One popular refrain has been on the poor quality of education in Bhutan, especially with even graduates unable to write a decent application letter. Bhutan’s quality of education is poor into two respects. As shown by past surveys of 2006 and 2013-14 we have below average national marks in English …
Read More »The End of Asia’s Strategic Miracle?
TOKYO – It is too soon to know whether and how the challenge posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs will be resolved. But it is not too early to consider what that challenge could mean for a part of the world that has in many ways defied history. …
Read More »Penny wise pound foolish?
India’s largest trading partner is China, with whom it has an annual trade of USD (US dollar) 71.28 bn and a trade deficit of USD 51.08 bn as per the 2016-17 financial year. This deficit is allowed to continue in spite of the economic, geo strategic and military rivalry between …
Read More »For 24/7 Water Supply
Every day we hear people complaining how they face water shortage in their locality. And for a small city like Thimphu, some people feel that our pipes should never run out of the water. While we can tolerate shortcoming sometimes, we should never have a situation wherein we are always …
Read More »Breaking: Dealers can import GST discounted vehicles but taxes to be levied at point of sale
The Ministry of Finance in a circular effective from 11th August 2017 has said that vehicle dealers in Bhutan can now import vehicles from India which have the Goods and Services Tax (GST) exemption. This would make cars theoretically cheaper in Bhutan by around 12 to 13 percent for smaller …
Read More »Vehicle import
An eagle’s eye look at Thimphu or for that any major town’s hazy outline denotes the growing air pollution impact of the increased number of vehicles in Bhutan, now approaching around 90,000 vehicles. A look away from the evening skyline on to the roads, especially during office hours, will find …
Read More »The Third Leg of Doklam
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 …
Read More »The third leg of Doklam
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 …
Read More »The GST challenge
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 …
Read More »A Fluttering solution to our prayer-flag dilemma
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 …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.