New Delhi: The notification for resumption of the Kailash Mansaravor yatra is expected “fairly soon,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Thursday. Once it is official, pilgrims will be allowed to travel to Mount Kailash and the Mansarovar lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region for the first time since 2020.
“The [Kailash Mansarovar] yatra will happen this year, and we are making preparations. More information will be put out for the public soon,” said Jaiswal during a regular press briefing.
Resumption of the yatra is amongst early confidence-building measures New Delhi and Beijing are working on, following disengagement from friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which began last October.
The notification for the yatra, organised through the MEA, is expected in the next seven to ten days, ThePrint can confirm. Resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar yatra was agreed to during Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s two-day visit to Beijing on 26 January.
“In this context, the two sides decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025; the relevant mechanism will discuss the modalities for doing so as per existing agreements. They also agreed to hold an early meeting of the India-China Expert Level Mechanism to discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers,” said the MEA statement after Misri’s visit to Beijing in January 2025.
The yatra was originally halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was further suspended following tensions between the two countries due to the clashes in Galwan in the summer of 2020.
Kailash Mansarovar yatra, organised by the MEA, usually starts in June and runs till September, with pilgrims travelling to the sites through two routes–Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand and Nathu La pass in Sikkim.
The yatra is significant for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. The pilgrims are expected to trek at high altitudes, as high as 19,500 feet, under inhospitable conditions in rugged terrain. In the past the yatra was organised by the governments of Delhi, Uttarakhand and Sikkim with cooperation from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
However, while the yatra was one of the key demands for India as a confidence-building measure, Beijing has been pushing for the resumption of direct air services between the two countries.
During Misri’s visit, the two sides agreed “in-principle” to resume direct air services. According to Jaiswal, the two civil aviation authorities have met and are carrying out the “technical arrangements” to allow the resumption of direct air services.
“An updated framework is something that is required to resume direct flights. The two civil aviation authorities have met and are moving this forward,” said the MEA spokesperson.
The two measures would be the first positive steps between New Delhi and Beijing to improve ties since the Galwan clashes. The roughly four-year pause in ties was resolved on 21 October, 2024, when Misri announced the agreement on disengagement between India and China.
Two days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan. Since then a number of high-level mechanisms have been engaged, including meetings between India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in December last year.
Despite the thaw in ties, India in recent days has made it clear it is not keen on investments from China, with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal saying the same last Friday at the Global Technology Summit 2025.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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