EDITORIAL

A foreign investor may wonder why should they invest in the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) or Bhutan for that matter. Bhutan, after all, is a small landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas with a very small population. Not the ideal case for an investment pitch. However, a few decades …

A large portion of the credit for Bhutan’s press freedom ranking falling in recent years must be given to the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC). Civil servants stopped talking to the media from 2022 when two foresters were terminated for speaking to the media and this was soon followed up …

In 2022, after the Supreme Court pronounced the verdict in the Trongsa Land Scam, the JDWNRH President and former Trongsa Dzongda Lhab Dorji stabbed an ACC Director while his family members also attacked ACC officials. This is even though it was a well-documented and investigated land scam case with no …

Bhutan in 2013 had 12 newspapers, 6 radio stations and 2 magazines.  In the last 10 years 5 private newspapers, 3 radio stations and 2 news magazines have shut down leaving behind 7 newspapers and BBS. Until 2010 the situation was fine with 10 newspapers all doing well.  However, government …

For many Bhutanese Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) is something that cannot happen to them, but only to someone else until they get a NCD like diabetes, blood pressure, gout etc. In our current society a sense of complacency and invincibility where people think they have time or that their body can …

Ever since the inception of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) project, one of the main questions of the people from the remaining 19 Dzongkhags has been on how it will or will not impact them. The Diamond Strategy announced by His Majesty during the 117th National Day now makes it …

There is no doubt that the nation is facing a series of challenges from the post pandemic economic downturn to the migration of many youths abroad. It is easy to be cynical and give into hopelessness, but this is not helpful and not what the people and nation need. While …

The case of water and electricity being cut to a building in Damphu for Sunday religious gathering in the Karaoke Hall has attracted much interest. The Dzongda seems to have been driven by a fear of the particular religion allegedly spreading rapidly in Tsirang Dzongkhag, and from the comments online …

No Member of Parliament or party candidate will say it, but one of the main reasons why the National Assembly MPs made such a strong push for the Prado Quota is in part to recover their election expenses. The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) does provide Nu 150,000 per candidate …

In 2023 when there was no money in the treasury due to the poor state of the economy, the government gave a 50 percent pay hike for MPs, civil servants and public servants which would cost Nu 6 bn a year. This was money Bhutan did not have and the …