Home of Care and Love for Elderly Tibetans
Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 11:30 a.m.
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Dharamshala: Unlike the global
trend of old aged people bearing the brunt of nuclear or extended
family or the lack of proper pension scheme – elderly Tibetans in the
exile community are putting up quite well – thanks to a robust family
value system.
The home department of the Central Tibetan Administration is
looking after some 819 people of above 60 years old, presently lodged
in 14 old people’s homes across India and Nepal.
Due to a strong sense of filial duty and affection in the
Tibetan community, cases of old parents being abandoned by their
families are virtually non-existent.
But those needy ones – who are either single or too poor to
look after themselves, let alone look after their young ones – are
provided help with a monthly allowance.
According to the department’s welfare section, under its
sponsorship programme, the department at present provides monthly
allowance to nearly 2,905 elderly destitute of above 60 years of age.
The monthly allowance ranges from Rs. 500 to Rs 700.
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With special love and honour to elderly people, His Holiness the
Dalai Lama bestows monthly gratuities of Rs 150 and 500 to those
Tibetans above the age of 85 and 100 respectively. There are currently
723 people above the age of 85 and 5 above aged 100.
Last year, the department has completed a new building for
elderly people at Chauntra Tibetan settlement in north India, with
funding from the London-based Help Tibet. The new home became
operational in October last year and currently accommodates 20 elderly
people from the region of Kullu and Manali.
With funding from Ottawa Friends of Tibet, the department is
also expected to begin its construction of a new elderly home in
Kalimpong in West Bengal, under the supervision of local Tibetan
Welfare Office. The three-storey building will accommodate about 50
elderly people.
In his statement during the Parliament session on Monday, Kalon
Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche, who is also the kalon for home department,
said that in order to streamline proper administration of old people’s
homes, the department has enacted and promulgated a common regulation
from 19 September 2007.
In addition to the 14 elderly people’s homes run by the
Department, about six similar homes run by non-governmental
organisations in India and Nepal are accommodating some 350 people.
Various NGOs also provide monthly allowance to a significant number of elderly destitute in both India and Nepal
