There has been a curious trend among certain sections of the Chinese and Indian media, in their coverage towards Bhutan, since the Doklam crisis started from 16th June. The Chinese state media went first bashing Bhutan over GNH – its happiness brand, and ultimately bringing up the issue of the …

There has been a curious trend among certain sections of the Chinese and Indian media, in their coverage towards Bhutan, since the Doklam crisis started from 16th June. The Chinese state media went first bashing Bhutan over GNH – its happiness brand, and ultimately bringing up the issue of the …

Bhutan is facing a bouquet of trade and economic challenges brought about by the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India, that subsumes multiple taxes into one. The relevant thing for Bhutan is that it makes it cheaper to import from India and more expensive to export …

Back in the days when trees were aplenty and permission to cut them down was not required (this was at least so in rural Bhutan), people would normally erect 108 prayer flags in the name of a dead person. Erecting prayer flags is believed to deliver the dead person’s soul from …

A bevy of mainly Indian news outlets in recent days have published news or mentioned the visit of the Chinese Ambassador to Delhi’s wife, Dr. Jiang Yili to Bhutan. However, all of them have got the dates and the context horribly wrong. These media outlets have shown the visit being …

Some people say that Bhutan is an Indian ‘protectorate,’ which is not only an inaccurate assessment, but shows a lack of understanding of the increasingly complex and diversified nature of the relationship between the two countries. The Doklam standoff on territory claimed by Bhutan has gone on for a full …

In 2008 a grand pronouncement was made of 10,000 MW by 2020 by the then government. This was seen as the silver bullet to all of Bhutan’s economic challenges, including the biggest one of being a country that is economically not self-sufficient. In the subsequent years the entire government machinery …

It was an early May morning. Along with my two colleagues, I was at Bengali Market in New Delhi. There was a rustle on the street, as this small town was just beginning to resume its regular activities. Cleaners were brooming the streets, vendors were packaging goods and loading on …

This is just a correction of certain terms being used by Chinese and Indian media outlets to describe Bhutan. Recently a Global Times article mentioned Bhutan as a long time ‘vassal state’ of imperial China until the British influence in Bhutan from 1911 onwards. Forget about a Bhutanese leader, there …

After the 9/11 attacks in the United States, it’s former President coined the controversial ‘with us or against us’ phrase. This seems to be emerging social media culture in Bhutan, where there is little space for intelligent and civil discourse. Instead, it is becoming an increasingly vitriolic space with people …