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Severely injured youth from Sanischare camp died while he was being rushed to Biratnagar based hospital on Monday night. Morang police have identified the deceased biker rider as Padam Lal Sharki.
Meanwhile, pillion rider Kishore Rai of the same camp, who received minor injuries during the accident, has gone missing from the hospital itself fearing his arrest, it is said.
The fatal accident occurred at Patri of Sanischare along the East-West Highway, according to police.
Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan nation wedged between giants India and China, is pursuing a policy that does not merely increase the gross domestic product (GDP) but, instead, favors an inclusive, holistic development model that stresses on what it calls gross national happiness (GNH), writes Sudip Mazumdar after an interview with Bhutan PM Jigmi Thinley in Thimpu.
For nearly 30 years, the predominantly Buddhist kingdom that moved toward democracy in 2008 with an elected government, has worked on general well-being of its citizens where material development is balanced with innovative policies that uphold sustainable development, psychological well-being and ecological protection. Bhutan now tops Asia in the United Nations’ just-released first World Happiness report.
Earlier this month (April), Bhutan convened a conference under the UN auspices in New York to nudge the world toward a development model that does not only emphasize maximizing profit through competition. Jigme Thinley, the American-educated prime minister of this nation of less than 800,000 people, told the global audience that the concept of gross domestic product be replaced by gross national happiness “if the mankind is to avoid its current unsustainable and self-destructive course.”
Encouraged by the response from the world leaders, Nobel laureates and economists, Bhutan is now going full steam ahead with its GNH model of sustainable development. But there are challenges aplenty. To discuss them, Prime Minister Thinley sat with Sudip Mazumdar recently in capital Thimphu.
Excerpts:
Why should the world listen to Bhutan’s pitch for the GNH model of development? What made Bhutan take the lead?
Bhutan has never sat on a moral pedestal or gone outside its borders to preach to the world. After the concept was introduced by the Fourth King (Jigme Singye Wangchuk in 1970s) Bhutan never talked about it outside the country. It was only in October 1998, Bhutan was persuaded and cajoled to take the concept out by the United Nations, particularly the UNDP, which had organized a millennium summit in Seoul for the Asia-Pacific region. The whole world was in a mood of listening. At that time GNH was a refreshing idea. Later through research the idea was further refined and a set of indicators developed to measure happiness.
The reason why the world is now taking interest (in GNH) is because economies are collapsing within an unstable environment and we are faced with all kinds of social problems. The biggest and most rapidly rising malady today is mental health disease. There are so many maladies and there are no solutions. That is why the countries are looking at Bhutan’s GNH model as an alternative development paradigm. Great minds assembled there (at New York in April) and showed great interest (in the deliberations).
Critics say the GNH concept is utopian and not practical. How do you respond?
I think this question has been resolved quite sometimes ago. Firstly, happiness itself is the most fundamental and most important of good that every individual seeks in life. This is already established, particularly of the kind of happiness that we talk about that is not this fleeting, ephemeral kind that arises out of sensory pleasures, external stimuli. Scientists have shown how the brain matters change according to the conditions of the mind. It has been shown that how a happy, meditative mind can be productive and emotionally and psychologically positive. We now know there are specific conditions that can lead to happiness and that are necessary to happiness.
Here in Bhutan we have now determined nine domains that can condition the mind to feel happy. These have been identified and these nine domains can in turn be verified with a set of variables encompassing as many as 72 indicators relating to physical, economic, psychological, time use etc. There is now a multidisciplinary approach in developing this model.
There are clear signs of growing disparity in Bhutan. There are flashy cars and expensive shops on the one hand and many still living in less than a dollar a day on the other. How is this compatible with the GNH approach?
Yes, you are right. And we are not happy with that. The government has seriously endeavored to ensure that the fruits of development are shared equitably among all the people. This (disparity) is inevitable, it seems. We are trying to generate mindful pursuit of GNH. Until recently, majority of the people in Bhutan didn’t know about GNH. It was a top-down approach. We never said ‘contemplate GNH’. At the same time, vast majority of the Bhutanese people are spiritual. In the urban settings, people are becoming more materialistic. We have realized that people should consciously and mindfully pursue GNH against the pressures and aggression of materialism. We have introduced GNH in school curriculum. On our part we are encouraging mindful living and also aggressively pursuing (policies) so that certain sections of people don’t fall behind.
The focus of the current five-year-plan that ends in June of 2013 is on poverty alleviation and equity in terms of distribution of basic services.By December this year every home will have electricity. Every child is in school now. Except for in some two or three villages, every Bhutanese now have a mobile phone or have access to a mobile phone. Cowherds in deep jungles carry mobile phones now.
