India-Tibet barter trade awaits nod from China

With just a month to go, clouds of uncertainty are looming on the annual India-Tibet barter trade at Taklakot mart in the Himalayan region.

Last year, the trade could not take place, for the first time since 1992, due to protests in Tibet in the wake of Beijing Olympics.

And this year, China has not given permission so far heightening the suspense over the resumption of the trade from Taklakot mart in Tibet. This is despite a series of letters being sent by the external affairs ministry to Beijing in this regard. “There is no reply from Beijing. This could be due to recession and simmering protests in Tibet,” said an official here.

The trade is scheduled to begin in the first week of June.

The other main issue is the landslides at a big stretch of a track in the border district of Pithoragarh leading to Taklakot.

Due to poor infrastructure facilities, traders trek 60 km from Pithoragarh crossing inhospitable terrains to reach Taklakot, the trade mart in Tibet where the two sides indulge in barter trade.

The volume of the barter trade, which did a business of Rs 1.5 crore two years ago, is seeing a steady decline. Indian traders have called for resuming trade this season as well as revoking a ban on the import of some trade items like Chinese raw silk and livestock, which are in good demand in India.

The demand for the Chinese silk has been growing in India but the Centre thinks its import would affect the local trade. The import of livestock has been banned since no quarantine facility is available at Gunji, the Indian market at Pithoragarh.

Through the barter trade with their Chinese and Tibetan counterparts, Indian traders exchange goods like jaggery, wool, spices and blankets.

The Indo-Tibet barter trade, which was resumed in 1992 after a gap of 30 years following the 1962 war, reached the Rs 14-crore mark in the year 2004.

But after the ban on certain items like livestock and Chinese silk, the volume of trade is gradually falling.