To Download Click Here.

Date:28-11-18

A Bridge Too Far?

Kartarpur corridor beckons, but Vajpayee’s attempt at Lahore bus service was similarly pregnant with possibility

Vivek Katju, (Vivek Katju is former Secretary, MEA)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imparted an extraordinarily hopeful, if not transformative, dimension to the India-Pakistan decision to develop the Kartarpur Sahib corridor. In recalling the fall of the Berlin wall and invoking the blessings of Guru Nanak to make the corridor a ‘bridge between the two peoples’, Modi has made it far more than a means to enable the Indian Sikh community to regularly visit one of its most important places of worship.

The presence of two Sikh Union ministers – Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri – in Pakistan today while underlining the emotive appeal of the corridor for Sikhs, is indicative of Modi’s expectation of its positive impact on bilateral ties. Twenty years ago, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had decided on a peace move – the Delhi-Lahore bus service. That too was greeted with enthusiastic hope, as a sign that the troubled bilateral relationship would decisively turn a corner.

The mood was pregnant with possibility when Vajpayee travelled on the first bus to Lahore in February 1999. He even went to the Minar-e-Pakistan to set at rest Pakistani fears that India and BJP had not accepted its reality. Those possibilities were aborted on the icy peaks of Kargil, which were touched with red by the sacrifice of our martyrs. So, if Modi wishes to lead the first group of pilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor, he would do well to ponder over Vajpayee’s Lahore visit and its aftermath. Obviously, there are differences between the present situation and that which obtained two decades ago, but there are also similarities.

Sharif recognised the enormous price of perpetual confrontation with India. He wanted relations to open up while maintaining Pakistan’s traditional positions on Kashmir. India-Pakistan trade was an obvious priority for him. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initial positions on India-Pakistan ties were similar to those of Sharif for he has stressed much the same. Pakistan’s deep economic troubles currently also oblige Khan to move towards normalising ties with India.

The big difference is in the Pakistan army’s approach. Musharraf, then Pakistan’s army chief, and his Kargil clique of generals – as noted Pakistani journalist Nasim Zehra calls them in her revealing book, From Kargil to the Coup – were completely out of sync with Sharif’s India diplomacy. Planning the capture of the Kargil heights began in October 1998 immediately after Musharraf took over as army chief and within weeks of the two prime ministers’ decision to start the bus service. Clearly, Musharraf was determined to undo the Vajpayee-Sharif initiative and the fate of the bus service was of no consequence to him.

General Qamar Bajwa, the present army chief, has signalled that he is on board with the Kartarpur corridor decision. He also favours the resumption of comprehensive bilateral engagement. Thus, he and the generals will not undermine the initiative as Musharraf had sabotaged the 1998-99 initiative. The question though is: will Bajwa be able to curb the Pakistani establishment’s temptation to use the Kartarpur Sahib corridor to provoke India through Khalistani propaganda which is always seen during the visits of Sikh Jathas. Ironically, the very day India announced the Kartarpur Sahib decision it protested against the encouragement to Khalistani propaganda directed towards Indian Sikh pilgrims who were in Pakistan.

The potential of individual good steps to improve relations remains very limited unless the Pakistan army abandons the use of terror which is by now an intrinsic part of its security doctrine. It is politically impossible for any Indian government to sustain a full dialogue needed to transform ties amidst continuing terrorism. Pakistan still does not recognise this fact. Thus, while desperately wanting the dialogue it has shown no willingness to curb its India oriented terrorist groups. Besides, the master minds of the Mumbai terrorist attack are no closer to being brought to justice. At a more fundamental level Pakistan still has to rethink its obsessive anti-Indianism, which Hussain Haqqani reminds us is one of the two pillars of its foundational ideology (Islam being the other).

There is no evidence that Pakistan is considering changing its basic course to benefit from the enormous opportunities that a transformation of its relations with India will bring. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor can only fully realise its potential if Pakistan opens commercial and economic ties with India. Some Pakistanis realise this fact but does the army? Its thinking is still stuck in the rut of maintaining Pakistan’s ‘honour and dignity’ while new threats such as crippling water shortages loom on the horizon.

