Imperfect. Extremely.

"India, a large, imperfect democracy with its many ethnolinguistic and religious groups, separatist forces, occupied territories etc, is certainly not easier to govern than Pakistan. Up until the 1980s, Pakistan was ahead of India on most economic parameters." Dawn. Today, India is "well ahead of Pakistan in most human development indicators." In Pakistan, "of those who matriculate from government schools, most can't solve a simple sum involving percentages, or write a decent paragraph." No need to despair. India is not so far ahead. "The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018 by NGO Pratham found that "56% of students in Class VIII can't divide a 3-digit number with a single-digit one; 72% in Class V can't do a division at all and 70% of Class III students aren't able to do any subtraction." TOI. "The story is far worse than it was a decade ago." The closure of schools during lockdown due to Covid has been devastating. The National Coalition on the Education Emergency said that "the closure of schools since the beginning of the pandemic had caused 'devastating consequences for the nutrition, health and education' of many children. It said that instances of child labor, early marriages and domestic violence against children had also increased." "Pakistan has one of the fastest population growth rates globally." "India is likely to surpass China as the most populous country in 2023, predicted the experts." ET. "Consider security in Pakistan. Ours is a crime-ridden society where no one, especially women, feels safe." In India, no one is safe from the government which has total control of the investigating agencies - the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). "As the NDA came to power in 2014," "Of the 121 political leaders probed by the ED since then, 115 (95 percent) belong to the opposition," but as many of these leaders joined the BJP "Intriguingly, the case against many of them was dropped or was put on the back burner and quite a few were rewarded with prime positions." The Wire. Since this government has come to power, "Journalists are routinely threatened, intimidated, arrested, booked - and silenced through gag orders and charges concocted by the state." The Nation. "The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has expressed 'serious concern' at reports that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and select ministries are trying to collect details of all institutions and clubs in Delhi, including press bodies and conference centers, to monitor the internal affairs of such bodies." The Wire. India has the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Since the state cannot read minds, how can it prevent "unlawful activities". Under UAPA the police can search, seize and arrest anybody without a warrant and it is almost impossible to get bail. DH. Pakistan does not have Aadhaar which treats every citizen as a criminal. Children cannot get admission in school without surrendering their biometric details for Aadhaar. DH. Over 56 million Indians were pushed into poverty by Covid-19, according to the World Bank. NDTV. In addition to the millions of poor we already had. Perhaps, Pakistanis are not as badly off as they imagine. At least, compared to us.