The formation of mountain passes between mountain peaks might occur during the formation of the mountain range or they may be formed due to the action of glaciers, running water, or with the help of precipitation in the form of rain or snow. While a mountain pass through a ridge can be as narrow as 20 feet, in a large mountain range can occur in the form of a large valley. Semo La in the Tibetan Plateau is the highest confirmed mountain pass in the world with an elevation of about 18,258 feet (World Landforms, 2015).
Some of the highest peaks in the world are present in the Himalayas, which lie south of the Tibetan Plateau. India also has many other mountain ranges such as the Karakoram Range, the Aravali Range and many other minor ranges in the Deccan Plateau. Here we shall engage in a discussion of some of the prominent mountain passes in India that stand out.
Eminent Mountain Passes in the Western Himalayas in India:
Fig: Mountain Passes in the Western Himalayas
Aghil Pass (Jammu & Kashmir – PoK)
The Aghil Pass is located in the Karakoram Range at an elevation of about 4,805 m above sea level in the Jammu & Kashmir state of India northwards from the K2 peak. The mountain pass separates the Ladakh region in India with the Shaksgam Valley in China. The mountain pass lies in the transition between the valley of the Yarkand River and the valley of the Shaksgam River. The mountain pass is inaccessible during the winter season between November and May. Although the mountain pass is quite near, one cannot however, see the highest peaks of the Karakorum from the Aghil Pass.
Fig: The Aghil Pass
Mintaka Pass (Jammu & Kashmir – PoK)
The Mintaka Pass is located in the Karakoram Range at an elevation of 4,709 m at the tri-junction of the Indian, Chinese and the Afghan borders. The Mintaka Pass in the ancient Wakhi language means the Pass of a Thousand Ibex, which could allude to the hunting practices of ancient tribes in these cold deserts. The mountain pass has a rich history of inhabitation and crossing, but although initially considered, was not in the route for the Karakoram Highway.
Fig: The Mintaka Pass
Khardung La (Jammu & Kashmir)
The Khardung La Pass is located in the Karakoram Range at an elevation of 5,359 m in the Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir, India. The Tibetans are native to Ladakh and La in the Tibetan language means mountain pass. Khardung La is located near the town of Leh and holds the distinction for having the highest motorable road in the world passing through it and every year especially in the summer months, numerous tourists come to Khardung La to witness the scenery and experience its mountain road.
Fig: The road passing through the Khardung La Pass
Karakoram Pass (Jammu & Kashmir)
The Karakoram Pass is located in the Karakoram Range at an elevation of 5,540 m and acts as a passage between India and China with the help of the Karakoram Highway. The route was part of the ancient Silk Route active in the early history of Asia. The route however, has remained one of the highest trade routes in the world. Located at the boundary between India and China, the mountain pass is marked by heaps of stones on either side of the border between India and China in what is not a disputed border. Although one might find bones and skeletons near the Karakoram Highway, the Karakoram Pass holds great popularity among Ladhakis.
Fig: The Karakoram Highway
Chang La (Jammu & Kashmir)
The Chang La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in Jammu & Kashmir at an elevation of 5,360 m and connects the Ladakh region in India to erstwhile Tibet, now in China. The road passing through the mountain pass is said to be the second highest motorable road in the world after Khardung La, also in Ladakh. This road is not as much a tourist attraction as Khardung La however, as the road through Chang La is also a very dangerous road, with numerous sheer cliffs at great altitudes. On top of this there is a great deal of snow on the road almost throughout the year which can make the road slippery at times.
Fig: The Chang La Pass
Zoji La (Jammu & Kashmir)
The Zoji La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in Jammu & Kashmir at an elevation of 3,528 m and the National Highway NH-1D passes through this mountain pass. Although the Border Roads Organization (BRO) is involved in cleaning the snow and maintaining the road, the Zoji La Pass remains closed between December to May each year. The road nearby and through the Zoji La pass has sights that are extremely picturesque and scenic.
Fig: The Zoji La Pass
Bara Lacha La (Himachal Pradesh)
The Bara Lacha La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India at an elevation of 4,890 m through which passes the national highway connecting Manali in Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Jammu & Kashmir. The road cannot be used for transport in winter due to the high altitude in which the mountain pass is located in, and it is advisable to cross the pass at around noontime.
Fig: The Bara Lacha La Pass
Rohtang Pass (Himachal Pradesh)
The Bara Lacha La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India at an elevation of 3,979 m. The Rohtang Pass is a huge tourist attraction and traffic jams are very common along the national highway leading up to it from Manali or Leh. However, the mountain pass is only open from May to November due to snowfall. Snowfall here can also occur in the form of unpredictable blizzards and snowstorms, especially during the winter season.
Fig: The Rohtang Pass
Shipki La (Himachal Pradesh)
The Shipki La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India at an elevation of about 3,930 m. The mountain pass is located at the border with India and erstwhile Tibet (now China) and is inaccessible in the winter months.
