DHI and private companies tussle over mine ownership and strategic minerals worth billions Bill likely to come up in the summer session and if not then by the winter session this year The mining industry has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the last one decade. A …

In a major departure from how civil servants are paid, the Prime Minister Lyonchhen (Dr) Lotay Tshering said that he has asked the 4th Pay Commission to come up with a performance based pay hike for civil servants. “I said (to the Pay Commission) that I will not be happy …

Three private radio stations and two news magazines have also folded In a reflection of the long standing and ongoing sustainability crisis in the private media, the Druk Neytshul newspaper, a private weekly Dzongkha newspaper shut down this month. The owner of the paper, Namgay Wangdi, said, “The main reason …

I am of the opinion that government has not violated the Constitution in the class 10 cut off debate. The confusion has mainly arisen out of understanding Article 9, which is the ‘Principles of State Policy’. Section 16 of this article says, ‘The State shall provide free education to all …

PM says govt will take its time and maids will only be allowed after a modern monitoring system is in place While one of DNT’s pledges has been to allow foreign maids or help in a regulated manner, the Opposition party took a stand against it in its press meet. …

PM says govt will ensure self reliance and can raise funds for pledges In response to a question, the Opposition party questioned the government’s push for self sufficiency on one hand and at the same time having many expensive pledges which have not yet been even budgeted in the 12th …

Opposition says e-procurement cannot be allowed to lead to a weak media There is a great deal of concern within media houses on the revenue impact of E-procurement on an already ailing media sector. E-procurement involves the government placing advertisements on a website, instead of in the media with the …

MoF sends out cost cutting circulars to government agencies as part of a new austerity drive However, its effectiveness is yet to be seen given that such past measures did not address the core causes of government flab and in-efficiency The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has sent out a circular …

MoF to draw up guidelines to put a cap and control this expenditure A ‘Financial Thrift’ report compiled during the interim government period found that the lack of a cap or rules on actual ‘hospitality and entertainment’ expenditure has led to huge expenses by 15 ministerial ranks from 2008 to …

As Bhutan develops multiple hydro projects an important question to ask is not only on the price of the projects or its loan component and tariff rates, but more importantly, on the future power market scenario for Bhutan’s existing and upcoming projects. The Hydropower Committee Report addresses this issue by …