Decades of dwindling: Drop in Tibetan arrivals raise concerns

Only eight people--four youths and four elderly-- have arrived in India from Tibet during the current financial year compared to 42 arrivals witnessed last year, as per details shared by Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) officials.

The current trickle of Tibetan arrivals is in stark contrast to the 1990s and early 2000s when thousands would arrive annually from Tibet.

Due to decline in the number of arrivals, the Tibetan Reception Centre at Khanyara in Dharamshala has significantly reduced activity in recent years. It was built as a transit point for thousands of Tibetans who annually made the clandestine journey from Tibet into Nepal and then to Dharamshala — home to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, since his escape from Tibet.

While young Tibetans typically come to pursue education, elderly arrivals usually stay in Dharamshala.

According to CTA officials, in 2020, only five Tibetans arrived in Dharamshala while ten had arrived in 2021. The numbers did not improve much, with only five arrivals in 2022. The same figure stood around 2,500 to 3,000 around the 1990s or the early 2000s.

CTA cites intensified control inside Tibet as reason

CTA officials said the number of arrivals is nowhere close to what it was a decade or two ago because of the stricter control inside Tibet and pressure on the Nepalese government. The decline in arrivals was majorly seen after a major demonstration in Tibet in 2008.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering said, “The number of arrivals has been decreasing since 2008, when large-scale demonstrations erupted across Tibet, involving people from all walks of life. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of arrivals dropped drastically. While there seems to be a semblance of an increasing number of people coming out, it is a very difficult journey, requiring people to climb over the Himalayas, and you also need to pay guides to help you cross.”

“It still remains very challenging because control within Tibet has intensified. The Chinese government has removed all the guides. Additionally, there is increasing pressure on the Nepalese government. For the first time, in March of last year, an incident occurred when Nepalese police arrived at the reception center with the IDs of three monks who had escaped from Tibet. This is happening for the first time,” he said, adding that we also have to be mindful of when people come out of Tibet to Nepal, to move them to India as soon as possible.

The CTA operates three Reception Centres in Nepal, Delhi, and Dharamshala. New arrivals first enter Nepal, then transit through Delhi, before ultimately arriving in Dharamshala.

Notably, the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) Schools, a non-profit organisation that takes care of the education of Tibetan students, are also seeing a decline in admissions due to decreased influx of people from Tibet to India.

Last year, no new admissions of students from Tibet were reported at TCV Upper Dharamshala and TCV Gopalpur, a stark contrast to the nearly 1,000 Tibetan students who took admission in TCV schools over a decade ago.