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Nathu La

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Asia

   Nathu La
   Nathu La
   State
    -  District(s)   Sikkim
                      -  East Sikkim
   Coordinates       27.34° N 88.85° E
   Area
    -  Elevation     0.1  km²
                      - 4,310 m
   Time zone         IST ( UTC+5:30)
   Population ( 2001)
    -  Density       0†
                      - 0/km²
   † No permanent native population. Indian and Chinese army personnel at
   checkposts are the only inhabitants.

   Nathu La Pass listen  ( Nepali: नाथू ला, IAST: Nāth Lā; Tibetan:
   རྣ་ཐོས་ལ་;  Wylie: Rna thos la; Chinese: 乃堆拉山口; pinyin: Nǎiduīlā
   Shānkǒu), also spelled Ntula, Natu La, Nathula, or Natula, is a
   mountain pass on the Indo-China border connecting the Indian state of
   Sikkim with Yadong County on the southern border of Tibet. The pass, at
   4,310  m (14,200  feet) above mean sea level, forms part of an offshoot
   of the ancient Silk Road. The name Nathu literally means "listening
   ears", and La means "Pass" in Tibetan.

Geography

   The pass is 56 kilometres (35 mi) east of the Sikkimese capital,
   Gangtok, and 430 km (270 mi) from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. Although
   just 5 km (3 mi) north of the all-weather Jelepla pass, the Nathula
   pass is blocked by snow in winters as it receives heavy snowfall.
   Temperatures in Nathula regularly dip below −25 °C (−13 °F) in winters.
   Nathula is located on the mountain to the right of the picture
   Enlarge
   Nathula is located on the mountain to the right of the picture

   The road leading to Nathula from Gangtok is scenic, with the vegetation
   graduating from sub-tropical forests to temperate to wet and dry alpine
   to cold tundra desert devoid of vegetation. Yaks are found in these
   parts, and in many hamlets they serve as beasts of burden. On the
   Chinese side the pass leads to the Chumbi Valley of the Tibetan
   Plateau.

   The pass is India's third border post for trade with China after
   Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh (or Lipulech) in Uttaranchal.
   Location of Nathula in Sikkim.
   Enlarge
   Location of Nathula in Sikkim.

   Visitors to the Indian side of Nathula must obtain permits one day in
   advance in Gangtok. Non-Indian residents are barred from visiting the
   pass. The pass is open to Indian nationals on Wednesdays, Thursdays,
   Saturdays and Sundays. On other days it is used for military purposes.
   The border consists of a simple barbed wire fence without a no man's
   land. Every Thursday and Sunday, international mail is exchanged
   between the two nations, a tradition dating back many decades. It is
   one of the world's highest navigable roads. It is maintained by the
   Border Roads Organisation, a wing of the Indian Army.

History

   Stone plaque in Nathula
   Enlarge
   Stone plaque in Nathula

   Nathula is located on the 563 km long Old Silk Route (an offshoot of
   the historic Silk Road) since ancient times, connecting Lhasa in Tibet
   with the Bengal plains to the south. In 1815, trade picked up in volume
   as the British annexed territories belonging to the Sikkimese, Nepalese
   and Bhutanese. The potential of Nathula was realised in 1873, after the
   Darjeeling Deputy Commissioner published a report on the strategic
   importance of mountain passes between Sikkim and Tibet. In December
   1893, the Sikkimese monarchy and Tibetan rulers signed an agreement
   allowing trade to flourish between the two nations.

   In September 1904, a convention signed by the British and Tibetans
   facilitated the setting up of trading posts at Gyantse and Gartok (in
   Tibet) and ceded control of the Chumbi Valley to the British. However
   the treaty took place in the absence of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten
   Gyatso who had fled to Urga in Mongolia after a military expedition led
   over the Jelepla Pass by British explorer Francis Younghusband to
   enforce the treaty. Later in November that year, China and Great
   Britain inked an agreement approving trade between Sikkim and Tibet.
   During the 2,500th Birth Anniversary celebration of Gautam Buddha in
   November 1956, Dalai Lama used this pass to travel to India, and
   returned back to China from it in February 1957.
   The Chinese Military Checkpost in Nathula
   Enlarge
   The Chinese Military Checkpost in Nathula

   On 1 September 1958, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi (his daughter),
   and Palden Thondup Namgyal (son and adviser for internal affairs for
   Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal of Sikkim) used this pass for going to
   Bhutan. After the People's Republic of China took control of Tibet in
   1950 and suppressed a Tibetan uprising in 1959, the passes into Sikkim
   became a conduit for refugees from Tibet. During the 1962 Sino-Indian
   War, the pass witnessed skirmishes between soldiers of the two
   countries. Though Sikkim was at that time an independent monarchy, it
   had allowed Indian troops to man its borders. Shortly thereafter the
   passage was closed and remained closed for more than four decades.

