New Delhi, Apr 26: The much-awaited Kailash Mansarovar Yatra will take place between June to August, this year, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Saturday.

"This year, five batches, each consisting of 50 Yatris, and 10 batches, each consisting of 50 Yatris, are scheduled to travel through Uttarakhand State crossing over at Lipulekh Pass, and through Sikkim State crossing over at Nathu La Pass, respectively," read a statement issued by the MEA.

It stated that the website at kmy.gov.in has been opened for acceptance of applications and the Yatris will be selected from among applicants through a "fair, computer-generated, random and gender-balanced" selection process.

The entire process commencing with online application till selection of Yatris has been fully computerised since 2015.

"The applicants do not need to send letters or fax to seek information. The feedback options on the website can be used for obtaining information, registering observations or making suggestions for improvement," the MEA mentioned.

India and China had been finalising the modalities to resume the Yatra since the start of this year.

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has not taken place since 2020 following the Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent non-renewal of Yatra arrangements by the Chinese side. The Indian government organised the Yatra between June and September through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass (since 1981) in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim.

It was following the meeting held under the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism in January this year that both sides had announced plans to resume the Yatra in the summer of 2025.

The meeting, where Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri led the Indian delegation, reviewed the state of India-China bilateral relations comprehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties, as agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Kazan in October 2024.

Both sides had also agreed, in principle, to resume direct air services between the two countries with the relevant technical authorities on the two sides to negotiate an updated framework for the purpose.

Last month, following the official consultation between Foreign Ministries of India and China in Beijing, it was announced that work continues to finalise the modalities to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.

Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the MEA held a consultative meeting with Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during which the two sides reviewed the action taken by them to implement the strategic direction as also the specific steps agreed in the meeting between Foreign Secretary and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister in January 2025 to stabilise and rebuild ties.

"They took positive note of the developments in bilateral relations since the meeting of the leaders of India and China in October 2024. In the intervening period, the Foreign Ministers have met twice, while the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question have held their 23rd meeting. These high-level meetings have provided strategic guidance to stabilise and further develop relations," read a statement issued by the MEA.

"They agreed to continue efforts to further facilitate and promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights, interaction of media and think-tanks, and celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. The two sides have made further progress on the modalities to resume Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025," it added.

The MEA stated that both sides also took stock of the planned exchanges and activities this year, discussing resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to utilise them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move relations on to a more stable and predictable path.

(IANS)

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