COVID-19: Tibetan Parliament concludes its curtailed budget session
DHARAMSALA, 17 March: The 16th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile today held its budget session and approved the budget allocation of the Central Tibetan Administration for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
Affected by the Wuhan originated COVIDF-19 pandemic, the Tibetan parliament convened and concluded its budget session for the coming financial year that has been curtailed from ten to just one day.
Speaker Puma Jungney said in his brief opening remarks that the “though the ninth session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile was scheduled to hold for ten days from 17th -27th March in line with the article 40 of the Tibetan Charter, in wake of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the session has been curtailed to just one day by invoking the article 40 of the Tibetan Charter following the meeting of the standing committee.”
The Tibetan Parliament approved a consolidated budget of INR 2,71,47,94,605 proposed by the Kashag for the CTA’s seven departments and its autonomous bodies and offices for the coming financial year along with an additional INR 3,96,92,424 funds that are not included in the consolidated fund.
The legislators unanimously passed resolutions to express solidarity with the suffering of the Tibetans inside Tibet and to mourn the demise of Tibetan self-immolator Yonten and former Tibetan parliamentarian Geshe Lharampa Tashi Gyaltsen.
As the Kashag(Cabinet) of the CTA is observing 2020 as the “Thank You, Dalai Lama” year to celebrate His Holiness’ legacy and his four commitments, the Speaker, in his concluding remarks, called on Tibetan to put into action what His Holiness preaches and to strive for the Tibetan cause rather than working to create discord and disharmony within our community by spreading hatred and disinformation.
The budget session of the Tibetan Parliament that concluded around 2 pm was attended by 37 Tibetan MP’s. While 7 MP’s based outside India can not make it to the house session due to the travel restrictions owing to the global outbreak of the COVID-19, the eight MP was on sick leave.
