On arriving in India in 1959 H. H. the Dalai Lama took some important decisions with far reaching implications. Among the most important were:

I. To set up the Tibetan Government – in – Exile. Now based in Dharamsala; it is this Government that every Tibetan recognizes as the legitimate Government of Tibet.

II. With the kind help of the respective governments; to set up Tibetan refugee settlements and schools in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The majority of the more than 130,000 Tibetans in exile live in these settlements and it is in these refugee schools where Tibetan children, born in exile, receive a good modern education while at the same time learning their own language and culture.

III. Initiating and implementing the process of democracy at every level of the Tibetan exile community.