   In 1988, India's then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Beijing where
   he recognised China's suzerainty over Tibet. In 1992, Jyoti Basu, then
   Chief Minister of West Bengal initiated a campaign to reopen the Lhasa-
   Kalimpong route which ran through Jelepla but nothing constructive
   materialised. The following year, Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao's
   visit to China led to further talks on the opening of the pass.
   The roads and stairs leading to the border
   Enlarge
   The roads and stairs leading to the border

   In 2003, with the thawing of Sino-Indian relations, Indian Prime
   Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China led to the resumption of
   talks on opening the border. Later in 2004, the Indian Defence
   Minister's visit to China led to the formal opening of the pass. In the
   years before the re-opening, the only person permitted to cross the
   barbed-wire frontier, with an Indian military escort, was a Chinese
   postman who would hand over the mail to his Indian counterpart in a
   building at the border. The opening resulted in removing of the barbed
   wire fence between India and China, which was replaced by a 10-meter
   wide, stone walled passageway. Though originally scheduled for 2
   October 2005, the re-opening was postponed due to last-minute
   infrastructure problems on the Chinese side. The re-opening, which
   occurred on July 6, 2006, formally recognises Tibet as part of China by
   India and Sikkim's accession to India in 1975. The date, incidentally,
   is the birthday of the reigning Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and is
   widely seen as a snub to the International Tibet Independence Movement.
   It was also decided to mark the 2006 as the year of Sino-Indian
   friendship. barbed wire fence that had separated the two neighbors for
   the past 44 years and in its place is now a 10-meter wide, stone walled
   passageway waiting for merchants from both sides to go through.

   The opening of the pass was marked by a ceremony on the Indian side
   attended by officials from both sides, including Sikkim Chief Minister
   Pawan Kumar Chamling (the chief guest), the Chinese ambassador to
   India, and the Tibetan Autonomous Region Chairman, Champa Phuntsok.
   Delegation of 100 traders from India and 100 Tibetans crossed the
   border to the respective trading towns. Despite heavy rain and chilly
   winds, the ceremony was marked with the attendance of many officials,
   locals, and international and local media.

Economy

   Up to 1962, when the pass was sealed, goods such as pens, watches,
   cereals, cotton cloth, edible oils, soaps, building materials, and
   dismantled scooters and four-wheelers were exported to Tibet on
   mule-back. Two hundred mules, each carrying about 80 kg (175 lb) of
   load used to ferry goods from Gangtok to Lhasa which used to take 20–25
   days. Upon return, silk, raw wool, musk pods, medicinal plants, country
   liquor, precious stones, gold and silverware were imported to India.

   The opening is expected to stimulate the economy of the region, and
   also bolster Indo-Chinese trade, which amounted to $7 billion in 2004.
   India hopes that the trade volumes between the two nations will grow to
   Rs. 206 crore (44.6 million US$) by 2007, and Rs. 12,203 crore (2.6
   billion US$) by 2015. Trade marts have been constructed at Sherathang
   in Sikkim (six kilometres from Nathula) and Rinqingang in Tibet (ten
   kilometres from Nathula) for the purposes of customs and checking. The
   trading season starts from 1 June and continues till 30 September, when
   snowfalls and extreme weather make the pass unusable for civilian
   purposes. A total of 100 traders and 60 trucks carrying goods are
   allowed to operate from either side of the border. It is estimated that
   Indo-China trade would increase by nearly 15~20% over two years of
   opening of the pass.
   Indian post on the border after the pass was opened
   Enlarge
   Indian post on the border after the pass was opened

   Before the pass was closed, nearly 95% of the 200 firms that operated
   from the Indian side were owned by the Marwari community. For the first
   five years, permits will only be given to those who were Sikkimese
   citizens before the kingdom merged with India in 1975. The products to
   be exported by India are agricultural implements, blankets, copper
   products, clothes, cycles, coffee, tea, barley, rice, flour, dry
   fruits, vegetables, vegetable oil, molasses and candy, tobacco, snuff,
   spices, shoes, kerosene oil, stationery, utensils, wheat, liquor, milk
   processed product, canned food, cigarettes, local herb, palm oil and
   hardware. Chinese exports to India will be goat skin, sheep skin, wool,
   raw silk, yak tail, yak hair, china clay, borax, butter, common salt,
   horses, goats and sheep. Trading will be open only Mondays through
   Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
   Pilgrims from Tibet may be able to make a pilgrimage to the Rumtek
   monastery, one of Buddhism's holiest shrines.
   Enlarge
   Pilgrims from Tibet may be able to make a pilgrimage to the Rumtek
   monastery, one of Buddhism's holiest shrines.

   India hopes to capitalise on tourism in the region, including Buddhist
   pilgrims visiting monasteries in Sikkim such as Rumtek, one of the
   holiest shrines in Buddhism. It also offers the Chinese access to the
   port of Kolkata (Calcutta), situated about 1,100 km (700 mi) from
   Lhasa, for transshipments to and from Tibet. The move is also expected
   to be beneficial to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The pass would reduce
   the journey time to Mansarovar lake from 15 days to two days.

   On the Tibetan side, currently most of the foreign trade of Tibet goes
   through the port of Tianjin more than 4,000 km (2,500 mi) away. With
   the opening of the Nathula Pass, this distance has been shortened
   significantly. Two highways, from Kangmar to Yadong and Yadong to
   Nathula, have been listed in the 2006 construction plans of the
   Ministry of Transportation and the Development and Reform Commission of
   the PRC. A plan to start a bus service from Gangtok to Lhasa is also
   under review. There are also plans to extend the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
   to Yadong over the next decade.

   A major concern of the Indian government is the trafficking of wildlife
   products such as tiger and leopard skin, bones, bear gall bladders,
   otter pelts, and shahtoosh wool into India. The government has
   undertaken a program to sensitise the police and other law enforcement
   agencies in the area. Most of such illicit trade currently takes place
   via Nepal.

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