By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent in Kathmandu
The Chinese government policy of resettling Tibetan nomads from their grassland to uniform and poorly-built houses on the outskirts of township centers, county towns and prefecture capitals is being implemented in many areas of Amdo Region particularly in Golog area of Amdo Region. Drokpas (Tibetan Nomads) were traditionally richer than farmers and they had prospered well in the last decade until the resettlement project that also entailed destruction of livestock campaign started couple of years back.
Golog Prefecture has maximum number of livestock and vast grassland and it was the main producer of dairy products in Amdo Region. All the six counties in Golog are inhabited mostly by nomads. The Chinese authorities see nomads as poor people having no proper place to live even when the nomads used to pay quite significant amount of taxes in the form of meat, butter and cheese. The authorities naively believe that providing them access to modern economy, roads and houses in towns would lead to an improvement in their living conditions and therefore they see no wrong in abolishing the pastoral economy which in fact formed an important part of the traditional self-reliant economy in TIbet.
On the contrary, Tibetan Drokpas disagree with the authorities’ viewpoint because the resettlement project has led to a significant deterioration in the living conditions of the nomads. According to our source – a nomad from Pema County of Golog Prefecture, the older generation of nomads believe that these measures are employed to prevent flood in Mainland China from the Yellow (Tibetan: Machu) River that originates in Golog.
The source further said, “The campaign was started in October 2005 in Tso Kyareng Township of Mato County and Trangmaho Township of Machen County where livestock were completely destroyed and nomads were moved to the edge of Golog TAP capital this year; 50 households of our county were moved near the county town.”
The resettled nomads now receive few sacks of flour in aid even after the initial official promise of adequate compensation and special aid packages. They had to sell the livestock at half the market price. For e.g, a yak that used to cost 1500 Yuan fetched only 700 Yuan, added the source. The grassland are now fenced with barbed wires and grazing is banned. Those who moved near Pema County town were given two rooms per household but were asked to pay half of the cost of construction (around 50,000 Yuan) but people believe it could only cost around 10,000 Yuan. The newly resettled nomads are a worried lot with their livestock gone; jobless and government help not in sight. With the rise in newly resettled nomads in towns, the number of unemployed and frustrated Tibetan nomads is increasing. Jobs are hard to come by as they cannot speak Chinese.
Further, all kinds of coercive methods were used to evacuate the nomads off their ancestral land. Some were intimidated, some were forced and some were even assured that they could return to their grassland after ten years when the grassland is replenished. Only time will tell how much truth there is in the assurances given.
