༉ ཁ་ཙ་ལས་ འགོ་བཙུགས་ཏེ་ སྤྱི་མཐུན་ཕན་བདེ་ཚོགས་སྡེ་གིས་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ནང་འཁོད་ཀྱི་ འབྲིང་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་གོང་མའི་ སློབ་ཕྲུག་༣༢ ཀྱི་དོན་ལས་ ན་གཞོན་འགོ་ཁྲིདཔ་གི་ ལས་རིམ་ཅིག་ འགོ་བཙུགས་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ཟླ་༩ པའི་ཚེས་༡༧ ཚུན་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་མི་ ལས་རིམ་དེ་ཡང་ ཚོགས་སྡེ་གིས་ གོ་བ་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་དང་ ན་གཞོན་དང་ མི་མང་ལུ་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་དང་ ཆང་ལག་ལེན་གྱི་ ཤེས་ཡོན་བྱིན་ནིའི་ ཁས་ལེན་འབད་མི་དང་ རིམ་སྒྲིག་འབད་དེ་ཨིན་པས།

ན་གཞོན་འགོ་ཁྲིདཔ་ལས་རིམ་གྱིས་ མི་ཚེ་རིག་རྩལ་ མནོ་བསམ་བཏང་ཐངས་དང་ མི་མང་གསལ་བཤད་ ཞིབ་འཚོལ་ བརྡ་དོན་ དེ་ལས་ འགོ་ཁྲིདཔ་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལས་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་མ་ཚད་ ལས་རིམ་གྱིས་ རང་སོའི་རིག་རྩལ་གོང་འཕེལ་དང་ ཞི་བའི་འབྲེལ་འཛིན་ བློ་སྟོབས་ཡར་དྲག་དང་ ལཱ་གི་ དཀའ་ངལ་བསལ་ནི་ སྙིང་རྗེ་ དེ་ལས་ འགོ་ཁྲིད་པའི་སྤུས་ཚད་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཚུ་ བཟོ་ནི་ཨིན་པས།
དོ་འགྲན་ཅན་གྱི་ ལས་རིམ་ནང་ རྩོད་བསྡུར་དང་ མི་མང་གསལ་བཤད་ཚུ་ རྫོང་ཁ་དང་ ཨིང་སྐད་༢ ཆ་རའི་ཐོག་ལས་ དུས་ཡུན་ཆུ་ཚོད་༢ འོང་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

ཁ་ཙ་གི་ རྩོད་བསྡུར་ནང་ བྷུ་ཊཱན་ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་ཨེ་ཀ་ཌ་མིག་དང་ རིན་ཆེན་འབྲིང་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་༢ ཀྱིས་ “ཕ་མའི་སྐྱོང་བཞག་དང་ སློབ་གྲྭ་- སྨྱོ་རྫས་ལག་ལེན་བཀག་ཐབས་འབད་ནི་དེ་ འགན་ཁུར་སྦོམ་ག་ལུ་ཡོད་ག་?” ཟེར་བའི་བརྗོད་དོན་ཐོག་ལུ་ རྩོད་བསྡུར་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
བྷུ་ཊཱན་ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་ཨེ་ཀ་ཌ་མིག་གིས་ རྩོད་བསྡུར་དང་ མི་མང་གསལ་བཤད་འགྲན་བསྡུར་༢ ཆ་ར་ལས་ རྒྱལ་ཁ་ཐོབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

བྷུ་ཊཱན་ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་ཨེ་ཀ་ཌ་མིག་དང་ སློབ་དཔོན་ཚུ་ རྒྱལ་ཁ་འཐོབ་ནི་ལུ་ རེ་བ་སྦོམ་བསྐྱེད་དེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཁོང་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ སློབ་གྲྭ་གིས་ སྦྱང་བ་ཚུ་ ཚད་ཅིག་ལས་བརྒལ་མ་འབད་རུང་ རེ་བ་དེ་ སྦོམ་སྡོད་ཅི་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རྩོད་བསྡུར་གྱི་ དོན་ཚན་མང་ཤོས་ཅིག་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་ཤེས་ཡོན་ལས་རིམ་དང་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་ནང་ལང་ཤོར་ཐལ་མི་ཚུ་བཀག་ཐབས་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ མི་སྡེ་ལས་ ཆགས་དང་ ཕྱོགས་རིས་འབད་མི་ ལ་སོགས་པའི་ དོན་ཚན་ཚུ་ ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

