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The Queen Jetsun Pema is expected to arrive in Indian capital next week for attending Manav Gangwani’s show at the ongoing PCJ Delhi Couture Week.
India’s top most fashion designer Gangwani has been quoted as disclosing information regarding the Jetsum’s visit to Indian media, but refused to divulge any details.
The organizer has claimed that the show would attract at least half of Bollywood stars besides receiving the Bhutanese Queen.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday lauded the efforts of neighbouring Bhutan in maintaining a balance between environment and development.
During his meeting with probationers of the Indian Forest Service (2011-13 batch) which comprised two Bhutanese students as well, the President asked the officers to contribute their services through commitment and dedication, Press Trust of India (PTI) reports.
Mukherjee extended a special welcome to the two officers from Bhutan and lauded the efforts of the neighbouring country in maintaining a balance between environment and development, President’s Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said in a statement.
The new Constitution in 1950 retained it as a State subject and subsequently through an amendment it was brought into the concurrent list, the President said.
An all party discussion held last week in Beldangi-II decided that there was no any involvement of the Camp Management Committee (CMC) and the Camp Secretary in misusing construction materials supplied by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal.
Various stakeholders including representatives from the UNHCR, LWF Nepal, Refugee Coordination Unit, CMC and general public decided to refute a local media report which claimed coordination of CMC with suppliers of construction materials in exchanging 32 bamboos and Rs 1,000 with a roof pane while renovating some 450 huts in Beldangi-II and Extension.
“The newspaper has tarnished my long involvement in the community service,” Camp Secretary DB Subba said. “The allegation on CMC should be thoroughly investigated. We also want proper explanations regarding the wrong reporting in the newspaper.”
The LWF Camp Management Officer (CMO), Damber Khawas, clarified that CMC had been planning a crucial role in material distribution, but was unaware of the alleged involvement in misusing the donated materials.
“Our records have shown that all 450 huts received 32 bamboos and Rs 10,000 for renovation of their vulnerable huts,” he said adding,”However, we came to notice that some of them exchanged the stuffs with raw materials for roof panel from suppliers of their own.”
However, some of the recipients of construction materials who the Bhutan News Service talked to mentioned that the distribution staff simply issued a chit of paper mentioning 32 bamboos and Rs 1,000 cash. They took that chit to the supplier and received raw materials for roof panel in return.
“No member from CMC suggested me to exchange the stuffs I received. I chose to accept raw materials for panel instead of 32 bamboos and Rs 1,000 since the panel lasts longer,” one of the recipients, Mukti Wagle, told.
Meanwhile, one of the UNHCR’s Field Associates Nirmal Bastola reminded LWF CMO to ensure the same materials as prescribed in the list by the donor agency.
One of the latest findings has revealed that 56 percent of resettled Bhutanese in California have reported to have suffered from at least one stress-related symptom such as body ache, headache or intrusive memories.
A need assessment survey carried among resettled Bhutanese in Oakland and Alameda by the Bhutanese Community in California (BCC) in collaboration with Asian Health Services and San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies department, pointed out such a fact.
Titled as ‘Barriers vs. Bridges’, the survey report was conducted among 91 families, most respondents living with their spouses and children in working-class neighborhoods in Oakland or the nearby suburb of Alameda. Nearly, all have arrived in California after 2007.
According to the report, come to 70 percent have already received their US Green Cards, and have become permanent residents, while 23 percent still continue their refugee status.
The report said, self-reported health insurance and medical utilization rates were high: 83% reported having insurance, predominantly publicly funded programs like Medicaid, and 86% having seen a physician within the past year. In contrast, only 11% have seen a dentist.
The findings have also figured out that top barriers to health care access included wait times during clinic visits (70%), length of time to book an appointment (58%), language barriers (37%) and transportation (37%).
Over 70 percent of the respondents were happy to announce that they have been getting an interpreter in clinic who could speak their language, and satisfaction was higher with in-person interpretation than with phone interpretation.
Meanwhile, the survey findings also highlighted that only 58 percent people were employed, and of those with a job, only 34 percent worked full-time while 20 percent received any benefits such as health or dental insurance.
“Of the survey respondents reporting both household size and income range, about two thirds report incomes below the federal poverty line (FPL) for their household size,” stated the survey report, conducted between 2011 and 2012.
The reported also recommended that English as a Second Language (ESL) classes must be readily accessible to adult refugees as well as their children, and interpretation and service navigation were essential to provide access to health care and social services.
BCC was formed in 2011 as the result of the merger of two previously existing organizations, the Bhutanese American Community Center (BACC) and the Bhutanese Community Support Organization in America (BASCO), according to its President Jiban Subba.
