Global Press Freedom Index: India's Ranking Drops, Norway Tops The List And North Korea Stands Last

India has dropped two points from 2019 on a global press freedom index to be ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in the annual Reporters Without Borders analysis. The report was released on April 21. Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), or Reporters Without Borders, is a non-profit organisation that works to document & combat attacks on journalists across the world. It attributed India’s decline in index to government’s ‘pressure on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government's line’. The report further said, ‘The coordinated hate campaigns waged on social networks against journalists who dare to speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva followers are alarming.’ The analysis also suggests that India’s rank is highly affected by the situation in Kashmir, where it has become ‘virtually impossible’ for journalists to perform their duty. The US ranked 45th on the group's list, behind countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean. Norway tops the list while North Korea stands last. India ranked better than its neighbours Pakistan (145) and Bangladesh (151), but worse than Sri Lanka (127) and Nepal (112).