Fig: The Shipki La Pass
Lipu Lekh (Uttarakhand)
The Lipu Lekh Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Uttarakhand, India at an elevation of 5,334 m. The mountain pass is used by pilgrims in their route to the pilgrimage site Kailash-Mansarowar. Although the journey through this mountain pass is by foot, a road link is on to be constructed between Lipu Lekh and Ghatiabagarh. This coalesced after China closed down the road link to Kailash-Mansarowar from Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, India.
Fig: The Lipu Lekh Pass
Eminent Mountain Passes in the Eastern Himalayas in India:
Fig: Mountain Passes in the Eastern Himalayas
Nathu La (Sikkim)
The Nathu La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Sikkim, India at an elevation of 4,310 m. The road passing through Nathu La was once an important auxiliary route making up the ancient Silk Route. In contemporary times the route retains its significance for the passage of trade in the region and acts as an important trade route giving passage between India and China. After the war between India and China, the mountain pass was closed in 1962 but was later opened again in 2006 as a trade route. There is significant military presence of troops from both India and China in the areas around the mountain pass with many checkposts among the tall mountain tops. The nearby Tsomgo (Changu) Lake is a major tourist attraction.
Fig: A military checkpost by the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim
Jelep La (Sikkim)
The Jelep La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Sikkim, India at an elevation of 4,538 m. The route passing through the Jelep la Pass was part of the ancient Silk Route that led to Lhasa in the erstwhile Tibetan Kingdom. The Jelep LaPass falls on the eastern border of Sikkim and is known for the tricky zigzag uphill road that leads to the mountain pass and passes through the Chumbi Valley – the erstwhile summer residence of the King of Sikkim. The mountain pass is barren and desolate and very windy, but offers spectacular sceneries.
Fig: The road to Jelep La – part of the ancient Silk Route
Bom Di La (Arunachal Pradesh)
The Bom Di La Pass is located in the Himalayan Range in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India at an elevation of 2,217 m. The mountain pass connects the western perimeter of Arunachal Pradesh with Lhasa, the erstwhile capital of the Tibetan Kingdom in the past. The mountain pass also has Bomdila town situated by it which serves as the headquarters of West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The town is huge Tibetan influence, with Tibetan gates, food and also a monastery. Near the town is the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.
Fig: Bom Di La Valley
Eminent Mountain Passes in the Deccan Plateau in India:
Fig: Mountain Passes in the Deccan Plateau
Goram Ghat (Rajasthan)
Goram Ghat is located in the Aravali Range in the state of Rajasthan, India at an elevation of about 900 m. Goram Ghat connects Mewar and Marwar in Rajasthan through the Aravali Hills and has a railway line passing through it that crosses 2 tunnels and 172 bridges in total. The terrain is densely forested with Dhok forest and is rich in biodiversity, including many medicinal plants and a variety of fauna like sloth bears, leopards, wild boars, etc.
Fig: Goram Ghat
Haldighati Pass (Rajasthan)
Haldighati Pass is located in the Aravali Range in the state of Rajasthan, India at an elevation of about 396 m. The name Haldighati is derived from the turmeric (‘haldi’ in hindi) coloured soil in the mountain pass. Located about 40 km from Udaipur, the mountain pass is said to be the historic location of the ‘Battle of Haldighati’ between the Mewar king Maharana Pratap and the Mughals under Emperor Akbar in 1576. The Government of India commissioned the setting up of the Maharana Pratap National Memorial in 1997 on the site which included a bronze statue of Maharana Pratap’s horse Chetak.
Fig: The Haldighati Pass
Asirgarh Pass (Madhya Pradesh)
Asirgarh Pass is located in the Satpura Range in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India at an elevation of about 260 m. The Asirgarh Pass connects the Narmada and Tapti Valleys and is also known as the ‘Key to the Deccan’ for being among the most important routes from northern India to the Deccan. Asirgarh Fort overlooks the mountain pass and during the Mughal era, Hindustan would be the land from Delhi to Asirgarh and the land beyond would be the Deccan.
Fig: Asirgarh Fort overlooking Asirgarh Pass
Palakkad Gap (Tamil Nadu-Kerala)
The Palakkad Gap is located in the Western Ghats between the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, India at an elevation of about 140 m. The mountain pass is located between Nilgiri Hills in the north and Anaimalai Hills towards the south and connects Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu with Palakkad in Kerala. The mountain pass was an important instrument for human migration across India’s southern tip throughout settled history.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.
Consider this hypothetical situation: Rajalakshmi, from a remote Karnataka village spots a business opportunity.
She knows that flowers, discarded in the thousands by temples can be handcrafted into incense sticks.
She wants to find a market for the product and hopefully, employ some people to help her. Soon enough though, she discovers that starting a business is a herculean task for a person like her.