Senior music composer and singer of popular songs like Bandhanko Chino and Maney Maryo, Pratap Subba, has said the Bhutanese musicians have achieved a lot in the camps, but still lack enough resources to progress.
According to Subba, young artists could foster well if they remain dedicated towards musics after their resettlement in the west considering availability of means and resources.
Subba expressed that there may be lesser time investments for composition, but recording a song or producing an album would be easier abroad comparatively.
One of the Jhapa-based local journalists Dikesh Lama has talked to singer Subba in this regard and other relevant issues.
The Bhutanese Community Association of Minnesota (BAM) organized one day volleyball tournament on the eve of the Krishna Astami, Saturday.
Community teams from North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Association of Non-Resident Nepalese in America (Minnesota), and local community among others took part in the tournament, informed organizers. There were nine teams altogether.
The semifinal games were played between the Druk Star vs South Dakota (pole A) and Bhukampa vs ANRNA-MN (pole B). The Druk Star grasped the winner’s trophy during the final battle played against Bhukampa, according to the organizers.
Parmanada Khatiwoda distributed the trophy during the event, where Bir Bhujel of the Bhukampa and Rup Rizal of the Druk Star were declared the man of the match and best defender.
No bicycle rides and ocean tides for 16 Bhutanese refugees this summer. Holding dreams of a college education, they’re taking an intensive, six-week program designed to improve their academic skills.
SAT preparation, practice essays and skills development have filled most their days, punctuated by field trips or the appearance of a guest speaker.
The class is nothing compared to the summer school that Narayan Dhimal participated in last year at Central High School, he said. That entailed playing games and making friends.
“This is learning and taking trips. It’s better,” the high school junior said.
ESOL Summer Program is the brainchild of two Bhutanese refugees, Shyam Gautam and Bishnu Niroula, who are students at Manchester Community College and Americorps VISTA volunteers.
The two said the pilot program is an effort to fill in the gaps that refugee students have when they leave high school.
Niroula said many of the students excel in high school math and science. But they struggle with the English language.
“They speak English pretty good,” said Niroula about the teenagers, “but their writing is rough.”
A volunteer University of New Hampshire professor teaches the students. They also learn topics such as finances, event planning and public speaking. But writing is the biggest emphasis.
“It’s going to be really hard,” said Muna Chouhan, 16, who will be a junior at Concord High School. She said she recently took an SAT practice test and received only two of 10 points in critical reading.
So she and her friends take SAT practice tests, and they squeeze new vocabulary words into their casual conversation.
The summer hasn’t been all books and blackboards. The youth have taken field trips. They spent a few nights at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where they saw what college was like and also participated in seminars about Asian and Hindu culture.
And on Tuesday, they traveled to Boston, where they visited the Museum of Science, MIT and Harvard University. They funded the trip with money they raised picking and selling blueberries.
“It’s inspiring for them to see a big college,” Gautam said.
On Thursday, Congressman Frank Guinta spoke to the teens, who meet at space provided by the New England Farm Workers’ Council.
Guinta spoke about the inspiration of former President Ronald Reagan, the challenges of being a congressman-father, and the sometimes heated nature of politics.
“We, I guess, argue like other people do, but we try to be respectful and responsible,” Gunita said.
Courtesy : Union Leader
On the 29th morning of July 2012, the sun was just a nascent orange glow above the eastern horizon when dozens of relatives gathered at septuagenarian Ranjit Chhetri’s hut in Beldangi-II. The purpose of the gathering was to receive blessings from the old man, before they could see him off forever. He was to board the IOM (International Organization for Migration) bus that would carry him to Damak, and then to the Bhadrapur Airport to fly him to Kathmandu.
Like his contemporary friends, Ranjit became a silent onlooker for thousands of fellow-countrymen who departed for various western countries from the refugee camps in Nepal. He had never imagined that one day he would also choose to leave his ramshackle hut that housed him for over two decades.
The usual face turned to a stranger for several who had gathered to see him off. Attired in his dark suit and white shirt, he looked young enough with the traditional Nepalese cap studded with two crossed-knife emblem symbolizing the Gorkha warriors. More than two dozen of his relatives and neighbours walked to Runche Chowk to bid good-bye to the legendary fellow. A four-member family of his second son accompanied Ranjit. They were bound to Cleveland, Ohio where the other family members were waiting them to join.
A day before his pre-medical examinations at the IOM, he was busy scanning some of the documents he had carried all the way from his hometown in Lapshibotey, Chirang and had secured them throughout his stay in camp.
