EDITORIAL

Israel was the first country in the world to vaccinate the majority of its population, and then it opened up for business as life went back to ‘normal.’ Now Israel is seeing a record number of new cases with two in every 150 Israelis testing positive for the virus. This …

There can be no doubt that one of the strongest diplomatic ties in the world are between Bhutan and India. The relationship has both evolved and grown over a period of time to the point that even our authors exchange notes during the Mountain Echoes festival. Within this larger framework …

It is unprecedented in Bhutan’s electoral democracy so far for MPs to openly voice their Opposition to the selection of a Minister by the Prime Minister or even openly disagree with the PM. However, this appears to now have happened with MPs coming under their own names to record their …

Bhutanese citizens along with the rest of the world has been watching the disaster unfolding in Afghanistan for a few weeks now. In terms of geo-strategic location there is a similarity between Afghanistan and Bhutan in that both the countries are located strategically next to powerful neighbors. In the case …

After the second dose there is pressure building up from the public for various relaxations, and it is likely that the government will bring in some reasonable relaxations. One major change already visible is that Phuentsholing will no longer go into long lockdowns if a case comes up. The Finance …

By far, the most popular mode of investment in Bhutan is buying that piece of dream land or plot and either building on it or waiting for it to go up in value. One of the predictions when COVID-19 hit in 2020 was that it would negatively impact land prices …

Once upon a time, the government thought a tough Tobacco Law banning import of tobacco will discourage smoking, but what we got was a lot of people getting locked up, legislative backtracking, an elaborate smuggling network that helped bring in COVID-19 and the smokers still continued to smoke. We appear …

With the second dose being given to around 65 percent of the population there is now increasing pressure on the government from various quarters for relaxations. There are nudges and pushes and pulls from many sectors. This in the backdrop of the government on the verge of completing its third …

Bhutan has once again achieved an impressive task of vaccinating more than 90 percent of its eligible adult population within one week, drawing global acclaim once again. If that was not enough, the country has now started vaccinating those between 12 and 17 which has the potential to push us …

The recent third phase of monetary measures gives loan deferral for all sectors to June 2022. This is an important relief measure for an economy hit by COVID-19. The banks initially wanted to give relief to only certain affected sectors like hotels, manufacturing etc but the government led by the …