In 2018, for example, the Indian passport is ranked at 66th position, with Singapore citizens holding the most powerful passport in the world.
This year, Indian passport holders can travel without a visa to 25 countries. 41 countries offer Indian passport holders visa on arrival, while 132 countries require Indians to travel with a pre-arrival visa.
SO WHAT IS A PASSPORT?
The passport is a document that the national government issues to a citizen of the country. The passport is a document of identity and contains a person's name, date of birth, gender, address and place of birth. The purpose of a passport is to identify the holder of the document. For Indians, the navy blue ordinary passport needs to be renewed every 10 years.
WHAT IS A VISA?
A visa is an official permission that a certain country needs to grant a passport holder of another country before their visit to the former country. A visa is a temporary authorisation for a passport holder to travel to a country other than the one he or she holds a passport of.
The visa is usually stamped on a passport, but at times, it can be a separate document too.
TYPES OF PASSPORT
The Indian government issues three types of passports to Indian citizens.
1. Ordinary passport: An ordinary passport is navy blue in colour and is issued for ordinary travel or business trips.
2. Diplomatic passport: The cover of a diplomatic passport is maroon in colour. It is issued only to Indian diplomats, diplomatic couriers or top-ranking government officials.
3. Official passport: Apart from the navy blue and maroon passports, the Indian government also issues a white-cover passport to individuals who are representing the Indian government on official business.
TYPES OF INDIAN PASSPORT
The Indian government also planned to introduce orange passports earlier this year, but had to drop the plan after severe criticism from various quarters. The orange passports were to be issued to Indians who needed an Emigration Check. The plan was to facilitate the process of checks at airports but among the criticism orange-jacket passports received was that it would lead to discrimination of the ones who hold it.
The orange passport was to be issued to those who have not passed their Class 10 examination.
Apart from this, if an Indian travelling abroad loses his or her passport in a foreign country, the Indian Embassy in the country usually grants an Emergency Certificate with which the person can travel back to India.