A tragedy occurred last week: a six-week-old baby died at the Largyab Basic Health unit in Dagana after hours of waiting for an ambulance that had run out of fuel. We are struck with wonder and disbelief at this but maybe we cannot quite comprehend the grief and frustration of the parents of the baby […]
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One incidence of child sexual abuse was reported every week last year. The highest number of cases was reported from Gelephu. The perpetrators were men. What is the problem here? Where are we going wrong? Don’t we have strong enough policies and laws to protect our children and prevent such cases of abuse? Right now, […]
Read MoreWhat started as mid-term review by the first democratically elected government has given way to the annual performance agreement (APA), which was initiated by the previous government. Currently, the government has been signing almost one APA after another, including most recently with the Thromde and the information and communications ministry. The APA has a cascading […]
Read MoreCurrently, Bhutan has a huge problem with unemployment and job forecasting. For instance, a huge number of engineering students are being churned out on a regular basis but they don’t have jobs. Whom do we blame? The labor ministry for failing to forecast employment or the education sector for the same? It’s a shame that […]
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In what appears to be the last measure following the failure of various initiatives to urge people, especially in the urban areas to move from subsidized to non-subsidized cooking gas cylinders, the trade department issued a notification last week stating that it would lift the supply of subsidized gas cylinders from the four Thromdes starting […]
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Zhemgang has been removed from the list of dzongkhags under the flagship program in the 12th Five year Plan. Four dzongkhags – Dagana, Gasa, Lhuentse and Zhemgang – were supposed to get Nu 11mn as part of the flagship program but now Zhemgang has been unceremoniously dropped from the list. Who is to blame and […]
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On June 20, the country was assailed with the news of Thorthormi Lake possibly threatening to burst into a GLOF, a replica of the 1994 Luggye Tsho disaster. Earlier this week, two major fires broke out – one in Changzamtog in Thimphu and the other in Pasakha, Chukha. This time around, we were lucky. No […]
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The monsoon has arrived bringing along with it catastrophic impacts. Last week many places like Samtse, Gelephu and Phuentsholing felt these impacts. The monsoon disasters recur every year, a grim reminder of how vulnerable we are to unpredictable natural disasters and forces of nature. The heavy rains claimed two lives on Tuesday morning. A 65-year-old […]
Read MoreThere has been a heated debate on the age of consent being proposed to 16 years from 18 years in the parliament. Did we actually hear that? Are we being futuristic or are we regressing? So many questions can be asked about the rationale behind the proposal: does it mean that we can rob our […]
Read MoreBans have become synonymous with jokes in Bhutan. Starting with the plastic ban decades ago and now to the tobacco ban to the casual dress ban, everything that was in constant use and even considered almost a necessity but had supposed or real disadvantages have been banned at least in principle. In reality, the plastic […]
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