Treasure hunting

Posted inNature, People, Youth
I met Tobgay today. He’s nine years old and has just completed Class II in Dechechencholing MSS. He was rummaging through my negibour’s waste. In fact, Tobgay was recycling garbage. He was collecting various tins and bottles, and plastics and metals to sell to a scrap dealer in town. His part-time work would fetch him Nu 5 per kg for iron, steel and certain plastics; Nu 1 for every beer bottle; and Nu 30 per kg for aluminum cans. That’s easy money, he confided, because there’s always plenty of recyclable garbage. Yesterday he and his friends earned Nu 130.…

Scheming pensions

Posted inGovernment8 Comments
Would you set aside a portion of your salary if, after you retire, you receive a comfortable pension every month? You probably would. Would you do so if the government matched what you contributed, and you received a bigger pension when you retired? You probably should.But what if such a scheme is sustainable for only 30 years? Would you participate? I probably would – I’m 43 years old and I can expect to enjoy a pension till I reach 73. Naturally, anyone older than me would find the scheme even more attractive.What if you are 35 years old and…

Pay expectations

Posted inGovernment
We were given the government’s pay revision report today. Finally. And the speaker announced that we would debate it this Monday. Good.I am happy that the government has decided not to increase the salaries of the prime minister, cabinet ministers and other ranks equivalent to ministers. The pay commission had recommended salary increases of 130% for the PM and 66% for cabinet ministers.And I’m satisfied, more or less, that the government has decided to increase the salaries of MPs by only 20%. The pay commission had recommended a 100% increase.But I’m left wondering why the government has decided to…

Really hard business

Posted inEconomy10 Comments
We may have lost the elections. But I still read our manifesto every now and then. It reminds me of our promises. Reminds me to serve with humility. And to walk the talk. The following article is a “box” from our manifesto. Enjoy. Doing business isn’t easy anywhere But, it’s really hard in Bhutan! The World Bank has been looking into how easy it is to do business in 178 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Laws, regulations and their enforcements are evaluated in each of the following 10 stages of business companies’ life: 1. starting a business 2. dealing…

Missing in representation

Posted inDemocracy
The day before yesterday we debated an important issue: roads. Roads are important as they are the lifeline of our country, and the only proven way out of poverty.We debated this important issue because the public wanted us, their representatives, to talk about the need to improve and streamline the technical designs of the nation’s roads.Who raised the issue? The public of Pemagatshel. Specifically, the people of Nanong-Shumar, and Khar-Yurung constituencies in Pemagatshel.So I thought it was odd that the MPs representing these two constituencies were both absent. They were not there to introduce the issue or to contribute…

Remote schooling

Posted inEducation, Local Government
The National Assembly, our nation’s highest legislative body, spent a good 30 minutes yesterday talking about a school in Gasa. The issue was tabled by the Honourable MP from Gasa, Dasho Damcho Dorji, the other opposition member, on behalf of the people of Gasa. The people want the government to reverse its decision to downgrade Gasa LSS to a primary school. The people argue that if their school is downgraded, fewer of their children will be willing to continue their studies, after completing Class VI, in the boarding school in distant, wetter and hotter Jeyshong. Lyonpo Thakur Singh, our…

Educating the centre

Posted inEducation, Local Government
Gakiling has 13 villages. Some of the poorest parts of our country can be found in this cluster of villages that lie along the remote parts of upstream Amochu. Together, the 13 villages have just one school – Rangtse Community School, which opened two years ago after Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck visited the area. None of the villages is connected by car road. Most don’t even have mule tracks. So the school in Rangtse is not accessible to children living in other villages. And the children can’t live in Rangtse, because the school does not have boarding…

Opposition in hot water

Posted inDemocracy, Political parties13 Comments
I liked Bhutan Observer’s caricature for two reasons. One, they managed to make me look content and happy. And two, Gyamtsho, my son, predicted my response. When his friends had expressed concern for me, he had assured them that I would find it funny. What did I do when he showed me the cartoon? I laughed. And the more I looked at it, the more I laughed.I like the cartoon very much. But they got one thing wrong – the opposition is not “in turmoil”.I wish we were. If we were in turmoil, it would mean that we were…