It would also be prudent to see in the Pakistani move a major gesture to the Indian Sikh community. This is in keeping with its traditional attempts to wean the community away from India. The idea is preposterous for India’s Sikhs are part of the country’s warp and woof and no extent of wooing will ever succeed in diluting their patriotism or commitment to the nation. However, that does not mean that Pakistan will give up its attempts at aiding Khalistani terrorists. As the 2019 elections are approaching it is inevitable that the Kartarpur corridor has become enmeshed in India’s domestic politics. The Sikh vote is important and not only in the Punjab; hence the unsavoury posturing. No doubt Imran Khan and the generals will be chuckling as Indian political parties squabble over Kartarpur.

Date:28-11-18

It’s Backbreaking

Save school students from the weight of their schoolbags

 TOI Editorials

Compared to more traditional schoolbags, backpacks are quite ergonomic, promoting even distribution of load over both shoulders. But overloaded backpacks are another story altogether. From making students feel fatigued to causing muscle strain or even distorting the spine, they can cause lifelong damage and stunt growth. RK Narayan, whose Swami and Friends still remains one of the most loved chronicles of childhood in India, noted in his maiden speech in Parliament that on account of this daily burden children “develop a stoop and hang their arms forward like a chimpanzee while walking”.

That was in the 80s. Today this problem is much worse. So it is very welcome that following recent instructions from the Union HRD ministry, various states are formulating guidelines to cap the weight of schoolbags for different classes. One snapshot of the scale of the problem is provided by an Assocham study that found most students below the age of 13 carry schoolbags weighing up to 45% of their body weight. This load should actually not exceed 10% of a student’s body weight. In the long term, experts say the developing imbalances caused by carrying all this extra weight can affect the nervous system.

But guidelines do no good when they remain imprisoned on paper. Back in 2016 CBSE had directed all its affiliated schools not to assign any homework to Class I and II students, so they wouldn’t have to carry schoolbags in the first place. But all across the country we still see 5-7 year olds stooping under bags that seem half their size. Newer guidelines must be implemented with new rigour, if Indian children are to run into the future light in spirit and body.

Date:28-11-18

Hounding Samaritans

What use are lifesaving laws if officials do not implement them?

TOI Editorials

A shocking multi-city survey has revealed that 59% of Good Samaritans – public spirited citizens who take accident victims to hospitals – were detained by the police despite the law forbidding it. Following Supreme Court intervention, the Union road transport ministry notified guidelines and a standard operating procedure in 2015-16 for ensuring that Samaritans are not harassed, to which SC added the force of its own orders to ensure compliance by all state authorities. But as of now, those guidelines appear to be mostly on paper.

Despite the SC judgment delivered in March 2016 specifying that wide publicity be given to its order, the survey by NGO SaveLIFE Foundation indicates poor awareness of this law. Between seven and nine of ten Indians haven’t heard of it. This defeats the law that puts the onus on revealing contact details or joining police investigations on Samaritans. These rules were introduced to prevent their harassment, a widely prevalent occurrence because the normal police instinct is to point the needle of suspicion on those easily within reach to wrap up probes quickly.

This ham-handed, petty-minded approach to Samaritans puts at risk the lives of accident victims who can be saved if rushed to hospitals quickly. The Golden Hour – the first hour after traumatic injury, when doctors say emergency treatment is most successful – is critically dependent on Samaritans taking accident victims to hospitals when police or ambulance assistance is not at hand. A 2006 Law Commission report claimed that 50% of fatalities can be averted by bringing victims to hospital within the Golden Hour. In 2017, India reported 1.35 lakh fatal accidents that claimed 1.48 lakh lives and 1.21 lakh grievous injury-causing accidents that required hospitalisation.

