In total darkness

Posted inEconomy
We'll be up by five tomorrow morning, to take in the total eclipse of the sun from Kuenselphodrang. Many of my neighbours – indeed, many Bhutanese – will also enjoy this very rare natural phenomenon when the moon completely blocks out the sun. Bhutan, after all, falls bang on the path of the total eclipse. But you won’t find many tourists. We didn’t market the occasion. The heavens have blessed Bhutan with the longest total eclipse, of about three minutes, in the 21st century. And we have not used it to boost tourism. The Finance Minister reported today that,…

Planning implementation

Posted inGovernment2 Comments
Today the finance minister presented the National Budget bill for the year 2009 – 2010. I’ll post a few entries on the status of our kingdom’s finances in the next couple of days. Following the Finance Minister’s presentation, the National Assembly discussed the first part of the report, the annual financial statement for the financial year 2007 – 08. The budget for that year was prepared by the previous government. And, most of it was implemented by the interim government. The current government was in office for the final three months of that financial year. The total approved outlay…

Noble king

Posted inMonarchy
A year ago, on 21 July, during the first sitting of the Parliament after the signing of the Constitution, I proposed a motion to nominate His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo for the Nobel Peace Prize. To recall the importance of that motion, I’m featuring a photograph of our beloved kings, taken during the signing of the Constitution, in the banner. And, I’m posting a rough translation of the statement I made in the Parliament last year. On the 15th day of the 5th month of our calendar, His Majesty the King affixed his signature, in pure gold, to…

Gift from the Golden Throne

Posted inDemocracy, Monarchy
One year ago, on 18th July 2008, His Majesty the King signed the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan. I am pleased to reproduce below, His Majesty the King’s address to the Nation on that historic day. On this day of destiny, in the blessed land of Pelden Drukpa we, a fortunate People and King, hereby resolve to bring into effect the root and foundation - the very source - of all law in our nation. On such an auspicious occasion, on behalf of the people I offer gratitude to His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. During his reign…

Dressed to talk?

Posted inLegislature
In our last poll,  many of you – almost 60% - said the National Council conducts its debates well. Very good. And, most of you said that there’s a lot to be desired in the way the National Assembly conducts its business. That’s bad. Our poll results, incidentally, may have a relation to the respective Houses’ policies on live TV broadcast. The National Council welcomes it. And, the National Assembly does not allow most of its proceedings to be telecast live. Even though I’m a member of the National Assembly, I’m inclined to agree with the results of the…

World class advice

Posted inEconomy
Jack recently posted a comment in “Double vision” asking for my “…opinion regarding the government paying USD 9.1m to a global management consultancy firm, McKinsey and company”. I’m afraid that I know very little about “Accelerating Bhutan’s Economic Development”, the project that McKinsey will implement. And, the little I know comes from what Kuensel had reported a few days ago. The project must be interesting. And exciting. So, I’m already looking forward to learning more about it. But let’s look at what we know. In “Really hard business”, we talked about how difficult it was to do business in…

A problem

Posted inHealth
Last Friday, an MP asked the health minister, Lyonpo Zangley Dukpa, what his ministry was doing to address the growing problem of drug abuse in our country. In his response, Lyonpo Zangley informed the National Assembly that, in 2008, a total of 418 people had been arrested for drug abuse. And that, in the same year, in 2008, 132 drug dealers had been arrested and charged in our courts. Now look at the numbers. 132 drug dealers and 418 drug addicts were caught in the same year. That’s only 3.17 drug addicts caught for every drug dealer caught. And…

Questioning questions

Posted inLegislature23 Comments
The National Council had summoned two ministers – Lyonpo Thakur Singh Powdyel and Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba – to attend Question Time yesterday. Both of them didn’t show up. So the Council adjourned for the hour earmarked for Question Time. By now, it’s safe to assume that the Council will continue to hold Question Time, which they have scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays. And, that they will continue to expect cabinet ministers to attend to deliver their answers in person. But it’s also safe to assume to our cabinet ministers will not attend the National Council’s Question Time. Last Friday,…

