Military most trusted in India; govt officials, parties take back seats

The study observed a steady decline in average trust levels in the SC to HCs to district courts across all states, except AP where 28% stated trust in the district courts.

In India, the army enjoys the highest level of “effective trust”, followed by the supreme court (SC) and the high courts (HC), according to a 2018 study. Political parties were at the bottom in a list of 16 elected and non-elected institutions and offices.

The study, covering eight states by Azim Premji University (APU) and Lokniti (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies [CSDS]), defines effective trust as the difference between percentage of respondents who opted for a “great deal of trust” at one end of the scale and “no trust at all” at the other.