South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019
(CTA), the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala,
as well as a historically friendly Indian government. The CTA
administers a number of schools and health centres, which have
ensured the provision of high-quality modern education and
primary healthcare, and also the preservation of Tibetan culture.
India's recently formalised Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy has
promised to allow Tibetans to undertake any economic activity
and pursue jobs in any field in which they are proficient, but some
Tibetans claim that it has failed to result in any tangible change so
far. The relative lack of economic opportunities in India has been
flagged as an issue, leading many Tibetans to leave India for better
opportunities in the West.34
Refugees and Foreigners: Recognising Some,
Stigmatising Others
India has neither signed the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees
nor devised its own domestic refugee law. As a result, refugees
and forced migrants are treated on a par with other foreigners,
governed by the outdated Foreigners Act 1946. Some fundamental
rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution but denied to
foreigners, and by extension also to refugees and asylum-seekers,
include: prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15); equality of opportunity
in matters of public employment (Article 16); freedom of speech
and expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement,
freedom to reside and settle anywhere in India, freedom to
practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or
business (Article 19).35 This legal vacuum has serious adverse
implications for the refugees. For instance, despite cultural and
ethnic similarities with the rest of the population in Tamil Nadu,
refugees from Sri Lanka report being crippled by the restrictions
imposed on them due to their official status as foreigners. ‘We
have no freedom here. We are treated as outsiders. We are neither
34 Kunal Purohit, ‘After 60 Years in India, Why Are Tibetans Leaving?’, Al
Jazeera, March 21, 2019, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/60-yearsindia-tibetans-leaving-190319231424509.html.
35 ‘Foreigners Not Entitled to All Fundamental Rights’, Zee News, November
26, 2010, https://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/foreigners-not-entitled-to-allfundamental-rights_670573.html.
52
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