Rahul Verma on the Debate on Democratic Backsliding in India

<p>In recent years, international indices and rankings such as the Democracy Index and the V-Dem Index have downgraded India’s democracy. Although there are significant differences in the degrees of downgrading, most major indices suggest that Indian democracy is backsliding.</p><p>Meanwhile, India is witnessing an increase in voter turnout, and people continue to participate actively and vociferously in politics. What is the reason for this disconnect between scholarly understandings of Indian democracy and ground realities?</p><p>To help us make sense of this dichotomy, <a href="https://cprindia.org/people/rahul-verma/">Rahul Verma</a> joins <a href="https://carnegieindia.org/experts/1691">Suyash Rai</a> to discuss his recent essay titled “The Exaggerated Death of Indian Democracy.” In the essay, Dr. Verma argues that the claims of democratic backsliding in India are somewhat exaggerated.</p><p><strong>Episode Contributors</strong></p><p><a href="https://cprindia.org/people/rahul-verma/"><strong>Rahul Verma</strong></a> is a fellow at the Center for Policy Research and a visiting assistant professor at Ashoka University. His research interests include voting behavior, party politics, political violence, and the media. Dr. Verma has published papers in <i>Asian Survey</i>, <i>Economic & Political Weekly</i>, and <i>Studies in Indian Politics</i>. His book, co-authored with Professor Pradeep Chhibber, <i>Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India</i>, develops a new approach to defining the contours of what constitutes an ideology in multiethnic countries such as India. He has a PhD in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.</p><p><a href="https://carnegieindia.org/experts/1691"><strong>Suyash Rai</strong></a> is a deputy director and fellow at Carnegie India. His research focuses on the political economy of economic reforms and the performance of public institutions in India. His current research looks at the financial sector, the fiscal system, and the infrastructure sec