Bhutan News archive for 08 March 2010

The pink elephant in the room
Health ministry study reveals that more than half Bhutan’s drinkers are its youth

Feature 7 March, 2010 – Bhutanese down 12.5 million litres of alcohol a year and a staggering 54 percent of the country’s total 56 percent youth population below 24 years are the main consumers.    [read more]

Bhutan Observer

Cement plant to make Nganaglm a business hub
The construction of mega Dungsam Cement Corpo­ration Limited (DCCL) in Pemagatshel is in full swing promising many economic opportunities for the local communities.
As part of the project, the 15-km road from Indo-Bhutan border to the project site at Chenkari is being broadened to two lanes. Broadening of the road, which is expected to be complete [...]    [read more]

Bhutan’s first medical college to come up in Serbithang
The site for the construc­tion of Bhutan’s first medi­cal college, Bhutan Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS), has been identified above the Royal Botanical Garden in Serbithang, Thimphu.
Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) will be designat­ed as a teaching hospital.
JDWNRH has 17 clini­cal departments out of 20 required for a medical col­lege. Anatomy, biochemistry and [...]    [read more]

Community forest entrusts, empowers, sustains, conserves
The introduction of the people-centric forest management has gained momentum in Bhutan. Almost every day, we hear of com­munity forests being handed over to the people in different parts of the country. This is a tectonic shift from the earlier fully government-backed for­est management policy. Now with the people at the fore­front of forest management, [...]    [read more]

First elephant awareness workshop
Elephants and humans are in constant conflict in the southern Bhu­tan. To ease this tension and create awareness among the stakeholders, the Nature Conservation Division under Ministry of Agriculture and Forests is organising the first human-elephant co-existence workshop in Lobesa, Wang­due. The workshop started yesterday.
Titled “Getting Along with Asian Elephants”, the work­shop will focus on [...]    [read more]

G4S celebrates Happy Day
March 3 was not a usual day for 26 children of Drak Tsho Vocational Training Centre in Thimphu. It was their Happy Day organized by Group 4 Securicor (G4S). In orange shirts and caps, they rejoiced in dancing, painting, music and games.
G4S’s third Happy Day was celebrated on March 3 in Thimphu. The day is [...]    [read more]

Khuru still popular
Archery, the national game of Bhutan, is facing stiff com­petition from khuru, which is shining in its own realm among the Bhutanese in the country today. The game is fast gaining popularity among people if the number of tournaments organised are anything to go by.
Khuru is gaining popular­ity especially because of the game’s simplicity. “Unlike [...]    [read more]

RSTA found prone to corruption
An integrity assessment joint­ly conducted by Anti-Corrup­tion Commission (ACC) and National Statistics Bureau (NSB) in 2009 found that ve­hicle registration and licens­ing procedures of Road Safe­ty and Transport Authority (RSTA) was prone to corrup­tion. The assessment rated the total integrity of the orga­nization at 6.48 out of 10.
Under the findings, per­sonal attitude was rated 5.26, [...]    [read more]

Schools take first GNH steps
This year, there is an unmis­takable air of earnestness in the Bhutanese schools.
Students in most schools meditate for a few minutes before the morning assembly. And each teacher leads a class meditation before starting any lesson.
A few weeks after the schools reopened, some prin­cipals and teachers are al­ready implementing GNH val­ues in their schools.
The principal [...]    [read more]

Quality infrastructure – A necessity!
Following the devastat­ing earthquake that shook our tiny King­dom on September 21, 2009, earthquakes of different mag­nitudes took place in some countries of the world – Chi­na, Haiti and other countries, the most recent one in Chile on Saturday February 27, 2010.
I would like to quote from the Washington Post of March 1, 2010.
“A powerful [...]    [read more]

His Majesty grants audience to Indian Cabinet Secretary
His Majesty the King granted audience to visiting cabinet secretary of India, Mr K M Chandrasekhar, today.
The  cabinet secretary also  called on  Prime Minister, besides meeting his Bhutanese counterpart.
Discussing a gamut of issues with the Prime Minister, Mr K M Chandrasekhar, who is on his first visit to the kingdom, described Bhutan as a [...]    [read more]