The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet, will resume on June 30 after a five-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The yatra will be conducted in five groups of 50 people each, with the first group entering China via Lipulekh Pass on July 10 and the last group departing on August 22. The pilgrimage, which holds great religious significance for Hindus, involves circumambulating Mount Kailash and taking a bath in Lake Manasarovar, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva.
Heavy rainfall has disrupted major pilgrimages in Uttarakhand, including the Kedarnath route and the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra, prompting the IMD to issue red and orange alerts for extremely heavy rainfall across several districts.
The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is being organised by the ministry of external affairs from end of May/ early June to September.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced that India and China have reached an understanding to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025. While an understanding has been reached, the modalities of the pilgrimage are yet to be firmed up. The Yatra has been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and non-renewal of Yatra arrangements by the Chinese side.
India has firmly rejected Nepal's objection to the upcoming Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, dismissing Kathmandu's territorial claims over the region.
Several pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, including Ilavarasi and Chitra, have gone missing in Nepal following devastating flash floods, leaving their families distraught and appealing for urgent government rescue efforts.
The yatra will continue for the next four months.
'The missile mounted near Kailash-Mansarovar is called DF-21. It is a medium-range, 2,200 kilometres ballistic missile. Its advantage is that it can cover all cities of north India, including New Delhi'
The Haj Committees and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd, which organise the religious pilgrimages will not have to Service Tax.
The annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, undertaken by hundreds of pilgrims involving circumambulation of Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in Tibet, will commence in the middle of this year amid tight security.
Over 130 Indian nationals, including Kailash Manasarovar Yatra pilgrims and tourists, are missing or stranded in Nepal following devastating flash floods that have cut off central districts and disrupted communication links. Indian states and the embassy in Kathmandu have launched helplines to assist those affected.
"Earlier Haj House was made in Ghaziabad. Our government constructed Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan. Earlier the mafia used to harass traders, but now no mafia can dare to grab property of any trader, doctor or a poor person...," he said.
The road network at the Indo-China border will also help locals settle in their villages to run homestay and other tourism-related businesses
The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India.
The annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra began on Friday as the first batch of 58 pilgrims was flagged off by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat from Almora.
Is this Rahul on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra? Fake photos, says BJP
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday flagged off the first batch of pilgrims for Kailash Mansarovar yatra in Tibetan Autonomous Region of China through a new route via Nathu La pass.
Gandhi took to Twitter to put out a Sanskrit shloka from the Upanishads and tweeted a picture of Mount Kailash along with it.
Nepal has reiterated its commitment to resolving the border issue with India through diplomatic channels, emphasising historical agreements and understanding.
Pilgrims travelling through the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand will continue as scheduled.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor faced significant backlash on social media for describing the Nepal flash floods as "drama." Despite expressing concern and detailing the devastation, his choice of words was widely criticised as insensitive, leading to questions about his vocabulary usage.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday flagged off the first batch of pilgrims undertaking the annual yatra to Kailash Mansarovar in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.
Nepal is grappling with one of its worst disasters in recent years as massive flash floods, triggered by an ice avalanche, have claimed 270 lives and left thousands missing across multiple districts, prompting urgent rescue and relief operations.
Amid unrest in Nepal, pilgrims from Tamil Nadu crossed the border for Kailash Mansarovar, and a wedding was held at the India-Nepal border.
India is preparing to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, after a three-year hiatus. The decision comes as part of efforts to improve relations between India and China, which have been strained since a military standoff in 2020. The two countries have also agreed in principle to resume flight services between them.
Massive flash floods in Nepal, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche, have devastated the border town of Timure and other central districts, leaving a rising death toll and hundreds missing. The disaster, described by witnesses as feeling like an earthquake, has claimed entire families and caused widespread destruction to infrastructure. Rescue efforts are underway, with a significant number of missing individuals identified as tourists, including nearly 300 Indian nationals.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that 288 Indian nationals remain missing following devastating flash floods in Nepal, including those working on hydropower projects and tourist groups.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced in Beijing that the second route for the Kailash-Manasarovar yatra will become operational from June.
India-China border trade via Uttarakhand's Lipulekh Pass is set to resume on August 1 after a gap of more than six years, with the neighbouring country granting permission to 20 Indian traders to visit Purang (Taklakot), according to officials.
Nepal's former Forest and Environment Minister Madhav Prasad Chaulagain has expressed concern over the lack of timely information exchange with China ahead of the devastating floods, stating that the disaster's scale could lead to an 'unbelievable' rise in the death toll.
A total of 750 pilgrims have been selected through a computerised draw for the upcoming Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet, marking the resumption of the pilgrimage after a five-year gap. The Yatra's resumption is seen as an attempt to normalize India-China relations, which were strained by the eastern Ladakh border standoff. The pilgrimage will begin in June and continue until August, with pilgrims traveling in five batches via the Lipulekh route and ten batches via the Nathu La route. The selection process was deemed "fair, computer-generated, random, gender-balanced" by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which organized the pilgrimage.
India and China on Monday decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as the two sides agreed to take certain people-centric steps to 'stabilise and rebuild' ties.
'This is no longer a single-hazard problem; it is a cascading, multi-hazard problem. A landslide never occurs in isolation. This entire chain is the cascading effect of what looks, at first, like a single disaster.'
The Nepalese foreign minister was speaking to the media a day after holding wide-ranging talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar that focused on ways to further expand ties in diverse sectors, including trade, critical technology, connectivity and energy.
Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah addressed parliament on the ongoing border dispute with India, stating both countries have agreed to seek resolution through diplomatic means and expert consultation. Shah's remarks about Nepal also encroaching on Indian territories have sparked controversy.
Officials said that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has started the work on cutting the road from KMVN Huts in Nabhidhang in Pithoragarh district to Lipulekh pass on the India-China border, which will be completed by September.
'Travellers are considering safer and more stable destinations.'
All Indian nationals, who were stranded in Simikot and Hilsa of Humla district in far-west Nepal, safely returned to Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun that India and China should maintain the positive momentum in the bilateral ties and avoid adding new complexities.
The boundary mess between India and Nepal needs a solution in a manner as mentioned by Nepal's Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal: 'On evidence not emotions', counsels Lieutenant General Shakti Gurung (retd).
