By Archit Mehta

On October 14, Home Minister Amit Shah addressed BJP members at a Karyakarta Sammelan in Goa. One of the claims Shah made during the address was that the strength of the Indian passport has increased under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said, “Perception towards the country has changed. Those who travel abroad… this [Goa] is the state of sailors. Ask now, when the passport of India was shown in past and now… the moment Indian passport is shown… the face lights up with a smile… on the face of foreign staff and they enquire “You are from Modi Ji’s country?” The task of increasing the Indian passport’s value was done by PM Modi. This happened because [we form] a majoritarian government.”

( Link https://youtu.be/v8rcH7yFMUg)

Several media outlets, including The Indian Express, The Times of India, OneIndia and Newsd, reported this without verifying the veracity of the statement.

(link https://twitter.com/IndianExpress/status/1448856041471426569?t=uOTiZmqVQ0snDqK6abs3jw&s=19)

Change in India’s passport strength not significant, HPI rank at all time low
Based on Home Minister Shah’s statement, one cannot ascertain which source he is referring to measure the strength of the Indian passport. The strength of a passport means the number of countries one can access without a visa. The most commonly used index is Henley Passport Index (HPI). While there are other passport indexes, HPI has been cited by the Government of India. Two years ago, Alt News debunked a similar claim when it was made by PM Modi on Times Now. As of 2021, India’s rank is 90 which is 16 spots lower than the rank in 2013 under the leadership of former PM Manmohan Singh.

What is Henley Passport Index?

HPI ranks all passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). As per their website, “For each travel destination, if no visa is required for passport holders from a country or territory, then a score with a value = 1 is created for that passport.” To learn more about the methodology, visit their website.

Read the full story here:- https://www.altnews.in/fact-check-has-indian-passport-strengthened-under-pm-modi-as-claimed-by-amit-shah/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=newpost