And now we are promoting e-governance. We want to turn Bhutan into an IT-hub. Our unique selling points are peace and stability, pristine environment and ecology, cheap, green energy and an interesting culture.
After years of isolation, Bhutan is fast opening up. How are you planning to deal with what some say the inevitable “temptations” of Western culture and “pollutants” of Western consumerism?
Well, it is very difficult. There will be certain administrative mechanisms put in place (to deal with that). But they can never be effective. Ultimately the filtration has to be in the individual mind. And that is why I talk about developing mindfulness and developing equilibrium between needs of the body and the mind, knowing what is the meaning of contentment, knowing what is enough. It is also the understanding that happiness arises out of a happy family, happy relationship with your child, with your spouse and also finding the time to spend with them. Again the family cannot be happy unless it has good relationship with the neighbors and so on.
What kind of initiatives the government is taking to generate wholesome living? I understand alcoholism, drug abuse is on the rise.
That’s right. They are on the rise. One approach (to deal with them) would be through the education system. We have introduced meditation in schools. We brought experts from all over the world to discuss how we can infuse GNH values in today’s education system. They decided they will make their schools ‘green’ schools, ecologically sustainable schools and they would generate zero waste. The program is being implemented successfully for the last two years. Schools are also teaching cooperation rather than competition.
Bhutan is also experiencing what some would call the “flowering” of the self in the pursuit of literature, art and cinema. There would inevitably more of “I, me, mine” in the Bhutanese society which is deeply influenced by the Buddhist ideal of altruism.
Or may be “contamination” of the self (laughs). Bhutanese films are good. We are the only country where the local film industry has succeeded in edging out completely Hollywood and Bollywood films from the big screen. Projection of the self or ego is becoming part of the modern democracy (in Bhutan). We are telling people to aspire to become leaders. So the “I” comes into play- I will do this for you, I am so and so, I can do this for you, and I have done this. We have now all these writers and filmmakers- it’s all about ego now, sadly.
What would be the biggest challenge before Bhutan as it opens up rapidly?
Democracy. My biggest worry is: will the voter learn, understand and know enough about the essence of democracy and how democracy must serve both the individual and collective interests of the Bhutanese people. How he or she can acquire the skills to be able to employ the ballot wisely and hold his or her representative accountable, and thereby ensure good governance. We are used to having good leaders for generations. We are not used to exercising the ballot. In other words, long-term sustainability of democracy is what I worry about.
Obviously, Bhutan is undergoing change in a fundamental way and some of the processes like access to Internet and satellite television can’t be rolled back. Where do you think the strongest resistance to change will come from?
No resistance, as of now. We don’t have the polarity of the conservatives against the liberals or traditionalists against the modernists. The Bhutanese are highly adaptive people. Sometime I wonder whether we are too flexible. But if there is resistance that would be natural because what we are going through are a liberalization process, a democratization process, and an empowering process. We also give tremendous importance to cultural preservation and conservation. We support the monasteries because we believe it is in the monasteries that the roots of our culture lie. They are a kind of an anchor. If the monasteries disappear then I think our culture will be threatened. We are taking a holistic approach to development and ecological protection is very important. Now, 80 per cent of the country is under green cover and many rare wild animals including tigers and snow leopards have come back.
Courtesy : South Asia Monitor, May 15, 2012
Himalayan kingdom, Bhutan, which sees Malaysia’s economic success as its inspiration, is keen to have diplomatic relations with the country, its Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley said.
“We are inspired by the kind of leadership it has had in the past and continues to have. We are also inspired by the good governance that Malaysia has exhibited in our part of the world,” he told Bernama in an interview.
Bhutan, he said, also admired the way Malaysia has been able to achieve rapid economic development and how the benefits of developments had been fairly well distributed.
“The benefits of Malaysia’s development and economic wealth I think have accrued across all stretches of the Malaysian society. So, we would like to learn from Malaysia,” he said after meeting ambassadors and high commissioners based in Dhaka and New Delhi, who represented 12 countries.
Also present was Malaysia’s High Commissioner to India, Datuk Tan Seng Sung.
Thinley, who acknowledged that Bhutan has been slow in expanding its diplomatic ties, said it would “soon” pursue them with Malaysia.
A landlocked country, Bhutan was deliberately closed to foreigners until 1974. It has since opened up and started establishing diplomatic ties with several countries.
