This Indian Village Celebrates Darkness, Is Home To 'Dark Sky Reserve'

NDTV's Science Editor Pallava Bagla had a rare visit to the country's only 'Dark Sky Reserve' tucked away in a remote part of Ladakh.

At a remote village on the Indo-China border, here 'black is beautiful' and darkness is celebrated! Even as India celebrates the festival of lights Diwali with gusto, there is surprise-surprise a place high in the Himalayas where night lights are hated. NDTV's Science Editor Pallava Bagla had a rare visit to the country's only 'Dark Sky Reserve' tucked away in a remote part of Ladakh. Here the local villagers who also act as astro-ambassadors show the beauty of the stars to tourists using modern telescopes and hence abhor light pollution.

"This Dark Sky Reserve fascinates the stargazers," asserts Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office and India's Science Minister who adds, that Ladakh is "India's youngest Union Territory, but it is also India's oldest civilization."

He is requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the unique project and see the huge Himalayan Chandra Telescope situated atop Mount Saraswati at 4,500 meters altitude which is a unique Himalayan sangam of many science institutions.