Tibetian Migration to India and Its Result

Introduction:

In 1949 the Chinese Red Army invaded Tibet, they occupied Tibet and claimed that it is a part of China in 1950. Since then more than 1,30,000 Tibetans have travelled through the Himalayas and crossed Nepal to come to our country India. There are several reasons behind their decision to leave homeland and settle in India. One strong force of motivation can be the Tibetan spiritual leader, his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. He fled to India in 1959 after a revolt which was brutally suppressed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Lhasa which is the capital of Tibet.

From 1959 to 1960 more than 80,000 Tibetans followed Dalai Lama and came to India through the Himalayas. Tibet has a very tense relationship with China, it officially became an autonomous province under Chinese sovereignty after signing 17 points agreement which stated that the political system in Tibet will not be changed and the Dalai Lama would keep his traditional role but Tibet would return to the family and its motherland China. Around a century ago, Tibet was in alliance with Great Britain, Britishers ruled India also at that time. In exchange for protection against the Chinese, Tibet served as a buffer state between Britain’s Indian colonies and China. But when the British rule in India ended in 1947, China started developing its interests on Tibet. Communist leader Mao Zedong, leader of the People’s Republic of China, claimed that Tibet has always been a part of China and occupied Tibet in 1950 and China has ruled Tibet as a colony ever since.

Mao Zedong began to shape Tibetan culture with his interpretation of Marxism. Almost the entire Tibetan army, activists, monks, and students were arrested and about 111,000 monks, and nuns were killed during torture. Many Tibetan monasteries and temples were destroyed by the Chinese Red Army. After Mao Zedong died in 1975, Tibet became open to the outside world. China wanted to liberate Tibet from its economic backwardness of feudal and religious traditions and according to its communist ideology it considered religion as an evil which was hindering the country’s development and as we all know that Tibetan society has its core in Tibetan Buddhism. So, PLA invaded Lhasa in 1959 in which more than 90,000 Tibetans were killed and many fled to neighbouring countries like India.

After reading about these issues one question comes to my mind i.e. What does the future hold for Tibet and Tibetans? The 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-exile also called the Central Tibetan Administration currently reside in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. The oppression of religion by the Chinese rule in Tibet is another important factor behind the Tibetan migration. India today is supporting nearly half a million asylum seekers from Tibet, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. The Tibetan migration is very unique because no other people in history have such a well-functioning government-in-exile.

My purpose through this study is to examine the Tibetan migration process, and migration patterns and I will focus on why people migrate. I also intend to study various motivational factors behind different forms of migration. I will also study the movements of people from the country of origin i.e. Tibet to the destination i.e. India and the country of transit i.e. Nepal and I would also like to know what the consequences of the Tibetan migration to India and how the Tibetan exile community in India functions.

Research Question and Objective:

What is the historical background of the migration? Which groups of Tibetan society have migrated and are migrating? Why are they migrating? What routes are they taking? Is the journey physically or mentally straining? Through my study, I would like to know whether there are any migration patterns to be observed in the Tibetan migration? What are the consequences of living in India?

I would also like to find out what goals the government-in-exile has for the future, and what attitudes the Indian government has towards the Tibetan migration. I will mainly focus on Why migration occurs. I will focus on Tibet throughout my work. I will talk about ethnographic Tibet and political Tibet.

Ethnographic Tibet comprises of three provinces: U-Tsang with capital Lhasa, Amdo and Kham. Ethnic Tibetans mainly lived in the provinces of Amdo and Kham. This province is outside the direct political control of the Tibetan governments in the Lhasa and U-Tsang provinces.

In the year 1965, this area was renamed Tibet Autonomous Region. Today, 46 % of the ethnic Tibetans live in TAR and 54 % live in former Amdo and Kham. Through this study, I will refer to the ethnographic Tibet.

Literature Review:

For theories regarding migration, I will use the ideas of scholars like – Brown, Jones and Knox in migration theory. To give additional views on migration today, I have also chosen to include (forced) migration in contemporary Southern Africa to a certain extent. I believe this will be beneficial for my case study since the African continent holds more than 45 % of the world’s refugees and 35 % of the world's displaced people.