Bhutan has diplomatic relations with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia and Spain. It also has diplomatic ties with India, Bangladesh, Japan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, the Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Vietnam.
Courtesy : Bernama.com
The Nepalese Constituent Assembly (CA) has been finally dissolved at 12:00 midnight Sunday as the Council of Ministers held earlier this night decided to hold fresh elections in November 22.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s government was compelled to propose such an alternative when the major political parties, Unified CPN (Maoist), CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and United Madhesi Democratic Front, failed to reach consensus on the new constitution dissolving the four-year-old Constituent Assembly.
In his address to the nation, the Nepalese Prime Minister, “Though it is a sad decision, there was no alternative to announcing fresh election of the Constituent Assembly.
He also indirectly accused the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML of inviting the political turmoil by working against the Constituent Assembly’s future. Both the parties have stood against the decision to dismiss the Assembly.
The PM also expressed his utmost hope that President Ram Baran Yadav would respond to the Cabinet decision positively so that the caretaker government would materialize the elections in the set time.
The Prime Minister also he urged all citizens not to lose their hopes.
For failing to convince the State Bank of India to extend overdraft facility from 3b to 10b Indian Rupee, the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) has borrowed US$ 35.9 million from the Punjab National Bank of India this week.
The RMA stated that it decided to borrow the loan at 10.5 percent interest to replenish the ongoing Rupee crunch in the country. The central bank was paying a 9.5 percent interest on the SBI borrowings.
The RMA took the decision when the central bank failed to convince its Indian counterpart, according to the report.
The State Bank of India has been asking the central bank to “provide enough justifications on the Rupee crisis”. Otherwise, India was to extend the overdraft limit to 10b last month.
According to reports from inside, most of the banks didn’t issue any Indian Rupees to their clients for the past three days.
Druk PNB Bank Limited, the first FDI bank in Bhutan is a joint venture bank of Punjab National Bank, India and local promoters. DPNBL started its operations in Bhutan on January 27, 2010 by opening first branch at Thimphu. Later on two more branches started functioning at Phuentsholing & Wangdue.
The U.S. Department of State stated that Bhutan has not been allowing all political and apolitical organizations to get registered.
Releasing a 17-page long Human Rights Report 2011, the US said though the constitution provides for freedom of association, and the government permitted the registration of some political parties and organizations, but that was only for those which are regarded “not harmful to the peace and unity of the country.”
“The government regarded political parties organized by Nepali-speaking refugees in refugee camps in Nepal as illegal, terrorist, and anti-national in nature,” said the report, released on May 24.
According to the Department, the ICRC was the only international human rights monitoring group officially operating in the country.
“There were reports that most of the NGOs in Bhutan operated under the umbrella of the royal family. The 2007 Civil Society Organization Act requires all new NGOs to register with the government,” added the report.
The report also highlighted that the law does not address forced exile, but the government forced approximately 90,000 Nepali-speaking persons to leave the country in the early 1990s, following a series of steps taken during the 1970s and 1980s to deprive the Nepali-speaking population of its citizenship.
It further said, “There were no reported cases of forced exile during the year. There continued to be government delays in implementing a process to identify and repatriate refugees in Nepal with legitimate claims to Bhutanese citizenship.”
According to NGOs, stateless persons remain resident in Bhutan, mainly in the south, but the number is unknown, claimed the report. “Stateless persons cannot obtain No Objection Certificates and Security Clearance certificates, which limited access to employment, business ownership, and school attendance at higher-level institutions.”
Meanwhile, the reported also quoted the Human Rights Watch Human Rights that stated that the government excluded 13 percent of the Nepali-speaking population from voting in 2008 because they were considered “non-nationals” in the 2005 census.
However, it lauded the fairness during the elections. “International monitors reported that the elections were generally free and fair with no reports of irregularities during the election process.”
The Royal Audit Authority (RAA) has released its Annual Audit Report 2011 this week and has ranked at least three ministries to top the unsolved financial irregularities. The total unsolved irregularities for 2011 and up to Feb 15 amounted Nu 770.1 million.
The report, which was submitted to the King, Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley and the National Assembly Speaker Jigme Tshultim on May 18 based on the constitutional requirement, found that Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ministry of Human Settlement (MoHS) have the highest unsolved financial irregularities in 2011.
According to the report, unsolved financial irregularities included Nu 234.6 m for MoIC, Nu 202.7 m for MoFA and 72.5 m for MoHS.
“The report contains significant unresolved issues pertaining to audit reports issued during 2011,” stated the RAA in its official website.
