Bhutan News archive for 16 July 2009

International Sources

When he ran out of bullets, he won the war with boulders – Mid Day.com
Col Sonam Wangchuk of Ladakh Scouts may not have inspired films, but his scouting unit achieved the first win at Kargil He was not expected to fight the war and didn’t even have enough ammunition to do so. His orders were to recee and return to base …    [read more]

Micro-financing to alleviate poverty – Kuensel Online
16 July, 2009 – In what could be a relaunch of their micro-financing scheme in rural Bhutan, the Bhutan development financial corporation (BDFC) will launch an enhanced micro-financing strategy in three of Bhutan’s poorest dzongkhags – Mongar …    [read more]

Civic Theatre Honors Paro As Curtain Falls After 58 Years – Tyler Morning Telegraph
Joyce Paro, a seemingly perpetual presence within the Tyler Civic Theatre Center for the past 58 years, officially retired from membership on the TCTC board of directors Tuesday evening. Plaques were handed out, a proclamation naming July 14, 2009 …    [read more]

NEPAL: Heartache for wives of Bhutanese refugees – IRIN
Many Nepali women whose husbands are Bhutanese refugees feel left out of the third country resettlement programme DAMAK, 2 July 2009 (IRIN) – More than a thousand Nepalese women married to Bhutanese refugees fear they may be left out of the third …    [read more]

Giving business a massive boost – Kuensel Online
16 July, 2009 – Numerous financial incentives to encourage growth of new businesses, stimulate existing ones and attract external investment have been proposed in the economic development policy (EDP), which is yet to be finalised by the finance …    [read more]

HCC bags Rupees 387.50-crore order for Bhutan power plant – New Kerala
Mumbai, July 10 : Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), India’s leading engineering and construction company, has bagged Rupees 387.50 crore order for Lot one of the 114MW Dagacchu Hydro Power Project in Bhutan. The Dagacchu Hydro Power Plant is …    [read more]

Attacks build fear among refugees in Syracuse – Syracuse Post-Standard
Mike Greenlar / The Post-Standard Bhutanese refugee Hari Rizal, 23, stands at the intersection where he was beaten Nov. 3, 2008 near the corner of Park and John streets on Syracuse’s North Side. Behind him, two Bhutanese refugee women walk down John …    [read more]

Smoking bans around the world – KPNews.com
July 16 (Reuters) – Turkey rolls out the next phase of a smoking ban on July 19, extending the prohibition to cafes, bars and restaurants as it aims to curb the habit in a country where 22 million people, half the adult male population, smoke. Die …    [read more]

Seeking help in the Promised Land: Refugees struggle to start lives in … – Twin Falls Times-News
Before arriving in Twin Falls, Som Subedi lived the life of a Bhutanese refugee in a bamboo hut. It had a dirt floor, with no electricity – only a kerosene lamp. The roof was made of plastic woven among the bamboo. Such was a life he lived for about …    [read more]

Health Care – Yahoo News
Handicrafts products are displayed for sale at a shop in Thimphu July 12, 2009. Five decades ago, Bhutan was a feudal, medieval place with no roads, proper schools or hospitals and scarcely any contact with the outside world. Today education and …    [read more]

Kuensel – Bhutan’s National Newspaper

Thimphu’s Maiden Lady Magician

16 July, 2009 – One moment the feather duster is green. The next it’s red. How did that happen?
That was what every child, who attended the magic show last Saturday at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck pubic library, was left wondering.    [read more]

Kinley Wangchuk – Rapping like Big Daddy King

16 July, 2009 – It’s been on every school going and college students’ lips. Since last year, most young people have been humming Chaap Chap Da, yet very few of them know the voice behind the song.    [read more]

Short but summery

16 July, 2009 – When the mercury rises and temperatures soar, Bhutanese youth just grin and bare it! Girls do so in cute denims, and boys in soft khakis and cargo board shorts.    [read more]

The Teenager Today

16 July, 2009 – Youth is a period of kissing childhood goodbye and running full speed ahead toward adulthood. It’s a world unto itself. Its laws, codes and ethics are different. That’s why the old generation, so often, clashes with them. Just like a Bhutanese finds it difficult to fit in America, one finds everything crazy in the world of teens. The waves of teenage rebellion have not yet broken over us in Bhutan. It is approaching fast though. Tragedy is looming large for the youth of this generation. That is why it is important for youth and parents to properly understand each other.    [read more]

Five questions

16 July, 2009 – Tshering Choden, 14, a class VIII student from Nagor LSS, Mongar, was one of the participants at the youth festival. She shares her views.

1. What do you think about the youth festival?
It’s very interesting. We met and made many new friends and got an opportunity to see Thimphu.    [read more]

Bhutan Observer

Picture story
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Of kidney and money
When he was diagnosed with typhoid, 55-year-old Pema Wangdi didn’t know that he had a kidney problem. It was in September, 2008, when he learnt that his kidneys stopped functioning.
Today after eight months of dialysis and kidney transplant, he is healthy and strong. He carries with him the experiences of having a kidney transplant and [...]    [read more]

NA adopts civil service bill
After deliberating for five days, for about 30 hours, the National Assembly yesterday adopted the Civil Service bill 2009.
Adopting the bill, Speaker Jigme Tshulthrim said the house had given due importance to the three branches of the government. The adoption of the bill, he said, would help the constitutional post holders and civil servants tackle [...]    [read more]

Allow tobacco sale, NC
Yesterday, the National Council resolved to allow the sale of tobacco products, which was banned on December 17, 2004.
After reviewing the Tobacco Control Bill for two days, the NC decided to do away with section 11 (c) under chapter three of the bill which says, “No person shall sell tobacco and tobacco products.” Pema Lhamo, [...]    [read more]

The happy little home
For a family of seven, the shadowy place they call home is a dingy public toilet. It’s a happy home, nonetheless. Metho Dema reports.
For Pooja, nine, and Aarti, eight, there is nothing extraordinary about their home even when they have around 20 to 30 visitors in a day.
They are like any ordinary children except that [...]    [read more]

T he village boy and Thimphu
Eating a piece of cake for the first time in his life made Jamba Gyeltshen, a 17-year-old student from Tangmachu village in Lhuentse, wish to stay a little longer in Thimphu. “The flavour is too tempting – it’s as though someone has put a spell on me,” he said. “If I were given a chance [...]    [read more]

Parties must be rescued
One of the thorny issues we are currently debating is the public funding of the political parties. Given the grim financial situation that threatens the very survival of our political parties, this issue calls for debate and deliberation that go a little easier on the nitty-gritty of laws. If this issue gets caught up in [...]    [read more]

In Summary
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Lozeys up against rigsar music
Today, a battle between the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, is being played out in the music market. It is lozey against rigsar songs.
Norbui Thro Zang, Khathen (verbal message to my beloved) and Yar Mah Song are some of the lozey audio cassettes available in the market. But the business is [...]    [read more]

Metrosexual or just fashionable?
I f you think that it is only women who spend more time in front of a mirror, think again. Today, there are men, who are obsessed with their appearance and spend freely to improve it.
They are men who go to a mall, buy magazines and spend a substantial amount of time and money on [...]    [read more]