(TibetanReview.net, Jul25, 2017) – The Tibetan ‘settlement’ at Dharamshala, India, is to mark the Golden Jubilee of its establishment on Oct 4 with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, attending the event. The decision to hold the event was decided upon at a meeting of around 40 organizations and associations in and around Dharamshala held in April this year, said the Dharamshala Tibetan Settlement Officer Mr Dawa Rinchen.
A 10-member organizing committee has been constituted for the purpose, made up of representatives from the local Tibetan schools, Tibetan NGOs, the Dharamshala Local Tibetan Assembly, the Settlement office and the Tibetan Freedom Movement Organization.
The Dalai Lama had moved from Mussoorie in Uttar Pradesh state – where he was initially accommodated by the Government of India – to Dharamshala on Apr 29, 1960. And with him came the Tibetan administration in exile.
A vibrant exile Tibetan community then came to be formed and the Golden Jubilee is being held to mark the establishment of the Tibetan Settlement Office in 1967.
The hill town is currently estimated to have around 15,000 Tibetans, including the children in residential schools.