With the ruling and opposition party trading allegations in the public domain, there have been calls from many for not doing so and preserving our societal ‘harmony’. Both sides are accused of ‘politicization’ and even asked to handle issues quietly like writing secret letters to the ACC or RAA and …
Read More »Free Speech in the Filter Age
OXFORD – Germany’s Network Enforcement Act – according to which social-media platforms like Facebook and YouTube could be fined €50 million ($63 million) for every “obviously illegal” post within 24 hours of receiving a notification – has been controversial from the start. After it entered fully into effect in January, there was …
Read More »Pilgrimage to Beyul Langdra, one of the most sacred religious sites in Bhutan
For Buddhists, Beyul Langdra in Wangdue Phodrang represents a real paradise where hundreds of devotees come every year to receive blessings from the sacred monuments believed to have been left behind by the great Buddhist Master, Guru Padmasambhava during the eighth century. The oral tradition has it that when Guru …
Read More »Of taxis, buses and trucks
Recently the NRDCL carried out reforms to counter the growing trend of truckers acting as middlemen and inflating sand prices. In protest, the truckers tried to organize a virtual strike by trying to stop fellow truckers from going for sand collection. Taxi drivers outside the arrival terminal of the Paro …
Read More »Breaking: Major hike in Chukha tariff to push up revenue
Bhutan can earn around an additional Nu 540 mn a year from the 336 MW Chukha as India hikes tariff by 30 cheltrums per unit. The hike will be effective from 1st January 2017. Chukha produces around 1800 million units a year. This can also push up the total revenue …
Read More »The Point of Sharp Power
WASHINGTON, DC – In recent years, Russia and China have poured considerable resources into arenas typically associated with “soft power,” a term coined by the American political scientist Joseph S. Nye and understood as the “ability to affect others by attraction and persuasion.” Either directly or through compliant surrogates, these two countries …
Read More »His Majesty offered a Shiva statue at the Samtse Tashichhoeling Shiva Mandir on the 30th of January 2018. The three-and half-decade-old Mandir is considered to be one of the oldest Shiva Mandirs in the country. After granting Land Kidu to the people of the dzongkhag on the 29th of January …
Read More »Mindset change towards the private sector
It is no big secret that the private sector in Bhutan still has a long way to go, but even at its current state it is the largest employer after agriculture and a sector that still absorbs the bulk of the educated youth that do not get government jobs. It …
Read More »ECB aims to complete elections to NC by April and to NA by October
Political parties and MPs are in a rush to finish their respective familiarization tours and constituency visits before 15th February, 2018, after which such meetings and visits will be strictly prohibited in view of the upcoming National Council elections. The ECB has already announced February to May as the NC …
Read More »Grounding our youth in reality
Charles Darwin is often accredited with the quote ‘survival of the fittest,’ but Darwin himself attributed the original quote to another author. This quote used by Darwin has been misunderstood to mean that only the strongest and fiercest animals survived. However, a central theme of Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution,’ actually …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.