Over two decades, India's passport has slipped from 71st to 81st in the global Henley Index — not a collapse, but a quiet falling behind. With access to just 55 visa-free destinations, Indian citizens navigate a world where the freedom to move has become one of the starkest expressions of geopolitical inequality. The gap between the world's most and least powerful passports has widened by 44 percent since 2006, revealing that mobility is not merely a travel convenience but a measure of a nation's standing in the international order.