“I am not going to carry all that I possess,” explained Ranjit, showing the charter of the first political party – Bhutan State Congress. “This document will go along with me since my father had sacrificed his life for initiating the congress party in Bhutan.”
Two days earlier, he visited an ophthalmologist in Damak and had his eyes examined. Showing the spectacles that he newly purchased, he said, “I bought these glasses from Damak. However, I could not afford a thermo flask that I wish to carry to ease my journey to the United States.” He has been under medication for his chronic asthma since a long time.
Unlike in other days, the Runche Chowk was seen less crowded. Including Ranjit, there were just 29 people to depart for America. Ranjit stood calm and quiet at a corner, just opposite to Armed Police Force (APF) camp, waiting for the IOM bus.
Except for his family members and close relatives, no one knew Ranjit as the only living member of late Mahasur Chhetri, who was packed inside a leather bag and dropped alive into the river Sunkosh. The community was unaware that Ranjit’s resettlement in the west would not only resettle himself and his family, but would also be carrying the history of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, millions of miles away from them, and might go unrecorded forever!
“I am never happy to move to a completely strange place. My dream to die in Bhutan, where my father ended his life for the common cause, is going to shatter,” Ranjit lamented, a few minutes before he stepped into the IOM bus. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he waved hands to bid farewell to his relatives and neighbors among those spectators. The bus moved away quickly, leaving a cloud of dust behind, aboard the living luminary, Ranjit and the family.
Life history
Ranjit Chhetri was born to his father of unparalleled valor, Mahasur Chhetri, and mother Pabitra in 1936 in Labshibotey of Chirang district. His father, a trusted servant of the first Prime Minister, Jigmi Palden Dorji, was in Bhutan House at Kalimpong, India when a messenger relayed him news about birth of Ranjit in Labshibotey.
Friends and locals received Mahasur, who instantly decided to leave for Bhutan to see the baby boy, at his residence with a formal ceremony to rejoice the birth. The celebrations continued until the child was christened as Ranjit following Hindu traditions on the eleventh day.
“My mother used to tell me that hundreds of locals, dozens of chaprasis and mandals were a part of the naming ceremony which was observed with panche baja, traditional dances and several rounds of gunfire,” Ranjit recalled.
Ranjit was lucky to have an opportunity to get enrolled in a private school in Kalimpong. However, he decided to discontinue his studies from grade six when he was enticed by various facilities that he used to get at the Bhutan House, the official residence of the Dorji family.
According to him, the then prime minister was very unhappy when Ranjit decided to remain completely aloof from his studies. “He wanted me to become a great man like my father and always motivated me towards studies. But, I always tried to ignore his words as I found that regular study was not an easy task to do,” says Ranjit, as he recalls his early days of Kalimpong.
At the age of eight, Ranjit married Pabitra Khadka, who was two years older. The marriage ceremony that lasted almost for a week was regarded as the greatest and most expensive function in Bhutan during that time. The claim for total expenses for the whole ceremony is Nu 9,000 in 1944.
“Many take my marriage as a fairytale,” elaborates he, “There were 84 Damais with seven commanders for panche bajas and over 300 hundred horses during the marriage procession to the girl’s house.” His claim of the extravagant marriage party is itself a dubious description, unlikely to command belief. “The party meal included 1,120 kilogram of rice, 14 goats and one seven-year-old he-buffalo,” claimed he.
Not only the invitees but also the hoipolloi who heard about such a function attended the ceremony fearing that Mahasur would take actions against those who failed to express their presence. Ranjit’s wife, who was welcomed as new bride to Mahasur’s home by a queue of hundreds of women in 1946, passed away three years back leaving him all alone in this world.
Ranjit and his stepmother traveled to India and Nepal the very next day when the then Prime Minister Jigmi Palden Dorji and his coterie packed Mahasur in a leather sack and threw alive into the torrential Sunkosh River early morning of March 8, 1951 accusing him of initiating the formation of Bhutan State Congress. The Bhutanese authority that agreed to bear funeral costs, compensate some losses and return properties seized by the authority, took Mahasur’s family to Bhutan only after 18 months of exile in India. The decision was taken following a negotiation deal between the Prime Minister’s father S.T. Dorji and the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Kalimpong, being pressurized by the Indian Congress.
Upon his return to Bhutan, Ranjit had to accept a job at the department of forest where he worked for 20 years although his mother and stepmother were not in favor of his taking the job.
(The writer, who has been following the life history of martyr Mahasur Chhetri, can be reached for comments at [email protected])
Sibitra Chowan, a farmer from Goshi gewog in Dagana,has been running from pillar to post “seeking justice,” claimingthat a significant area of the land she received as kidu has now been sold to a civil servant.
