Be proud
An important conversation that took place on my facebook page recently:
Indignation
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
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?
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
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
“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
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
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?
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
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
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…
Social media and Bhutan
Social media was the subject of Bhutan’s attention on two occasions last month. In one, the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy organized a conference to discuss “… the current social media scene in Bhutan and … how this can be used to benefit Bhutanese society.” The conference, which also provided “… a step by step guide to using Twitter and Facebook ...”, took place on 29th and 30th March. In the other, the government issued a circular pointing out that social media sites were “taking a toll on the productivity of the government machinery” and suggesting that social…
Virtuous precedence
“linda”, a regular commentator, screamed in my last post: ANY SAY ON THE TANALUM TOBACCO CASEEEEEE? DIFFERENT LAWS IN DIFFERENT DISTRICT, DIFFERENT LAWS BY DIFFERENT DRANGPON …. DIFFERENT LAWS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE What upset “linda” was the apparent inconsistency the verdict by the Chukha District Court on a 29-year old bus driver. On 16th March, in Tanalum, the driver had been caught with 10 packets of Baba chewing tobacco and two packets of cigarettes. He was charged with smuggling tobacco under the Tobacco Control Act. On 28th March, the driver had been released on bail. And on 30th March,…
Big ideas
I stayed at Yangtsena yesterday. It’s a small village on the southern slopes of the Pu-la overlooking the Amochhu river. Yangtsena has only seven houses. But all of them are handsome, traditional farmhouses. It wasn’t always like that – just 14 years ago, they lived in basic bamboo huts. That’s about when, when Yangtsena’s residents got together and decided that they, all seven households, must have better houses. Individually, no family had the resources to build a farmhouse. So they decided to pool their resources, especially labour, and collectively build all of their houses, one farmhouse at a time.…
BNCA rules
Most of us support the objectives of the Tobacco Control Act, which is to reduce tobacco consumption – perhaps even eradicate it – in the country. But many of us are alarmed at the severe penalties being handed out under the Act. First Sonam Tshering, a monk, was sentenced to three years in prison for possessing a mere 48 packets of chewing tobacco. He has appealed the verdict to the High Court. Then Lhab Tshering, a driver, was arrested for possessing 64 packets of chewing tobacco. He’s currently being tried at the Thimphu District Court, and could also receive…