Tibet's all-round development in the past years has raised local people's living standards, which was in itself a progress in human rights, an Indian editor said Tuesday.

Welfare and quality of life are indices to measure human rights was welfare and life quality, Narasimhan Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu Newspaper Group, told the ongoing Beijing Forum on Human Rights.

Ram, who has twice visited Tibet in the past seven years, said the villages they visited gave vivid proof of the region's economic development.

He said the per capita net income of Tibetan people had maintained a double-digital growth in each of the past five years, and stood at 2,788 yuan (398 U.S. dollars) last year.

Ram said he was deeply impressed by the farmers who became rich through hard work, central government subsidies and new opportunities provided by the construction boom.

In addition, the central government's preferential policy has enabled some 14,000 Tibetan students to get better education in high schools and colleges throughout the country. Ram said that was also a good example for India to follow.

With the aid of the newly-opened Qinghai-Tibet railway, Tibet's foreign trade volume last year hit 393 million U.S. dollars, and revenues from tourism reached 4.8 billion yuan, he said.

The expert admitted the railway had a negative impact on the region's environment and wildlife, but believed it was exaggerated.

Besides, the Chinese central government was working for the region's environmental protection with an input of 1.5 billion yuan, he said. The money would be used in rubbish and sewage treatment and building 33 special passages for Tibetan antelopes and other wild animals, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2008)