India, May 28 -- The credit for securing the once-barren and scarcely populated Fazilka sector of Punjab along the India-Pakistan border goes to the foresight and administrative acumen of Partap Singh Kairon, a former chief minister of Punjab.

Faced with the near-impossible task of maintaining vigil along a desolate frontier devoid of infrastructure, Kairon came up with an innovative solution: He settled the resilient and rugged Rai Sikh community along the border in Fazilka. This move transformed a vulnerable stretch of land into a living, breathing line of defence, manned not by soldiers but by people with deep roots in the land.

Under British colonial rule, the Rai Sikhs were categorised as a "criminal tribe"- a stigma often imposed ...