Ministers of the Tibetan Government in Exile

KALON SONAM TOPGYAL

The Chairman of the Kashag, Kalon Sonam Topgyal, was born in Chamdo in 1935. He began his education at 7 years of age and at 16 was appointed an official of the Dagyab Ladrang. Since 1953, until his escape to India in 1959, he studied at the Rato Monastery in Lhasa.

In India he studied Sanskrit for three years at the Banaras Sanskrit University starting from 1960. In 1963 while teaching Tibetan at the same time, he classified the Buddhist artifacts at the Banaras Hindu University. In 1967 he came to Dharamsala and the following year he, along with Tenzin Geyche and Tenzin Namgyal Tethong, began bringing out a Tibetan magazine called Sheja. He was one of the founder members of the Tibetan Youth Congress in 1970. With the taking over of Sheja by the exile Tibetan government in 1971, he was appointed a Deputy Secretary at the Department of Information & International Relations, as it is now called. In 1973 he was promoted as the Secretary of the same Department, a post which he held until his election as a Kalon on 31 July 1993, with a short break from 1977 to 1980 as an Additional Secretary at the Kashag Secretariat.

KALON KIRITI RINPOCHE

Kirti Rinpoche was born on 8 August 1942 in a village called Thakmo Ghang in Thewo province in Amdo to Mr. Atse and Mrs. Ugyen Tso.

At the age of five, he was recognised as the 11th reincarnation of Kirti Rinpoche by Je Jigme Damchoe Gyatso and Tenpai Gyatsen, the fifth reincarnation of Jamshe, and enthroned in Thaktsang Pel Gyi Lhamo Monastery. In compliance with a directive from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Rinpoche moved to Lhasa and joined Drepung Losel Ling Monastery at the age of sixteen. Rinpoche started his studies in Buddhism under the guidance of MahaPandita Shak Khor Rinpoche, who was appointed by His Holiness as Rinpoche's tutor. Following the uprising in 1959, Rinpoche escaped to India via Nepal.

In 1968, Rinpoche joined the Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies in Varanasi and pursued his studies in Tibetan Buddhism, Metaphysics and Sanskrit language. Rinpoche served in the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives for ten years from 1978, supervising its Research section. Rinpoche was appointed to the fourth delegation from Dharamsala to Tibet in 1980. From 1984 to 1985, Rinpoche visited Lhasa, Lhamoe Latso lake, Beijing and Amdo as the official representative of the Tibetan Government in Exile. Rinpoche also performed the consecration rites of the Central cathedral in Lhasa, thus facilitating its revival. The visit, however, was cut short and Rinpoche returned to India. Rinpoche was appointed as the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai to the Assembly of Gangtok Library in 1985. Rinpoche took the vows of Geshe Lharampa during the Great Monlam festival in 1986. Starting from 1987, Rinpoche worked in the Private Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, compiling important scriptures. Since the inception of Kirti Monastery in Dharamsala, Rinpoche has been executing his responsibilities in supervising its management affairs. Rinpoche was appointed to the Committee on Constitution for future Tibet on 17 May 1990.

On 25 December 1991, Rinpoche was appointed as the first member of the Public Service Commission. On 25 December 1996, Rinpoche was once again appointed to the Public Service Commission. During the third session of the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies, Rinpoche was elected to the post of the Minister for the Department of Religion and Culture.

KALON TASHI WANGDI

Minister for Information and International Relations, Kalon Tashi Wangdi, was born in Central Tibet in 1944 and received his traditional education in Tibet. He joined the first Tibetan school in exile, set up in Mussoorie, in 1960. He completed his school education from the Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie with distinction and since then served the exile Tibetan government in various capacities. After brief stints at the departments of religion and culture and education, he, in 1968, went to Britain and earned a B.A. degree from Bristol University in 1973.

He rejoined the exile Tibetan administration in 1974 as a junior staff and gradually rose through its ranks to become a Kalon in 1983. In 1990 he resigned from the Kashag and withdrew his name from the list of candidates for re-election, though he continued to serve as the Representative at the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi. From August 1991 he served as Ministers for Information and International Relations and Health until April 1997

KALON SOEPA GYATSO

Forty-six-year old Kalon Soepa Gyatso, the Minister for Finance, completed his school education from the Central School for Tibetans at Mussoorie and then pursued his B.A. degree course from St. Joseph's College, Darjeeling. He then taught at a Tibetan school in Bhutan until he was elected the Secretary of the Central Working Committee of Domey. He was elected a Deputy of the Domey Province successively in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th exile Tibetan Parliament. Following his election as a Minister, he resigned from membership of the exile Parliament as required under the relevant rules.

