World Press Freedom Index 2022: India has slipped 8 places in the World Press Freedom Index. With this the rank of India is now 150. Earlier India was ranked 142nd. In the report released by Reporters Without Borders, it has been said that except Nepal, other neighboring countries of India have also declined. India’s neighboring country Pakistan is at 157th, Sri Lanka at 146th, Bangladesh at 162nd and Myanmar at 176th.
According to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 World Press Freedom Index, Nepal has moved up to 76th position in the global rankings from 106th place last year. Last year, Pakistan was ranked 145th, Sri Lanka 127th, Bangladesh 152nd and Myanmar 140th. This year Norway is ranked first, Denmark second, Sweden third, Estonia fourth and Finland fifth, while North Korea is at the bottom of the list of 180 countries.
In this index, Russia has been placed at 155th position, up from 15th place last year. While China climbed two places to be at 175th position. Last year, China was ranked 177th. The surprising thing is that Sri Lanka which is going through an economic crisis and Somalia which is constantly battling civil war, RSF has put India behind Somalia and Sri Lanka as well.
The international non-profit organization said in a statement on its website that on World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and nine other human rights organizations are calling on foreign officials to stop targeting journalists and online critics for their work. urge to do.
The statement further said that the prosecution of him especially under the laws of terrorism and sedition should be stopped. Reporters Without Borders said Indian authorities should respect the right to freedom of expression and release all journalists detained on politically motivated charges for critical reporting and stop targeting and strangling the media.
The statement further said that the widespread crackdown on dissent, along with targeting of journalists by the authorities, encouraged Hindu nationalists to threaten, harass and abuse journalists critical of the Indian government, both online and offline.
After the World Press Freedom Index came out, three journalist organizations of India, the Press Club of India, the Press Association and the Indian Women’s Press Club, said in a joint statement that job insecurity has increased, while attacks on press freedom have seen a sharp increase. India has not performed very well in the rankings in this regard.
These organizations said that journalists have been imprisoned under harsh laws for trivial reasons and on some occasions have faced threats to their lives from self-appointed custodians of the law on social media platforms.