With lakhs of lives at stake, Samaritans bridge the gaps in policing and trauma care networks. Cops who victimise them must be strongly dealt with. Government must increase awareness of the Good Samaritan law among both the public and police. This gap between laws and implementation is visible in another silent killer – pollution. The “polluter pays” principle is a non-starter because officials are not penalised for sparing polluters. With Supreme Court nudging pollution watchdog CPCB to prosecute officials, deterrence may finally be in sight. But it is a failure of governance that SC has to intervene and pass orders in such matters that lie squarely in the administrative domain.

Date:28-11-18

Sustainable Cement Not a Wild Ambition

India must green towns, buildings,materials

ET Editorials

It is welcome news that India’s cement manufacturers are holding a summit on sustainability. As India urbanises to accommodate at least 50% of its population in towns, the country will need to build something like 20,000 sq km of additional urban space to accommodate an additional urban population of 25 crore. How that space is planned, designed and built will determine how energy-efficient India’s growth would be, and if India would live up to its climate commitments.

Dense cities with mixed land-use, public transport within and good connectivity without would consume less power than sprawls with segregated residential and commercial land-use, whose residents make long commutes in private vehicles. The energy efficiency of buildings, and of their raw materials is vital. Steel, cement and building design must make a serious effort to become energy efficient. Cement has the reputation of being one of the dirtier industries, burning a lot of coal, guzzling water while grinding limestone, throwing up fine dust wherever it travels, and guzzling energy in the transportation of both inputs and the final output.

Some of the reputation, it turns out, is dead habit, the industry having outlived the practices that earned it the dirty tag. Sections of Indian cement industry, the world’s second largest, are already the world’s greenest, intense competition having forced companies to improve processes to cut costs (wet grinding is history, energy consumption per tonne has been slashed), invest in logistics to reduce transportation costs and innovate types of cement and cement products, such as auto claved aerated concrete blocks that can replace bricks, reduce the weight of structures and enhance insulation, lowering the cost of air conditioning.

However, regulation and planning hold the key to greater energy efficiency. Within city limits, why not permit only ready-mixed concrete, to prevent dust build-up while cement is loaded, transported, unloaded and stacked? But it calls for detailed planning and coordination, builders, municipalities and the industry working together.

Date:28-11-18

कारोबारी सुगमता में चीन के प्रदर्शन से सबक ले भारत

ए के भट्टाचार्य

विश्व बैंक ने 2019 की कारोबारी सुगमता सूची पेश कर दी है जिसमें भारत का प्रदर्शन काफी अच्छा रहा है। उसने अपनी रैंकिंग में काफी सुधार किया है। पिछले वर्ष की रिपोर्ट में वह 100वें स्थान पर था और अब 77वें स्थान पर आ चुका है। 10 व्यापक मानकों पर उसके प्रदर्शन में भी 6.63 अंकों का सुधार देखने को मिला है। भारत सरकार ने भी इस जरूरत पर बल दिया है कि वह अपने सालाना सर्वे में उन बातों का प्रयोग करे जिन्हें विश्व बैंक द्वारा 190 से अधिक देशों की रैंकिंग करने में इस्तेमाल किया जाता है।

एक क्षण के लिए इस बात की अनदेखी कर दें कि रुवांडा और अजरबैजान को चीन से अच्छी रैंकिंग दी गई है और भारत के इस कथन को भी स्वीकार कर लें कि उसे उसे यह समझना होगा कि नीतियों और प्रक्रियाओं में किन बदलावों के साथ कारोबारी सुगमता सूचकांक में अच्छी रैंकिंग मिल सकती है। इन तमाम बातों को ध्यान में रखने के बावजूद अधिक उपयोगी कवायद यह देखना होगी कि कैसे कुछ अन्य देशों ने कारोबारी सुगमता सूचकांक में बेहतर रैंकिंग हासिल की है। यह तुलनात्मक अध्ययन हमें देश के प्रदर्शन को सही दृष्टि से देखने में सहायक होगा।

