Misleading and Pathetic News on the CTA's Website

[Rowntree]

The title of the news read: CTA to Award Rs 21 Crores (210 Million) to Support Tibetan Livelihood Development but in actual fact the money was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by Strengthening Agricultural Research and Development (SARD) with the cooperation from the Tibet Fund. The CTA is JUST a receiver of the funds without much efforts on their side, and they conveniently took all credits for awarding the money that does not earn by themselves. In addition, the CTA also took the opportunity to earn at least 4% interest from the total of Rs 21 Crores (210 Million) from the Tibetan refugees who are poor and required aids as this fund is meant to support the livelihood of the most vulnerable, needy, and unbanked members of the Tibetan community according to them.

The CTA, after 60 years, have not educated or improved the quality of the Tibetan refugees. Their jobs remained as sweater sellers which is the main group eligible for this aid. In other words, the majority Tibetan refugees are relying on the cold months to earn a year's of living in the exile community. Apart from them are those who sell trinkets on pavements in tourist destinations, those who raise horses and mules for traditional caravan services, and those who run taxi services. This is the summary of the career paths available in Dharamsala under the lead of the CTA and its superb 'President' Lobsang Sangay.

Dr Kunchok Tsundue, the Chief Planning Officer of the Central Tibetan Administration, pathetically said the program was rolled out last year by the finance department following a detailed market research, expert consultations and need analysis of Tibetan sweater sellers. We know for the fact that there are only a hundred thousand Tibetan refugees or less in Dharamsala, how difficult is it to do the research that does not require any experts to conduct? In developed countries, a college student could have easily done that field work with accurate analysis. It is such a small task but Tsundue made it sounded like a big deal by highlighting the fact that they had to hire expert consultants to do it. This is nothing but a proof of how the CTA does not manage the public funds appropriately. Perhaps this is one of the methods they use to corrupt money funded by the US and other kind donors.

Bravo, CTA! You have done it again!

CTA to Award Rs 21 Crores (210 Million) to Support Tibetan Livelihood Development

DHARAMSHALA: The Department of Finance, Central Tibetan Administration, organised a press conference today to launch the second Tibetan Refugee Livelihood Support Program (TRLSP). As part of the program, the finance department will provide amounts worth a total of Rs 21 Crores (210 Million) at a minimal 4% interest rate to support livelihood of the most vulnerable, needy, and unbanked members of the Tibetan community.

CTA President Dr Lobsang Sangay, Finance Kalon Karma Yeshi and Chief Planning Officer Dr Kunchok Tsundue addressed the press conference, which was held at the Kashag Secretariat. Others at the press conference include Finance Secretary Trinley Gyatso and Chief Resilience Officer Kaydor Aukartsang.

President Dr Lobsang Sangay spoke about the success of the pilot program, which was provided last year to almost 900 Tibetan sweater sellers of which 42% was women. The amount was repaid 100% by February/March of this year, earning the admiration of USAID, the funding agency.

“The fact that the pilot program was repaid by 100% of the beneficiaries is a reflection of the Tibetan people’s innate respect for morality and honesty, as advised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” he said.

“As promised last year during the launch of the pilot program, we are increasing the amount and expanding the beneficiary groups this year as a result of the success of the pilot program,” he announced.

“The total amount for the program is increased to Rs 21 Crores this year. Moreover, three additional beneficiary groups have been included in the program which include those selling trinkets on pavements in tourist destinations, those raising horses and mules for traditional caravan services, and those running taxi services, in addition to sweater sellers,” he said.

“We hope this year too the amounts will be repaid completely and the program will be successful. This will not only help us expand the livelihood support program next year but will also help us secure more funds from aid groups,” he said.

Finance Kalon Karma Yeshi spoke about the implementation process of the program and the importance of following the rules and regulation. He particularly urged the respective settlement officers and regional sweater sellers associations to play a key role in making this program a success.

He also clarified that just because the program is announced, it doesn’t mean that it is available to everyone. He called on the applicants to abide by the eligibility criteria and emphasised the importance of repaying the amounts on time so that the program can continue without obstacles in the future.

