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Sweepers on eviction notice

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Nov 21: The government has delayed the eviction of wet sweepers in the country by another one months. In a notice the immigration department said, the sweepers who are not Bhutanese have to leave the country by end of December.

The government said, consideration is being made since most children of these sweepers are attending schools.

Some have already left the country as the immigration department dispatches the deportation letter. Despite that, the immigration department does not have a record of how many sweepers are in the country.

Earlier this year, the government had issued warning to 100 recorded sweepers to leave country by October 31 saying they have no legal document to stay in the country.

Bhutan Telecom calls in Laya

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Nov 21: The Bhutan Telecoms has started working on expansion of its mobile servies to the remote parts of Laya and Lingzhi by next year.

The telecom delegation after returning from 10-day tour to this district has prepared their B-Mobile Laya Project. This will benefit 300 households, the total population of the locality.

The company has received Nu 104 million from the Bhutan Infocomm and Media Authority (BICMA) under ICT development fund to enable B-Mobile network coverage in places like Laya, Lingzhi, Soe, Naro, Merak, Sakten and Lunana. However, the project will cost Nu 200 million, nearly double the amount of the funds received.

The company projects to start construction of necessary infrastructure by next summer when climate becomes milder. But the company is worried for ways to transport the construction materials tor towers.

As of now Laya has just one telephone to communicate with the rest of Bhutan. Despite having a telephone, a messenger has to walk for days to deliver any message.

Episode 6: Children day celebration

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There are two short bites of two children : one recorded at IOM transit camp, Kathmandu and another with a child who is still in camp. Program coordinator of Bhutanese Refugee Children Forum, Indra Timsina has his voice on children in camp. The second part has listeners’ says and a conversation with children coordinator Sunita Gurung.

Bhutan recovering from economic crisis

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Nov 20: Bhutan is recovering quickly from the global economic crisis, said World Bank economist Eliana Cardoso in her new article entitled ‘South Asia Rebounds’.

She said Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan face a more difficult situation because of bitter conflicts. He mentioned that India and Bangladesh are als making progress. 

“Food price inflation is a major problem. The upsurge in global commodity prices preceding the global financial crisis had a strong negative impact in South Asia,” the articles mentions.

“In part, this reflects the lagged effects of higher food prices from global markets last year, and in part, the recent severe drought in India, which is forcing its imports higher and cutting back its exports. But consumer prices have been falling recently in other South Asian countries, such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.”

France rejects GNH

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Nov 20: France has rejected adopting Gross National Happiness as the instrument to measure development over traditional Gross Domestic Product. 

The head of France’s statistics office Jean-Philippe Cotis dashed hopes Tuesday that a report commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy could lead to a new, less-profit focused measure of economic growth.

He said in a press conference in Paris that he has no plans to stop monitoring GDP, and although his agency plans new quality of life studies, it was too early to say how his statistical toolbox should be adapted to take that into account.

“We will keep GDP as an indicator measuring economic activity.  In the middle of macroeconomic crisis, we need an indicator that captures in a rather sophisticated way the fluctuations of market activities,” he said. “It’s too complicated a subject to sum up in a single figure,” Cotis said.

In 2007, Sarkozy commissioned Nobel prize-winning US economist Joseph Stiglitz to give new thought to the way GDP is calculated so that happiness and other quality of life measurements can be included in measurements of French economic growth.

The Stiglitz report, presented to Sarkozy in September, offers a raft of factors that governments should take into account when making policy, such as environmental sustainability, household income, consumption and wealth rather than national production.

Pushing teachers out of Thimphu

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Nov 20: Thimphu has more than required while district face shortage of teachers. The teachers deny traveling to remote areas.

However, despite resistance from teachers, the Ministry of Education have now come up with plans to transfer teachers out of Thimphu city. 

In the first phase, the teachers who stayed in Thimphu for more than 20 years will be sent out followed by those who worked for 18 years in the second phase. 

The teachers who stayed in this capital city for five years will also face the wrath of government pushing them to remote villages. 

Out of 29 teachers listed for transfer, 11 have requested to be transferred away from Paro and Thimphu. As the ministry compels them to go out of Thimphu, teachers have threatened to resign from the service.

Thimphu currently accommodates 746 teachers in 21 schools.