सबसे पहले बात करते हैं व्यापक आंकड़ों की। चार ऐसे देश हैं जिन्होंने पिछली रिपोर्ट से अब तक भारत की तुलना में कहीं अधिक बेहतर प्रदर्शन किया है। यानी ज्यादा सुधार किया है। इनमें से दो अफगानिस्तान और जिबूती भारत से नीचे हैं। अफगानिस्तान ने 10.64 अंकों का सुधार किया और वह 183वें स्थान से 167वें स्थान पर आ गया। जबकि जिबूती ने कारोबारी सुगमता सूचकांक में 8.87 अंकों का सुधार किया और वह 154वें स्थान से 99वें स्थान पर आ गया।

परंतु जो देश भारत से नीचे हैं उन्हें लेकर चिंतित होने का क्या फायदा? अजरबैजान की बात करें तो एक साल में उसने 7.1 अंकों का सुधार किया है और उसकी रैंकिंग 57वें स्थान से सुधरकर 25वें स्थान पर आ गई है। चीन का प्रदर्शन भी भारत से बेहतर रहा है। उसने 8.64 अंकों का सुधार किया और अब वह 78वें स्थान से सुधरकर रिपोर्ट में 46वें स्थान पर आ गया है। 100 से नीचे स्थान पर रहते हुए स्थिति में सुधार करना कठिन समस्या है। अजरबैजान और चीन भारत के लिए सबक हैं। भारत को इनसे प्रेरणा भी लेनी चाहिए क्योंकि भारत वह कर सकता है जो उन्होंने इस साल किया है। खासतौर पर चीन जिसने 78वें स्थान से 46वें स्थान की छलांग लगाई है। भारत अभी 77वें स्थान पर है, क्या वह चीन की कहानी दोहरा पाएगा?

चीन के अलावा ब्रिक्स देशों में भारत का प्रदर्शन काफी अच्छा रहा है। ब्राजील ने 2.96 अंकों के सुधार के साथ अपनी स्थिति सुधारी और वह 125वें से 109वें स्थान पर आ गया। दक्षिण अफ्रीका ने 1.37 अंकों के सुधार के साथ 82वां स्थान बरकरार रखा। रूस ने अपने स्थान में 0.61 अंकों के साथ मामूली सुधार किया और वह 35वें से 32वें स्थान पर आ गया। अन्य देशों का प्रदर्शन यह बताता है कि क्यों अंकों में अत्यंत कम बढ़ोतरी के बावजूद रूस की रैंकिंग में सुधार आया और 1.37 अंकों के सुधार के बावजूद क्यों दक्षिण अफ्रीका अपनी पुरानी रैंकिंग पर ही टिका रहा। भारत अन्य दक्षिण एशियाई देशों से तो आगे है लेकिन उसे हालात बदलने के लिए कारोबारी सुगमता के सभी 10 मानकों पर काम करना होगा।

ये मानक हैं कारोबार शुरू करने की प्रक्रिया, विनिर्माण अनुमति, बिजली मुहैया कराना, ऋण का वितरण, कर चुकता करना, सीमापार व्यापार, परिसंपत्ति का पंजीयन, अल्पसंख्यक निवेशकों के हितों की रक्षा करना, अनुबंध प्रवर्तन करना और ऋणशोधन के मामलों को हल करना। इस वर्ष इनमें से केवल पांच मानकों पर ही प्रदर्शन अच्छा रहा। सबसे अधिक लाभ विनिर्माण के परमिट जारी करने के मामले में हुआ है जहां हम 181वें स्थान से 52वें स्थान पर आ गए। सीमा पार व्यापार के मामले में भी हम 146वें स्थान से 80वें स्थान पर आ चुके हैं। कारोबार शुरू करने के मामले में 156वें से 137वें स्थान पर, ऋण उपलब्ध कराने में 29वें से 22वें स्थान पर लेकिन ये सुधार बहुत अहम नहीं हैं और सरकार को अगले साल खासी सावधानी बरतनी होगी। ऐसा इसलिए क्योंकि इन क्षेत्रों में बेहतर प्रदर्शन के बावजूद हालात बिगड़ सकते हैं क्योंकि अन्य देशों में कहीं ज्यादा सुधार आ सकता है।