Dr Kunchok Tsundue, the Chief Planning Officer of the Central Tibetan Administration, gave a brief introduction of the livelihood support program. He explained that the program was rolled out last year by the finance department following a detailed market research, expert consultations and need analysis of Tibetan sweater sellers.

This year’s TRLSP program will benefit 1525 beneficiaries and their families. The four main groups of beneficiaries were chosen by local Joint liability groups (JLG). The program will provide packages ranging from Rs 1 – 6 Lakhs to 1525 beneficiaries residing within the 45 Tibetan settlements in India. The program will be implemented between June–August 2018.

The program is funded by the USAID and is implemented by SARD with cooperation from the Tibet Fund.

http://tibet.net/2018/05/cta-to-award-rs-21-crores-as-soft-loans-to-support-tibetan-livelihood-development/

[Pema8]

It is very sad to know that after 60 years, the CTA, Central Tibetan Administration does not care one bit about the Tibetans. They don't improve the living conditions of their people but use the money for themselves.

I think it is only logical that the Tibetans all leave the Tibetan settlements in India as there is nothing they can hope for from their own government in exile. What a very sad situation! Not only have the Tibetans lost their country but they have been let down by their very own government.

[Drolma]

The CTA is really a leech, a parasite. They dare to take the credit when the money was a donation from people, they did not have to do anything to get it. On top of that, they charged the Tibetans interest on donations they are entitled to? The CTA is taking every opportunity to rip off its own people.

Tibetans should all wake up now, open their eyes wide and see what the CTA is doing. They have paid tax to the CTA, the CTA received millions of dollars from the west, what did the CTA do with the money? Did they use the money to improve the Tibetans' lives? How come so many Tibetans are still poor? How come the monasteries do not get funding if preserving Tibetan culture is one of the important mission of CTA?

For the past 60 years, the CTA has been using the money on themselves, but because there was no internet, the information didn't flow freely, so no one knew about what they did. Nowadays with the internet, information flows freely and people are well informed. They are more exposed and they will start to questions. So the CTA better be prepared for more questions from the younger Tibetans.

[dsnowlion]

Disgusting CTA, but why am I not surprised. Is there anything Lobsang Sangay's administration can do well and get right without monetary gains for themselves? Probably NOT. It is very clear that their job is basically looking good and exploiting their people as much as they can.

Actually, they are not just exploiting their own people, but even India. They use India to protect their interest, taking and using whatever they can get from India. They have been living off India tax-free. All their so-called sponsorship/donations, just like this one from USAID, and over the years I am sure it is in the billions. So how come with so much money they cannot provide a better life/better welfare and job opportunities for their people? They obviously do not really care about their own people. At the rate CTA is going, sooner or later they will self-destruct.

[michaela]

Everything about the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is donation and money. I wonder whether they have ever issued audited financial statements to reconcile the amount of contribution that they have received and their expenses? They have received billions of dollars in donation for the past 60 years. This scale of donation requires clean accountability report.

[Rowntree]

Everything about the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is donation and money. I wonder whether they have ever issued audited financial statements to reconcile the amount of contribution that they have received and their expenses? They have received billions of dollars in donation for the past 60 years. This scale of donation requires clean accountability report.

You don't have to wonder. All you have to do is to go to the CTA site and you find nothing like this at all. The CTA is obnoxious with their corruption, they have shown no results for the past 59 years after receiving trillions for various governments and individuals. Nothing has changed and will not change as long as Lobsang Sangay remains as the Sikyong. One thing for sure, Lobsang Sangay will continue to corrupt and make his own pocket fat at the expense of the Tibetans refugees in India.

[Alex]

Just what I expected of CTA. Nothing good ever comes out from them. Being refugee for 60years are already showing who they really are. Who in the world stays as a refugee for 60years and never did any real effort to get back their country other than some cry for help for more donations. 60years of free money and they still can't get back their country, that tells you a lot about them. Looking at their settlement is not any better as well. So much money and their settlement is still like 60years ago. Bad roads, bad facilities, bad hospital, bad schools and their politicians enjoy 5 star quality service across the globe.

