From jackets to woollen sweaters, blankets and caps each and every winter garment is found in these markets. Variety of designs and garments of different materials are sold by the refugees in the stalls put up at two designated places Saheed Nagar in Bhubaneswar and Khan Nagar in Cuttack.
"We are getting good response here because our collection is different from others. We first conduct a survey and then order the items to sell here," informed Karma Khedup, President, Tibetan Winter Market.
They give designs to the garment manufacturers in Punjab and Delhi and purchase it from the wholesale markets there to sell it here. The Tibetans own the stalls while they bring in local people of Gajapati to help them as salesmen at the stalls.
"We are getting good support from them. Although they are from another country but we live like one family in Gajapati," said salesman Sunil Pani.
"The atmosphere in Cuttack is really good and so are the people. We keep busy with farming for eight to nine months in a year to earn livelihood and then come here for business during winter," said Tibetan refugee Sonam.
The Tibetans have been selling woollen clothes since last 35 years and these markets have now become an important shopping destination for the residents in these two cities. They started selling their products at various places of Cuttack and for last one decade they made Ranihat their place of business. This year the Cuttack Municipal Corporation has provided the land at Khan Nagar for the market. People in good numbers throng these markets and look for their woolen outfits.
"I have come here to buy a jacket. I visit the winter market regularly because of the reasonable prices of the items sold here," said Umesh Sarangi, a visitor.
The Tibetan families living at Chandragiri earn their livelihood by growing Maize during most part of the year while in winter they come here as businessmen. They have made Odisha their home, many of them speak Hindi while some can even talk in Odia with Indian citizens. Despite living here since decades, they are still connected to their roots and rituals.
When asked about the memories of Tibet, Karma Khedup said, "Homeland is always close to our hearts but we are getting good support from the central and state governments and are living happily here.”
30 Tibetan families have set up 35 stalls in Bhubaneswar and 56 in Cuttack. The Tibetan refugees also visit other cities like Berhampur and Sambalpur to sell their woolen items during the winter season. With the special tag of 'Free Tibet' on the garments they sell, the refugees are spreading the message of Indo-Tibet Friendship not just in our state or country but also to the entire world.
https://youtu.be/TnaR4v5PLDw
India’s external and military intelligence officials said that senior PLA officials are touring specific areas of Tibet to raise the Tibetan-only force.
But they said that most of the recruits are mixed Tibetans — mostly children of Tibetan mothers and Han Chinese fathers or otherwise.
Most of them are children of ex-PLA Han Chinese soldiers who got married to Tibetans, intelligence officials said.
PLA officers based in Lhasa have been to Ngari Prefecture in the far west of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and then to the border county of Zanda or Tsamda County to recruit for the Special Tibetan Army Unit.
The recruitment rallies began in February and are still continuing.
“It is a fairly long process because the security vetting process after the initial selection on the basis of a tough physical and IQ test is very extensive,” said an intelligence official monitoring the process.
He said the Chinese authorities are keen to ensure that no anti-Beijing Tibetan sneaks into the force.
“So not only are Tibetan localities with a history of protest against Beijing’s rule scrupulously avoided, but past records of individual recruits even in the most secure places are screened extensively,” the official said, but on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons.
The PLA also carried out a phased recruitment drive in Lhasa to induct many Tibetans.
The plan is to raise a four battalion force initially for special operations on the lines of India’s secretive Tibetan force, the Special Frontier Force or SFF.
The SFF was raised in 1960s by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary expert in irregular warfare, for special operations inside Tibet in the event of a conflict with China.
During last year’s Ladakh standoff, the SFF commandoes unleashed take-and-hold operations on some unoccupied heights around Pangong Tso which finally forced the Chinese to settle on a mutually agreed pullback.
The SFF’s success and the ease with which these Tibetans negotiated the icy heights on the Himalayas convinced PLA commanders they would do better than Han Chinese troops.
“These new recruitment drives are happening because units with Han Chinese troops are suffering serious health problems such as severe mountain sickness and high altitude pulmonary edema,” said an Indian medical service expert in high altitude sickness.
According to PLA Daily, China’s military has framed guidelines to help troops serving in Tibet save themselves from altitude sickness.
In the 2 million plus PLA, only 3,000 to 4,000 Tibetans serve at the moment.
“So this recruitment is significant,” said Lt Gen J.R. Mukherjee, former Chief of Staff in India’s Eastern Army.
He told IANS the Chinese have been looking to recruit both Tibetans and Nepali Gurkhas.
“They have failed to get Gurkhas because they are tied to the Indian army for historical and emotional reasons, so they have to find Tibetans because an average Chinese soldier cannot match our boys in the high Himalayas physically,” Mukherjee said.