Double vision

Posted inMedia
The editorial in the Dzongkha edition of the Kuensel this morning confused me. The editorial denounced the National Council’s decision to legalize the sale of tobacco through high taxes. And, it called on the National Assembly to overturn the Council’s decision and endorse the Tobacco Control Bill. Why was I confused? Because yesterday’s English edition of the Kuensel carried an editorial applauding the National Council’s decision to legalize the sale of tobacco products through high taxation policies. Editorials represent a newspaper’s stand – their point of view – on important issues. So, obviously, a newspaper’s opinion on a particular…

Seeing ‘dungs’ and ‘jalings’

Posted inMiscellaneous
Tan, Archibad, Tshewang, I_am_glad_I_didn’t_vote, GoodToSeePM&OLLaughing&Talking(aspiring), Tshewang Rinzin, The Postman, Karma CW, Ping­ pong and Namgay all identified the picture correctly and collectively screamed that “The big picture” was a pair of dhung chen, the beautiful long horns used by our monks. The flood of correct answers prompted one reader, Linda Wangmo, to try to distract other readers by pointing out that the picture could be a close-up of a pair of jalings. Only one, SonanG, seems to have fallen for Linda Wangmo’s trap. One reader, Nedag, berated me for posting a picture that was “…too easy” and called for…

The big picture – 2

Posted inMiscellaneous
Here’s another challenge. The first one to correctly identify what the picture shows wins a commemorative Nu 100 coin celebrating His Majesty’s the King’s coronation last year. I've decided to hold these challenges every now and then to add some much needed life to this blog of ours.  So don't look for clues in the title!

Yangphel’s record

Posted inCulture
Yesterday, Tob Dhen Dhey accomplished what many archers considered the impossible: they shattered the 60-karey barrier by hitting 61 kareys in 15 rounds. That’s an average of 12.2 kareys per person. That’s an average of 4.07 team kareys per round. That’s impossible to beat. Yangphel has already entered Tob Dhen Dhey’s 61 kareys in their record books. Obviously all the Tob Dhen Dhey archers performed well. In fact, no one hit less than 10 kareys! And Ata Sonam hit 17 kareys in 15 rounds. That’s one short of the record held by Forest Namgay, Gem Tshering and Karma Tenzin.…

Yangphel’s gift

Posted inCulture
A record 154 teams are participating in the 13th Yangphel Archery Tournament that began last Saturday. During the “league phase” of the tournament, each team will play three matches. And three teams compete against each other in match. So the stadium in Changlimithang will see a total of 154 league matches over six weeks. This year, for the first time since Yangphel started its tournament 13 years ago, the teams that qualify for the “knockout phase” will need to win two matches in order to get to the quarterfinal stage. Till last year, one win in the knockout phase…

Dangerous nonsense

Posted inGovernment, Legislature
The first item on the National Council’s agenda today is Question Time. And they’ve summoned our finance minister to answer, in person, questions that have been sent to him ten days ago. I predict that our finance minister will not show up at the National Council. He will not respect their summons. Yes, we are, in many ways, still transitioning to a democracy, hopefully to one that’s honest, robust and vibrant. But, this brinkmanship playing out between our government and the Council cannot be blamed on transition. What we are witnessing is the lack of decency, and the absolute…

Turn on that switch!

Posted inLegislature, Media6 Comments
It’s been one week since the National Assembly discontinued live TV coverage of its proceedings. And most of us have now resigned to the fact that the National Assembly’s discussions are not broadcast on live TV. Not our villagers though. I still receive calls to appeal, on their behalf, for resumption of live coverage – on radio and TV – of the Assembly’s proceedings. Today, for instance, Tashi Gyeltshen telephoned me. Tashi is from remote Merak in Trashigang. And he’s a yak herder. He called to tell me that he wants to listen to the Assembly sessions on his…