Government – Page 6 – Tshering Tobgay

Questionable lottery

October 11, 2010Government7 Comments

According to Business Bhutan, Nu 150 billion worth of Bhutanese lottery tickets were printed illegally every year in the Indian state of Kerala alone. That’s a lot of money by any measure. But to get a proper sense of how much Nu 150 billion really is, consider that our entire GDP is only about Nu 60 billion. Or that the Tenth Five Year Plan outlay is Nu 148 billion (the Ninth Plan outlay was Nu 70 billion). So I was surprised to learn that the prime minister’s fist response to the alleged lottery scam was remarkably casual. The prime…

Security Council?

September 30, 2010Government18 Comments

Our government has started to campaign for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Is this a good idea? Take the poll that asks: “Should Bhutan lobby to join the UN Security Council?”

McKinsey poll

September 29, 2010Government

During the last session of the Parliament I asked the prime minister to explain what Mckinsey were doing that couldn’t be done by our own civil servants. Subsequently, I ran a poll that asked you “Are civil servants impressed with McKinsey’s work?” Of the 569 who took the poll, 408 (or 72%) replied with a emphatic “No!” while only 72 (or 12%) said “Yes!” The others (16%) answered “I don’t know.” Our poll results are straightforward: An overwhelming majority of you are not impressed with McKinsey’s performance. That is terrible, especially if, as I suspect, many of you who…

About fines

September 7, 2010Government, Legislature

I’m impressed at the government’s readiness to abide by the law. Bhutan Today (whose website has been woefully inadequate) had recently reported that: The prime minister has ordered the information and communication ministry to pay about Nu 2.3 million in penalty for not following the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures in the construction of the Bathpalathang airstrip in Bumthang. But I’m not impressed at the prime minister’s cavalier disregard for the basic principles of accountability when he added that: … the fine will have to be levied even if it means paying from one pocket to another. I wonder…

Crushing stone

August 21, 2010Government

Earlier this year, in “Mining our business”, I’d explained why it would be unlawful for the government to permit L&T, Gammon and HCC to operate stone quarries for the Punatshangchhu hydropower project. I don’t know for sure, but it looks like L&T, Gammon and HCC are now not operating the stone quarries. That is very good. But what I do know for sure is that L&T, Gammon and HCC have each established stone crushing plants. That is bad. And that is illegal. Stone crushing is a specific business, one that requires a separate industrial license, and one that is…

Good job

August 18, 2010Government9 Comments

The prime minister, in his State of the Nation address, on employment: I am pleased to report to the Hon’ble Members that a total of 320,900 are now employed. This shows that 96.69% of our workforce is employed leaving an unemployment rate of 3.3%, marking a downward movement for the first time in recent years. This indicates very clearly that this government is well on track to achieve its ambitious target of 2.5% unemployment rate in the next three years with a huge labour market in the making. This is good news. After all, unemployment, especially youth unemployment, is…

Foreign trips

July 23, 2010Government63 Comments

The prime minister, in his State of the Nation address, reporting to the Parliament on foreign relations: My trips to India, Japan and Italy this year were also very useful in deepening our relations with these countries. I agree. But, the prime minister understated his international travel account. The following, in fact, is a record of his trips outside Bhutan during the 2009-2010 fiscal year: July 2009: Goodwill trip to India August 2009: Fukuoka, Japan to deliver address on GNH November 2009: Itaipu, Brazil to deliver address on GNH February 2010: Delhi, India to attend Sustainable Development Summit February…

State of the Nation

July 16, 2010Government, Legislature

The projected order of business for the Fifth Session of the First Parliament for Bhutan had, among many others, the following two entries: Thursday, July 1: Presentation of the Annual Report on the State of the Nation, including Legislative Plans and the Annual Plans and Priorities of the Government, to the Druk Gyalpo and to the Joint Sitting of the Parliament. Monday, July 12: Deliberation on the presentation of the Annual Report on the State of the Nation including Legislative Plans and the Annual Plans and Priorities of the Government by the Prime Minister As we all know, the…

Polling McKinsey

July 13, 2010Government27 Comments

During question hour today, I asked the prime minister to explain what work McKinsey were doing that couldn’t be done by our own civil servants. And in my leader to the question, I’d reported that the civil servants I’d spoken with had confided that they were not impressed with the work that McKinsey had done so far. Naturally, the prime minister saw it differently. He claimed that every civil servant he’d talked to had been impressed with McKinsey’s work and had lavished praise on the world’s leading consultancy firm. Perhaps. But still, let’s conduct a poll – we haven’t…

Favouring foreigners over locals

July 13, 2010Government, Legislature

The National Assembly passed the Financial Services Bill last week. I voted against it. I did so because the Bill seems to favour foreign investors over our own people and companies. Section 50, on restrictions on ownership of financial institution and investments by financial institutions, reads: No person shall hold more than the following percentage of interest in shares of a financial institution: (a) in case of an individual, 10 percent, (b) in the case of a company not being a financial institution, 20 percent (c) in the case of a company being a financial institution, as per the…

Advocating champions

July 8, 2010Government

The prime minster, an advocate of cycling and walking to work, referred to a certain setback in his State of the Nation address: I would also like to report that the government has not given up on its dream to make Thimphu a bicycle and pedestrian city despite the initial setback. What is that “initial setback” that the prime minister lamented? After all, the government has made no serious attempts to promote cycling (apart from installing a few bicycle stands in the capital) or to encourage walking (besides the agriculture minister’s famous HEHE walks). Bicycles. In particular the 400…

Taxing explanation

July 6, 2010Government

The prime minister devoted a substantial part of his State of the Nation address to justify the government’s recent tax hikes. And to discredit the “vocal few” who challenged the government’s ill-conceived tax policies. The prime minister: Much has been said of the fiscal incentives and tax increases in certain areas. It has been alleged that the government is being insensitive to the difficulties that these will cause to our poor and ordinary businesspeople and that they will suffer the most. However, one should not allow oneself to be influenced without seeing the full picture. One needs to be…

Working with NC

July 6, 2010Government, Legislature

The prime minister, in his State of the Nation address, on differences between the National Council and National Assembly: Already several issues have arisen between the National Council and this House which inevitably raised the question of seeking the guidance of the Supreme Court even before it was established. Now with its establishment, the wisdom of the judiciary too will be tested if indeed constitutional issues are brought before it. My hope is that, through the ongoing dialogue between the two houses, these issues will be resolved without judicial intervention. Very good. Now prove that there's some genuine commitment…

Carbon neutral?

July 5, 2010Government

Dorji, commenting on my last post, GNH vs GDP: … what is surprising is that OL seem to have been engrossed in counting the repetition of GNH instead of the substance of the address itself. Dorji is right. We should pay attention to, and analyze, the substantive parts of the PM’s address. So that’s exactly what we’ll do over the next few days. Here’s the plan: I’ll pick up some issues, one at a time, and we’ll discuss them. Let’s begin with something easy: the environment. In his State of the Nation address, the PM informed the Parliament of…

GNH vs GDP

July 3, 2010Government8 Comments

How important is GNH to the government? In the prime minister’s State of the Nation address (which, incidentally, sounded more like a political campaign speech than a statement by the head of government) GNH was mentioned 14 times. Plus he made 6 separate references to happiness. On the other hand, he mentioned GDP just once, and that to caution against being “swayed onto the GNP/GDP path.” How important, in reality, is GNH to the government? In the finance minister’s budget report (which explains how the government will finance its policies) GDP was mentioned no less than 46 times. And…