སྔོན་འགྲོའི་སྐོར་ཐེངས་ལས་རིམ་ནང་ སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཚུ་གིས་ གདམ་ཁ་འབད་བའི་ མི་སྡེ་ལས་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཚན་༨ དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ མི་མང་རིག་རྩལ་ཚུ་ འགྲེམ་སྟོན་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བཅའ་མར་གཏོགས་མི་རེ་གིས་ མི་སྡེ་ལས་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་ སྤྱིར་བཏང་འགན་ཁུར་ཚུ་ལུ་ གཙོ་རིམ་བཟུང་སྟེ་ མི་སྡེ་དང་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ནང་ ཁེ་ཕན་སྐོར་ལས་ བཤད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

མཐའ་བཅད་འོག་མའི་ནང་ བཅའ་མར་གཏོགས་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་དང་ ཌི་ཇི་ཊཱལ་ཨེ་ཨའི་ དེ་ལས་ ན་གཞོན་ལཱ་གཡོག་ ལ་སོགས་པའི་ དོན་ཚན་ཐོག་ལུ་ གསལ་བཤད་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དབྱངས་ཅན་ཕུག་འབྲིང་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་གོང་མའི་ སློབ་རིམ་༡༢ པའི་ སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཚེ་རིང་གཡང་སྒྲོན་གྱིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ སྤྱི་མཐུན་ཕན་བདེ་ཚོགས་པའི་ ལས་རིམ་གྱིས་ རྫོང་ཁ་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་མེན་པར་ སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཚུ་ལུ་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་བཀག་ཐབས་དང་ འགོ་ཁྲིད་པའི་སྐོར་ལས་ ཧ་གོ་ནི་ལུ་ ལྷན་ཐབས་འབྱུང་ཚུགས་ནི་མས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

གསོ་བ་བློན་པོ་ རྟ་མགྲིན་དབང་ཕྱུག་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ གཞུང་གིས་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ སྨྱོ་རྫས་ལག་ལེན་དང་ སེམས་ཁམས་འཕྲོད་བསྟེན་གྱི་ དཀའ་ངལ་སེལ་ཐབས་འབད་དེ་ ན་གཞོན་ཚུ་ལུ་ ཞི་བདེ་བཟོ་ནི་ལུ་ ཁས་ལེན་འབད་དེ་ ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཁོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ འགོ་ཁྲིདཔ་དང་ བརྡ་དོན་རིག་རྩལ་དེ་ རང་རྐྱང་གོང་འཕེལ་གྱིས་མ་དོ་བར་ འཛམ་གླིང་ནང་ དོན་སྨིན་ཅན་བཟོ་ནི་ལུ་ དགོས་མཁོ་ཅན་ཅིག་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ལས་རིམ་དེ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ མ་དངུལ་རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་ཐོག་ལས་ འབྲུག་རྒྱང་བསྒྲགས་ལས་འཛིན་དང་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་འབད་དེ་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ཡོད་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།
ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

Sherab Lhamo

Finding an address in Thimphu is quite often a nightmare, involving a lot of guesswork to navigate the city, relying on uncanny landmarks like choetens, mani dungkors, and sometimes even huge rocks and trees for directions.

But this is soon going to be a thing of the past with the introduction of the City Addressing System (CAS) by Thimphu Thromde. The CAS promises to make navigating the city a lot easier and straightforward.

Integrated with Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and Apple Maps, Thimphu’s new addressing system allows users to easily locate buildings using precise addresses. This means getting around Thimphu, or receiving a package or a pizza, will no longer require additional navigation instructions.

With CAS, addresses will include the building number, street name, quadrant (e.g. Southeast), locality, and city. “For example, the address for the Thimphu Thromde office is 220 Gongdzin Lam Southeast, Norzin, Thimphu. This detailed format ensures that services like deliveries are straightforward and hassle-free,” said a thromde official.

The CAS is based on a ‘street-house’ concept, with numbers starting from the city centre and increasing outward to accommodate future expansion of the city. The central intersection of primary streets—Doebum Lam (North), Doebum Lam (South), Chhugo Lam (East), and Throri Lam (West)—serves as the reference point for this system.

“The CAS is fundamental to any thromde and is specifically relevant for use in today’s digital environment where addresses could be readily located for a variety of purposes especially emergency service response,” the thromde official said.

