Resuscitating the Tibetan Settlements
Dharamsala, 5 February 2005: “Hope for the best but plan for the worst” is the rallying
cry as the Kashag grapples with the task of making the Tibetan settlements more functional and viable with the view
of retaining the young educated workforce in the settlement.
Integrated Development Plan-III (IDP-III) was formulated as the tool of choice in the war against the sweeping
changes in the socio-economic and demographic setting of the exile Tibetan populace.
The mission is to “To sustain the Tibetan settlements and communities in exile while preserving the unique cultural
identity through institutionalising planning processes”.
The broad strategies laid out in the IDP-III were reinforced with concrete and practical guidelines for its
execution at the grassroots level.
Along with the respective departments and settlements, a series of projects and programmes were formulated in the
key areas identified for development activities.
workshop |
One main strategy was to impart skills of integrated development planning to the decision-makers in the settlements
and work out separate development plans for each settlement.
Last month, the Planning Commission held the first of a series of workshops in Bylakuppe.
In a six-day workshop, 24 participants from central and southern India, also comprising regional staff of the
departments of Home, Education and Health, were imparted theoretical and practical aspects of integrated development
planning and tools of project management tools.
Special talks were also organised for the group and camp leaders of Lugsung and Dickey Larsoe settlements in
Bylakuppe, in which the Chief Planning Officer, Dr. Kunchok Tsundue, made a detailed presentation of IDP-III and its
programmes.