Setting new records and breaking the old ones is good, but only if they make you proud.

India and its people have made several amazing world records in the past. This pandemic has been no different. Only some of the records set by us are those we will never be proud of.

1. India became the first country in the world to report 80,000 Covid-19 cases in one day.

After registering 80,097 fresh cases on 30th August, India became the world’s first country to report 80,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day. The overall weekly average of the coronavirus cases also doubled in India as compared to the previous week.

NDTV

2. India had the highest ever unemployment rate of 27.1% in May, this year, during lockdown.

According to CMIE, India’s unemployment rate climbed to 27.1% in the first week of May, leaving some 121.5 million Indians out of jobs.

3. India’s GDP contracted by 23.9% in the first quarter of 2020. This is Indian economy’s biggest crash in 40 years.

The latest reported GDP in India was the worst since we started reporting quarterly data in 1996.

Pune Mirror

4. Domestic violence complaints in India were at a 10-year high during the COVID-19 lockdown.

According to reports, Indian women filed more domestic violence complaints during the first 4 phases of the COVID-19 lockdown compared to a similar period in the last 10 years.

Outlook India

5. India is the world’s second most polluted country.

According to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index, the average Indian loses 5.2 years due to particulate pollution.

News18

6. India is the 2nd most populated country in the world and is expected to become the most populous by 2027.

According to a report by UN, India’s current population which stands at 1.37 billion, will surpass that of China in the next 8 years. And India will be the most populated country in the world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion people.

The Week

7. Working hours for Indians are among the longest when compared to other countries

According to a report by NSSO, workers in Indian cities worked for 53-54 hours in a week which is much higher than the ILO’s prescribed limit of 48 hours per week.

Livemint

8. India was ranked 142 on the Press Freedom Index in 2020. This is our worst rank ever.

India has slipped two more places, from 140 to 142, on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index compiled by the Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Sans Frontieres. The index considers 180 countries, this means, there are only 38 countries in the world with even less freedom for media than India.

These are not the firsts and highest ranks we were looking forward to.