Every Saturday as a part of its shout-out campaign, DIIR’s Social Media Desk will be profiling a civil servant of Central Tibetan Administration. This week we are pleased to profile Karma Choeying, Additional Secretary at Department of Home, Central Tibetan Administration.
Question: Could you briefly tell us about yourself?
Answer: I was born and brought up in Ladakh. I went to Tibetan Children’s Village school in Ladakh and passed class XII from Upper TCV in 1992. I joined Delhi University and graduated in commerce in 1995. After a brief stint at the TCV Suja school as a part-time teacher in early 1996, I joined Central Tibetan Administration in September 1996 as an undersecretary. During last twenty years of service, I had been office secretary at the Tibetan settlement office, Dehradun, Co-operative secretary for Rabgay Ling Tibetan Co-operative Society, Hunsur, Tibetan welfare officer in Kalimpong and Darjeeling, Administration section head, DIIR, General Secretary, Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, New Delhi, Secretary at the office of Tibet, Brussels and now I am posted as Additional Secretary at the Department of Home. In between, I took one-year study leave in 2007 to join the University of San Francisco under the Tibetan Scholarship Program.
Question: Please explain your job description and how best does your work represent you or vice versa?
Answer: Currently, I am in the Department of Home, CTA as one of the Additional Secretaries. I am overlooking the Administrative Section and Agriculture cum Co-operative Section. Having been associated with this Department for nearly half of my service years, I feel pretty much at home being here although I have much to learn about the department and its intricacies. Little experience that I have gathered over the last twenty years of service hopefully is of some service to the department and the CTA at large.
Question: What inspired you to serve the Central Tibetan Administration?
Answer: Being a Tibetan and brought up under the auspices of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, I always wanted to be a part of the CTA and serve the community. Right after my graduation, I jumped at the first opportunity to join it.
Question: What does it mean for you to be a CTA civil servant?
Answer: It is a rare opportunity for an individual to be serving CTA. Spiritually speaking, I guess it is a result of my past Karma to be with the CTA as a civil servant in this life.
Question: What is your piece of advice for young Tibetans serving or wishing to serve at CTA?
Answer: According to my belief, it is rare opportunity to be serving at the CTA. The Karmic factor definitely has a role for one to be in the CTA. Not everyone gets to serve the CTA. Besides, the CTA is the representative face of the Tibetans both inside and outside Tibet. It is the primary duty of every Tibetan to work towards building a sustainable and resilient CTA for the larger interest of Tibetans all over the world. Notwithstanding personally rewarding opportunities available elsewhere these days, it is important for dedicated young talents to join and work for the CTA to usher it into greater heights of excellence and for the larger interest of the Tibetan nation.