Three men suspected of stealing 53 horses in Wangdue Phodrang, out of which seven belonged to His Eminence Gangtey Truelku, have been detained by the police. One of the suspects is a taxi driver from Punakha and the other two are farmers from Phobjikha, Wangdue Phodrang. The horses went missing from Phobjikha where they were grazing. Wangdue police said the horses …

Environmental studies (EVS) which is taught in Dzongkha from classes PP to III is taught in English from class IV onwards as social studies and science. This sudden U-turn, some observers feel, will be to the detriment of the students’ performance. But according to the Principal Curriculum Officer for environmental studies, with the Department of …

The National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) is exploring the possibility of using alternative housing materials such as prefabricated building components or stabilized mud blocks to afford cheaper accommodation to middle and low-income people. The corporation plans to implement this project in far-flung districts or urban centres in Bhutan where accessibility is difficult or the cost of construction …

The glaring headlines of the 14 April issue almost elevated unconfirmed toxicity of Kharang to that of “radiation exposure” of radioactive nuclear waste in post-tsunami Japan then. This story comes out as if hurtling with the haste to prove Kharang leads to cancer. We use kharang almost every day in the family menu. It represents a simple staple diet to …

When I was in high school, I had a teacher who said that “hill people are lazy”. Maybe he did not mean to say we did not work. Maybe he meant the phrase for our attitude towards work. For him, the social work in Bhutanese schools was unproductive work as students lacked dignity of labor. As most philosophers …

Bhutanese youth are having a significant impact on various aspect of our society, media, culture, politics, economy and etc but still are a misunderstood lot. The media as an example is one institution where the average age of most journalists is under 25 with even senior editors in their early 30’s or late …

Imagine a magical pillow that ails in hyper-tension and diabetes among other lifestyle diseases. It is not a joke. The humble buckwheat pillow is already popular in Bumthang, Japan and other countries for medicinal purposes and the demand for it has slowly and steadily been increasing in Thimphu, too. Apart from ensuring sound sleep, …

Although there are plans to relocate Phub Dem, a Red Panda rescued from Trongsa by Forest Protection and Surveillance Unit (FPSU) of Department of Forests and Park Services (DoFPS) as a two-month old cub, to Lamperi Botanical Park (RBP), it could not be done till date. This according to officials of the Wildlife Conservation Division (WCD) is due to budget constraints. “Lamperi …

All the Gewog Administration Officers (GAO) are collecting literacy rate data of the age group 13 years and above. It started on 16 April and is being done in all the gewogs of Tsirang. By the end of the month the data has to be submitted to the Ministry of Education (MoE). “We visit each gewog and we try …

To boost pure organic farming of buckwheat and wheat, three farm roads havebeen constructed in Ura gewog, Bumthang so far. A 3.2 km farm road was constructed in Pangkhar Chiwog for which the villagers contributed labor. The gewog was provided with an excavator for free by the government but the fuel is bought from the community budget of Nu 1 …