KALON RINCHEN KHANDO CHOEGYAL

Minister for Education, Kalon Rinchen Khando Choegyal, was born in Kham and received her traditional Tibetan education in Lhasa. She began her modern education in India in 1959 and completed her B.A. degree course from Loreto College, Darjeeling, in 1972.

After that she taught at the Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie, and later joined Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala as a sponsorship Secretary. She was the President of Tibetan Women's Association from 1984 to 1993. During her tenure she started the Dolmaling Nunnery Project to care for and educate Tibetan nuns escaping from Tibet. In 1993 she became the Minister for Health and Home Affairs of the exile Tibetan government.

KALON ALAK TSAYI TENZIN PALBAR

Minister for Security, Kalon Alak Tsayi Tenzin Palbar, was born at Achog Tsogye, in Amdo in 1945 and studied at the Tashi Kilyil Monastery, for nine years until his arrest by the Chinese in 1958 for involvement in demonstrations calling for Tibet's independence. Since then he was incarcerated in various prisons in Tibet until 1969. In 1969 he was branded as a counter-revolutionary, black-hatted, and taken on a procession. He was then taken to a remote a village and kept there until 1971. After his release that year, he taught Tibetan Studies at a monastery in Amdo until his escape to India in 1981.

He joined the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives at Dharamsala in 1988 as an Assistant Librarian in the Tibetan Manuscripts section. He has written a book titled the 'Tragedy of My Homeland" which is presently being translated into English.

KALON TSEWANG CHOEGYAL TETHONG

Minister for Information and International Relations, Kalon Tsewang Choegyal Tethong was born in 1933 while his father was the governor of Dotoe and Domed. He served in the translation and English section of the private office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from April 1959 to June 1960. After three year's further studies in politics at Tuedingen University in Germany, he returned to India in 1964 and served in the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Delhi as the Representative's assistant for three years. In 1966, he took charge of the dual responsibilities as the incharge of the translation and English section of the private office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the assistant Kalon of the Information office of Central Tibetan Administration. At the end of the following year, when the first settlement was established in Mondgod, he was appointed as its settlement head. From 1968 to September 1975, Kalon T. C. Tethong served as both the incharge of the settlements in south India and assistant Kalon for the Department of Education. Kalon T. C. Tethong took leave from his official charges in 1975. After moving to Canada, he taught at a university for four years. In 1996, he was again made the Representative of His Holiness at the Bureau in Delhi. During the third session of the Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies in 1997, he was elected as one of the Kalons and has been acting as the Kalon of the Department of Information and International Relations. He also serves as the Representative at the Bureau of His Holiness in Delhi. 

KALON YANGKYI SAMKHAR DASHEE

Forty-nine-year old Kalon Yangkyi Samkhar Dashee, the Minister for Health, was born at Chushul where she received her traditional Tibetan education from the age of eight to 13. Upon her arrival in India in 1959, she joined a Public School in Dalhousie where she studied English and Hindi for one year. Thereafter she was sent to Madras for further studies by the late Mrs. Tsering Dolma, the founder of the TCV School at Dharamsala.

However, she had to cut short her study due to the need in the exile Tibetan community for capable staff knowing English and was sent to serve at a new Tibetan school in Shimla. In 1968 she joined a batch of Tibetan trainees in civil service in New Delhi.

After that she worked in various offices and department of the exile Tibetan government: At the Bureau of H.H. the Dalai Lama in New Delhi from 1 July 1969 to 30 April 1977; as Deputy Secretary at the Department of Education from 1977 to 1983; as the Administrator of Tibetan Delek Hospital at Dharamsala from 1983 to 1989, and as Assistant Secretary back at the Department of Education from 1990 to 1991. From 1991 until her retirement in 1993 she was the Secretary of the Department of Education.

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Last updated: 30-Sept-96