Their people is so poor that they have to move away just to find a meal to feed themselves. They are so hopeless in getting back their country till they have to resort to self-immolation. While the tibetans are burning themselves on the streets, the politicians are enjoying themselves in their 5star hotels and restaurants. Then, they glorify those self-immolators indirectly telling their people that they should go burn themselves to generate more sympathy and pity from the western countries. This way, more funs will come. They are sick. They think the whole world is stupid to not see through their games.

[Rowntree]

Just what I expected of CTA. Nothing good ever comes out from them. Being refugee for 60years are already showing who they really are. Who in the world stays as a refugee for 60years and never did any real effort to get back their country other than some cry for help for more donations. 60years of free money and they still can't get back their country, that tells you a lot about them. Looking at their settlement is not any better as well. So much money and their settlement is still like 60years ago. Bad roads, bad facilities, bad hospital, bad schools and their politicians enjoy 5 star quality service across the globe.

Their people is so poor that they have to move away just to find a meal to feed themselves. They are so hopeless in getting back their country till they have to resort to self-immolation. While the tibetans are burning themselves on the streets, the politicians are enjoying themselves in their 5star hotels and restaurants. Then, they glorify those self-immolators indirectly telling their people that they should go burn themselves to generate more sympathy and pity from the western countries. This way, more funs will come. They are sick. They think the whole world is stupid to not see through their games.

Tibet is nothing. CTA is insignificant. The world does not focus on Tibetans. They are the minority that majority just sit and wait to take endlessly. The world does not owe them anything yet they complain endlessly of what they did not get and how people do not want to make their lives easier. With Tibetans, this is what you expect. Otherwise, why do you think they lost their country in the first place?

[Pema8]

I agree everything from the CTA is about money!


Now they find new ways to collect money from the West by showing of with their "success as refugees"!!

Photo exhibition on Tibetan diaspora underway in the European Parliament

DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 29: A photo exhibition on the on the Tibetan diaspora is currently being hosted at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, the Office of Tibet (OoT) there announced Wednesday.

The exhibition titled “Tibetans in Diaspora: A Success Story” features the work of Italian photographer Albertino d’Urso, documenting the lives of exile Tibetans living in various countries around the world. In an extensive coverage spanning ten years, d’Urso has closely followed Tibetans in their new lives in exile communities in India, Nepal, Taiwan, New York, UK, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Canada.

The winner of 'Canon Young Photographers Award', 'Lens Culture International Exposure Award', 'Julia Margaret Cameron Award', d’Urso recounted her fascination of the Tibetan people who despite losing their country continue to practice their culture and religion in exile in a unique fashion.

“My goal is to unite visually, the Tibetans in exile who are now displaced all around the world, living in limbo, in a unique de facto state with a Prime Minister and a government that no country in the world recognizes; an official language and their own medicine, symbols, calendar, and, above all, their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama,” she earlier said.

Her book ‘Out of Tibet’ documenting photos of Tibetan exiles was released earlier this year and travelling exhibitions of her work has been showcased in galleries in Milan, London, New York, Mumbai among other cities.

The five-day exhibition in the EU parliament headquarters in Belgium will officially be inaugurated today by Mr Thomas Mann, MEP, President of the Tibet Interest Group who has hosted the exhibition there, along with the photographer.

The exhibition which highlights the success of the Tibetan refugee community will feature few of its most successful members such as Ms Bhutila Karpoche, Member of Canadian Provincial Parliament, Tibetan traditional doctor, Amchi Yeshi Dhonden, recipient of Padma Shri award (top Indian civilian award), Dr Tenzin Dorjee, Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Ms Tenzin Dolkar, Minnesota Rail Director and Professor Ngawang Samten, recipient of Padma Shri award (top Indian civilian award), among others.