RAA also claimed that the Annual Audit Report was circulated to all the agencies concerned for their comments during January and February 2012 in line with Section 75(c) of the Audit Act of Bhutan 2006 and was finalized giving due consideration to the responses received from the concerned agencies.
Hearty greetings, Aung San, the Noble laureate.
Democracy in Myanmar was long forbidden and we could understand the courage you have shown to stand by it for many years. It is almost two decades that you have been under the house arrest, and several of the activists of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were thrown behind the bars or forced to exile. You have survived the death of your scholar husband Michael Aris while in the house arrest and your determination not to return to England for his funeral has finally paid off.
The year 1990 has been a clarion call for two countries in south Asia for transforming into democracy. Then Burma, Myanmar was preparing to launch democratic system under your leadership, with the victory of NLD in election. Bhutan was undergoing a pro-democratic movement to prepare for the transformation from absolute monarchy to democracy. Yet, the military junta in Burma put a ban on NLD despite your victory, while in Bhutan the monarchy unleashed an undeclared terrorism on the civilians of ethnic Nepali-speaking minority. These two absolute regimes were not prepared to accept the people’s voice to demand fundamental rights and let the change occur for a free civic life.
The ban on political parties by these two regimes has to do with the demoralization of aspirants of change in the governance system. Although you contested and won the election from within the country, not a single political party was allowed to exist in Bhutan and the exile based political parties could not break ice to ignore the ban. When democracy was shared as a gift to the Bhutanese subjects by the fourth king, only two political parties were allowed to contest the general election that went without much fanfare. The general population was not able to make an informed choice about the candidates vying for seat in the parliament.
Madam Su Kyi,
You had spent some time in Bhutan back in 1970s when your scholar husband Michael Aris worked there and studied about the advent of Monarchy in Bhutan, later to publish the book, ‘Raven Crown: Origin of Buddhist monarchy in Bhutan’. Demographically and geographically, Bhutan and Myanmar share some common features in terms of the ethnicity and mountain topography. Ethnic Nepali, called Lhotshampa in Bhutan, and Sarchhop community of eastern Bhutan who join hands to bring democratic changes particularly after 1990, were considered threat to hereditary monarchy and branded anti-nationals. However, a written constitution was introduced for the first time and general election to constitute a democratic government was held in 2008, after the fourth king relinquished throne in favor of his son. This has taken place subsequent to the forcing out a large section of the general public who could significantly contribute to the making of a democratic government by the people, for the people. So, democracy in Bhutan is still a perilous path, while this should not be the case in Myanmar under your leadership.
It was heartening to see the televised news on BBC; visit to Myanmar by two western dignitaries, David Cameron and Hillary Clinton. With David Cameron you appeared emotionally energized to have him by your side. I assume that was the moment to ponder upon those youthful days you spent in Oxford with Michael, Kim and Alexander. The Prime Minster welcoming you back to UK for a visit is a symbol of victory of democratic ideals over the autocratic system manipulations.
With Hillary Clinton, you shared the same feminine strength and principled evoking of power to express that Myanmar’s reinvention of democracy is always patronized by the US. To the contrary, the US, UK or any other European dignitaries do not feel the urgency to visit Bhutan to question the functioning of infant democracy sans one hundred thousand of citizens forced out of the country in pretext of maintaining a demographic balance. The exile of such a large section of the population is not due to the armed conflict between government forces and civilians as may be the case in Myanmar. It is rather a systematic denationalization and terrorizing of civilians to leave the country after compelling them to sign a voluntary migration forms developed exceptionally for the purpose.
News report by New York Times covering your election campaign has added fresh hope to all ethnicities of Burma resettled in the US. They are excited to be back to their country once democracy under your charismatic leadership is in full function. That is not a likely chance for Bhutanese refugees resettled in the west for the moment. Dissidence is feared by those bureaucrat-turned- politicians of Bhutan. Therefore returning of dissident voice to be incorporated in the process of gifted democracy (still at the mercy of palace) is highly ruled out and marginalized by larger democracies of the world.
With your strong conviction to lead the democratic struggle of Myanmar, you reflect your father’s dream of independent Burma, and while sustaining the oppressive Junta rule you also emerge to be another strong female leader of south Asia, a tradition to carry on. Your strength, courage, conviction, patience and tolerance are the virtues to be handed down and these ingredients of an able, farsighted leadership Bhutanese must learn from you.