In her appeal letters to various authorities, the farmer claims the disputed land measuring 2.8 acres registered under thram number 46(old) under Goshi gewog was received as kidu in 1994. While the National Land Commission (NLC) officials say the land has not been given to anyone, Goshi Gup Prem Dahal told Bhutan TODAY that the disputed land is now registered in the name of a new occupant Jigme Tshewang, who also has the thram.
“I don’t know how the land got transferred in Jigmi Tshewang’s name. As per law, the transaction should have been routed through the local govern- ment here but I never signed any document while giving the thram to the new owner. And now the former Gup says he did not signany document regarding the land.”
The farmer said that when she approached lo- cal authorities in Dagana requesting their help to freeze the construction work, the farmer was told that the disputed land was allotted to a new occupant.
However, the surveyor general and media focal person of NLC Ugen Takchu denied that the disputed land has not been sold to anyone.
When asked how the disputed land got registered in the person’s name Ugen Takchu said: “This is a big question. I wrote a strong letter in the begin- ning to the dzongkhag that the land is under dispute and the case be dealt as per the Land Act. Construc- tion should not be allowed in such a case. The local authorities should take care of this.”
Ugen Takchu said the woman has approached him several times saying somebody was forcibly constructing a house on the land. “She even cried in front of me. The NLC has never given thram to any one on that land. But I don’t know if the dzongkhag has given the land in any resettlement program,” he said.
He also said the com- mission could not do much as she does not have the kasho. “We can’t do much if she lost her kasho,” he said. Ugen- Takchu said that the case looks “genuine” but the outcome of her effort has not been satisfactory.
Sabitra Chowan also said that the local govern- ment has not been trans- parent on the issue. “The land falls in the prime development area of the gewog where Dagapela hospital is located,” she said.
“But now the local authorities in Dagana are saying that the land has been sold to Jigme Tshwang and it has been further fragmented and sold to his friends. I am ready to be jailed if my claims are not genuine but I want justice,” she said.
“I immediately rushed to the dzongkhag stopping the work when the construction started on my landbut they sided with him,” she said. “Now, the new occupant is working on the land during nights. I asked him to show if he had acquired thram for the land but he tried to pull his pants in response,” she alleges.
Sabitra Chowan said that she appealed to His Majesty the King. “Then I had the honor to receive audience with His Majesty. His Majesty granted me gifts in cash kind and told me to continue cultivating the land but problem is that some one has occupied the land and even started constructing a house,” she said.
The farmer appealed to the prime minister through grievance cell after which the construction activities were halted for sometime. The grievance cell forwarded the case to the home and cultural affairs ministry which made an inquiry with the land commission. But she said the outcome has not been reported to the grievance cell. “The land was inherited by my husband from his father but became government land when my husband’s elder brother,
in whose name the thram was migrated from there. So I had to seek kidu from His Majesty for the same land,” she said.
She said the new settler was given land in Bhalaygang village in Goshi. “But after staying there for six years he started con- struction on the disputed land. I don’t know how he got the land from the government,” she said.
She also said that the local authorities were un- able to stop the work on the disputed land as she had lost the document. “The former Dagana dzongda Tashi Gyaltshen advised me to bring thram or some directives in black and white from Thimphu so that he could stop any kind of work on the disputed land but I couldn’t,” she said. “What is happen- ing on my land is not only controversial but beyond belief,” she said.
Courtesy : The Bhutan Today
What Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley was claiming as regard to Bhutan’s formal diplomatic tie with China following his recent meeting with his Chinese counterpart has finally came out to be more realistic as the country received Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying on Thursday.
Minister Ying, who would sit for the 20th round of border talks between the two nations earlier today, called on PM Thinley and acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Khandu Wangchuck yesterday in Thimphu. She has been leading an eight-member delegation to Bhutan.
The Prime Minister expressed condolences on behalf of Bhutan and the government for recent loss of lives and properties in China due to recent monsoon rains.
“Lyonchhen welcomed Vice Foreign Minister Ms Fu Ying on her first visit to Bhutan. He also conveyed heartfelt condolences from the people and the royal government of Bhutan on the aftermath of heavy rainfall and loss to lives and properties in China,” the Cabinet Secretariat’s website stated.
The Secretariat further mentioned that the PM also expressed his admiration on the extent with which China has been able to lower its poverty level.
In response, the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister spoke of GNH and said that Bhutan’s development model of GNH was increasingly becoming opular and admired in China.
