Effectively different

Posted inGovernment
Our finance minister issued two notices on 13th February.The first notice announced that “Upon approval of the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance is pleased to announce the revision of pay and allowances of the public servants with effect from 1st January 2009…”Good. This is consistent with the Parliament’s resolution and the government’s Pay Revision Proposal which states that “In order to reduce the magnitude of the costs, the Government has decided to implement the pay revision from January 2009” (see Pay Revision).The second notice, addressed to the Hon’ble Speaker and Hon’ble Chairman of the NA and NC respectively, states…

Addressing addresses

Posted inTowns
I’m going to the wedding too, remarked my friend, can you tell me where it is?I told him that the happy event was taking place opposite the RSPN’s old office, below the new Norling building in lower Changangkha. My friend’s blank look promoted me to continue: at the Chubachu roundabout take the road to Motithang; drive by the DHL office towards the RICB colony, but don’t go all the way to the colony; take the road that goes to the new road leading to the YDF complex; before you reach the new road, you’ll see a lot of vehicles;…

Road to nowhere

Posted inTowns
The double-lane road below Norzin Lam has recently attracted a lot of attention. Dorji Wangchuk, in his blog, complained that he was clueless about the purpose of the “middle road”. And Kuensel questioned government officials why the road was built in the first place.The double-lane road was built to take away Norzin Lam’s vehicular traffic, so that it could be converted to a completely pedestrian path. That, according to the Thimphu Structural Plan developed by Professor Christopher Beninger, was the idea. But that is not happening.Norzin Lam continues to be used by vehicles traveling towards Chubachu. Vehicles returning from…

Transforming our towns

Posted inTowns
Last week, Bhutan Times reported that a model town will be built in Denchi, Pema Gatshel (A new town like no other; Bhutan Times; 11 February – I couldn’t find the article on BT’s unfriendly website, so please bear with the numerous quotations).The article quoted our prime minister as announcing that Denchi “… will be a dream town structurally planned and aesthetically beautiful with all aspects of urbanity…” And that it “… will have facilities not incorporated in other towns like a town hall, a park, a promenade, a unique modern dzong and banking and postal services.”Very good.But our…

Working online … securely

Posted inGovernment
Okay, I’m impatient. I wish we’d make better and quicker use of ICT. I wish we’d use the decades of hard work and zillions of dollars that others have invested to leapfrog to the frontiers of ICT.But I should also wish that we learn from their mistakes.A close friend of mine tells me that filing taxes and declaring assets online is dangerous stuff. She warns me that financial information, such as bank accounts and personal identification, that is sent online, especially as email attachments, can easily be intercepted and misused. And that “identity theft” and stealing other people’s money…

Working online

Posted inGovernment
I’ve filed my PIT returns electronically. It’s quite easy: go to the MOF website; download the electronic form, an excel file; complete the form; and submit it as an email attachment. The only cumbersome part is sending the supporting documents – TDS certificates, proof of education expenses, donation receipts and the like must be scanned and sent as email attachments.The entire process should not take more than two hours. If you have trouble, telephone them. The officials are polite, patient and helpful.I learned that, so far, only 600 of the 5500 PIT returns were filed electronically. That's barely 11%…

Funny money?

Posted inEconomy4 Comments
For over a decade now, every time I’ve fueled up in Phuentsholing, I’ve asked the petrol pump cashier to exchange various amounts of Ngultrums for Indian Rupees. I’ve had little problems changing small amounts, like Nu 500. But for larger amounts, say Nu 5000, it would sometimes get difficult to change my money. I’ve rarely needed the Indian Rupees for my stay in Phuentsholing, yet I’ve made it a point to request for the informal currency exchange every time I visit our border town. I’ve developed this odd tradition to give me a very rough idea of the state…