There is a laborious process of rules and regulations to go through, bribes to pay on the way and no actual means to transport her product to its market.
After making her first batch of agarbathis and taking it to Bengaluru by bus, she decides the venture is not easy and gives up.
On the flipside of this is a young entrepreneur in Bengaluru. Let’s call him Deepak. He wants to start an internet-based business selling sustainably made agarbathis.
He has no trouble getting investors and to mobilise supply chains. His paperwork is over in a matter of days and his business is set up quickly and ready to grow.
Never mind that the business is built on aggregation of small sellers who will not see half the profit .
Is this scenario really all that hypothetical or emblematic of how we think about entrepreneurship in India?
Between our national obsession with unicorns on one side and glorifying the person running a pakora stall for survival as an example of viable entrepreneurship on the other, is the middle ground in entrepreneurship—a space that should have seen millions of thriving small and medium businesses, but remains so sparsely occupied that you could almost miss it.
If we are to achieve meaningful economic growth in our country, we need to incorporate, in our national conversation on entrepreneurship, ways of addressing the missing middle.
Spread out across India’s small towns and cities, this is a class of entrepreneurs that have been hit by a triple wave over the last five years, buffeted first by the inadvertent fallout of demonetization, being unprepared for GST, and then by the endless pain of the covid-19 pandemic.
As we finally appear to be reaching some level of normality, now is the opportune time to identify the kind of industries that make up this layer, the opportunities they should be afforded, and the best ways to scale up their functioning in the shortest time frame.
But, why pay so much attention to these industries when we should be celebrating, as we do, our booming startup space?
It is indeed true that India has the third largest number of unicorns in the world now, adding 42 in 2021 alone. Braving all the disruptions of the pandemic, it was a year in which Indian startups raised $24.1 billion in equity investments, according to a NASSCOM-Zinnov report last year.
However, this is a story of lopsided growth.
The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, and Mumbai together claim three-fourths of these startup deals while emerging hubs like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Jaipur account for the rest.
This leap in the startup space has created 6.6 lakh direct jobs and a few million indirect jobs. Is that good enough for a country that sends 12 million fresh graduates to its workforce every year?
It doesn’t even make a dent on arguably our biggest unemployment in recent history—in April 2020 when the country shutdown to battle covid-19.
Technology-intensive start-ups are constrained in their ability to create jobs—and hybrid work models and artificial intelligence (AI) have further accelerated unemployment.
What we need to focus on, therefore, is the labour-intensive micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME). Here, we begin to get to a definitional notion of what we called the mundane middle and the problems it currently faces.
India has an estimated 63 million enterprises. But, out of 100 companies, 95 are micro enterprises—employing less than five people, four are small to medium and barely one is large.
The questions to ask are: why are Indian MSMEs failing to grow from micro to small and medium and then be spurred on to make the leap into large companies?
At the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), we have advocated for a National Mission for Mass Entrepreneurship, the need for which is more pronounced now than ever before.
Whenever India has worked to achieve a significant economic milestone in a limited span of time, it has worked best in mission mode. Think of the Green Revolution or Operation Flood.
From across various states, there are enough examples of approaches that work to catalyse mass entrepreneurship.
The introduction of entrepreneurship mindset curriculum (EMC) in schools through alliance mode of working by a number of agencies has shown significant improvement in academic and life outcomes.
Through creative teaching methods, students are encouraged to inculcate 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and leadership which are not only foundational for entrepreneurship but essential to thrive in our complex world.
Udhyam Learning Foundation has been involved with the Government of Delhi since 2018 to help young people across over 1,000 schools to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
One pilot programme introduced the concept of ‘seed money’ and saw 41 students turn their ideas into profit-making ventures. Other programmes teach qualities like grit and resourcefulness.
If you think these are isolated examples, consider some larger data trends.
The Observer Research Foundation and The World Economic Forum released the Young India and Work: A Survey of Youth Aspirations in 2018.
When asked which type of work arrangement they prefer, 49% of the youth surveyed said they prefer a job in the public sector.
However, 38% selected self-employment as an entrepreneur as their ideal type of job. The spirit of entrepreneurship is latent and waiting to be unleashed.
The same can be said for building networks of successful women entrepreneurs—so crucial when the participation of women in the Indian economy has declined to an abysmal 20%.
The majority of India’s 63 million firms are informal —fewer than 20% are registered for GST.
Research shows that companies that start out as formal enterprises become two-three times more productive than a similar informal business.
So why do firms prefer to be informal? In most cases, it’s because of the sheer cost and difficulty of complying with the different regulations.
We have academia and non-profits working as ecosystem enablers providing insights and evidence-based models for growth. We have large private corporations and philanthropic and funding agencies ready to invest.
It should be in the scope of a National Mass Entrepreneurship Mission to bring all of them together to work in mission mode so that the gap between thought leadership and action can finally be bridged.