Dharamshala: Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission hosted a farewell dinner gathering in the honour of retiring Justice Commissioner Ngawang Rabgyal on 14 January 2020.
The gathering was attended by Chief Justice Commissioner Sonam N Dagpo, Justice Commissioners, Speaker Pema Jungney of the TPiE, Deputy Speaker, Representative of Kashag, and the staff of TSJC, etc to name a few.
Chief Justice Commissioner Sonam Dagpo delivered a short speech elucidating 35 years of long and dedicated service of retiring commissioner Ngawang Rabgyal. As a symbol of gratitude and appreciation, the Chief Justice Commissioner presented a Tibetan silver butter lamp to Dr Ngawang Rabgyal for selfless and diligent service at the Central Tibetan Administration.
Biodata of Dr Ngawang Rabgyal
Dr Ngawang Rabgyal Norpa was born at Shangri village in Tibet in 1955. Along with his parents, he escaped into exile in Solu Khumbu, located at the valley of Mt. Everest, in Nepal in 1959, when China occupied Tibet. Great India became his beloved home after migrating there in 1964.
He studied at Central School for Tibetans in Dalhousie and completed higher secondary in 1974. Thereafter he studied at the University of Delhi from 1974 to 1979 and he had received the B.A. (Hons) degree in Political Science and then Master of Arts majoring in Political thoughts, International relations and Law. He obtained the Bachelor of Education degree from Jamia Milla University in New Delhi. In 1979, when His Holiness the Dalai Lama called upon Tibetans in exile to take up the teaching service in occupied-Tibet, he was among the first four Tibetan youths, who volunteered to go to Tibet and teach Tibetan children. He worked as a researcher at the Department of Security’s Tibet Information Research Section from 1980 to 1982 while waiting for a permit to enter into Tibet legally.
In 1982 the Kashag of Central Tibetan Administration in-exile sent him to the Soviet Union for further education. He studied Russian language, International Relations and Law at the Kiev University and thereby obtained a Ph. D. degree in the History of International Relations.
Ngawang Rabgyal has had served at the Central Tibetan Administration in-exile (CTA) in various capacities across three continents since the 1980s. Earlier he worked as Deputy Secretary (International Affairs Assistant) at Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi from 1987 to 1992.
From 1993 to 1997 he served as the first Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Russia, Mongolia, and Commonwealth of Independent States, while simultaneously heading the Moscow-based Tibet Culture and Information Center, which he founded in March 1993. He was the Founder-Editor of Novasti Tibeta, the Tibet news edition in Russian. From Moscow, he was transferred to the Department of Information and International Relations, CTA, as its Joint Secretary from 1997 to 1998.
In 1998-99 he worked as a Director (UN Tibet Affairs) at the Office of Tibet in New York. From July 1999 to May 2005, he was the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to North and South America, heading the Office of Tibet in New York. In addition to his job as the Representative, he was the Honorary Chairman of New York-based Tibet House Board of Directors, Co-Chair of Tibet Fund, Chairman of New York and New Jersey Tibet Alliance, Board Members of Peace Jam and the Temple of Understanding, an NGO affiliated to UN.
From New York, he was transferred to the Department of Information & International Relations, CTA, where he served as its Additional Secretary from 2005 to 2008. In October 2008, he has reappointed as the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States. After serving six years at Office of Tibet in Moscow, he was transferred to the Department of Education, CTA, where he served as its Secretary from March 2015 to October 2016
After serving about 34 years in the field of diplomacy and administration, he retired from the executive branch of Central Tibetan Administration on 1 November 2016.
Ngawang Rabgyal assumed the post of the Justice Commissioner of CTA on 1 November 2016, as he was elected by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile during voting held on the sixth day of the second session of the 16th Tibetan parliament.