India slips below Afghanistan to 161st on World Press Freedom Index

Annual assessment sees India fall from 150th last year in report highlight ‘media takeovers by oligarchs’

India has slipped 11 places on the annual World Press Freedom Index published by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which said the last 12 months had seen the “end of [media] pluralism” in the country.

The annual index, published on Wednesday to mark the UN’s World Press Freedom Day, ranked India in 161st place out of 180 countries, below Pakistan (150) and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (152).

RSF’s summary of the report highlighted India along with some other countries which saw notable declines in press freedom. “The situation has gone from ‘problematic’ to ‘very bad’ in three other countries: Tajikistan (down 1 at 153rd), India (down 11 at 161st) and Turkey (down 16 at 165th),” it read.