Dalai Lama praises India's support to exiles

Dharamsala, Dec 18 : Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama Friday praised the Indian government for the support it has extended to the exiles, especially in providing modern education.

"The Indian government has been of immense help to Tibetans in the past 50 years," the Nobel laureate told reporters in Hyderabad, according to a post on the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile here.

Recalling the efforts being made to protect Buddhist culture in the country, the Dalai Lama, 74, said more and more Indians, especially from Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, were joining the monasteries set up in the country for theological studies.

The Dalai Lama will reach Gulbarga Saturday for a spiritual discourse at the Siddhartha Buddha Vihar.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet with many of his supporters and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959.

The Dalai Lama has ever since been heading the Tibetan government-in-exile from here. The government is not recognised by any country in the world.