About Town

Grooming reporters for 2013 election

Belinda Goldsmith takes a practical lesson The media were hungry, noisy, and pushy during the parliamentary election in 2008, the chief election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, this week told a group of reporters, who are undergoing training on election reporting in Thimphu.  But they were a necessary agent. Dasho Kunzang Wangdi was a guest speaker [...]

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Bhutan expects 100,000 tourists in 2012: TCB

Bhutan is expecting to receive up to 100,000 tourists in 2012, according to the 2011 draft annual report of Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB). Last year, Bhutan received 64,028 tourists. The boost in tourist number, according to TCB, is expected owing to key achievements in 2011 like opening of domestic airports, introduction of new festivals, [...]

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Student leaders learn leadership skills

Forty student leaders and 13 teachers learnt conflict resolution and peaceful ways of handing crisis situations in a day-long workshop in Chukha on April 28. The students and teachers from seven schools in Chukha Dzongkhag converged at Chukha HSS for Capacity Building Workshop on Education for International Understanding organized by the Regional UNESCO Office based [...]

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52 driving licences ‘punched’ in one day

Records of the first quarter of 2012 show drink-driving still tops the list of road offences Next time you take a couple of drinks and get behind the wheel, don’t forget that you are risking getting your driving licence punched or losing it altogether. Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) and the traffic police in [...]

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Policy to ensure equitable use of biological resources

To ensure conservation and sustainable use of Bhutan’s biodiversity, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests has formulated an Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) policy. National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) drafted the policy with the vision to recognize fair and equitable sharing of economic benefits from biological diversity among local custodians and the Bhutanese people as a whole. [...]

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Regulation will hold employers responsible for health and safety of workers

A construction worker in Thimphu works without any safety gear on Come May, all employers in the country will be required to prepare a written statement of policy on the health and safety of their employees. Regulation on Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare will come into force from May 1. This is part of Ministry [...]

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Doing science for fun

Fourteen schools from Chukha and Samtse on April 14 took part in a science exhibition held at Chukha Higher Secondary School. The 42 exhibits, many of which were working models, covered pertinent topics ranging from waste management to hydraulic car to running trains. Each exhibit was the result of days of hard work put in [...]

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Bhutan receives record number tourists in 2011

Tangbi Mani in Bumthang receives more tourists than Wangdue Tshechu and Punakha Dromchoe Bhutan received 64,028 tourists in 2011, recording a 56.65 percent growth, the highest in the Bhutanese tourism history, according to Tourism Council’s draft annual report for 2011. “The large influx of tourists in October could be highly attributed to one of Bhutan’s [...]

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Road safety action plan to go multi-sectoral

Ministry of Information and Communications (MOIC) recently presented the report of road safety action plan to the government, which the cabinet is expected to review and endorse soon. The report, which focuses on a multi-sectorial approach to road safety, will be developed into a plan of action. The stakeholders will organise communication campaigns and present [...]

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Third Druk Gyalpo receives Bangladeshi award

Bangladesh on March 27 awarded Bangladesh Liberation War Honour on the third Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. The honour was awarded in recognition of Bhutan’s contribution to Bangladesh’s Independence War of 1971. The late Druk Gyalpo was one of the eight recipients of the honour. Seventy individuals from across the world, along with a few [...]

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