Is India not a peaceful place to live in?

Bangalore: According to the report of Global peace Index (GPI), 2011, India has fallen into the 20 least peaceful countries list. India is queuing up with countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. The country is been ranked 135 out 153 nations in the world. Pakistan is ranked 146 and Afghanistan 150 reports Anahita Mukherji for Economic Times. The Global Peace Index is an initiative of the Institute for Killelea's Economics and Peace, an international think tank that explores relationships between business, peace and economic development. Now in its fifth year, the GPI measures the relative peacefulness of 153 countries by looking at both qualitative and quantitative indicators that combine internal and external factors determining a nation's peacefulness. These include arms imports and exports, violent crime, battlefield deaths, prison populations, potential for terrorism, political stability and the likelihood of violent demonstrations. The Index also seeks to understand how peace impacts global economics and business, and vice versa. Iceland topped the ranking as the World's most peaceful nation and Somalia ranked the least as the World's least peaceful nation among the 153 nations. Steve Killelea, founder of the Global Peace Index said that India fell by 7 points and the fall in rankings is largely due to an increasing perception of criminality in society. He mentioned that the increased perception of violence in India was because of the repeated terror attacks in the recent times which makes people insecure and also made it a volatile neighborhood. The advisory panel apportioned scores based on the relative importance of each of the indicators on a 1-5 scale. Two sub-component weighted indices were then calculated from the GPI group of indicators: 1) a measure of how at peace internally a country is; 2) a measure of how at peace externally a country is. The overall composite score and index was then formulated by applying a weight of 60 percent to the measure of internal peace and 40 percent for external peace. India's total score was 2.570. A few details of the peace indicators scores are as follows, Number of external and internal conflicts fought -5, Relations with neighboring countries-4, Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population-1, Level of disrespect for human rights-4, Potential for terriorist acts-4, Number of homicides per 100,000 people-2, Level of violent crime-3, Ease of access to small arms and light weapons-4, Military capability/sophistication-4 and Political instability-1.25. India's score remains the same on most parameters compared to its last year scores. Homicide and crime rates in India, too, are a lot lower than many other countries but the fall in rankings is largely due to an increasing perception of criminality in society. Steve said "Despite a decade-long war on terrorism, the potential for terrorist acts has increased this year offsetting small gains made in prior years". "The fall in this year's Index is strongly tied to conflict between citizens and their governments; nations need to look at new ways of creating stability other than through military force," said Steve Killelea. The GPI shows that for the third consecutive year, levels of peacefulness have dropped across the globe. The uprising in the Arab world and parts of Africa had much to do with an increase in global violence this time around. 25 May 2011 http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Is_India_not_a_peaceful_place_to_live_in-nid-83941.html For more news and updates, assistance with your visa needs or for a Free Assessment of your profile for Immigration or Work Visa’s just visit www.y-axis.com