BBC has really helped me with documentaries and news articles. Tibet Information Network is an independent, news and research service specialising in Tibet which provides accurate news and information to journalists, human rights groups, NGOs and international organisations as well as academics with reliable first-hand testimony from Tibetans. TIN also helped me a lot in this study.

The work of Tiljander Dahlström Asa and her Book- “No Peace of Mind: The Tibetan Diaspora in India” have also been of great use to me her fieldwork in India has provided me with highly important information regarding Tibetan migration.

Migration:

According to Jones and Knox and Marston, Migration is a long-distance move to a new location that includes a change of residence and political jurisdiction. Permanent or long-lasting change in residents is necessary for a movement to be called migration. The change can be both temporary and permanent and it can be moved from one settlement or neighbourhood to another.

Migration contains notions like Immigration (in-migration) i.e. movement from a certain location and Emigration (out-migration) i.e. movement to another location. Migration can be either voluntary or forced. Voluntary migration includes a conscious choice to move whereas Forced migration takes place against the will of an individual or group.

There are also things like International migration i.e. movement from one country to another and Internal migration i.e. movement within a country or a region. Examples of International Voluntary migration are- Europeans moving to the United States of America, labours moving to Japan, Hong Kong etc. from the Philippines. Examples of International Forced migration are- African Slave Trade, and removing Jews from Germany during World War II. Examples of Internal Voluntary migration are- Rural to urban migration which is based on economic changes in a country, whereas examples of Internal Forced migration are the movement of people due to racial/ethnic conflicts, civil wars, famine etc.

Migration matters because it plays a very vital role in the internal demographic changes all around the globe. The reasons or motivation behind taking the decision to migrate depends on if we are looking at forced or voluntary migration. The factors which lead to migration are very complex and it contains both Push factors and Pulls factors.

Push Factors are a set of conditions that drive people to leave a place and move somewhere else. There are more chances that push factors can lead to forced migrations than pull factors. Factors like- war, state oppression, famine, terrorism, fatal ecological decay (floods), internal revolutions (French, Russian) etc. falls under Push Factors of migration. Whereas Pull Factors are the conditions that attract people to move to a certain region. This factor can include wishing to stay closer to relatives, better wages or work opportunities.

Diaspora:

Just after the Dalai Lama had fled to India in 1959, around 100,000 Tibetans followed in him and migrated to India. Dalai Lama planned to make a fresh start for Tibetan society in India, as he experienced a much greater autonomy in India than in his native country.

Tibetan settlements were decided entirely by the central government and state government of India. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru advised Dalai Lama to move from Mussoorie to Dharamshala. McLeod Gunj was offered to Dalai Lama and his administration.

During the Indo-China war in 1962, the number of Tibetan migrants became almost zero but after the death of Mao Zedong in 1975, the Tibet-Nepal border opened and another wave of migrations to India was seen. According to CTA, more than 130,000 Tibetans live their lives as an exile in India. Dahlstrom believes that the number of Tibetans is much higher due to lots of illegal immigrants.

Dharamshala is named as a temporary capital of the “Tibetan World” because it has a Tibetan government in exile and religious properties which makes it a centre of power. According to Tiljander Dahlstorm- Tibetans leaving for India also suffer from the change in climate and the journey is very harsh and risky for them. A Tibetan migrant says: “When I came to India it was very difficult to adjust to the climate and he got many wounds, allergies and pimples.

Transit Zone:

The Chinese government cannot possibly guard every mountain pass and keep frontier stations manned with troops. The migrants travel by foot for the journey and they form groups of 5 to 20 people or relatives. They leave for India during the winter season and almost all of the migrants travel through Nepal, few go through Burma or straight to Northeastern Indian states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The trip has a risk of several fatal diseases and accidents like snow blindness, hypothermia, frostbites, falling due to heavy rains and slippery snow. The most common route used by migrants is the Nangpa-La pass.

Nepal acts as an area of transit and the goal of migrants is to reach Kathmandu where the Tibetan Refugee Transit Centre exists. They are often abused, molested, robbed, and raped by the Nepal Police on their way to Kathmandu. After reaching TRTC they are registered and interviewed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Reaching India and Settling Process:

All the new migrants reach Dharamshala which is located in Himachal Pradesh where the reception centre and the Tibetan government in exile is situated. Reception centres provide shelter, food, healthcare facilities and humanitarian help to the refugees. They also help the government to improve the protection of the people and speed up the asylum process.

