World’s most powerful passports
I love India. I love my country, but I don’t love my passport. Why? because on the basis of their passports, the rest of the countries downgrade Indians. Even today. they discriminate. India is going to become one of the top five countries in geopolitics. India’s voice is getting stronger. But if we look at the world’s strongest passports, India is ranked 82nd. Even countries like Malaysia, Turkey, and Venezuela are ahead of India. Why the world hates the Indian passport? How is it decided which passport is weak and which is strong? Why 85th position in Most Powerful Indian Passport 2023? And what difference does it make to us?
Chapter One: Feeling of Slavery
You know, in British times, there used to be a sign in front of hotels. “Doges and Indians are not allowed” which means the British used to consider us animals. They didn’t even give us the status of humans. and considered themselves superior to us. If you are feeling FOMO and want to feel what slavery used to be like, then try applying for a visa to any developed country. For an American visa, there is a long, serpentine line outside the consulate. If you now look at the processing times for the US visa, the average wait time is 500 days. While heading to Europe, don’t know how many personal details are asked of you. like your bank balance, income tax returns, employment status, hotel bookings, and return tickets. The list is endless. And why all this? The tourist who goes to Europe will go and spend money there. He will stay in their hotels and generate employment there. That means, despite giving money, we are like beggars. What is this logic?
In big countries, it is surely said that all humans are equal. But their actions suggest something else. The truth is that your fate and every opportunity you get are decided by a lottery. and that too, you are born. It is called an ovarian lottery. Basically, which country you will be born in and what color your skin will be will decide your future in the 21st century. This is a bitter truth. You won’t believe your ears. But if you have a Singapore passport, you will get visa-free entry into the world’s 193 countries. That means you can wake up tomorrow and decide that you want to go and tour Japan. You can pack your bag, buy a plane ticket, and go. Do you have this privilege as an Indian? no. Let’s find out why.
Chapter Two: The Truth About Passport Rankings
When it comes to rankings, there are many rankings on which you can decide how much to believe and how much not to. but there is one ranking that actually affects you and me. and that is passports ranking. Henley and Partners is a UK consultancy that, for the past 18 years, has been taking out these passport rankings. They analyze the dates of international air travel authority and, every quarter, take out the passport ranking. This ranking is different from the World Press Freedom Index, the Global Food Security Index, and the World Happiness Report rankings. because all these rankings can be subjective. By changing the methodology, different results can come forward. That is, ground reality can be different from the reality of the report. but passport ranking is objective. because this methodology of ranking is quite simple. Every passport gets points based on how many countries give that passport holder visa-free entry. If no visa is required, then that passport gets one point. If you have to apply for an e-visa before departure, then it gets a score of zero. If a passport holder gets a visa on arrival, they get one point. For example, if you want to go to Thailand, you need a visa, but all those formalities can be done at the airport. In this case, India gets one point. But if an Indian passport holder has to go to the USA, then they have to complete all the visa formalities before departure here. That is why we get zero points. It’s that simple.
This ranking is important because it is a clear mirror of mobility. In the first quarter of 2023, India’s ranking was 82. with visa-free entry to 60 countries. In contrast, people in Singapore and Japan are at number one. because they have permission to travel visa-free in 193 countries. Similar to Australia, 187 countries, Canada, 186 countries, and the USA, 178 countries, can get visa-free entry. These are some countries that always come in at the top of this index. But all these are Western countries, developed countries. It’s not fair to compare it with them. Let’s take the countries in our category. the BRICS nations. Brazil has 170 countries, Russia has 118 countries, South Africa has 106 countries, and China has 81 countries. The passports of all these countries are stronger than Indian passports. Of course, our passport is stronger than that of countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. but now we have to move forward. There are definitely some surprises in this passport index. Malaysia, from any angle, is not a developed country. But Malaysia’s passport holders can travel visa-free to 180 countries. In Argentina, inflation is the highest in the world. Even then, their people can go visa-free to 171 countries. A crisis has been going on in Venezuela for many years, and even then, their people can travel visa-free in 128 countries. So why is only India behind?
Chapter Three: Visa Discrimination
Visa, which is “Visitor International Stay Admission.” or the discrimination of the 21st century. where one country decides that if the people of a particular country are fine, then we can take them. and people from other countries are problematic. They are not to be taken inside at all. But how is this decided? Broadly, there are three factors. The first is the economy of a country. The second is diplomacy. and the third is stability.
- Economy: If we talk about economy, the majority of countries think that the people of wealthy countries travel as tourists. On the other hand, when the people of a poor country go to a rich country, they never return. They become illegal immigrants.
- Diplomacy: How are the diplomatic relations between two countries? How many things are culturally common in them? Is the religion of those people the same? All these things are important for visa-free entry.
- Stability: if a country’s international perception is bad or there are conflicts taking place in this country, if there is no peace here, then their visa-free status is bad.
There are civil wars in Yemen, Syria, and South Sudan. This is called the fragility score. and this fragility score puts India in a warning zone. It says that there can be a civil war in India at any time. Think about it. Ukraine’s score is better than India’s. That is, according to this scale, Ukraine is less fragile than India.
Chapter Four: What can we do?
We try to find solutions at our level. The government can improve our passport score. but we have to ask the tough questions for this. India strictly needs to change its branding today. We are not a country of “Slumdog Millionaires.” We are the country with the third-most billionaires in the world. This reminder needs to be given to other countries. And how will this happen? with data. According to a report in 2020, Indians spent $12.7 billion on tourism. As more and more people travel, this amount will keep increasing. Today, the entire world is engulfed in recession. and India is the safest place to avoid recession in the world. This is not us, but all the international organizations saying We need to give this reminder to everyone. Let’s leave aside developed countries like America, Australia, and the UK. But can we start negotiations with Asian countries?
Let’s take the example of Vietnam. In 2022, by November, 1.09 lakh Indian tourists had gone to tour Vietnam. But even then, for Indian tourists, it is compulsory to take a visa. During the COVID period, India established Vaccine Maitri. Vaccines, relief, and food were freely distributed without condition. but maybe now we should leverage this friendship. we can learn to improve passport ranking from UAE. in 2006 UAE was ranking 61. In 2023, it improved and became 13th. how? By changing its focus. In the case of the UAE, their government had started a task force to put the UAE’s passport in the top 5. After focused attention and negotiations. The UAE has improved its position a lot. Another reason for our passport to be weak is reciprocal visa formalities. That is, even our visa process is very tedious. which also impacts our tourism sector. We are big fans of our external affairs minister. We want him to make the Indian passport strong during his tenure. the countries with whom we have good relations. at least demand a visa on arrival if not visa-free.
Chapter Five: Conclusion
When we say that India needs rebranding, this rebranding is going to happen at two levels. One is at the government level, and the other is at the individual level. Many Indians, when they go abroad to travel, take all their bad habits with them. breaking the line, littering the streets, and talking loudly. These things do seem nominal, but remember, whenever we go to another country, we do not go as individuals. We go as representatives of our country. The way we behave forms the mirror image of the whole country. Indians who go on tourist visas and break the visa regulations and continue staying there students who go to take a course and drop out after a semester. Companies that commit visa fraud are responsible for our weak passports. Due to all these issues, foreign countries get an excuse to look at Indians with doubt. If we want to reform India in the 21st century and come before the world as an equal, then even we need to improve.