Challenges to Tibetan Diasporic Institutions in India

Abstract

The article starts with highlighting the peculiarity of Tibetan diaspora seeking not only personal safety but also the protection and preservation of their culture and religion when they sought refuge in South Asia in 1959. It then discusses how the Tibetan diaspora from South Asia disperse to distant countries and the variance of their interactions with political and social institutions under Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in India. The major focus of the article is to highlight the various societal and institutional challenges of the Tibetan diasporic community. It focuses on five major challenges such as confusion over goals of Tibetan freedom movement, the generation gap among three generations of Tibetan diasporas, unemployment among the Tibetan youth, the controversy over acquiring Indian citizenship and gender discrimination. It also discusses why and how Tibetan diasporas confronted with challenges of declining host countries’ support. It ends with highlighting the kinds of reforms that need to be carried out in the diasporic institutions and the community to take the Tibetan freedom movement forward and to facilitate the possibility of CTA and diasporic community holding their own in the changed international context of rising China.