Tibetan Refugees in India

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It is a well-known fact that the problem of Tibetan refugees is a living problem and it is bound to remain so for many years to come. In fact it is very much true that despite constant protests made by Communist China on the issue of Tibetan refugees, the Government of India remains in a state of readiness to tackle the problem on a scale and in a manner which the magnitude and intensity of the problem demand. The grant of asylum to political and religious refugees has been the tradition of every civilized community.

Repatriation is not the ultimate, real solution of the problem of Tibetan refugees. On the contrary, the immediate problems and important questions of these refugees are the three basic needs of livelihood, food, clothing and shelter. Besides this, medical aid, education, employment, settlement and finally absorption come to the forefront. These questions are not temporary or time being concerns at least in the case of Tibetan refugees. So, one has to foresee the long-term time solutions in terms of future generation of Tibetan refugees.

This is how the situation of Tibetan refugees in India provoked the author to undertake this study which makes an attempt to find out the action/reaction of the local people vis-a-vis Tibetans in and around the settlement camps.

Rajesh S Kharat is Reader in Politics at Department of Civics & Politics, University of Mumbai. He obtained his M. Phil, and Ph. D. degrees from the South Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi. He has authored a book Bhutan in SAARC: Role of Small State in Regional Alliance (New Delhi) which is also published in the American edition by International Academic Publishers Ltd., University Boulevard, Denver, Colorado, USA. He has also contributed several articles on South Asian contemporary issues particularly on refugees, in national and international journals and edited volumes. Member of Editorial Advisory Board for Journal of Peace and Democracy in South Asia, (Stockholm University, Sweden) Dr. Kharat presented more than 20 research papers in national and international seminars and conferences in India and abroad. He has also visited countries of Bhutan, Denmark, France, Nepal, Norway, Sweden and England and Scotland in the United Kingdom for the academic purposes.

It is a well known fact that the problem of Tibetan refugees is a living problem and it is bound to remain so for many years to come. In fact it is very much true that despite constant protests made by Communist China on the issue of Tibetan refugees, the Government of India remains in a state of readiness to tackle the problem on a scale and in a manner which the magnitude and intensity of the problem demand. The grant of asylum to political and religious refugees has been the tradition of every civilized community and it will be a humiliating degeneration of our political practice if these unfortunate, helpless and destitute victims were denied the privilege of being sheltered under the roof of India.