Mumbai, January 11: A small black covered diary type book on which it is typed “Republic Of India” or “भारत गणराज्य” then surely it will be a passport of India. Nowadays passport services are so smooth that getting a passport has now become easier. But have you ever thought that how people must have got passport during British era or how were the passports during that time?
Many people must be eager to know about the history of passport as to its structure, its size etc. following is the picture of nearly a century old passport of an Indian which was issued during the British Raj. It was issued in the 1920s.
The passport holder’s name was Abdul Goni Shaikh who had gone to Colombia and he was one of the first Indians who settled in Colombia. The passport is still preserved by his grandchildren which is present in front of you shining as a historical gem.
The history of the passports in India is such that the British Indian passport was a passport, proof of national status and travel document issued to the British subjects of the British Indian Empire, British subjects from other parts of the British Empire, and the subjects of the British protected states in the Indian subcontinent (i. e. the British Protected Persons of the 'princely states'). The title of state used in the passport was the "Indian Empire", which covered all of modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma.
The use of the passport was discontinued after the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, and its bearers were entitled to opt for Indian, Pakistani or British nationality.