Even as the ministry of external affairs tries to make up its mind about the Indian passport, what it is and isn’t, whether it is proof of Indian citizenship or not, the 2026 edition of the Global Passport Index (GPI) published in early July ranks India 125 among 197 countries. Not terribly flattering, whichever way you count, especially for a country that fancies itself as ‘Vishwaguru’ with the most widely travelled Indian prime minister ever, not out on a century-plus foreign trips since assuming office in 2014.

Unlike the highly cited Henley Passport Index, which ranks passports based on the number of destinations their holders can access visa-free, the GPI, brought out by citizenship advisory firm Global Citizen Solutions headquartered in London, uses a scoring system that measures the strength of passports on three parameters — global mobility or visa-free travel, which is assigned 50 per cent weightage; how friendly a country is to foreign investors, including tax regimes and business environment (25 per cent); and living conditions, personal freedoms and global reputation (25 per cent).

In mid-May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted Indians to avoid foreign travel on account of the multiple economic crises buffeting India because of the West Asia war. He was presumably worried about India’s low oil reserves and dwindling foreign exchange reserves. The concerns weren’t entirely misplaced but his list of don’ts for citizens, with or without passports, was frankly laughable.

Soon after he’d lectured Indians on the need for austerity, he set off on more foreign jaunts. As temperatures soared in Delhi, he hit the cooler climes of Europe. But another kind of heat lay in store. In the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten voiced concerns about the erosion of press freedom and minority rights in India. In Norway, journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen asked Modi why he doesn’t take........

© National Herald