EDITORIAL

The BBIN is a sub-regional initiative of India, including Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal after Pakistan pulled out of a SAARC Motor vehicle agreement. Though Bhutan had nothing much to gain or do with the agreement, the government played along to be a part of India’s sub-regional diplomatic effort. However, the …

Bhutan, over the decades has taken great care to nurture and strengthen its relationship with India mainly due to India’s economic assistance to Bhutan. The assistance started as aid in the early 1960’s that supported our five year plans. However, starting with Chukha and Tala India started playing an equally …

It has always been recognized that the North Thimphu by-election is no ordinary by-election coming just around 20 months before the big General Election of 2018. While the PDP and DPT did not say so, their actions spoke louder than words in the strong campaign launched by both the parties, …

Ordinary Bhutanese can be forgiven for thinking that 2018 is already on their doorsteps, with both the ruling PDP and the opposition DPT going in all guns blazing for the North Thimphu prize. Mathematically, it is just one seat and a win or loss for either party would not make …

The 10th and 11th plans share a common similarity of spending huge amounts on rural infrastructure with the aim of not only developing rural areas but also curbing rural-urban migration. This huge expenditure is on account of a now outdated idea that people can be somehow convinced to stay back …

The deliberate sabotage of the water supply of six buildings in Mothithang, and the repeated sabotage of water supply of one building brings to the fore the issue of water conflict in Bhutan. We Bhutanese like to pride ourselves on a great sense of community spirit, which implies an ability …

Two diplomatic moves by the Bhutan government in the last two weeks, in first condemning the Uri attack and then recently pulling out from the SAARC summit was a show of both solidarity and support to our traditional ally, India. At the same time the two diplomatic moves are quite …

The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) must be commended in fulfilling an important economic and social objective of lowering loan interest rates. The government on its part apart from raising the issue early on also worked with the RMA to achieve this objective. What has become clear from the lowering of …

It is never a good idea to dismiss a political party or for that matter a politician given how unpredictable politics is. However, recent events indicate deeper problems for the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) party, which is also the Opposition party. The withdrawal of the new North Thimphu candidate who …

The Prime Minister’s statement that India has agreed to the trilateral cooperation on the 1024 MW Dorjilung project between Bhutan and Bangladesh is very welcome news for several reasons. India’s consent to the project was critical as the power infrastructure for transmission lines have to be built and sent through …