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Day two of Literary Festival discusses the spirit of writing

The second day of Mountain Echoes in Thimphu yesterday started with an engaging and frank conversation between Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck and Indian ambassador Pavan Varma. They discussed various aspects about the country starting from the rootedness of Bhutanese culture to rural empowerment, women as conduits for social change, the [...]

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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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Chhimung sits uncomfortably on drinking water issue

Women of Chhimung village set out to work. People of Chhimung are renovating their old drinking water supply system in anticipation of water shortage It is just six in the morning but the sprawling Chhimung village has already come to life with farmers going out to work, which seems aplenty these days. Bumchu Wangdi, a [...]

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Electricity goes to last unlit gewogs but ‘painfully slowly’

Internal wiring being done at the Chhimung gewog office Work is underway to light Pemagatshel’s last unlit gewogs, Chhimung and Dungmin. But the people say the work is progressing at a snail’s pace. In Chhimung, transmission lines are in place and electricity could be provided at any time. But with the exception of a few [...]

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A friend and partner, 34 years long

Our reporter Jigme Wangchuk looks at 34 years of Bhutan-Denmark development partnership as Denmark celebrates its 50 years of oversees development assistance Spring had just set in after a long, cold and dark winter in Denmark. It was a March evening, a Saturday, 1962.  King Frederik IX spoke from Amalienborg Castle, followed by the under-secretary-general [...]

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Most promises fulfilled, says DPT government

Figures show many of them are yet to be fulfilled Less than a year to go before the next parliamentary election, the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) government says most of its election promises have been fulfilled, especially in the education, health and employment sectors. The prime minister and cabinet ministers updated the reporters on the [...]

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Rural prosperity to be theme for 11th Plan

The theme of the 11th five-year plan will be ‘rural prosperity’, Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley announced yesterday at the 21st Meet the Press. The plan, Lyonchhen said, will focus on rural areas and encourage the Bhutanese people to live and like rural life. Towards that end, the government is planning to create more employment opportunities [...]

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Rupee shortage brings the local capacity to work

A contractor has started producing pre-cast posts locally after rupee crunch made their import impossible Like skilled foreign workers, Tempa and Karma Gyeltshen work on a coil of six mm iron rod in Pemagatshel. One of them measure the length of the rod and cuts it while the other binds three rods of similar length [...]

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Government sets two-year goal for vegetable self-sufficiency

As much as it has threatened the Bhutanese economy, rupee crunch has generated opportunities to make Bhutan self-sufficient. Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF), for instance, is working on making Bhutan self-sufficient in vegetables within two years from now. Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) will not facilitate rupee payments for vegetable imports from May 19, according [...]

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More Bhutanese losing their mind

He looks up at the clear sky. He laughs. He shrugs and warns people around him of the uncertainties of the world. Again he begins to laugh. He is fairly healthy but his hair is disheveled and his clothes are grimy. Passersby cover their noses with disdain. He roams the streets of Thimphu city as [...]

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