Factory pollution kills orange

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Nov 20: Dust and soot produced by factories in Pasakha have dwindled the orange yield year after year in Rangetung village of Phuentsholing. Some farmers are abandoning orange farming failing to get their return.

Most of the orange orchards have now become dry despite several efforts of the villagers to keep them alive. 

Fungal disease called powdery mildew and hailstorm are other causes for the fall in orange production. 

Farmers said they have raised the issue in the Goeg Yargay Tshogchung but nothing much has been done. Dzongkhag Environment Office has been informed about the problem.

Children’s Day in celebration

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Nov 20: Bhutan is celebrating Children’s Day for the second time today. The national celebrated the day on November 11 as well. The world is celebrating 20th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) convention on the rights of the child (CRC) today.

National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC) in its reports said Bhtan has not progressed much in child rights issues as expected. 

Lack of awareness on child rights, insufficient state and political commitment to concerned agencies, and the lack of a comprehensive law are major hindrances to promoting child rights in Bhutan.

One major issue on child rights in Bhutan is child labor. NCWC reports say that large numbers of children are engaged in child labor today. The most common forms of child labor are domestic helpers in the service sector, such as restaurants, automobile workshops and transportation. 

In Thimphu, a mural, or painting on a large surface, by children will be completed, along with competitions on poetry and photography, organised by VAST, in collaboration with NCWC and UNICEF. 

In Punakha, the Je Khenpo will conduct a prayer ceremony for the well being of children globally, followed by his speech on child rights to about 250 child monks and nuns.

Chief Justice retires

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Nov 20: Chief Justice Sonam Tobgye has retired from his service last week (November 14) though a formal announcement has not been made. Other two judges in the place Jigme Zangpo will retire on December 10 and Sither Namgyel on December 29.

With this, the high court, the highest institution of judiciary for now, will have only one judge in the seat in the next one and half months. 

Tshering Wangchuk then will have to look after all cases registered at the court. Legally, the court should have eight judges and a chief justice. Today there are only three judges. 

Wangchuk will look into some 100 appeal cases that are pending out of 182 registered as of August. According to court procedures, cases registered at the high court should be decided by a bench with at least two to three judges.

Appointment of judges has been delayed due to ignorance of the government for formation of the National Judicial Commission, which recommends appointment of judges and justices to the king. 

Formation of the commission cannot take place unless Supreme Court is constituted. The government says without completing construction of the court building, establishment of Supreme Court is out of debate. Constitution provisioned for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and senior most justice of the Supreme Court as the members of the commission.

The parties dying out

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Nov 19: The political parties, the only two currently operating legally in the country, are on the verge of collapse due to decreasing number of membership. 

Though the party membership had risen during the election time, the two parties DPT and PDP are now facing a shrinking of party numbers, with some members resigning and most not renewing membership.

The ruling party at the peak hours of elections had 12,197 registered members. The number has now dropped to 2,393 members. And that of opposition party PDP, membership is down to 800 from 8,000.

Only around 200 people have renewed their membership with DPT while those of DPT renewing their membership are around 100. 

The black days for PDP started with its founding president Sangay Ngedup resigning along with then party secretary Lam Kezang, 16 candidates and 20 other senior party leaders. 

Similarly, DPT has seen 183 party members resign, including three istrict coordinators from Pemagatshel, Paro and Trongsa.

The parties have not been able to operate their district level offices. Single person nominated as party representative and using their personal house as party office in district, are no more in place. The cause of these district coordinators leaving party is virtually the because of the party activities in the district and lack of fund in party treasury to pay them monthly salary. 

This has raised questions on the parties’ survival. Both parties are in debt and the only three permissible sources of revenue are party membership registration fee, annual membership renewal fee and donations, mainly from members.

The restrictive membership and donation rules made it very difficult for parties to live. Though the government had decided to donate some money from the national treasury to pay the debt for once, it failed to get materialized. Even the ruling party parliamentarians do not contribute to the party funds.

Money is needed if offices around the country are to function and the officer bearers paid. Both parties are in debt and have still not been able to repay bills, loans and advances that were taken during the run up to the election. The candidates themselves spent millions over and above party spending and campaign funds provided by the election commission.

With absolute majority for the ruling party, it is speculative but possible that in the next general elections, there could be only one party in the field with opposition party leaving it virtually.

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