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Photo+exhibition+on+Tibetan+diaspora+underway+in+the+European+Parliament&id=40725

[Alex]

What success they have by being a refugee? The longest freeloading in the world? Most ungrateful people in the world by taking free land, resources, protection from India and gives nothing back?

CTA should stop living in their own bubble of joy because their people are suffering. So much of suffering just because their government did not do their job well. CTA did not learn their lesson even after they lost their country for being selfish and incompetence.

I sincerely hope His Holiness will return to China so that the Tibetan Government will be once and for all silenced and dissolved. There is no need for them to exist because there is only suffering.

[SabS]

CTA never changes, always on the look out for ways to bulk up their coffers. Fancy treating the sponsored fund as coming from their pockets to "lend" to their people. How magnanimous! It is supposed to be free with no burden of return. 100% pay back? Wondered if willingly or not. Anyway the refugees are not going to improve their living condition based on CTA's self serving methods, so as Alex said, it may be better that in the advent of the Dalai Lama returning to Tibet, CTA be dissolved and the remaining refugees be absorbed into the Indian population. They may fare better under the Indian government or at the very least, not be worse than what they are now. They will get democratic freedom.

[Tracy]

CTA never changes, always on the look out for ways to bulk up their coffers. Fancy treating the sponsored fund as coming from their pockets to "lend" to their people. How magnanimous! It is supposed to be free with no burden of return. 100% pay back? Wondered if willingly or not. Anyway the refugees are not going to improve their living condition based on CTA's self serving methods, so as Alex said, it may be better that in the advent of the Dalai Lama returning to Tibet, CTA be dissolved and the remaining refugees be absorbed into the Indian population. They may fare better under the Indian government or at the very least, not be worse than what they are now. They will get democratic freedom.

Let's face it, CTA will never change, they will not change now and they will not change in the future. They are happy with their current situation because they can enjoy the free money and at the same time they have 0 responsibility. They just need to go from country to country and show them their 'sad story' to get sympathy and then money.

The mission of the CTA is to get more money for themselves so they can have a comfortable life. Even though the Tibetans are suffering, they just don't care. They have not been treating the normal Tibetans very well, the CTA is only using them to beg for money.

The CTA should dissolve now, they are incapable and inefficient. They should not be allowed to manage the Tibetans in exile anymore. The Tibetans on the other hands should unite and use the power to change their government.   

[Tenzin K]

After 60 years CTA still unable to be self-sustain and we can see CTA doesn’t do much to help to improve the welfare of the Tibetan. We can see CTA is always looking for opportunity for themselves. What a shame after 60 years CTA is still depending on donation and in fact the donation they collected is huge some of amount but we can see the condition of the Tibetan settlement which is not good at all. Why so? It’s another question for the world to question and look into. Look at the different of the people in CTA and the people at the settlement, you may able to tell.

[Alex]

After 60 years CTA still unable to be self-sustain and we can see CTA doesn’t do much to help to improve the welfare of the Tibetan. We can see CTA is always looking for opportunity for themselves. What a shame after 60 years CTA is still depending on donation and in fact the donation they collected is huge some of amount but we can see the condition of the Tibetan settlement which is not good at all. Why so? It’s another question for the world to question and look into. Look at the different of the people in CTA and the people at the settlement, you may able to tell.

The Tibetan government will forever rely on the sympathy and donations of another country to survive. That is how they survived all these years in the Tibetan settlements in India. For the past 60 years, the Tibetan government worked so hard to get donations and support from the western country in the name of Tibetan cause.

However, the Tibetan cause has not gained any significant progress despite millions of donation and from countries around the world, and they are still stuck in the same position as before. Where did all the funds and donations go? While Tibetan in exile is living in poverty, the leadership are travelling around the globe enjoying themselves.

I guess the Tibetan government has been using the donations for other purposes instead of benefiting their own people. That is why there is no improvement in the situation in the Tibetan settlements even after 60 years of receiving donations and aids. Tibetans will have to look for a new life elsewhere for them to escape from their current situation.