Deleting power

Posted inDemocracy
The “delete” key is powerful. I can undo what I’ve done. It gives me a sense of security. And a sense of power. I can, after all, erase a word, a document, a picture, or even my computer’s memory, by an effortless tap at the “delete” key. The “delete” key is also dangerous. Once deleted, the memory vanishes into the dark depths of cyber space. That’s where one of my emails went. It was from Europe. From a person who wants to meet me in April. Please send me your email again. Sorry I made a mistake! But, I’ve…

Attic antics

Posted inTowns
I went on a fieldtrip today. I went to Thimphu town. Almost every building has an attic. And almost every attic violates Thimphu’s building regulations.Because they were illegal, earlier attics are discrete. Their builders went to great lengths to hide their attics, to make them look uninhabited.But because the first attics were not questioned, latter attics have become increasingly bold. Some are quite beautiful. All are displayed fearlessly. And some attics sport attics – doubled storied attics.Thimphu’s building regulations continue to forbid building attics for habitation. And Thimphu’s builders continue to build more attics for habitation. According to TCC,…

Bhutanese bloggers

Posted inPeople
Dorji Wangchuk – writer, director, producer, social worker, and owner of a Centennial Radio – has started blogging. His blogs will be good. After all, he has both insight and experience.His insight comes from the wide range of activities that he readily engages in. And his experience comes from writing columns and op-eds. A good combination to make blogs interesting and useful.Whatever Matters! – maintained by MJ and Bhutanese Blogger – is another site worth visiting. They specialize in business management and finance.Then there’s Bhutan, 2008 and Beyond, maintained by Gelay, a photojournalist, and Bhutan 360, a tourism portal.Share…

Consulting democracy

Posted inDemocracy, Legislature12 Comments
The National Assembly has decided to amend the Livestock Act (2001) to remove the ban on the slaughter of animals and the sale of meat during the first and fourth months of our calendar. I did not support the proposal to amend this Act. I did not support the proposal for a very simple reason – none of us had bothered to consult the monk body. And there are about 15,000 monks. That's a lot of them. Enough to be taken seriously especially on issues concerning religious matters. For a vibrant democracy: consult. And consult widely.

Deadly numbers

Posted inHealth
My cousin, Lop Nob Tshering, died last week. He was a teacher at Dechenchholing MSS and had barely turned 45. He died at home, suddenly. Family and friends all agree that he died because of alcohol – he was a chronic alcoholic.No one knows how many people die at home from alcohol related problems. My cousin lived in Thimphu. And yet he died suddenly and at home. Imagine what happens outside Thimphu. Imagine the number of alcohol related deaths that go undetected. That number must surely be much higher than the number of people dying because of alcohol in…

Without alcohol there would be more happiness

Posted inHealth
Dorji died a few days ago. He was my classmate in Kanglung. He died of alcohol related problems.Dorji was among the 75 of us who entered Class XI in Sherubtse College, Kanglung in 1982. Another two of my classmates from this batch have also died – Devi Bhakta and Thinley Penjor. Both of them died from alcoholism.One of my classmates was recently in the ICU. He’s still recovering from alcohol related complications. At least three more classmates are chronic alcoholics. And many of us are heavy drinkers.Alcohol has already killed three of my classmates. And it threatens to kill…

What’s centralized

Posted inGovernment, Local Government
Consider this: Nu 38.32 billion had been budgeted for capital investments in the 9th Five Year Plan. Of that, Nu 9.32 billion had been budgeted for the dzongkhags and gewogs. That was about 24.37% of the total capital outlay.Now consider this: Nu 73.61 billion has been budgeted for capital investments in the 10th Five Year Plan. Of this, Nu 12 billion has been budgeted for the dzongkhags and gewogs. That is only 16.30% of the total capital outlay.In 2002, after two decades of decentralization, the government was prepared to earmark almost a quarter of the total capital outlay to…