besley and Burgess in 2004, involving data collection from several Indian states in order to
juxtapose the level and nature of their labour laws with the unemployment rate in that region,
revealed that the adoption of pro-worker labour legislation has resulted in a decrease in
employment in the organised manufacturing sector and a rise in the size of the informal
sector in the affected states.

In India, labour laws are passed by both the central and state governments, with considerable
overlap in their execution. Over the years, India has had a plethora of labour and employment
regulations, which have made compliance extremely difficult for businesses while providing
a reasonable level of protection to employees. With the goal of simplifying, modernising, and
restructuring the present system and increasing the ease of doing business in India, the Indian
government has consolidated over 29 Central statutes and associated State laws under four
key Labour Codes in 2020/2021. The 2nd National Commission on Labour (NCL) had
recommended the consolidation of central labour laws. It observed that there are numerous
labour laws, both at the centre and in states.

The Government of India now has four Labour Codes: The Code on Wages, 2019; the
Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions
Code, 2020; and the Code on Social Security, 2020.  All of the Labor Codes strive to increase
the breadth of coverage, rights, and protections, reduce the number of definitions, authorities,
and compliances, and embrace greater digitisation in registrations and compliances. The
Labour Codes, on the other hand, are primarily a consolidation of existing laws rather than a
dramatic revamp, with no significant changes to the legal situation itself.

According to the “distortionist” view, labour market regulations are major obstacles to
growth and employment mainly for the following reasons: First, as regulations in the labour
market prevent wages from equalising their marginal product in equilibrium, misallocation of
resources are an inevitable outcome. Second, regulations may create major obstacles to the
adjustment of labour markets to different types of economic changes in a dynamic setting.
Finally, labour regulations that redistribute economic ‘rents’ from the capital to labour
collective bargaining schemes, and expansionary fiscal programs to fund public employment
may reduce the profitability of the investors. Consequently, this may discourage investment
and, hence, dampen the prospects of economic growth8.

Labour laws, according to the "institutionalist" approach, can play crucial redistributive
functions in a market economy, particularly for disadvantaged groups of workers, and can
offer vital insurance against undesirable market outcomes.

8
Cesar and Chong, 2003