The official added that CAS makes navigating the city more user-friendly, eases the delivery of emergency services, and helps reporting location-based complaints and issues. “As Thimphu continues to grow rapidly, CAS is essential for efficient functioning of the city.”

The CAS geodatabase includes reserved numbers in vacant plots for upcoming buildings. Through CAS, thromde has also revived locality names to enhance its historical significance.

The thromde official explained that CAS is a continuous process and new building numbers and street names will be regularly updated in the system, with the Thromde managing the database on-site to ensure quality and accuracy.

The CAS will also integrate with the Audit Resource Management System and new Occupancy Certificates will be issued to ease service delivery and revenue collection.

The Thimphu Thromde recently completed the street signage installation at a cost of Nu 4.8 million.

The GIS section under the Urban Planning Division of Thimphu Thromde developed the CAS. Since its completion in 2022, the Thromde has been issuing addresses based on the new system and has recently added street signage to assist in navigation.

Thromde will soon be notifying the public to install building numbers outside the building, helping to navigate specific building.

KP Sharma

A high-profile business networking session between the Swiss business delegation and Bhutanese businesses explored new opportunities for economic collaboration and investments in Thimphu yesterday.

This is the third Swiss mission to Bhutan, and the delegation comprised 23 members from 18 prominent companies in Switzerland. The delegation featured prominent figures, including Ruth Metzler-Arnold, Chairwoman of Switzerland Global Enterprise and former Minister of Justice of Switzerland.

Led by Dr. Olivier Fink, Chargé d’Affaires at the Swiss Embassy, the business delegation engaged with Bhutanese officials and private sector representatives.

The discussions resulted in promising prospects for future ventures and highlighted mutual commitment to expanding business ties and fostering growth in both countries.

The Swiss Embassy to India and Bhutan stated that the primary goal of the visit was to connect Swiss firms with Bhutanese decision-makers, potential partners, and new opportunities across various sectors.

Key sectors identified for investments are wood processing, interior design, finance, tourism, hospitality, and infrastructure.

The Bhutan Chamber for Commerce and Industry (BCCI) facilitated the networking session with the Bhutanese private sector representatives.

The minister for Industry, Commerce, and Trade, Namgay Dorji, highlighted the positive outcomes of previous Swiss business delegations, which have led to new ventures and strengthened the business relationship between the two nations.

He pointed to the success of small and medium-sized industries in Bumthang, such as wood stoves, honey, and cheese, as examples of Swiss expertise contributing to Bhutan’s economic development.

“Switzerland’s world-class expertise in renewable energy, tourism, hospitality, farming, and other small high-tech industries aligns perfectly with our ambitions,” Lyonpo said.

The secretary general of BCCI, Chandra Chettri, reiterated the chamber’s commitment to fostering strong business partnerships and expressed optimism that the session would lead to new ventures.

“The objective of the business networking session was to explore the possibility of attracting foreign direct investment from Switzerland to Bhutan. We were careful in selecting members whose long-term business interests align with their Swiss counterparts,” he said.

The chief executive officer of the Swiss Economic Forum, Corine Blesi, expressed optimism about the delegation’s visit, highlighting the importance of building trust and mutual understanding for future collaborations.

Chairwoman of Switzerland Global Enterprise Ruth Metzler-Arnold said that Switzerland is interested in strengthening ties with Bhutan while Bhutan is interested in the Swiss model of development.

One of the success stories of Swiss-Bhutanese collaboration is SELISE, a 100 percent Swiss FDI that has been operating in Bhutan for over a decade. This international tech company, specialising in digital platforms, has enhanced business performance across various industries in the country.

The Swiss business mission to Bhutan was organised by the Embassy of Switzerland to India and Bhutan and Switzerland Global Enterprise, in close cooperation with the Swiss Business Hub India.

Sherab Lhamo

Seven students from Thimphu’s Robotics & IoT Training Institute (RITI) will showcase their innovative projects at the Bhutan Innovation Forum between October 1 and 3.

Internet of Things(IoT) is integration of sensors and other technologies to collect and transmit data over the internet.

The founder of RITI, Pelden, said that the students pitched numerous ideas and decided to develop a smart bridge and a voice device for those who cannot speak.

The team will develop a smart bridge system prototype using sensors to measure vehicle weight before crossing a bridge. If a vehicle exceeds the weight limit, a gate will activate to restrict access, preventing potential structural damage, said a team member, Jimmy Kuendrol Yeozer.

