{"id":24201,"date":"2026-09-12T11:25:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T05:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=24201"},"modified":"2026-09-12T13:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T08:12:55","slug":"lipulekh-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/lipulekh-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"Lipulekh Pass"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Lipulekh Pass Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The centuries-old India-Tibet trade route through Lipulekh Pass has reopened recently, with a 17-member Indian delegation entering Taklakot in Tibet after China cleared cross-border trade.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Lipulekh Pass<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>high-altitude mountain pass<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> located in the Pithoragarh district of <\/span><b>Uttarakhand<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in <\/span><b>India&#8217;s Kumaon region.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It sits at the <\/span><b>intersection of three international borders:<\/b> <b>India <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to the south and west, <\/span><b>China (Tibet Autonomous Region) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to the north and east, and <\/span><b>Nepal <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to the west.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><b>links <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Indian state of <\/span><b>Uttarakhand with the Tibet region <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of China.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Altitude<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It lies at an altitude of approximately <\/span><b>5,334 meters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (17,500 feet).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its elevation and strategic location make it a gateway to the higher reaches of the Himalayas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the <\/span><b>first Indian border post opened for trade with China in 1992.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Other passes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This was<\/span><b> followed by<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the opening of <\/span><b>Shipki La Pass, Himachal Pradesh,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 1994 and <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/key-facts-about-nathu-la-pass\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nathu La<\/a> Pass, Sikkim, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in 2006.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Significance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Strategic Location<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Lies at the <\/span><b>tri-junction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of India, Nepal, and China, making it geographically significant.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ancient Trade Route<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Lipulekh Pass has been utilized for centuries as a trade route, connecting the Indian subcontinent with the Tibetan plateau.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Religious Significance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It is a <\/span><b>key corridor for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and plays an important role in connecting border communities, especially tribal groups such as the Bhotiyas who depend on cross-border trade.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What are the territorial disputes?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The disagreement dates back to the<\/span><b> 1816 Sugauli Treaty <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">signed between B<\/span><b>ritish India and Nepal after the Anglo-Nepal War.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Under the treaty,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the<\/span><b> Kali River<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was accepted as the <\/span><b>boundary between the two sides.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem is that <\/span><b>India and Nepal disagree<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on <\/span><b>where the Kali River actually begins.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>India maintains<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the <\/span><b>river originates near Kalapani, placing <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">areas such as <\/span><b>Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura within Indian territory.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Nepal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, however, argues that the <\/span><b>river begins farther west,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which <\/span><b>would place all three areas inside Nepal.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because both countries use different interpretations of the treaty, the <\/span><b>border remains disputed even today.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>How does China come into the mix?<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What adds to the dispute is that <\/span><b>Nepal argues<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that <\/span><b>trade between India and China through this pass<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is often <\/span><b>held without Nepali consent.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2015, India and China agreed to use Lipulekh for bilateral trade and the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, triggering widespread protests in Nepal.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/india\/2026\/Sep\/08\/india-tibet-border-trade-resumes-through-lipulekh-pass-after-six-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>NIE<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lipulekh Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass located in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, near the trijunction of India, Nepal, and China. Read more about Lipulekh Pass, Location, Altitude, Significance, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":60441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2304],"class_list":["post-24201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-lipulekh-pass","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24201"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124198,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24201\/revisions\/124198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}