During the height of the Wall Street Crisis American banks were hit by non performing housing loans and did not have money to lend out. At the time the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made an important statement while asking the US Congress for a USD 700 bn bailout package. …
Read More »Govt-Media relations have reached an all time low
Until a couple of years ago one of the biggest achievements of the DPT government was the establishment of what was seen as a generally liberal environment for the media. The media wowed at how ministers including the Prime Minister took late night calls and were also an accessible lot …
Read More »Zero tolerance for honesty
The two recent issues of Bhutan Post’s controversial procurement process of city buses worth Nu 44 mn and the defunct domestic airports bring to light again the inherent flaws in our procurement system. While the former is an alleged case of not following procurement rules to favor one party the …
Read More »Strengthening the grassroots
Our Kings have always been major forces and catalysts of economic, political and social change be it the unification of Bhutan, abolition of serfdom, modernization of Bhutan or the introduction of Democracy. His Majesty the King in continuation of this great tradition has been using his Land Kidu powers to …
Read More »Right to Information ?
One of the major promises made by the government after it came to power was to bring in the Right to Information Bill ‘soon’. This was in fact a pledge given by the Prime Minister himself at the first meeting between the cabinet and senior civil servants in 2008. There …
Read More »Tiger, Tiger, burning bright
It is a matter of great pride and vindication for Bhutan’s conservation efforts that a recent survey by park officials from Bhutan and India found the world’s highest concentration of wild Tigers in the Royal Manas National Park . The finding was also officially submitted by the government to UNESCO …
Read More »Pedestrian Day so far
It has been more than a month since Pedestrian Tuesday was first introduced on 5th June, 2012. Since then there has been a mixed response to the initiative. However, as more Tuesdays pass by a growing number, who now form a slim but sizeable majority are against the initiative in …
Read More »The Monarchy
Three poignant scenes in the last few weeks reaffirm the important and diverse roles played by the Monarchy in Bhutan. These scenes are of His Majesty the King regardless of personal safety personally supervising the rescue of sacred Nangtens as Wangdue Dzong burnt, His Majesty bringing together a usually divided …
Read More »The State of the Nation
The State of the Nation report presented by the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley is similar to a report card on the progress achieved by various government agencies. The government has judged its overall performance to be good in what has been a particularly challenging year. It must be …
Read More »When the Raven met the Dragon
There has been a flurry of international and national discussions on the purported news of the move towards establishment of diplomatic relations between Bhutan and China. This was based on supposed statements by the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lyonchhen Jigme Y Thinley and the Premier of China, Wen Jiabo when …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.