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The
Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies at Dahung in West Kameng
district, where a majority of the people follow Tibetan Buddhism, is
now a full-fledged central institute, according to its founder Tsona
Gontse Rinpoche.
The
institute, conceived by Rinpoche in 2000, had received the nod of the
Union Cabinet on May 26, 2010 with a project cost estimated at Rs 9
crore and recurring annual cost of Rs 124.86 lakh.
"It
began with a central government grant of Rs 97 lakh and has since grown
into a good institute to fill the vacuum in imparting education on
Buddhism, Rinpoche said.
"I
had pursued the Centre to establish such an institute considering the
large number of Buddhist population residing in the Northeast," he said.
He
pointed out that with only 25 faculty members and limited
infrastructures, the institute has so far produced two batches (18 each)
of Shastri (equivalent to BA in Buddhist Philosophy) degree holders.
Besides
teaching arts and crafts for self-sufficiency and sustainable
development and preservation of ethnic identity to foster national
integrity, the institute has been inculcating an awareness on the
ecological balance and preservation of natural resources, he said.
He
said the other three institutes are: Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, a deemed
university, Central University for Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi,
and Central Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies, Leh.
Rinpoche
said 30 acres of land was provided by the Bugun community free of cost
for the institute which has been running on an ad-hoc basis for over a
decade and henceforth would be completely funded by the MoC.
The
Buddhist population of the state resides in the region's Tawang, West
Kameng, remote regions which are close to Tibet and near the Myanmar
border.
Tibetan
Buddhism is practised in the first three regions while Therevada
Buddhism reigns supreme in the lives of people living near the
Myanmarese border.
Rimpoche earnestly believes that the institute will soon turn into a deemed university. 
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