Every Saturday, as a part of its shoutout campaign, DIIR’s Social Media Desk will be profiling a civil servant of the Central Tibetan Administration. This week we are pleased to profile Mr Tenzin Weosyal, Tibetan Settlement Officer at Sonada Tashiling Settlement.
Social Media Executive (SME): Could you tell me briefly about yourself?
Tenzin Weosyal : My name is Tenzin Weosyal, and I am currently the Tibetan Settlement Officer at Sonada Tashiling Tibetan Settlement. I was born and raised in Darjeeling until 5th standard, after which I did my middle schooling at Tibetan Children’s Village, Lower Dharamsala. Thereafter, I was selected into the TCV Selakui’s first batch of high school students for my pursuit of +1 and +2 in science, where my focus subjects were Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and Computer Programming. For my undergraduate degree, I pursued Physics as my core subject from the superstar Amitabh Bachan’s alma mater, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University.
I was selected into the Central Tibetan Administration and was appointed to the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, New Delhi, on 21st September 2018. During my four and a half years’ service at the Bureau, I was able to serve as an official at the Identity Certificate (name now amended to Certificate of Identity) Section, the interim Dept. of Home & PAP desk and the interim Media Coordinator. We were able to secure and deliver thousands of Identity Certificates to our Tibetan brothers and sisters during our tenure at the IC department, whereas while I was handling the Dept. of Home & PAP desk, I was able to secure PAP for more than eight thousand foreigners, primarily during the 600th Anniversary of Je-Tsongkhapa’s Parinirvana.
On the 29th November 2021, I was offered the responsibility of Secretary/Accountant at the Tibetan Settlement Office, Herbertpur, in which I assisted the Settlement Officer in overseeing different projects and securing many others towards the welfare of the Tibetans under the jurisdiction of Tibetan Settlement Office, Herbertpur. Ten months into my service at the Tibetan Settlement Office, Herbertpur, I got promoted and was recently offered to serve the Sonada Tashiling Tibetan Settlement as its Settlement Officer on 10th October 2021.
At 29 years of age, I am currently the youngest Tibetan Settlement Officer in India, as confirmed by the Public Service Commission, CTA.
Social Media Executive (SME): Please explain your job description and how best your work represents you or vice versa?
Tenzin Weosyal : As the Tibetan Settlement Officer of Sonada Tashiling Tibetan Settlement, I am responsible for the welfare of Tibetans under our jurisdiction. My other responsibilities are to act as the liaison between the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people here, to prepare and execute developmental projects, to manage finances and various other programmes, to raise funds for projects and so forth.
One of my primary goals as a Tibetan Settlement Officer is to establish a sense of nationalism within the Tibetan diaspora since the hope for returning to a genuinely autonomous Tibet is gradually diminishing, as could be seen through the lifestyle our Tibetan brothers and sisters are choosing to live by here in exile.
Social Media Executive (SME): What inspired you to serve the Central Tibetan Administration?
Tenzin Weosyal : My only reason to serve the Central Tibetan Administration is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The mere fact that His Holiness sacrificed his childhood at the young age of 16 during the troubling times arising from the eastern borders in Tibet itself is a testament to the selfless lifelong service of His Holiness. I take inspiration from it, which drives me to serve the Tibetan community and His Holiness through the Central Tibetan Administration.
Social Media Executive (SME): What does it mean for you to be a CTA civil servant?
Tenzin Weosyal: CTA civil servants, especially the Tibetan Settlement Officers, for me are, as they say, a day’s man and a night’s dog. I say this because an ideal CTA civil servant should possess the utmost humility and display the sincerest of actions. Sometimes, a decision must be made with the highest authority, but a CTA civil servant should always consider the betterment of a community and the Tibetan cause. So yes, it means a great deal to me that I am one of the lucky ones to be able to serve at the CTA.
Social Media Executive (SME): How best do you think you could make a difference to CTA?
Tenzin Weosyal: As I have mentioned before, my primary goal is to awaken the hopes of our Tibetan brothers and sisters to reestablish their belief that the Tibetan cause is not a lost one. The success of my goal would be the increase in the number of Tibetan people willing to contribute to the CTA, both in terms of human and financial resources. Active participation numbers in CTA initiatives would gradually increase, and people’s efforts towards the Tibetan cause would have major progress that is how I can make a difference to CTA, whether big or small, whether achievable in the short term or the long term.
Social Media Executive (SME): Who is your role model, and why?
Tenzin Weosyal: It might be very easy for the readers to now guess who my role model would be. It is obviously His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama, and might I need to list the reasons why?
For one, His Holiness is the epitome of the wonderful capabilities a human being can possess. His achievements give the Tibetan people, and the whole of humankind, hope that the world is heading towards a better place to live in.
His Holiness’ Four Principal Commitments is itself a proof of the Bodhichitta’s nature His Holiness possesses. Having His Holiness as a role model allows me to work towards a better future for Tibet and encourages me to understand that the more I work for others, the happier I am.
Social Media Executive (SME): What is your piece of advice for young Tibetan serving or wishing to serve at CTA?
Tenzin Weosyal: To my fellow youngsters serving or wishing to serve at the CTA, I would like to let them know that they are not wrong in choosing to do so. As His Holiness has mentioned before, the CTA staffs share a spiritual connection with Avolokiteshawara and thus are almost certain to be born into a Tibetan family in the next life.
I believe that now is the time to serve the CTA since our families have already struggled to make a living in exile, it is not the time to amass fortune now. Most of us are well-settled and do not have to worry about our daily bread. The time is ripe to work for the Tibetan community and the CTA in realigning our priorities and set forth upon seeking genuine autonomy in Tibet so that we can hold our heads high when His Holiness steps upon the throne at the Potala palace and blesses us in a free nation which we can call itself our own.