New Delhi, May 22 -- A total of 750 people were chosen through a computerised draw on Wednesday for the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet region, which is being organised after a gap of five years as India and China seek to normalise their ties after the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This year's pilgrimage will begin in June and continue till August, said the external affairs ministry, which organises the yatra to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in 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 5561 applicants, including 4024 men and 1537 women, who had registered online. A total of 750 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 - kmy.gov.in - to check their status or call the helpline number 011-23088133. Singh highlighted the steps taken by the government 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 had 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 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 to normalise relations. The pilgrimage to the site in Tibet is of religious significance to Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists....