2011 – Page 7 – Tshering Tobgay

Informing people

May 3, 2011Media6 Comments

Today’s banner features 75-year old Jabari Dan Rai who hails from Dumtoe, a remote gewog in Samtse. By seven every morning, this remarkably healthy septuagenarian arrives at the Lungtenampa bridge to distribute that day’s newspapers to pedestrians making their ways to school and work. Bhutan’s media has come a long way. From very humble beginnings in 1967 when Kuensel was started as a government gazette, we now have at least 9 newspapers, 7 radio stations, a TV broadcaster and a growing number of new media sites. Today’s banner is a simple way of expressing my gratitude to our media,…

Breaking the law?

May 2, 2011Democracy12 Comments

210 candidates have been disqualified from taking part in the local government elections. These candidates, all of whom had been members of a political party, were disqualified as it has not yet been one year since they resigned from their respective political parties. Actually all of them had resigned from their political parties more than a year ago. All of them were automatically deemed to have resigned as far back as 2008 when they did not renew their memberships with their respective parties. But Section 206 of the Election Act requires that any resignation or removal from a party…

Bonded teachers?

April 28, 2011Education20 Comments

Suppose you’ve just completed college. And suppose that you are a topper – that you’re in the top 5% of the graduates. Would you consider becoming a teacher? You should. For the sake of our children, you should. That, at least, is what McKinsey & Company suggest. About five years ago, McKinsey sought to find out why some schools succeed while others don’t. They did that by studying the school systems of 25 countries, including 10 of the top performers, to identify the common characteristics of high-performing school systems. McKinsey’s year-long study revealed that increased spending and ambitious education…

Be proud

April 26, 2011Democracy7 Comments

An important conversation that took place on my facebook page recently:

Indignation

April 22, 2011Justice36 Comments

Day before yesterday, when members of the National Assembly met to discuss the preliminary agenda for the Assembly’s next session, the opposition party proposed that a bill to amend the Tobacco Control Act be considered. It has not yet been one year since the Tobacco Control Act was adopted, but according to Section 193 of the National Assembly Act: When a Bill has been passed or has been rejected during a session in any year, no Bill of the same substance may be introduced in the Assembly in that year except by leave of the Assembly. Regretfully, the members…

Right to choose

April 21, 2011Democracy

The Chief Election Commissioner has released a pamphlet "... to share a few concerns of the Election Commission and clarify certain issues" The Election Commission requests all of us to forward and redistribute their pamphlet to other Bhutanese.

National speaker?

April 21, 2011Legislature, Media14 Comments

Yesterday, members of the National Assembly met to discuss the preliminary agenda for the Assembly’s next session. During the discussions, the members also considered if the entire proceedings of the National Assembly should once again be broadcast on live TV. After exchanging the same old arguments – from the need to promote transparency by those favoring live TV, to the importance of preventing the public from influencing legislative debate by those against live TV – the members passed the buck to their speaker. The Constitution and the National Assembly Act both empower the Speaker to prevent the media from…

Unemployment news

April 20, 2011Employment11 Comments

First the good news: unemployment has dropped from 4% to 3.3% and will be further reduced to 2.5% by 2013. The prime minister announced the good news in his State of the Nation report last year. The government reiterated the good news in January this year, during a review of the project Accelerating Bhutan’s Socio-economic Development. Now the not-so-good news: the government’s unemployment figures have been questioned, forcing them to “… refute allegations that the data they used to indicate drop in unemployment rate for 2010 was manipulated”. And finally the bad news: more than 6000 people applied for…

Opposing corruption

April 19, 2011Democracy28 Comments

“guardian” entered three comments on my last post. All three were on corruption. In the first comment, “guardian” complained that I hadn’t given any attention to this important issue: OL simply needs to get his priorities right. When there are so many cases of corruption in the country, OL has not even raised his voice once. I suspect that somehow if he does that, he will find more PDP supporters who are behind all these corrupt practices. In the second comment, “guardian” laments that no one seems to be doing any thing about the malaise spreading through our society:…

Playing the game

April 12, 2011Media36 Comments

My post entitled “Playing the media” drew many responses. Two of them were from Tenzing Lamsang. In his first response, Tenzing argues that “sources” play an important role in revealing crucial information, often by taking great risks. He writes that: Investigative Journalism internationally has to rely on confidential sources and so is the case in Bhutan. In fact a good journalists job is to cultivate the right sources in the right places. We should salute these brave sources whose courage and conscience have helped to clean up society to some extent and also spread transparency. … The very lack…

Taking charge

April 11, 2011Government16 Comments

Here are two reasons why we should welcome news that the prime minister has formally taken charge of the foreign affairs portfolio: One, the foreign ministry, an important portfolio, has been without a minister for about a year. And two, this is a good opportunity for the government to reduce the size of the administration. Eleven ministers (a prime minister and 10 cabinet ministers) for a country of 700,000 people and a GDP of barely US$ 1.3 billion is excessive by any measure. Switzerland, for instance, has 7 ministers for 8 million people and a GDP of US$ 500…

RUB fees?

April 8, 2011Education39 Comments

The RUB has accepted McKinsey's recommendation to charge fees to their students. This year, 10% of the students entering RUB's colleges will have to pay fees. And by 2013, 30% of them will have to do so. Is this a good idea? What do you think? Please share your thoughts. And please take the poll that asks "Should RUB charge fees?"

Examining exams

April 8, 2011Education2 Comments

Earlier this year, when the education ministry announced that they were thinking about doing away with written examinations for students of PP to Class III, I asked if phasing out the exams was a good idea. 41% of you said YES, exams should be discontinued for Classes PP to III. But 56% of you said NO, written exams should not be discontinued. The rest said that they were not sure. Thank you for taking the poll. The idea of doing away with examinations was first mooted at a GNH for Education conference. The education ministry considered the proposal, but…

Vicious precedence

April 6, 2011Justice18 Comments

Okay, I'm confused... On 31st March, Bhutan Today reported that the Chukha district court found the driver who was caught with 10 packets of khaini and 2 packets of cigarettes guilty of a misdemeanor. I'd written that we should welcome the verdict, and posted a copy of Bhutan Today's article in which the Hon'ble Drangpon was quoted extensively. But today, Bhutan Today reports that the Chukha district court found Ambar Biswa, the driver who was caught with 10 packets of khaini and 2 packets of cigarettes, guilty of a fourth degree felony and sentenced him to a prison term…