Tobacco control

Posted inLegislature
Today is world no tobacco day. And, not coincidentally, the Parliament, in a joint sitting, discussed the Tobacco Control Bill. The bill had already been debated in both the Houses last year – today’s discussions were to iron out the differences between the two Houses. Parliament will probably pass the Tobacco Control Bill tomorrow. And I am concerned. I’m concerned that we will pass a law that the government will not be able to enforce: a law that criminalizes the sale of cigarettes, but permits smoking, even in designated public spaces. The proposed law imposes hefty penalties on people…

Thanking His Majesty

Posted inLegislature, Monarchy17 Comments
Earlier today, His Majesty the King was received in a traditional chipdrel procession to the inaugural ceremony of the fifth session of the Parliament. My statement, expressing the opposition party’s gratitude to His Majesty, is available here.

More than taekwondo

Posted inEducation
Thimphu Club won the most medals in the recent under-15 tae­kwondo championships. Thimphu Primary School came in second. And Zilukha LSS third. 105 students from 9 clubs had participated in the championships that had been organized to commemorate Bhutan Taekwondo Federation’s silver jubilee. Not bad, I had initially thought, till I looked at the medal standings properly. Of the 9 clubs only two were from government schools. Five of them, on the other hand, were from private schools. The remaining two were not school based – one, the winner, is part of the Federation, and the other, White Tigers,…

Answering Sonam

Posted inCulture, Democracy
Sonam’s question generated a good deal of discussions. And, most of you argued that we, elected officials – ministers and MPs alike – should not wear our kabneys and patangs after completing our terms in office. Similarly, almost all of you who took the poll that asked, “Should elected MPs and ministers continue to wear their "kabneys" after their terms in office?” voted against the idea. A resounding 220 of you said “NO”; only 18 said “YES”. I agree with the majority. But should we, in fact, take it still further? Should we do away with colour-coded kabneys and…

Sunday biking

Posted inGeneral
Our Sunday bicycling group is slowly growing. Today, there were 12 of us. We met up at the Clock Tower Square, and rode together to Dechenphug monastery and back. Contact Rinzin Ongdra at [email protected] if you’d like to join the group. Or, just show up at the square at 10:30 AM on Sunday. To encourage you I’ve posted some pictures from today’s ride at the gallery.

TPS book week

Posted inEducation
Mountain Echoes, a four-day literary festival in the capital, organized by the India-Bhutan Friendship Association, has concluded successfully. Coincidentally, Thimphu Primary School organized a lesser known, but no less important, literary festival of their own last week. Students pledged to stay away from television during all of “book week”, yielding, instead, to the delights of storybooks. They read books, wrote and told stories, designed book posters, donated books, bought books, and quizzed each other about books and authors. And yesterday, at the final day of the TPS book week, the students put on a costume parade for their parents…

Public business

Posted inLegislature
Members of the National Assembly met last week to consider points submitted by the local governments and MNAs for inclusion in the Parliament’s 5th session. The so-called “pre-agenda” meeting is an important conduit for issues of national importance to receive the National Assembly’s attention. We must take the issues seriously as they are an important part of our responsibilities. Article 10.2 of the Constitution requires that: Parliament shall ensure that the Government safeguards the interests of the nation and fulfils the aspirations of the people through public review of policies and issues, Bills and other legislations, and scrutiny of…

Trial by secret jury

Posted inMedia
The first annual journalism awards drew strong criticism from the media when a judge won the prize for the very category he was adjudicating. This time, during the second annual journalism awards, the government was careful not to repeat last year’s howler. And they managed. How? By concealing the identity of the jury. The public – and that includes the media – did not, and still does not, know who this year’s judges were. In fact, it appears that the judges themselves do not know who their fellow judges were! Being cautious is one thing. But being secretive is…

Summer residence

Posted inReligion
His Holiness the Je Khenpo and the central monastic body took up their summer residence in Tashichhodzong last Saturday. This week's banner celebrates this centuries-old tradition. The gallery has a few more photos of the soelthap arriving at the Tashichhodzong.

