EDITORIAL

There are four main reasons for the price increases under the new GST Tax regime. The first is that GST by itself increases prices of zero rated items under the old Bhutan Sales Tax by (BST) at least 5% and these are items like vegetables, cereals, medicines, fruits etc. This …

In recent years, various government agencies have built a significant following on their social media handles and particularly on Facebook. This trend, which accelerated during and after the pandemic, was part of a larger trend of government agencies trying to communicate directly with the public on various issues. These pages …

There is some controversy over the fact that some foreign nurses are being paid more than Bhutanese nurses. However, the sad reality is that if Bhutanese nurses are paid significantly better than now, then there would be hue and cry from other civil servants from other sectors. This is because …

The Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) is seeing its fourth round of thousands of volunteers from all parts and walks of life. The GMC maybe a project meant to attract international investors, but it now has major buy in and ownership from every Bhutanese. Knowledge about the project was first shared …

This week this paper faced a peculiar situation as there was a slew of new and old crime cases that this paper was following up, but each time, we came up against an invisible new information barrier in the Royal Bhutan Police.  When our reporter contacted the respective police station …

In 2008, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Bhutan’s first democratic Parliament and announced that India is committing to 10,000 MW by 2020. This commitment was made as hydropower had become one of the key cornerstones of the Bhutan-India relationship. The projects were even identified along with the cost and …

When the Livestock Bill of Bhutan 2025 was introduced in Parliament, there was a clear attempt by some MPs to politicize the issue. The Bill is not encouraging slaughter houses but only retains the provisions of the old Bill that already permitted slaughter houses. The new bill was an attempt …

The death of 33-year-old Biren Kumar Kafley in police custody is one of those cases that tests public trust in law enforcement, institutional transparency, and the rule of law itself. The Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) and its Narcotics Division have given their version of events that Biren attempted to escape, …

The Global Peace Prayer Festival has drawn to a close and it can be said that it was a grand success. Bhutan has always called itself the last Vajrayana Buddhist country and rightly so, but there was always a sense of insecurity about the term, almost like a last man …

A great deal has been written and analyzed about His Majesty The Fourth King over the years, and more will be written in the years to come. It is also not just books, academic papers, news articles and videos, but the Great Fourth, through his wise leadership and heroics, is …