Waiting to go home

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The nowhere people



VOL. IX ISSUE XI NOVEMBER 2002





Waiting to go home





by Sudarshan Chhotoray



Other articles in this issue



The insiders outside

Arindam K Sen



The nowhere people

Hindu Singh Sodha



Strangers in their own home

Kusum Lata



Homeless at home

Belu Razdan



The other side of kindness

Sudarshan Chhotoray



Rajasthani pastoralists on the run

Purnendu S Kavoori



Aftershock

Rukmini Datta



“They”, The Other

Dilip D'Souza



Overview



Refractive Index



Human Index



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Over 93,000 Tibetans, who fled their country due to the Chinese invasion, are presently settled in India. They are making ends meet, but they long for the day when they will be able to return home



Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale



– William Shakespeare, King John.



As for the people in exile, rightly referred to as the people of erstwhile Tibetan Kingdom, they have two different stories to tell now: Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1959 and their life in India since then. They travelled to India and sought refuge here. In the aftermath of the Chinese occupation, the temporal and spiritual head of Tibet, His Holiness, the 14th Dalailama was forced to leave his homeland and take asylum in India. 85,000 Tibetans followed him out of their country to India, Nepal and Bhutan.



The government of India arranged for their temporary stay in transit camps and road side camps in the Himalayas, and slowly absorbed them in batches in agricultural settlements in different states of India. The settlements are meant to provide secure food, shelter, medical care, education and means of livelihood to enable them to develop into economically self-supporting communities, while keeping their culture intact during their period of exile.



For those who came the preservation of Tibetan religion and culture is an important reason for coming to India as it would not have been possible under Chinese communist occupation. Had there been no separate settlements, Tibetan refugees would have disappeared in the sea of India’s masses, and it would have been the end of Tibetan culture and religion.



A large number of Buddhist monasteries help preserve the Tibetan culture. Cultural groups such as Lingadro, Opera and Gyashay too help maintain the traditional Tibetan culture. According to Chacko, co-ordinator of PREM, a local non-government organisation, besides celebrating the Indian independence and republic days, they celebrate Tibetan new year, Tibetan national uprising day, birth anniversary of His Holiness Dalailama and Tibetan democracy day.



The hope of making it back to their homeland is, however, shrinking. According to the Home department of the government of India, at present there are about 93,100 Tibetan refugees in India. Out of them, at least 68,639 refugees have got resettled under agriculture, handicraft and self-employment schemes with government assistance. However, without the determination and willingness of the settlers themselves, no amount of external aids would have made lasting impacts.



Says Thoten, secretary of Chandragiri Tibetan Refugees’ Settlement, situated 280 kilometres from Bhubaneswar, in Gajapati district of South Orissa, “Chandragiri and its surroundings were once a dense forest area and no human beings dared venture out even in the daytime for fear of wild animals. Today it has become a “maize bowl” and a centre of attraction for Tibetan handmade artefacts, Tibetan dogs, ‘Apso’ and Buddhist monasteries. With a population of more than 3,800 people in 600 households (divided into five camps) spread over 1,000 hectares, it is accessible and has a good communication network. This settlement is called “Phuntsokling”, which literary means “abode of plenty and happiness”. It was set up in 1963 by the government of India in collaboration with the government of Orissa to resettle 2,479 Tibetan refugees, who had come into India immediately after the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The Chandragiri settlement was established in two phases. In mid-1963, 585 people arrived from road camps of Chamba, Dalhousie and Bomdila, and those who came between 1964 to 1967 were rehabilitated in the second phase.



The story of Chandragiri has changed over time. Kucha houses made of mud-plastered bamboo walls with sheet roofing were ready only for those who came in the first phase. Land had to be cleared for agriculture and housing. Assisted by the state government, AECTR, Swiss Technical Co-operation and with settler-labour, land clearing and reclamation work was started in 1963.



This was the most difficult period for the settlers. Coming from an entirely different climatic and cultural context, adapting to the tropical climate was difficult and it took a toll on mental and physical energies. All of them were poor and penniless. They were supported with rations for the first two years and were later expected to support themselves through farming. Unfamiliar with tropical farming which was entirely different from traditional methods practised in Tibet, the settlers could not produce enough even to feed themselves. With increasing population, the cultivable land leased out by the government is inadequate to produce sufficient food for all families. Many families have been forced to get into seasonal petty business on pavements of Indian cities and towns. Many of them sell woollen garments in winter. Some women earn a small daily income by weaving traditional Tibetan hand-knotted woollen carpets.



Assistance was sought from the Swiss Technical Co-operation. It bought a fleet of tractors, conducted workshops and taught modern farming methods, introducing maize cultivation. It helped clear fields of tree stumps and contour bound them, constructed a series of check-dams to conserve run-off water, a large grain storage facility was built in each of the five camps, a carpet weaving centre was set up. By the end of 1968, land-clearing work, reclamation, house-construction, well-digging, constructing check dams and so on had been completed. The settlers were paid in rations.



The houses built with mud-plastered bamboo and tiles are congested. Many inhabitants suffer from tuberculosis, and acute respiratory tract infections, according to local practitioner Dr M Panda. The families do not have proper drinking water facilities. They draw water from open wells and hand-made pumps. Health services are provided by a small centre managed by an allopathic doctor, supported by a Tibetan doctor who administers Tibetan herbal medicines. The local primary health centre too provides health services to the Tibetans.



“Tibetans in Orissa have never looked back, following the local support and communal amity established through a long and sustained relationship with local tribal and backward people, who constitute 90 per cent of the local population,” says Surya N Patra, Orissa’s energy and environment minister who represents this constituency in the state assembly.



Recently, the Danish government has encouraged Tibetan farmers to take up vegetable cultivation. It has aided a three-year agriculture development project with the aim of developing a diversified livelihood system in the settlement and to arrest the exodus of people to cities. The Tibetans have in fact generated some wage employment for the local tribal population as well. Barring a few minor incidents, there have never been any communal clashes.



In India, the Tibetan community is a nation in exile, looking forward to the day of liberation of their country from China. All activities are ultimately geared towards preparing themselves to move into Tibet as a free community.



Sudarshan Chhotoray is a freelance journalist based in Bhubaneswar, Orissa.



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Tibetans protest against the atrocities committed by China







Protest rally: Tibetan refugees live together and preserve their culture, but long to go home





The Tibetans have in fact generated some wage employment for the local tribal population as well. Barring a few minor incidents, there have never been any communal clashes.