कर भुगतान, परिसंपत्ति पंजीयन, अल्पसंख्यक निवेशकों के हितों के बचाव अनुबंध प्रवर्तन और ऋणशोधन को लेकर चिंता के हालात हैं। इनमें से हर क्षेत्र में भारत की स्थिति खराब हुई है, हालांकि कर भुगतान तंत्र और ऋणशोधन को हल करने में अवश्य कुछ सुधार हुआ है। शायद वस्तु एवं सेवा कर तथा ऋणशोधन एवं दिवालिया संहिता के कारण ऋणशोधन के मामलों का निस्तारण अगले वर्ष असर दिखाएगा। परंतु भारत अपनी प्रतिष्ठा के भरोसे नहीं रह सकता। कारोबारी सुगमता रैंकिंग का संबंध केवल किसी देश के प्रदर्शन से नहीं है बल्कि उसका ताल्लुक इस बात से भी है कि इसने दूसरों की तुलना में कैसा प्रदर्शन किया है। ऐसे में अन्य देशों के मुकाबले बेहतर प्रदर्शन करने के लिए व्यवस्थित प्रयासों की आवश्यकता है।

Date:27-11-18

मितव्ययता के बरक्स

संपादकीय

सरकारी धन की फिजूलखर्ची को लेकर जब भी सवाल उठते हैं तो सरकारों की ओर से ऐसे आदेश जारी किए जाते हैं कि जनप्रतिनिधियों और सरकारी अधिकारियों के रहन-सहन से लेकर दूसरे तमाम मदों में खर्चों में कटौती की जाएगी। लेकिन ऐसे तमाम आश्वासन या आदेश आमतौर पर कुछ दिनों की चर्चा बन कर रह जाते हैं। यही वजह है कि आए दिन ऐसे मुद्दे बहस के केंद्र में होते हैं कि सरकार के किसी गैर-महत्त्व के कार्यक्रम पर किए जाने वाले खर्चों के पैसे से कितने जनोपयोगी काम पूरे कराए जा सकते हैं। दूसरी ओर, ऐसे मामले आम रहे हैं, जिनमें किसी काम के नहीं होने की वजह सरकारें धन की कमी को बताती रही हैं। लेकिन फिजूलखर्ची पर रोक लगाने का दावा करने वाली सरकारें इस मसले पर औपचारिक आश्वासन जारी करने से आगे शायद ही कभी कोई ठोस कदम उठाती हैं। उल्टे अक्सर ऐसी खबरें आती रहती हैं कि सांसदों या विधायकों या फिर अलग-अलग सरकारी महकमों में ऊंचे पदों पर आसीन अधिकारियों की सुविधा का खयाल रखने में बेतहाशा पैसे बहाए जाते हैं। अक्सर मितव्ययता बरतने के आदेशों या आग्रहों को ताक पर रख कर ऐसे कामों में भी खुले हाथों से पैसे बहाए जाते हैं, जिनकी बहुत जरूरत नहीं होती है।

गौरतलब है कि केंद्र सरकार ने अपनी एक ताजा कवायद के तहत सुप्रीम कोर्ट के प्रधान न्यायाधीश और अन्य जजों, मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त और अन्य चुनाव आयुक्तों के सरकारी बंगलों की साज-सज्जा के लिए मुहैया कराई जाने वाली राशि में सौ फीसद की बढ़ोतरी की है। खबरों के मुताबिक, मौजूदा प्रावधानों के तहत प्रधान न्यायाधीश को अपने सरकारी आवास की साज-सज्जा के लिए पांच लाख रुपए मिलते हैं, लेकिन अब उन्हें मिलने वाली वह राशि दोगुनी होगी। इसी तरह, सुप्रीम कोर्ट के अन्य जजों और सभी चुनाव आयुक्तों के सरकारी बंगलों के लिए भी केंद्रीय आवास और शहरी मामलों के मंत्रालय ने मौजूदा चार लाख रुपए की सीमा को बढ़ा कर आठ लाख रुपए कर दिया है। इस फैसले के तहत जिन बंगलों की साज-सज्जा के मद में सौ फीसद बढ़ोतरी की गई है, वे भवन पहले ही रखरखाव के मामले में आमतौर पर उच्च गुणवत्ता से युक्त होते हैं। यों अगर किसी भवन के रखरखाव या उसकी मरम्मत की जरूरत है तो निश्चित रूप से उसमें कमी नहीं की जानी चाहिए। लेकिन साज-सज्जा पर होने वाले खर्च हर स्थिति में अनिवार्य नहीं भी होते हैं।

