Campaigning before date unlawful: Election Commission

22 August, 2007 -
The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) has said that political parties are not allowed to campaign for votes until it announces the campaign date, but politicians are allowed to visit their constituencies and ‘familiarise’ themselves with the voters.

Corruption: Sharing the responsibility

22 August, 2007 -
Government leaders know what to do but are not doing it. Rules exist but are not implemented. The bureaucracy has shown poor leadership and suffers from poor organizational culture. There is no record keeping in the system and, therefore, no trails to decisions. There is a lack of accountability throughout the system. There is no attempt to improve service quality. The media is not playing its role. Neither is the judiciary. There is no one responsible for the morality of the civil service.

DPT’s priority is unemployment

DPT after their party general assembly

22 August, 2007 - Addressing youth unemployment will be Druk Phuensum Tshogpa’s (DPT) priority, according to party president, Lyonpo Jigmi Y Thinley, who presented the party’s manifesto for the first time to party members on August 20 in Thimphu.

“It is important to recognise our educated youth as a vital resource by drawing inspiration from countries such as Singapore, whose only asset is human resource in an increasingly knowledge-based society,” he said.

The draft manifesto contains 24 articles, which look into addressing issues on culture, environment, education and health, society, religion, private sector development, socio-economic development, access to natural resources, youth and employment, security, law and order.

Will the leaders lead?
22 August, 2007 - For a start, we can stop being so gentle on ourselves. We are not fooling anyone with the line : “If we are not careful, corruption will come in”. We all know that our society suffers from a range of corrupt practices. Our speeches often emphasise that we have no room for corruption but the truth is that corruption has found room in our society. We also like to believe that Bhutan can be a model for other countries but we have not yet convinced anyone that we will be that role model.

Dzongdas discuss issues
22 August, 2007 - An upshot of the change to democracy, people deduce, is that the role of the traditional dzongdas will be diminished, even sidelined. Where will they feature in the overall scheme of things?

Bhutan : Hairly Cup champions

Sports 22 August, 2007 - Bhutan won the Independent Hairly Cup against Kanchenjunga FC of Darjeeling. The tournament was organised by the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Football Association. This, according to officials of Bhutan Football Federation, was in preparation for the World Cup qualifier, which will be held this October in Kuwait. 14 teams from Assam, Bengal, Darjeeling, Nepal and Bhutan had participated.

Political differences block economic progress in SAARC region

22 August, 2007 - Members of the SAARC chamber of commerce and industry, who met yesterday at Paro for the 40th executive committee meeting, identified political differences as the main obstacle to the region’s economic development.

Follow your star

Book Review 22 August, 2007 - “View & Vision”, a publication of the Centre for Educational Research and Development, is a collection of stories written by Bhutanese achievers, which is, as stated in the introduction, “a hymn to dreams, a tribute to determination and a celebration of success.”

Sakten’s unique burial

Sakten village

Timeout 22 August, 2007 - Shaped by the harsh northern
environment in which they live,
the people of Merak and Sakten, the nomadic community of the east, have evolved a unique identity and lifestyle that is in practiced in life and in death.

The Naazips of Merak-Sakten

Sumba and his family

21 August, 2007 - Except for the tinkle of harness
bells and the occasional grunt
of yaks the valley is silent. Early morning mist shrouds the lone hut in Merathang, a pasture bordering Merak and Sakten gewogs, in the extreme north of Trashigang.

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