So it is very clear that Tibetans in India have lost hope in securing Tibet back. For over 60 years, the Dalai Lama has promised them that they will return to Tibet but people are not believing this anymore. This can be very clearly and obviously seen in the Tibetan schools. In the past, the schools would be full of Tibetan children and the school administrators turned down enrollment applications from children of other nationalities. These days, there are very few Tibetan children and the classrooms are filled with Nepali, Ladakhi and Indian children. The CTA even keeps a few special classes full of Tibetan children to be used as a “show unit” to raise funds. In Dharamsala, the main Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) school now has such low attendance rates that they combine the Tibetan children into a few classes to show off to foreign aid workers and tourists to continue to seek refugee aid for schools. They do not want to show foreigners who give aid that school attendance has dropped dramatically; if these foreigners see there is a reduced need for aid due to smaller classes, it may result in the CTA losing financial aid which they are afraid of. Tibetans are famous for living off free foreign aid by tugging at the heart strings of foreigners, feigning lives as impoverished refugees in order to gain their sympathy. The fact is that things in Tibet have improved dramatically and many Tibetans now prefer to stay in Tibet. They are no longer crossing over into India and joining the Tibetan settlements; in fact, knowing life in Tibet is better, many Tibetans in India have returned to Tibet. The Tibetan government-in-exile do not want people to know this as this does not reflect well on them at all. It means they have not done their job well, because Tibetans are leaving and new ones are not coming anymore.

At the Tibetan government-in-exile (CTA) in Dharamsala, things are not any better. The CTA has been posting flyers asking Tibetans to join and work for them because they have lost many of their staff and very few people want to work in the Tibetan government because they are embarrassed by all the corruption, scandals, failures, in-fighting and general failure to achieve their goal of getting a free or autonomous Tibet back. Many Tibetan government staff have quit and left, and the remaining staff are finding it hard to replace these people.

So Tibetans in India are definitely not doing well. All of the failed prophecies from Nechung, promises from the Dalai Lama and scandals of the Tibetan government-in-exile have made Tibetans lose hope, pushing them to emigrate from India as quickly as possible. Our Tibetan source in Delhi said the media often reports that there are 80,000 to 90,000 Tibetan refugees in India but in reality, the number is much lower. The 24 Tibetan settlements throughout India are quiet these days, especially with many Tibetans selling up and going abroad or returning to Tibet. In Delhi’s Majnu Ka Tilla Tibetan settlement for example, the population is roughly 30% Tibetan with the rest of the people being Indian or Nepali.

Even the older Tibetans, who are the traditional bastions of loyalty to the CTA, are losing confidence in the Tibetan leadership. These days, they are saying that the CTA do not do anything except create problems. Once a year, when the Tibetan Parliament and Cabinet meet in Dharamsala, the older Tibetans have learned to anticipate problems and issues arising from the meetings. There is always one issue or another that crops up at these meetings, that creates problems for the people. So the older Tibetans are saying that the CTA meets once a year to stir up trouble for all the exiled Tibetans. Furthermore, older Tibetans in Majnu Ka Tilla are saying that the CTA has not given them anything; instead, it is Tibetans who have to give to their government, who only take and take. The older generation recognize that everything they have comes from their own efforts with no assistance from their government.