• World Report 2012: India
    Jan 22, 2012

    India, the world’s most populous democracy, continues to have a vibrant media, an active civil society, a respected judiciary, and significant human rights problems. 

  • World Report 2011: India
    Jan 24, 2011
    India, the world’s most populous democracy, has a vibrant media, active civil society, a respected judiciary, and significant human rights problems.
  • India
    Jan 20, 2010

    The ruling alliance led by the Congress Party returned to power after elections in 2009. In its first term in office the Congress-led coalition made only modest progress on rights. It has not yet addressed some of India's most pressing needs, including better training and reform of its police force; providing health, education, and food security to millions still struggling for subsistence despite the country's economic growth; ending discrimination against Dalits, tribal groups, and religious minorities; and protecting the rights of women and children.

  • India
    Jan 14, 2009
    Despite an overarching commitment to respecting citizens’ freedom to express their views, peacefully protest, and form their own organizations, the Indian government lacks the will and capacity to implement many laws and policies designed to ensure the protection of rights.
  • India
    Jan 31, 2008
    India claims an abiding commitment to human rights, but its record is marred by continuing violations by security forces in counterinsurgency operations and by government failure to rigorously implement laws and policies to protect marginalized communities. A vibrant media and civil society continue to press for improvements, but without tangible signs of success in 2007.
  • India
    Jan 10, 2007
    India, widely hailed as the world's largest democracy, has a vibrant press and civil society, but also suffers from a number of chronic human rights problems. A critical issue is impunity: officials and members of the security services who abuse their power are rarely if ever brought to justice for torture, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings in places like Jammu and Kashmir, the insurgency-affected states in the North East, and in areas where there is an extremist Maoist movement by groups known as Naxalites. Legally sanctioned impunity, such as in the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Criminal Procedure Code, also plays a role in India's failure to effectively stem caste or inter-communal conflict.
  • India
    Jan 3, 2006
    The Congress Party-led coalition government elected in 2004 took some important positive steps with respect to human rights in 2005. It established a committee to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and has received a report for review. For the first time, a prime minister from the Congress Party has apologized for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. During talks with rebel groups in September, the government promised to ensure an end to human rights abuses by troops deployed in Indian-administered Kashmir. For the first time, the Indian army in Kashmir apologized in July for its actions after troops killed three boys, mistaking them for militants. New legislation may strengthen the right to information, rights over land, and minimum employment guarantees.