Bir, Himachal Pradesh: A five-day workshop for the Local Tibetan Assemblies and Tibetan Settlement Officers from Bir Tibetan Society, Bir Dege, Bir Chauntra Nangchen, Mandi, and Kullu held at Bir came to an end today.

The first two days of the workshop focused on imparting parliamentary procedures and budget rules to the participants by the resource persons.

The third day was kept aside preparing business documents for the mock sessions to be held on the following days. The resource persons guided the participants in drafting the documents.

The mock session began with proper parliamentary procedures and mandates, the singing of the Tibetan national anthem, the Chairperson’s commencement announcement, and the commencement speech. The mock session was presided over by the LTA chairpersons alternatively.

The participants actively engaged in tabling obituary references, starred questions, calling attention motions, annual report, budget speech, and other related documents to the budget and the general session.

The resource persons intervened between the mock sessions to provide necessary suggestions to improve their deliberations for the session.

In order to improve future workshops, a feedback session was arranged following the mock drill. The participants suggested organizing similar workshops at each settlement rather than grouping 4 to 5 settlements in one place. Through this, they claimed it would be more beneficial and get more time to learn from the resource persons.

Lastly, a closing ceremony was held with addresses from the Chairperson and Tibetan Settlement Officer of Bir Tibetan Society. They shared their views and expressed appreciation for organising the workshop, which had been beneficial.

The TSO of Bir Tibetan Society Karma Namgyal extended his gratitude to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, especially to the resource persons, who provided their insight on the parliamentary procedures and budget rules. With this workshop, the respective Local Tibetan Assemblies will follow the proper procedures and will be able to assist the upcoming LTA members in adhering to the same processes. Moreover, it will help the LTA to gain a better grasp of the assembly activities resulting in an efficient LTA and TSO for an efficient Tibetan community as a whole.

While, LTA Chairperson Gyalpo Dhondup, on behalf of the five settlements, expressed his gratitude to the resource persons for their time in conducting the workshop. He especially noted that the mock session was the most appropriate practice for them which undoubtedly will be helpful to them in carrying out their assembly proceedings in the future.

He thanked the participants for their active involvement in the workshop as well as the President of Bir Tibetan Society, the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress and all those who contributed towards organizing this workshop.

Parliamentarian Serta Tsultrim shared his observation and gave feedback on improving the future assembly proceedings. He applauded the workshop attendees for their active participation and believed the participants will follow accordingly.

Whereas, Parliamentarian Geshe Lharampa Gowo Lobsang Pende lauded LTA members and TSOs, particularly Bir Tibetan Society for their assistance in arranging this workshop. He mentioned the participants’ feedback will be taken into account for more constructive workshops in the future. Both of them thanked everyone who had contributed to the success of this session.

This is the  eighth LTA workshop organized by the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile since its constitution with previous LTA workshops held at Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), Phuntsokling (Odisha), Sonamling (Ladakh UT), Gangtok (Sikkim),  Salugara (West Bengal), Dalhousie (Himachal Pradesh), and Dehradun (Uttarakhand) respectively.

The LTA workshops are aimed to strengthen democracy at the grass root level by imparting the participants with detailed information of the Central Tibetan Administrative, the Budget Policy, proceeding of the Parliamentary session, and others to make informed decisions and to hold public offices accountable.

The resource persons were warmly welcomed by Parliamentarian Wangdue Dorjee, Representative of Bir Sakya Lama Society, the Representatives of Lily Tibetan Community, and members of the Regional Chushi Gangdruk.

This workshop was funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.