The team is creating a prototype of a voice device to assist individuals with speech and hearing challenges. The device will enable communication of basic needs and messages such as “help”, “food”, “bathroom”, and more.

Pelden said that the institute’s primary goal is to extend IoT and robotics training across the country, helping students develop innovative ideas that contribute to society.

“STEM for all, equitable opportunity for all,” he said.

RITI offers an eight-month course depending on the classes you take per week. Students attending three times a week can complete the course in eight months, while those attending once a week may need more time. The curriculum includes five modules: electronics fundamentals, STEM starter, sensor application, IoT, and robotics. Within each module, students are expected to complete around 70 hands-on projects.

Pelden said that the tuition fee for students attending classes three times a week is Nu 2,950, while those attending once a week pay Nu 1,500.

He added that robotics training fosters creativity, problem-solving, and digital literacy in students.

By designing and building robots, students learn to identify problems, brainstorm solutions, and persevere through challenges, thereby developing essential skills for the digital age.

Pelden acknowledged the challenges faced as the first robotics institute in the country. Despite strong interest from children, logistics, such as arranging pick-up and drop-off, securing investments, and sourcing raw materials, pose difficulties. The need to order materials online, which can take time, adds to the challenges.

Jimmy Kuendrol Yeozer, a Class IV student, said that through the training, he learned to build a grass cutter using a motor, a 9-volt battery, and a sharpener blade.

He said that his plan was to create a nurse robot capable of distributing medicine to patient. He was inspired by observing how tired nurses in hospitals could potentially administer the wrong medication.

Another student, Tshewang Zangmo Tshogyal, a Class V student, said that her curiosity about robotics led her to enrol in the institute. She has since learned about various components, such as sensors, capacitors (devices that store energy in the form of an electric charge), resistors, and more.

A parent, Richen Khandu, emphasised the importance of encouraging and supporting children when they show interest in technology.

“In today’s world, if you don’t know how to use technology, you are at a significant disadvantage,” he said.

In a nation as rich in water resources as Bhutan, it is nothing short of a paradox that many of our communities continue to face challenges in accessing safe and continuous water supply.

Official records boast of more than 99 percent clean and safe water coverage, yet the reality on the ground tells a different story. The problem is not just about access; it is about equity, quality, and reliability of the distribution system.

Our rivers and streams are abundant, fed by the glaciers and monsoon rains that bless our land. With such natural wealth, it is reasonable to expect that every Bhutanese household would enjoy uninterrupted access to clean water. However, the recurring issues with water supply in various communities reveal deep-seated flaws in our distribution system.

The root of the problem lies in the distribution infrastructure, which, despite numerous promises and plans, has not been adequately addressed. The systems in place are outdated, poorly maintained, or inadequately designed to meet the growing demands of our population. The disconnect between policy and practice is glaring.

While on paper we may have achieved near-universal coverage, the quality of service remains inconsistent and unreliable. Intermittent water supply, frequent shortages, and contamination issues are common complaints in both rural and urban areas.

The right to safe and continuous water supply is intrinsic to the right to life and health. When communities are deprived of this basic necessity, the consequences are far-reaching. Children miss school to fetch water, healthcare facilities struggle to maintain hygiene, and the overall quality of life is diminished.

The irony is that in our pursuit of progress, we have overlooked the most essential requirement for sustaining life. We must take immediate and decisive action to rectify this situation.

It is not enough to celebrate percentages on paper while ignoring the lived experiences of the people. Investment in robust and resilient infrastructure is crucial. This means upgrading old pipelines, installing new ones where needed, and ensuring that all communities, regardless of their location, have equal access to water resources. Regular maintenance and monitoring should be made mandatory to prevent issues before they escalate into crises.

And, there needs to be greater transparency and accountability in how water distribution is managed. Local governments should be empowered and held responsible for ensuring that water supply systems are functioning optimally. Citizens must also be involved in the process, with clear communication channels established so they can report issues and receive timely updates on resolution efforts.

The time for excuses has passed.

We must recognise that the right to water is non-negotiable. The people deserve more than mere promises. Ensuring safe and continuous water supply is not just an obligation; it is a duty that  we owe to every citizen.

In 2009 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 29 August the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.

This date recalled the official closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons testing site in today’s Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991; that one site alone having seen 456 nuclear test explosions between 1949 and 1989.

