India drops 10 ranks in Democracy Index

India drops 10 ranks in Democracy Index

Part of: GS Prelims  and GS Mains II– Democracy

In news:

• India slipped 10 places in the 2019 global ranking to 51st place.
• The average global score also recorded its worst value ever, down from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44, driven by a sharp regression in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, a lesser one in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and by stagnation in the remaining regions that were covered.
• The report, “A year of democratic setbacks and popular protest”, was done by The Economist Intelligence Unit — the research and analysis division of The Economist Group.

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 23rd January 2020

Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

vvDaily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 23rd January 2020

Miscellaneous Topics for Prelims 

Brahmakalashothsava

• Brahmakalashothsava festival is celebrated in the ancient Chandkuru Sri Durga Parameshwari Temple annually in Polali, Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka

Mein Kampf

• Mein Kampf (My Struggle or My Fight) is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. 
• The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany.

On Speakers and disqualification

Landmark judgment in Kihoto Hollohan (1992) 

• Upheld the validity of the Constitution’s Tenth Schedule, or the anti-defection law. 
• This verdict had also made the Speaker’s order subject to judicial review on limited grounds.

Constitution Bench judgment (Rajendra Singh Rana, 2007)

• The Uttar Pradesh Speaker’s order refusing to disqualify 13 BSP defectors was set aside on the ground that he had failed to exercise his jurisdiction to decide whether they had attracted disqualification, while recognising a ‘split’ in the legislature party.