750 pilgrims selected for this year’s Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in Tibet

The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra to Tibet is being organised after five years, as India and China seek to normalise ties

Published on: May 21, 2025, 14:08:15 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

A total of 750 people were chosen through a computerised draw on Wednesday for the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet, being organised after five years, as India and China seek to normalise ties after the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The pilgrimage will begin in June and continue until August. (kmy.gov.in)

This year’s pilgrimage will begin in June and continue until August, said the external affairs ministry, which organises the yatra to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The pilgrimage had been suspended since 2020, initially because of the pandemic and then the protracted face-off on the LAC.

Minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh conducted the computerised draw to select the pilgrims from among the 5,561 applicants, including 4,024 men and 1,537 women, who had registered online.

The selected pilgrims will travel in five batches of 50 yatris each via Lipulekh Pass, and 10 batches of 50 yatris each via the Nathu La route, the ministry said. Each batch will include two liaison officers. “Both routes are now fully motorable and involve very little trekking,” it said.

The pilgrims were selected “through a fair, computer-generated, random, gender-balanced selection process”, the ministry said. The selected pilgrims will be informed through SMS and email. They can log in at the Yatra website (https://kmy.gov.in)

Singh highlighted the steps taken to make the pilgrimage more accessible and the process more transparent, while simultaneously ensuring the safety and well-being of yatris. He urged the yatris to “undertake the pilgrimage with a sense of responsibility, humility and mindfulness, while caring for each other as well as protecting the sanctity of the environment”.

On April 26, India announced the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as part of measures by New Delhi and Beijing to normalise relations that had been taken to an all-time low by the face-off in the Ladakh sector of the LAC.

HT first reported on April 16 that India and China were close to an understanding on resuming the pilgrimage after the more than four-year standoff on the LAC. The resumption of the pilgrimage and direct flights, which, too, were suspended in 2020, were among confidence-building measures discussed by the two sides since they reached an understanding on disengagement of troops last October.

Two days after the understanding on disengagement of forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met in the Russian city of Kazan and decided to revive several mechanisms to address the border dispute and normalise relations.

The pilgrimage to the site in Tibet is of religious significance to Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists, and pilgrims travel at altitudes of up to 19,500 feet in extreme weather and rugged terrain.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.