Ministries and Departments Reconstituted and their new names

By RCSC

With the enactment of the Civil Service Reform Act of Bhutan 2022, Ministries have been reconstituted as follows:

1. Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock;

2. Ministry of Education and Skills Development;

3. Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources;

4. Ministry of Finance;

5. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade;

6. Ministry of Health;

7. Ministry of Home Affairs;

8. Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment;

and 9. Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

The details of the reorganisation within each Ministry are as follows.

1) Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock (MoAL)

a) The Ministry of Agriculture and Forests has been renamed the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

2) Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD)

a) The Ministry of Education has been renamed the Ministry of Education and Skills Development

b) The National Commission for Women and Children Secretariat has been subsumed under the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, and will serve as the secretariat to the Commission.

c) The functions of Bhutan Medical and Health Council, Department of Occupational Standard of MoLHR, Quality Assurance and Accreditation Division and Higher Education and Planning Division of the former MoE, Engineering Council of Bhutan, and Bhutan Board for Certified Counsellors (BBCC) have been subsumed under the newly created Bhutan Qualification and Professional Certification Authority (BQPCA).

3) Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MoENR)

A new Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MoENR) has been created with the following five departments.

a) Department of Energy and Department of Geology and Mines transferred from the former Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA).

b) Department of Forests and Park Services transferred from the former Ministry of Agriculture and Forests.

c) A new Department of Water that consolidates the water resources management mandates from various agencies.

d) The National Environment Commission Secretariat (NECS) has been reconstituted and renamed as the Department of Environment & Climate Change. The Department will function as the secretariat to the National Environment Commission.

e) Bhutan Electricity Authority is renamed the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), and will be under the auspices of the Ministry.

4) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MoFAET)

a) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been renamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade.

5) Ministry of Health (MoH)

a) The Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority, Bhutan Narcotic Control Authority and Drug Regulatory Authority have been merged as the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority.

6) Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA)

a) The Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs has been renamed the Ministry of Home Affairs.

b) The Department of Culture has been renamed as Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development after subsuming Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC). The Department will be the secretariat to the Dzongkha Development Commission.

c) The Ministry’s Department of Local Governance and Department of Disaster Management has been merged to form the new Department of Local Governance & Disaster Management.

7) Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment (MoICE)

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has been renamed the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment (MoICE) with the following five Departments.

i) Department of Industry and Department of Trade, which has been transferred from the former MoEA.

ii) The Department of Employment and Entrepreneurship and the Department of Labour, which has been transferred from the former MoLHR.

iii) The Department of Information and Media has been merged with the Department of Intellectual Property, and renamed the Department of Media, Creative Industry and Intellectual Property.

iv) The former Tourism Council of Bhutan has been subsumed under the MoICE as the Department of Tourism and will function as the secretariat to the Tourism Commission of Bhutan.

b) The Office of Consumer Protection has been renamed the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.

c) The Bhutan Standards Bureau has been folded under MoICE and will function as the secretariat to the Bureau.

d) The Media Council of Bhutan and the National Film Commission have been merged with the Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (BICMA).

BICMA will now be under the auspices of MoICE and serve as the secretariat to the Authority.

8) Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MoIT)

a) The Ministry of Works and Human Settlements has been renamed the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

b) The Road Safety and Transport Authority and the Department of Roads have been merged as the Department of Surface Transport.

 c) The regulatory functions under the Department of Roads, Road Safety and Transport Authority, and Construction Development Board have been subsumed under the new Bhutan Construction and Transport Authority (BCTA).

The BCTA will be under the auspices of the MoIT and serve as the secretariat to the Authority.

9. The Government Technology Agency (GovTech)

9.1 The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications under the former Ministry of Information and Communications has been reconstituted as the Government Technology Agency