Paying for support

Posted inGovernment, Local Government
Dasho Nima Wangdi, director general of finance, justifying the government’s decision to increase the allowances and benefits of gups, was quoted as saying that: The pay commission, which was not a full time committee, could be instituted by the government only for major systemic changes in pay and allowance structures. “In the gups’ case, the government has the full authority to decide.” He’s right: the Pay Commission is not a full time committee. And he’s wrong: the government does not have any authority to revise the pay and allowances of public servants, including gups, independently. It can do so…

Education city

Posted inGovernment

Today, yet another concerned person asked me about the education city. And he too wanted to hear my views on the 1 billion dollar project.
Some of you may have seen my views in Tenzing Lamsang’s story. But, it appears that many others haven’t. So, with the permission of Business Bhutan, I’m reproducing their entire story….
Billion $ education city under scanner
US$ 500m foreign exchange a year and around 30 international universities on 1,000 acres: this is what the prime minister’s pet project, the planned education city, aims.
If MediaGlobal, a United Nations-based news agency, is to be believed, the ground breaking ceremony for the city is just a year away.
“While anchor universities should start operating initially, it is likely to be 10 years for the entire city to be in place gradually,” MediaGlobal quoted Kushal Sengupta of Infinity InfoTech Parks, the agency that is proposing to implement the project at a site yet to be identified.
But critics of the project say the manner in which the country’s biggest foreign investment plan is being pursued is not proper.
Opposition Leader Tshering Tobgay said that he is ‘very concerned’ about the project by its lack of transparency.

Registering CSOs

Posted inCivil society
Commenting on my last post, several readers reiterated that the Tarayana Foundation is doing some wonderful work. I agree. But did you know that Tarayana Foundation, established seven years ago, is not a registered CSO? Similarly, the Youth Development Fund, established 11 years ago, and RSPN, established 24 years ago, are not registered CSOs. We know that Tarayana, YDF and RSPN are doing a good job alleviating rural poverty, developing our youth and protecting our natural heritage respectively. They’ve proven it. We also know that many other NGOs have made significant contributions to the development of our country and…

Fighting poverty

Posted inCivil society, Villages
A popular attraction at the recent Tarayana Fair was the Lhop house. The house, which barely measures 8 feet by 9 feet, had belonged to Ap Pen Tshering, and in it, he and his wife, Aum Gagay Lham, had raised their four children. 75 year-old Pen Tshering’s house had been dismantled and transported to Thimphu, where it was carefully reassembled to showcase the lifestyle of the Lhops, Bhutan’s first inhabitants. And Pen Tshering had been more than happy to abandon his house. After all, he had no need for it. Ap Pen Tshering, you see, had built a bigger,…

Update on fifth session

Posted inLegislature
The National Assembly’s draft agenda for the fifth session of the Parliament was distributed yesterday. The Assembly will discuss the Water Bill, Financial Services Bill, Disaster Management Bill, and the Annual Budget 2010-2011. The joint sitting of the Parliament will meet to discuss and endorse the Tobacco Control Bill, RMA (Ammendment) Bill, Standards Bill, and Service Conditions Bill for Constitutional Offices. In addition, the prime minister will report on the State of the Nation. Please keep sharing your comments on these bills. And, don’t forget to check the National Assembly’s website periodically to see if new bills have been…

Parliament’s fifth session

Posted inLegislature
The National Assembly has announced that the fifth session of the Parliament will begin on 28th May. That’s in about three weeks. But, I still don’t know what will be discussed. And I still haven’t received the bills, if any, that will be introduced in the fifth session. So I’m at a loss about how to prepare for the Parliament’s imminent session. It appears that the government has recently submitted four bills to the National Assembly. They are the Childcare and Protection Bill; the Child Adoption Bill; Water Bill; and the Financial Services Bill. The first three are on…