Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Resumes After 5 Years
After nearly five years, India and China are set to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra from June 2025 via Lipulekh Pass and Nathu La, signalling a thaw in relations after the eastern Ladakh standoff. Here’s everything you need to know.
It seems the ice is finally thawing – and not just in the Himalayas. After a gap of nearly five years, India and China have decided to put their handbags away and resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this June, a move seen by many as an attempt to mend fences after their rather frosty fallout over eastern Ladakh.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), with a spring in its step, announced on Saturday that the Yatra will be back on from June to August 2025, via two old faithfuls – the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and Nathu La in Sikkim. Pilgrims, monks, and all those with strong knees and a sense of spiritual adventure are gearing up for the trek of a lifetime.
The journey to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in Tibet isn’t just any old holiday – it holds immense religious significance for Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists alike. It’s not every day one gets to climb a sacred mountain and have a natter with the divine, after all.
The Yatra had originally been put on ice back in 2020, first thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and then because of a rather sticky situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh – a military standoff that was, to put it mildly, about as friendly as a cat in a bath.
However, last October, the militaries of both sides finally decided it was time to pack up their toys and go home, completing disengagement at Demchok and Depsang. Following hot on the heels of that, the Prime Minister of India and the President of China had a chinwag in the Russian city of Kazan, agreeing it was high time to revive various dusty bilateral dialogue mechanisms.
Since that cordial cuppa in Kazan, the two sides have been busier than a bee in a bottle, holding a series of meetings aimed at getting things back on an even keel. In January, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri popped over to Beijing for a spot of tea and diplomacy with his Chinese counterpart Sun Weidong.
In those talks, it was agreed to dust off the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and resume people-centric steps to “stabilise and rebuild” ties – or, in plain English, to stop sulking and get along like sensible grown-ups.
The MEA has said that this year five batches, each consisting of 50 pilgrims, will travel via the Lipulekh Pass route, and ten batches of 50 will trundle along through Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. No pushing and shoving, mind you – applications are being taken online at kmy.gov.in, with Yatris being selected via a “fair, computer-generated, random and gender-balanced” process.
The Ministry has also gently reminded everyone that since 2015, the entire operation – from applications to selection – has been run by computers. So there’s no point sending in tear-stained letters, sweet-boxes, or good old-fashioned faxes in hopes of jumping the queue. If you’ve got a question, best to use the feedback option on the website and spare the poor souls at the MEA a few grey hairs.
All said and done, the revival of the Yatra may just be the olive branch both countries sorely needed. Whether the thaw continues or another storm brews remains to be seen – but for now, pilgrims can dust off their walking boots, pack their thermals, and get ready for a journey that’s as good for the soul as it is for the legs.
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