Pre-Partition Like Business Transactions

India, that is Bharat, is a union of states. It just celebrated its 80th independence day, which is a major milestone in its new political life. New because India & its cultures are older than any recorded history. India has seen many lives, many political establishments that have come & gone. Of course, that India & this new India differ in one thing — geography. Ancient India started from almost the Hindu Kush & went beyond the current eastern borders well into the hilly tracts of Chittagong.

Today that is uninterrupted by political boundaries.The casualties of this artificial boundary on both western & eastern borders are many, some tangible & intangible. Tangible casualties include families, properties & intangibles include culture, heritage & most importantly, trade. Trade between Kolkata & Dhaka, Agartala, Dhaka & other eastern regions have been interrupted due to the boundary.

Political issues on both sides of the borders — the potential of this volume of trade reaching its pre-partition levels due to uninterrupted travels by road or even riverine travel is huge. Similarly, if it were possible to travel from Amritsar to Lahore by road & onwards to Rawalpindi, Peshawar & onwards to Afghanistan & also connect it with Karachi, the potential of trade & commerce is huge.

Today, these new entities created across borders have still not found stability & somewhere still look to justify their existence. They justify their creation using artificial means such as religion. Today, almost these countries do small to medium trading, mostly informal. If money is allowed to flow across borders, then these entities may find new reasons & means of prosperity. India will also unlock potentially untouched areas of commerce. The biggest sector that may gain is tourism, along with hospitality, which could unlock immense potential of employment. People on both sides of borders are just the same in terms of language, culture & history. Surely, these people can share similar commodities with each other in exchange of money & that can not only bring prosperity but also communities together.

Saurav Ray Chaudhuri is an enterprise sales professional and sports enthusiast based in Kolkata. He writes on sports, Indian society, and development. He can be reached at sauravraychaudhuri@gmail.com