TNI Bureau: Indian media, which boasts of exposing many scandals and conducting sting operations, the country dropped nine places to 140 in the list of 179 countries in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index. The rank is the lowest for the “world’s biggest democracy” since 2002.

The list was selected after anlysing the reports on the violence against journalists and restriction on websites and internet. “In Asia, India is at its lowest since 2002 because of increasing impunity for violence against journalists and because Internet censorship continues to grow,” Reporters Without Borders said.

China, India’s neighbouring country has also shown no sign of improvement as many journalists and netizens are still behind the bars. It is ranked 173rd in the list.

Last year, three European countries — Finland, Netherlands and Norway topped the list. Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea fell down at the bottom

The Press Freedom Index, which is published by Reporters Without Borders, does not prepare the list taking account of the kind of political system. But the decline in freedom of information in South Asia, particularly India showed that the freedom of press is restricted.