प्रधानमंत्री ने अपने मौजूदा कार्यकाल के शुरुआती दौर में ही मंत्रिमंडल की बैठक में फिजूलखर्ची पर रोक लगाने के लिए हर संभव कदम उठाने की सलाह दी थी। उन्होंने साफ शब्दों में कहा था कि सरकारी बंगलों को सजाने-संवारने पर ज्यादा खर्च न करें। प्रधानमंत्री के उस सुझाव को बेमानी खर्चों से बचने की दिशा में एक स्वागतयोग्य पहल माना गया था। इसके बाद कुछ राज्यों में सरकारी कार्यक्रमों में फिजूलखर्ची पर रोक लगाने के मामले में प्रधामनंत्री के नक्शे-कदम पर चलने की घोषणा की गई थी। लेकिन आज भी हकीकत यह है कि जनप्रतिनिधियों के रहन-सहन, सरकारी आवास की साज-सज्जा से लेकर उनके निजी खर्चों की मदों में जिस तरह धन खर्च किया जाता है, उसे जायज ठहराना कई बार मुश्किल हो जाता है। जबकि ऐसी तमाम सरकारी योजनाएं होती हैं, जिनके समय पर पूरा नहीं होने के सवाल पर धन की कमी की दलील दी जाती है। ऐसे में अगर धन की उपलब्धता है तो क्या यह उचित नहीं है कि उसका प्राथमिक उपयोग आम जनता के जीवन स्तर को बेहतर बनाने के लिए लक्षित कामों में किया जाए ?

Date:27-11-18

Life and Matter

Anticipating the century of biotech, IITs do well to introduce the life sciences as core elements of the curriculum.

Editorial

Traditionally, IIT students have been burdened by load-bearing beams, the Laplace transform and assembly language. But now, they are also being taught the elements of the Krebs cycle, human anatomy and epidemiology. The information technology wave has washed over the world, the biotechnology revolution is gathering steam, and the customary curricular split between the engineering and medical streams is now meaningless. It was quietly overstepped decades ago by engineers working on agriculture and food processing. They were followed by those working on prostheses like artificial limbs and heart valves. And studies of the structure of bamboos, which can resist tremendous stresses, have been applied in architecture for quake-prone areas.

But now, the line between the living and inert worlds is being blurred by advances in physics and chemistry, which explain the processes of life. The award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, a biologist, is a sign of the times. The impending biotech revolution will have wide-ranging impacts, from general health and disease control, through prosthetics and nanorobots embedded in our bodies, to the augmentation of human functions. It promises to generate unprecedented wealth and completely alter the way we live, and the world we live in. The cell and its organelles are machines, and worthy of the attentions of engineers. So is genetic material, for that matter, and the advent of the Crispr/Cas9 editing tool has opened the door to a new game level.

By introducing compulsory material in the life sciences, the IITs are preparing engineers for the near future, a time when designing an artificial eye will be more glamorous and rewarding than building a bridge. Applications will range widely, from mimicking structures and processes of nature in engineering projects and using big data analytics to understand living systems and societies better, to building augmentations and replacements for organs, systems or their functions. We can already see the beginnings of the future in robotics, where sensory and motor functions have been transmitted from the realm of living beings to machines. But the reverse process, in which machines will eventually become a part of us, will make robotics look like an Arduino project. And at that point, the IITs would be well advised to add a crucial subject in their programmes for engineering life: Ethics. Engineers will play with life in uncharted waters, and without the ethical faculty, they could come to grief — and cause grief, too.

Date:27-11-18

Diplomacy and faith

If Kartarpur corridor works out, PM Modi could extend the outreach to other areas.

