Is the largest democracy in the world on the verge of entering into authoritarianism?; reports The Economist.
Slow and arbitrary justice is not new in India. It was a judge's ruling that Indira Gandhi had cheated in an election that prompted her in 1975 to plunge India into a 21-month Emergency. During that time, she jailed opponents and ruled like a dictator. Professionals now liken the current time to that darkest period for the largest democracy. "This government has done so much damage to personal liberty, and the supreme court has watched this like a mute spectator," says Ajit Prakash Shah, a former high-court judge in India. At least during the Emergency, the threat was clear, according to Tarunabh Khaitan, the vice-dean of law at Oxford University. "There is no one big attack on democracy, but there are multiple, simultaneous attacks on all fronts. We are sleepwalking into authoritarianism," he added.
The Attacks:
1) Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA): An amendment made in 2019 to the UAPA law from 1967 that allows the harsh government to label and ban groups as a terrorist, now empowers the government to name any individual as a terrorist. Moreover, The government may hold suspects indefinitely with no right to bail and seize property. During the citizenship Amendment Act protests in Delhi during January and February, the police quietly rounded up scores of youth alleged to have been involved in riots and charged many under the UAPA.
2) The Right To Information Act (RTI Act): Having been enjoyed a stranglehold on the parliament for six years, the Modi government (BJP) has passed a slew of other laws to expand the government's powers and dilute those of potential challengers. One law is from 2005, which provides citizens of India a right to obtain information from government officials. The law was imposed to be a transparent democracy with an independent commission to ensure requests from the public receive response with 1 million requests a year. In 2019, the BJP government amended the RTI act which reduced the importance of the commission rejecting the growing number of information requests for the public citing "insufficient documentation". The number of pending requests swollen by 50% afterward.
3) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Prime Minister Modi favors his loyalists even into industries that had been seen as sanctuaries from political parties. There are two times when he has replaced the RBI governor, the country's central bank's governor, after they expressed less confidence in the government's policies.
4) Online Regulated: In one of the most recent events, the government placed the entire sector of online media and platforms under the ministry of broadcasting by censoring the content. The intention of the move is to get a grip on one of the remaining platforms from the authorities' censorship.
5) Attacking NGOs: Compliance regulations regarding foreign donations have already been used to shut down tens of thousands of NGOs in India. For example, Amnesty International India, an advocacy group for human rights.
Arresting journalists:
