What makes India less peaceful than 142 other countries
India has been relegated to the 143rd place in the 2015 Global Peace Index, down from 140 in 2014.
The number of internal conflicts and possession of nuclear and heavy weapons are among the parameters that have weighed heavily in pulling down India's ranking in the 2015 Global Peace Index to the 143rd position among 162 nations ranked.
The Index, which incorporates a number of parameters to measure the "texture of peace", is brought out annually by the Institute of Economics and Peace.
It "is a composite index comprised of 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators that gauge the level of peace in 162 countries. These indicators can be grouped into three broad themes: the level of safety and security in a society, the number of international and domestic conflicts and the degree of militarisation." The scores for India on these 3 counts are 2.4, 2.8 and 2.3 respectively out of 5 each.
The 2015 report says that Middle East and North Africa has overtaken South Asia as the most violent region in the world compared the previous year.
India scores poorly in terms of the conflict factor, which takes into account the number and duration of conflicts fought within a country (the lower the score the better the position). This includes civil, interstate, one-sided and non-state conflicts. The other parameter has to do with the number of nuclear and heavy weapons a country possesses.
| Internal conflicts fought 5.0 | Nuclear and heavy weapons 5.0 | Access to weapons 4.0 |
| Perceptions of criminality 4.0 | Terrorism impact 4.0 | Political terror 4.0 |
Among the various other parameters in which India fares poorly is terrorism impact, which is based the number of deaths, injuries and property damage caused by terrorism during the past five years. Another factor is perceptions of criminality which is a qualitative assessment of the level of perceived criminality in society.
Globally, deaths caused by terrorism increased by 61 per cent in 2013, pointing to its unabated growth over the last decade. Most of the deaths occurred in five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. France, Denmark and Australia were the new countries which witnessed acts of terrorism.
Another bunch of parameters on which India scores three also include two related to internal conflict and one which has to do with violent demonstrations.
| Intensity of internal conflict 3.0 | Violent demonstrations 3.0 | Violent crime 3.0 |
| Neighbouring countries relations 3.0 | Deaths from internal conflict 3.0 |
India scores relatively better on the remaining parameters scoring 2 or below; with homicide and deaths from external conflict getting scores at the higher end.
| Incarceration 1.1 | Political instability 1.1 | Weapons imports 1.0 |
| Military expenditure 1.6 | Armed services personnel 1.0 | UN peacekeeping funding 1.2 |
| Weapons exports 1.0 | Displaced people 1.0 | External conflicts fought 1.0 |
| Deaths from external conflict 2 | Security officers and police 1.7 | Homicide 2.0 |
In South Asia the position of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan deteriorated during the year while that of Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh improved. Bhutan tops the list with a rank of 18, Nepal comes next with a rank of 62 followed by Bangladesh, ranked 84. Afghanistan is second from the bottom at rank 160 and Pakistan is ranked 154.
There is also a price to pay for conflict and the lack of peace. In India's case the report estimates the economic costs at 341,733,390,956 US dollars.
So, which is the most peacful country in the world? Iceland. And it is Europe that emerges as the most peacful region in the world.
Keywords: peace index, conflict
