Thaindian News

Dharamsala, Sep 15 (IANS) The Kashag, the cabinet of the Tibetan government-in-exile here, will take oath of office and assume charge Sep 16, an official said here Thursday.

Kalon Tripa (prime minister) Lobsang Sangay will table the motion for the election of new Kalons (cabinet members) in the session beginning Friday, parliamentary secretariat spokesperson Tenzin Norbu told IANS.

The Kashag is all set to present new faces along with the old to make the Tibetan movement more effective, Sangay said.

“In the seven-member Kashag, I will have four younger members to bring in innovation and 21st century knowhow to make the Tibetan administration and movement more effective,” Sangay, at 43 the youngest to head the government-in-exile, had told IANS on assuming office Aug 8.

“Now it is the responsibility of the younger generation to take the movement forward and seek a resolution to the Tibetan problem,” he said.

But the Harvard-educated Sangay also places faith in experience to take care of 140,000 Tibetans in exile, over 100,000 of them in India.

“I will have three elders to continue the existing successful policies and programmes,” he said.

According to Sangay, education will be the priority in domestic programmes and policy.

“The department of information and international relations and the department of education, which runs more than 100 schools, are the crucial ones,” he said.

“Creating awareness about Tibet and sustaining this awareness will also be priorities.”

Each Kalon will head a department under the Central Tibetan Administration. The departments are religion and culture, home, education, security, finance, information and international relations, and health.

Based in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala, the government-in-exile has never won recognition from any country.