India's first Night Sky Sanctuary to be set up in Ladakh to boost Astro tourism in India

Ladakh, Sep 05: In a unique and first-of-its-kind initiative, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has undertaken to set up India's first-ever Night Sky Sanctuary in Ladakh. It will be completed within the next three months.

The proposed Dark Sky Reserve will be located at Hanle in Ladakh as a part of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary. It will boost Astro tourism in India and will be one of the world's highest-located sites for optical, infrared, and gamma-ray telescopes.

Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that a tripartite MoU was signed recently among the the UT administration, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council LAHDC Leh and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, IIA, for launching the Dark Space Reserve. He said, the site will have activities to help in boosting local tourism and the economy through interventions of Science and Technology.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said, a high-level delegation of scientists and officials from Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai will visit Ladakh by the end of this year to explore the possibility of setting up a regional branch of CLRI. Ladakh has a very rich and wide variety of animals for leather research and industry and to promote the bio-economy of animal skin-derived products. He also complimented CSIR for organising 4 training workshops, two each at Leh and Kargil for the treatment of diseases of famous Pashmina Goats.

Ladakh Administration has taken a decision to start the commercial plantation of Leh Berry. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR is promoting Leh Berry which is an exclusive food product of the cold desert and also a means of wide-ranging entrepreneurship as well as self-livelihood.