At the reception centres the people are registered and interviewed, they are also prepared for long term rehabilitation processes like- children being sent to schools, monks to monasteries. All the migrants are given an IC (Identification Certificate) which plays a vital role in facilitating their travel in or outside India and all the registered Tibetans are considered as refugees by the government of India.

Dalai Lama meets with all the new migrants and after it the settling process begins. The locations of Tibetan settlements are decided by the Indian government entirely as mentioned above. There are 54 Tibetan settlements in India located in the states like- Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In the 1950s Tibetans also came to settle in Assam but they left Assam due to hard living conditions.

People come to India from Tibet due to various reasons like a pilgrimage, to meet Dalai Lama, to bring their children to receive Tibetan education in India, in order to find work, freedom of religion, speech and education. Tibetans have also found several work opportunities in India, they engage in agriculture, sweater business, handicrafts, tourism, military services, repair shops, Tibetan government jobs etc. nearly 30 % of the total working population is dependent on agriculture. The sweater business employs one-third of the Tibetan population in India and it is the largest industry for Tibetan people.

Results:

The several consequences of Tibetan migration in India are as follows:

1) Xenophobia – This is the fear or hatred for foreigners, it is the most common phenomenon in forced international migration. Xenophobia can also be seen in India in the context of Tibetans. This occurs due to a lack of education and awareness among the common people about refugee issues. People suffering from this phobia look at foreigners as a threat to their job opportunities, education, food and other resources which are provided by the government or nature. People are also confused between refugees and illegal migrants.

The Indian government also doesn’t want any more Tibetans to come to India because it also has limited resources and it is also affecting the bilateral relations between India and China because it has provided shelter to Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile.

2) Internal Conflicts – There are lots of tensions inside the Tibetan community and also between them and Indians. In the 1990s there was physical violence reported in Dharamshala where a Tibetan boy stabbed an Indian boy in the leg. There is also a local resentment against rich Tibetans.

There are also divisions inside the Tibetan society- those who arrived in India during 1959 consider themselves more civilized and they look to the newcomers as a burden to the exile communities. The newcomers are less educated, they steal, and fight and so they need greater care. The newcomers are also considered as “backwards.”

The old people consider the newcomers as communists and the newcomers considered old people as cowards because they left them into miserable conditions without fighting with the Chinese. So there are internal splits which lead to conflicts.

3) Cultural Changes – Many scholars have opinions that the Tibetans are used to the Indian society, language, customs, culture, and laws and they are well assimilated. In their struggle for living, they have negotiated with the culture of India and Bollywood has also influenced the new generations. Tibetan youths are drawn to western traditions more than the adults.

4) Going back to Tibet - Returning to Tibet involves many difficulties. Tibetan migrants encounter problems in Nepal also when transiting to back to Tibet. They suffer a lot in finding new jobs, land rights to farm etc.

The aim of the government in exile is to preserve the culture of Tibetans and it has an ultimate goal of returning to a free Tibet. The consequences of the exile community in India are several because India is a country with limited resources and also there is a risk of internal conflict between Indians and Tibetans.

More than 3,000 Tibetans arrive to India annually, what I believe is that there are more push factors than pull factors in the Tibetan migration process. They die in the Himalayas and suffer a lot before reaching India and hence, their journey is both physically and mentally straining.

References:

1. Tiljander Dahlström, Åsa (2001): No Peace of Mind – The Tibetan Diaspora in India. Uppsala University, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology.
2. CTA – Central Tibetan Administration (1994a): Tibetan Refugee Community – Integrated Development Plan 11, 1995–2000, chapter 1.
3. TIN – Tibet Information Network (2001): News review, reports from Tibet 2000, no 29/2001, London.
4. TCHRD – Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (1997): The next generation – The state of education in Tibet today. Dharamshala.
5. UNHCR – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UN archives.
6. Anand, Dibyesh (2002): A guide to little Lhasa in India: The role of symbolic geography of Dharamshala in constituting Tibetan Diasporic Identity, in Klieger, P. C. (ed.).
7. BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation documentaries.