The Tibetan Community in Exile

Abstract

FIFTEEN YEARS have now elapsed since the flight of the Dalai Lama from Tibet in March i959. The Tibetan refugees who accompanied him in large numbers into exile in India and its neighbouring states of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim have now lived for half a generation in their new surroundings. Their children have been born and educated without contact with their homeland, depending solely on the memories of the older generation for their knowledge of the Land of Snows. Since the present Chinese rulers of Tibet have virtually sealed the country off from the outside world, only a handful of individuals have in recent years been added to the original group of 8oooo to ioo,ooo refugees. An earlier report in this journal (Vol. XLIII, no. 3, Fall 1970, p. 410) outlined the initial stages of the relief and rehabilitation programmes undertaken on behalf of this refugee community.' It is now possible to give an account of the later stages of these projects undertaken by the governmental and voluntary associations of many countries, and to evaluate their success. No accurate statistics are available on the number of Tibetan refugees. The official estimates made by the Indian government are undependable, and in any case do not include the number of children born since the refugees arrived in India. The situation in the mountain states, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim is even less calculable, since in these countries many refugees have remained in remote mountain regions that are difficult of access. But it is clear that the birth-rate has exceeded the death-rate, especially in the more settled communities. Although small numbers of Tibetans have emigrated to Switzerland, Canada and-in still smaller numbers-to other Western countries, the vast majority remain in the Indian sub-continent. It has been there that the principal efforts of the relief agencies have been concentrated. There, too, the attempt is being made to keep alive the traditions of ancient Tibet, and to maintain, in a free and independent atmosphere