THE NATION

The Draft Clean Wage Document of the Ministry of Finance in phase two of the Clean Wage reform recommends exiting all in house drivers from the civil service, remove office cars, do away with the system of of traveling in private cars and claiming mileage. It says this service could …

The Draft Clean Wage document sent from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Education has pointed to various abuses of the TA/DA system calling it all unethical practices and gaming of the system and so will suggest reforms to it. The document says that while TA/DA and mileage …

Usha Drukpa/ Thimphu 18-year-old Deki Lhazom from Trashigang is the first Bhutanese woman footballer to play in a professional league in Saudi Arabia. She started playing football at the age of eight. She shared that she started playing football when she was just eight years old and while in Chukha, …

Usha Drukpa/ Thimphu With the removal of cut-off points and absorption of class X students in public schools, many private schools across the country will be discontinuing higher school sections from 2023.  According to sources, most schools, like Sonam Kuenphen Higher Secondary School in Bumthang, Utpal Higher Secondary School in …

Meanwhile BDBL reduces NPL from 17.37% to 9.22% with RMA set target being 7.5% With the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) suspending all loans including Bank Guarantees (BG) of Bhutan Development Bank Limited (BDBL), Royal Insurance Corporation Limited (RICBL) and Cottage and Small Industries (CSI) bank, Gups say rural livelihood has …

The doing away of the Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) and the transfer of its various divisions to the Cabinet, Ministry of Finance and Center of Bhutan and GNH Studies has raised questions on how these agencies will play the key planning, policy vetting and coordination role of the erstwhile …

With an increasing number of people smoking tobacco and use of tobacco products in public spaces, the government has directed the Bhutan Narcotics Control Authority (BNCA) to penalize them accordingly, and not to leave them without any action. During the 47th Meet-The-Press, conducted virtually, Prime Minister Dasho (Dr) Lotay Tshering …

Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen graced the commemoration of World Mental Health Day at the PEMA Centre Secretariat on 10 October 2022, World Mental Health Day is observed every year on 10th October. This year’s global theme is “Making Mental Health & Well-Being for All a Global Priority.”  The event included …

The Prime Minister Dasho Dr Lotay Tshering announced that as part of the reforms the proposal is to have 9 ministries instead of 10 with various other structural changes and so there are proposals to reshuffle individuals based on individual’s capabilities after assessment or it will be on one’s academic …

Bhutan lost a living legend and a national treasure, in the form Ap Dopay, the last great master of traditional Bhutanese music known as Zhungdra. He died on 28 September 2022 at the age of 89 after a bout of illness. Below is a feature written on him, 11 years …