Skip to main content

One of the least peaceful countries, India's global peace ranking deteriorates: Report

By Rajiv Shah
A just-released report has asserted that India's ranking in the Global Peace Index (GPI) is 141st among 163 countries, deteriorating by four ranks in a year. Ranking 163 countries by providing a score to each, the report, prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), headquartered in Sydney, Australia, has found India to be one of the least peaceful nations in the region.
Thus, among its neighbours, India ranks worse than Bhutan (15), Sri Lanka (72), Nepal (76), Bangladesh (101) and China (110). The only consolation is, India's 141st rank is better than Pakistan's, 153rd. Afghanistan ranks worst than all the countries, 163rd.
With offices in several top world cities -- New York, Brussels, The Hague, Mexico City, and Harare -- IEP's rankings, now in the 13th year, are claimed to be a "leading measure of global peacefulness". The report presents data-driven analysis on peace, its economic value, trends, and how to develop peaceful societies.
GPI covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace using three thematic domains: the level of societal safety and security; the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict; and the degree of militarisation.
Assessing ongoing domestic and international conflicts, the report finds Bangladesh (1.979 on a scale of 5) and China (1.982) more peaceful than India (3.039) and Pakistan (3.594). As for the level of societal safety and security, India's score is 2.329, better than Bangladesh (2.517), China (2.518), and Pakistan (2.987). And regarding militarisation, Bangladesh (1.668) and China (2.016) score better than India 2.566 or Pakistan 2.575.
As for economic cost of violence, India and Sri Lanka are calculated to be spending 5% of GDP. But as for Bangladesh, this ratio is 3% of GDP, China's is 4% and Pakistan 7%.The results for this year show that the average level of global peacefulness has improved very slightly. Though this is the first time the index has improved in five years, the average country score improved by just 0.09 per cent, with 86 countries improving, and 76 recording deterioration -- India and Pakistan falling in the second category.
The report says, Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark. Bhutan has recorded the largest improvement of any country in the top 20, rising 43 places in the last 12 years, it adds.
While Afghanistan is rated as the least peaceful country in the world, replacing Syria, which is now the second least peaceful country, other least peaceful countries among the bottom five are South Sudan, Yemen, and Iraq.
The report regrets, South Asia’s score for every indicator in ongoing conflict is less peaceful than the global average, and in four out of six cases found to be deteriorating. Only the category of deaths from internal conflict improved, with fewer fatalities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, than the year prior.
The report says, "The improvement in both armed services personnel and military expenditure was particularly notable in some of the largest militaries in the world. Of the five countries with the largest total military expenditure -- United States, China, Saudi Arabia, India, and Russia -- all five had falls in their armed service personnel rates, and China, India, and the US also had a concurrent reduction in military expenditure as a percentage of GDP."
The report places India alongside Philippines, Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan as having the highest risk of multiple climate hazards.
The report says, "China, Bangladesh, and India, score in the bottom half of the GPI and have significant exposure to climate hazards, with 393 million people in high climate hazard areas."
It warns, "Drought or the loss of arable land can lead to severe food insecurity and loss of livelihoods. Periods of drought in Kenya sparked clashes over water between pastoralists and farmers, and water shortages in India yielded conflicts between neighbouring states. Potential for larger interstate conflicts over resources that traverse borders, such as river basins, is also of concern."
---
Download full report HERE

Comments

Uma said…
I am surprised that among the most peaceful nations, Switzerland is not included. As for Bhutan, I don't understand how an already peaceful country can improve its position.

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.