Paonta Sahib : The 5 days workshop entitled ‘Strengthening of democracy at grass-root level to the members of the Local Tibetan Assembly‘ from May 21 to May 25, 2018 at Paonta Cholsum Tibetan settlement is afoot.

Resource persons for the said workshop, members of 16th Tibetan Parliament Deputy Speaker Acharya Yeshi Phunstok and Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tsetan reached the workshop venue around 11:30 pm on May 18, 2018 after their departure from Dharamsala in the same afternoon. They were received cordially by Mr. Gelek Jamyang, the Tibetan settlement officer and Secretary Tenzin Lodoe at the said Tibetan settlement.

The next day, Mr. Kunchok Tsering, Speaker of the Local Tibetan Assembly, Sherab Gyatso, Chairman of the Paonta Cholsum Industrial Tibetan Society, along with the concerned Chairs of the various associations paid a courtesy call to the members of the parliament. Thereafter, the parliamentarians were taken for a guided tour within the settlement as per proposed by the Tibetan settlement officer.

With a total of 64 participants registered for the workshop from the nearby Tibetan settlements the day before, the actual workshop commenced on May 21, 2018 with Mr. Gelek Jamyang welcoming the two parliamentarians to the settlement. Deputy Acharya Yeshi Phunstok briefed the participants on the Tibetan Parliamentary Secretariat and the workshop while Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tsetan spoke on the purpose and the importance of the workshop, followed by a word of thanks introductions by the participants. Stationary accessories including textbook, sample of parliamentary procedure documents, notebooks and pens were allocated duly among the participants.

The first day of the workshop, then proceeded with Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok elucidating the participants in detail, the Charter of the exiled Tibetan and the rules and regulations of the session procedures, mandates and structures to be followed in an assembly house while raising starred questions, passing resolutions, legislative amendment proposal and the convention of calling attention motion. He also engaged in question-answer session with the participants, providing them with answers and clarifications.

Today, Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tsetan began the second day of the workshop with elucidation on the significance of Tibetan democracy in exile and then went on to proceed with the explanation of the rules and regulations pertaining to various account heads and budgets as enshrined in the Charter of exiled Tibetan, viz., Recurring Budget, Special Recurring budget and the Surkyol Budget. The rest of the day was then left open for an interactive question-answer session between the participants and the resource persons.

Around 40 questions were raised by the participants who paid rapt attention during the workshop. The workshop will continue next day with the preparation for the upcoming mock session on its last two days.

The participants of the workshop includes the Tibetan settlement officers (save Shimla) and the members of the Local Tibetan Assembly from Paonta Cholsum Tibetan Settlement, Paonta Sahib, Dekyiling Tibetan Settlement, Dehradun; Yangchen Gatseling Tibetan Settlement, Shimla; Sakya Tibetan Settlement, Puruwala;  Sataun Kathok Tibetan Settlement, Sataun; Tibetan Bhonpo Settlement, Dolanji; Doegu Yugyaling Tibetan Settlement, Herbertpur and Kamrao Tibetan Settlement, Kamrao and People Representative of Tsering Dhondhen Tibetan “settlement Ryder the jurisdiction of Tehran Tibetan Settlement.

This workshop is funded by Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF).