New Delhi: In the 2025 update to the Academic Freedom Index, India ranked 156th of the 179 countries assessed in the report. Its score fell from 0.38 in 2022 to 0.16, putting it in the bottom 10-20% bracket.
AFI, published by the V-Dem Institute, measures countries on the following factors: freedom to research and teach; freedom of academic exchange and dissemination; institutional autonomy; campus integrity; and freedom of academic and cultural expression.
In its latest report, the V-Dem Institute said that electoral success of anti-pluralist parties is “a potential driver of academic freedom decline”. “Drawing on data over a period of 50 years, we show that academic freedom is at risk when anti-pluralist parties reach government,” the report said.
The report identifies 34 countries and territories that experienced a “statistically significant and substantially meaningful decline in academic freedom compared to ten years ago”. India is among them.
Among its neighbours, India was among the worst performing countries measuring only above China in the bottom 10% bracket. While Bangladesh was in the same bracket as India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan fell in the top 30-40% bracket and Sri Lanka in the top 40-50%.
Anti-pluralist parties and decline in academic freedom
The report states that anti-pluralist parties lacked commitment to democratic processes, legitimacy of political opponents, rejection of political violence and minority rights. It said that such parties tend to “deepen differences between political camps, reduce the space for public contestation and undermine mutual forbearance.”
“Consequently, one would expect that anti-pluralist political parties undermine not only freedom of information and expression in general but also academic freedom specifically,” the report said.
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