C. Raja Mohan is Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, and the consulting editor on foreign affairs for ‘The Indian Express’.

The enduring contradictions of India’s relations with Pakistan and the violent mood swings that shape its dynamics are on full display this week. The commemoration of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack on Monday came along with the ground work for the construction of a “faith corridor” across one the world’s most militarised borders in the Punjab. It was a decade ago this week that terrorists from Pakistan sailed into Mumbai to perpetrate an outrageous attack on the city. There have been terror attacks sponsored from across the border before and since. But no other incident is likely to remain as etched in India’s memory.

This week also sees the beginning of the construction of a five-kilometre long visa-free corridor connecting the gurudwaras at Dera Nanak in India and Kartarpur in Pakistan. This is to mark the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year. Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur. The Sikh community has long demanded the liberalisation of travel to the holiest of their shrines that went to Pakistan after the Partition.

If the Mumbai attacks represent the accumulated negative legacy of the relationship, the surprising breakthrough on Kartarpur points to a potentially positive future. Sceptics might say “not so fast”. For there is always another sad twist to the tragic tale of the two nations since the Partition. Every hopeful moment in India-Pakistan relations has been followed by a despairing one.

Sceptics will also remind us how hard it has been for Indian political leaders to even embark on sustained talks with Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to resume the dialogue with Pakistan after he returned to power in the summer of 2009 — six months after the Mumbai attacks — the Congress party came down hard and vetoed the decision.

When Delhi announced that External Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mohammad Qureshi, on the margins of the UN General Assembly a couple of months ago, the political backlash was so intense that Delhi had to quickly reverse the decision. This volatile history of India-Pakistan engagement over the last decade makes the agreement on opening the Kartarpur corridor quite significant. But those familiar with the past might demur. It is one thing to talk about “visa-free” travel in the corridor, but entirely another for the two sides to agree on the rules governing it.

In Kashmir, we have seen how the agreement in the middle of the last decade to let Kashmiris travel across the Line of Control without passports and visas was marred by an onerous permit system. Security agencies on both sides would have demands that will make it a lot less easier than the Sikh pilgrims might expect at the Punjab border. That Pakistan has long supported Sikh separatists demanding Khalistan will make the task even harder for Delhi. There are other issues as well. In declining the invitation from Pakistan to attend the foundation-laying ceremony at Kartarpur on Wednesday, the chief minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh pointed to the routine killing of Indian soldiers on the LoC in Kashmir and the ISI’s “nefarious activities” in the Punjab.

Why then did Delhi accept the opening of the corridor? In addressing the Sikh community on Gurpurab last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the negative dynamic between the governments must be separated from the need to build bridges between the two peoples. “Religious diplomacy” — or using faith to bring people and nations together — has been very much part of Modi’s foreign policy in his outreach to the neighbouring countries in the Subcontinent and beyond. It was also framed as a priority in the joint statement issued after his talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at Ufa in July 2015.

But is Modi taking a big risk on the Kartarpur corridor? In inviting PM Sharif for his inauguration in 2014 and in travelling to Lahore on short notice at the end of 2015, Modi had demonstrated his appetite for risk taking with Pakistan. Will he be lucky the third time? If there is one place ripe for quick advances in bilateral relations it is the Punjab. The pent-up demands for cross-border commercial cooperation and people-to-people contact is immense in the Punjab, which has borne so much of the Partition’s tragic burden. If there is political will, a lot of steps — relating to religious tourism, overland commerce, cross-border trade in electricity and hydrocarbons — can be taken.

But none of the repeated efforts over the last decade — between Delhi and Islamabad as well as Chandigarh and Lahore — on transforming the relationship between the two Punjabs has borne fruit. During the decade-long UPA rule, there were moments when breakthroughs appeared imminent, but turned out to be elusive. Modi, however, might believe that he has little to lose by trying again and India is strong enough to take some political risks with Pakistan. And if the Kartarpur corridor works out well, there could be room to expand his religious diplomacy to other holy sites and extend the momentum to other areas. For now though, fingers are crossed.