(TibetanReview.net, Apr27’22) – Citing the latest census 2019 from the Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC), India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said in its recently submitted annual report for 2020-21 that the population of Tibetan refugees in India as on Dec 31,2020 was 72,312. It has added that the majority of these refugees had settled themselves, either through self-employment or with Government’s assistance under agricultural and handicrafts’ schemes in different states of the country.
The major concentrations of the Tibetan refugees were in Karnataka-21,353, Himachal Pradesh-14,973, Arunachal Pradesh-4,759, Uttarakhand- 4,828, West Bengal-3,079, and the Union Territory of Ladakh-6,987, the IANS news service Apr 27 cited the report as saying.
The report cited the MHA report as also saying the rehabilitation of Tibetan refugees was almost complete, with only one residuary housing scheme being at various stages of implementation in the State of Uttarakhand.
In order to bring about uniformity with respect to extending various facilities by the Central Government and the state governments to the Tibetan refugees settled in different parts of the country, MHA has issued the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy, 2014.
Also, the Government of India has sanctioned a scheme of providing grant-in-aid of Rs 40 crore to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s CTRC over a period of five years commencing from 2015-16 to 2019-20 to meet the administrative and social welfare activities expenses of 36 Tibetan Settlement offices located in different States of the country and the entire amount of 40 crore has already been released, the Union Home Ministry said.
It was reported earlier this month that the Rs 8 crore per year scheme was extended for another five years in Jun 2020.