Having reentered the scene of democratic election campaign, your simplistic approach to reach out to the rural life of Myanmar is encouraging to address the long oppressed supporters of NLD. In Bhutan, the politicians going out to the public garnering their support for 2013 general election are still posing themselves aristocratic and seeking panegyric. Interestingly, the prime minister speaking in Nepali to address the Lhotshampa (Nepali-speaking southern Bhutanese) constituencies in Samtse district of south-western Bhutan can be taken as a political game show.
If Myanmar poses for a multiparty democracy after a long crisis, she can set example for nascent democracies in South Asia emancipating out of autocratic regimes. Bhutan’s self-imposed isolation and theocratic foundation of government set by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal has not crumbled yet to give more freedom and rights to the people.
Shameful to mention that Bhutanese people were not considered the citizen of a country, rather subjects of a benevolent king, who is portrayed kind enough to give away land and property to his subjects. So the new model of Bhutanese democracy in absence of a hundred thousand evictees can hardly be epitomized as mass based and completely unshackled of the autocracy. Myanmar should go beyond that and strengthen grass-root democratic institutions once you hold the public office.
I salute you Madam for you are the brave daughter of a freedom loving father patronizing for a free Burma.
Thanking you,
Buddha M Dhakal
Kentucky, USA
Nima Dorji is a 14-years-old boy who works and earns his own livelihood by collecting trash and selling to the scrap dealer in Phuntsholing. Nima is from Samdhingkha in Punakha. Both his parents are working. In fact his mother is in the civil service while his father is a carpenter. Nima left home at the age of 11. He has two younger sisters. He was a student of Babesa Primary school and then later he became a monk out of his own interest. His journey from a monk to a trash collector motivated us to look deeper into his life.
We found Nima, when out of curiosity to see if we could find children in the land fill of Memelakha. We saw this thin and filthy looking boy rummaging through the piles of dirt along with the dogs. He ran away when he saw us for the first time. We made contact with him by giving him a set of clean clothes and some food. His story unfolds with him living with his parents in olakha. Both his parents work so there is some income in the family. He never enjoyed school.
He refused to do his school work and this annoyed his mother. He wanted to be a monk instead. After failing in class two for two consecutive years, Nima‘s mother finally put him in a monastery in Samdrupjonkar. The same year, a lama advised the parents to send Nima to Trongsa dratshang.
However, Nima was greatly disappointed when he saw the bad behavior of his monk friends and senior monks. He was bullied and beaten often. His learning according to him did not progress much.
With great disappointment and despair he ran away to Thimphu. He found a friend in Thimphu who did trash business. Afraid to go home, he decided to become a trash collector and found a home with ten other young trash collectors. The two room house became Nima’s home and his friend, his new family.
We found his parents living in a hut in olakha. Ten members of the family live all together in this little hut. According to his mother, she is waiting to get him registered in a shedra. We took Nima to meet his mother to see their reaction. While Nima remained quiet, the mother was indifferent. It was difficult to see love or any family bond between Nima and his mother.
We also visited his school and the teachers couldn’t recognize him as he had changed and aged drastically. Nima did not draw too much attention from his teachers. He was just an average student who did not enjoy school. His friends were in class 5 and they too did not recognize him. They do remember one thing about him. He was passionate about becoming a monk.
Nima never got into drugs or any criminal activities. He was never a naughty boy when he was little. He hardly gave any problems. His only problem was not taking interest in his school studies.
As a trash collector he earns Nu 1900 a month. Nima is known to be a hardworking trash collector who also sends money to his mother. He still hopes that a day will come when he can have another opportunity to go back to school.
Nima along with his ten friends, live in the filthiest environment that we can ever imagine. They live with the trash of the entire Thimphu city. They work bare hands with no masks and their clothes are filthy. They work is hazardous to their health and they are prone to communicable diseases as they often rummage through wastes from the hospitals. Their hands often get cut and poked by syringes that are thrown in the rubbish.
Their diet consists mainly of potatoes and rice. Their day begins at 7 in the morning with the leftover of their dinner. Lunch is around 3 or 4 in the evening. The wife of one of his friends and her sister cook for the boys. Living with are two little toddlers whose playground is the land fill.
They do not have access to clean drinking water and electricity. They use a solar light in the night. They often get sick with diarrhea, cough and cold, headaches and other ailments brought about by poor hygiene and sanitation.
Nima often feels depressed with what he has become. He regrets leaving school and wishes he got sound and adequate guidance from his parents and teachers. He looks furlong and hopeless. He feels he brought this situation upon himself. This is just a story of Nima but the eyes of his friends told their own pathetic sad stories.
Courtesy : Bhutan Youth Development Fund
