HEADLINE STORIES

In the recent Civil Service Pay Restructure Bill discussions in the Parliament, the National Assembly (NA) first inserted duty vehicles for MPs equivalent to Secretaries (Toyota Fortuner) mainly in response to their Nu 1.5 million (mn) Prado quota being removed. In return, they gave up their claim to the Nu …

With the Civil Service Reform Bill passing in both Houses of Parliament, an important provision in its section 35 states, ‘The Royal Civil Service Commission may recruit Civil Servants on contract if required in accordance with the Bhutan Civil Service Regulations.’ While RCSC already hires junior staff, teachers and others …

The National Council passed the Pay Structure Reform Bill of Bhutan 2022 today. One of the major changes was to do with the Duty Vehicles for MPs. The NC added a new section saying “Each Member of Parliament shall be provided a་designated duty vehicle, or a one-time lumpsum grant for …

The National Assembly passed the Tax Bill of Bhutan 2022 accepting most of the changes recommended by the National Council. The NA agreed to reduce the sales tax on movie tickets from 30% to zero though the NC had not recommended any specific number but only suggested a reduction. The …

One of the biggest changes in the Pay Structure Reform Bill 2022 passed by the National Assembly is that the MPs will be getting a 2,800 cc Duty Vehicle each, which will cost the exchequer around Nu 201 million (mn) to buy the vehicles tax free. The likely vehicle of …

On 22 October 2022 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced that around 60,000 passports would enter the country by the last week of October 2022. MFA then put out a notification on its website saying from 2 November 2022, it would issue 200 passports in a day with 50 …

A review by the Economic and Finance Committee (EFC) of the National Assembly has found that while mobile phones worth billions are being imported into Bhutan a large chunk of it is suspected to be deflected to India. The EFC Chairman MP Kinga Penjor who led the review or investigation …

RBP to fix accountability This year, so far 15 inmates have escaped from various locations in the country, 1 from Chamgang central prison, 1 from the hospital, 1 from Samdrupjongkhar, 10 from Thimphu Central Police’s detention center and 2 recently from South Thimphu. Of the 15 escapees, police managed to …

His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses Gyalsey Jigme Namgyel and Gyalsey Ugyen Wangchuck graced the Panbang Tshechu today. The Tshechu, held at Soenamcholing Dratshang since 1997, began this year on November 12th. Coinciding with the Descending Day of Lord Buddha, the Guru …

In mid 2010 the first elected government announced that it would be coming up soon with taxes to prevent the consumption of unhealthy junk food. Even though it had 45 MPs in Parliament the government soon gave up the idea of a junk food tax due to media and public …