World Press Freedom Index:
The Centre does not agree with the conclusions drawn by Reporters Without Borders about press freedom in India for various reasons, including very low sample size and little or no weightage to the fundamentals of democracy, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry told the Lok Sabha.
- In a written reply to a question on India being placed 142 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, Information and Broadcasting Minister said the adoption of the methodology by the publisher of the report is “questionable and non-transparent”.
- The World Press Freedom Index is published by a foreign non-government-organisation, Reporters Without Borders.
- The Minister said the government was committed to ensuring the right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution.