Interpreting our Constitution

Posted inLegislature
“WE, the people of Bhutan ... do hereby ordain and adopt this Constitution for the Kingdom of Bhutan ...” proclaims the preamble of our constitution. And Article 1 declares that “This Constitution is the supreme law of the State.” And that “The Supreme Court shall be the guardian of this Constitution and the final authority on its interpretation”.If legal interpretation of the Constitution was needed it should have been provided by the Royal Courts of Justice which includes the Supreme Court, the High Court, Dzongkhag Courts and Dungkhag Courts. The Supreme Court has the final authority on the interpretation…

Transforming our villages

Posted inEconomy, Villages
I am delighted that the agriculture minister is traveling to our dzongkhags to discuss the 10th Plan and to identify viable products that our villagers can make (read Taking the 10th plan to the people). If villagers and local leaders are fully involved in the process and genuinely accept his idea, our agriculture minister could bring about a true and sustained transformation of our villages. Well done. The following article, reproduced from the PDP manifesto, talks about how the One Village One Product movement could transform villages in Bhutan: Ohita is a small village in Japan’s southernmost island of…

How (not) to lift the meat ban

Posted inDemocracy, Legislature
Well done, Bhutan Observer, for continuing the debate on the proposed amendment the Livestock Act 2001 (read their articles Meat ban debate and Killing ceases when eating stops).I say “proposed amendment” because the proposal to lift the ban on selling meat products during the 1st and 4th months of our traditional calendar has not completed the constitutional process. So it is not yet law.To become law, Article 13.1 of the Constitution requires that “A Bill passed by Parliament shall come into force upon Assent of the Druk Gyalpo”. And Royal Assent has not been granted so far. In fact,…

Is the GDP in our GNH?

Posted inEconomy
Here’s some good news from the RMA: our GDP, which is about Nu 59 billion, grew by 21.4% in 2007 and increased per capita GDP to US$ 1900. Not bad. We now have the highest GDP per person in South Asia. But what does this mean?Do you contribute your share to the GDP? If you do, you would have contributed US$ 1900 worth of goods or services to the economy. And if you do that, you would earn US$ 1900 in one year. Now US$ 1900 is roughly Nu 95,000 which is about Nu 7,900 a month. Do you…

Official business

Posted inEconomy
I’m humbled by the quality of the responses to my last entry – they are insightful, meaningful and educative. And every one of them shows deep concern over how difficult it is to do business in our country. But your responses scared me. I suddenly realized that Doing Business ranking for Bhutan may be terribly inaccurate. Why? Because Doing Business measures regulations and procedures that affect business activity, regardless of how well or poorly the regulations are applied. Your responses all say the same things in various ways: that regulations are not our biggest constraint to doing business; that…

Getting down to business

Posted inEconomy11 Comments
Everywhere I look I see people, thousands of them, buying and selling goods and services. It must be easy to do business in Thailand. In fact it is: Doing Business 2009 ranks Thailand 13th out of the 181 economies that the World Bank studied. Doing Business investigates government regulations that affect the following 10 aspects of business activity: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. Bhutan, as we know very well, is ranked 124 (read Doing business isn't easy anywhere).…

Increasing voluntary contributions

Posted inPolitical parties
The election commission’s decision to increase the voluntary contribution ceiling to political parties is hazardous to the health of our fledgling democracy (read ECB’s notification).It’s hazardous because increasing the amount that members can contribute will strengthen the two existing parties, and place any future party at a big disadvantage. It’s hazardous because increasing the voluntary contribution ceiling by 500% to Nu 500,000 per member per year disproportionately favors one party – the ruling party, DPT, which also enjoys an overwhelming majority. To be sure, even a ceiling of Nu 100,000 favours DPT more than PDP, but that ceiling was…

Happy world?

Posted inEconomy
20th August 1987. It was getting dark. I’d reached my university in Pittsburgh earlier that day. I fought to control my jetlag and hide my culture shock. I was tired and hungry.So I made my way to a MacDonald’s and timidly requested for the set meal that offered a cheese burger, fries and coke. The lady taking my order tried to protest. But I respectfully insisted that that’s what I’d have…I was too nervous and shy to construct a full meal by ordering a la carte.I understood what the fuss was about as soon as my food arrived. It…