Official Panel Sees âWestern Biasâ in Indiaâs Low Press Freedom Rank But Wants Defamation Decriminalised âIndex Monitoring Cellâ member P. Sainath distances himself from âdraftâ report, submits separate note. Despite the growing number of cases against journalists, the draft official report on improving India's press freedom ranking claims, "The work culture in the Government of India involves transparency as the norm". Image: Bill Kerr/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 Rights14/Mar/2021 Mumbai: A committee set up by the Narendra Modi government last year to suggest ways of India improving its ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has concluded that the media is doing well and that Indiaâs poor score â which it says is ânot in line with the ground situationâ â is the product of âwestern biasâ.