Between 1954 and 1984 there was on average at least one nuclear weapons test somewhere in the world every week, most with a blast far exceeding the bombing of Hiroshima; nuclear weapons exploding in the air, on and under the ground and in the sea.

Radioactivity from these test explosions spread across the planet deep into the environment. It can still be traced and measured today, in elephant tusks, in the coral of the Great Barrier Reef and in the deepest ocean trenches.

Meanwhile nuclear weapons stockpiles have grown exponentially. By the early 1980s there were some 60,000 nuclear weapons, most far more powerful than the bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Public indignation grew. By the 1960s it was agreed in principle that ending explosive nuclear tests would be a vital brake on developing nuclear weapons and thereby promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. The preamble to the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 talked boldly of achieving ‘the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time’.

But then it took almost thirty more years and hundreds more nuclear test explosions before the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was agreed in 1996. This is one of the world’s landmark treaties. What a difference it has made.

Between 1945 and 1996 there were more than two thousand nuclear weapons tests. In the 28 years since 1996, there have been fewer than a dozen. In this century only six tests have been conducted, all by North Korea.

The Treaty relies on a network of over 300 scientific monitoring facilities around the world that can quickly detect a nuclear test notably smaller than the Hiroshima explosion and pinpoint its location. No state anywhere on Earth can conduct a nuclear weapons test in secret.

The CTBT has near universal international support. 187 States have signed it and 178 have ratified it. With ten new ratifications since 2021, there is global momentum against renewed nuclear testing with enthusiasm among smaller states especially high.

Despite these gains, current international uncertainty challenges the global norm against nuclear testing created by the CTBT. What if we see renewed nuclear testing, or even the use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict? We would face a disastrous collapse in international trust and solidarity. A return to the days of unrestrained nuclear testing would leave no state safe, no community safe, no-one on Earth unaffected. 

There’s always plenty of talk about learning from mistakes. In this case let’s learn from successes. The CTBT brings together the best of diplomacy with the very latest technology for an unambiguous common global good. It builds transparency and trust, just when transparency and trust look to be in dwindling supply.

On the International Day against Nuclear Tests, the United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting will be convened. On this occasion, we call on all states to be open to the bold but principled decisions needed to reach a final global consensus under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. To end nuclear testing once and for all. Enough is enough.

Contributed by

Ambassador Dennis Francis and Dr Robert Floyd

Dennis Francis is the

President of the UN General Assembly, at its

seventy-eighth session.

Dr Robert Floyd is the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

Thinley Namgay

Bhutan in collaboration with Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will host the 2024 Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific’s regional seminar from September 25 to 27 in Thimphu.

Bhutan will be co-hosting this important regional seminar for the second time after  2016.

On the theme of “Government Incentives for Corporate Anti-Corruption Compliance”,   the annual regional seminar will bring together hundreds of delegates, anti-corruption experts, and practitioners from the 34 member economies in the seminar.

Representatives from civil society organisations, international organisations, and the private sector will also participate.

ACC sees the upcoming conference as crucial, given that the common goal among OECD member countries is combating corruption and promoting integrity.

Bhutan has maintained a score of 68 points for the fifth consecutive year and was ranked 25th for the second year in a row in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2022, released on January 31, 2023.

Bhutan is among 124 countries with stagnant scores and has held the sixth position in the Asia-Pacific region for the past decade.

ACC officials noted that the involvement of the private sector in the upcoming seminar could contribute to improving Bhutan’s ease of doing business.

In 2020, the World Bank ranked Bhutan 89th out of 190 countries in terms of ease of doing business. The ranking highlighted several challenges, including complex administrative procedures, limited access to finance, and an inadequate business culture.

Officials emphasised the private sector’s critical role in the economy, stressing that businesses need to be aware of international best practices to ensure ethical conduct and compliance. They noted that while the private sector in Bhutan tends to focus on profit, this approach is unsustainable in the long run if ethical business practices are not prioritised.

As an example, officials pointed out that companies in other countries take swift action when even a single consumer makes a negative comment about their product or service, recognizing the potential impact on their brand reputation.

Officials emphasised that Bhutanese businesspeople should take lessons from such practices.

The seminar will feature 70 speakers, with 35 confirmed as of yesterday.

The event will focus on how governments can design and implement incentives to encourage businesses to adopt ethical practices, comply with anti-corruption requirements, and serve as role models through transparency initiatives.

It will also cover strategies for preventing and detecting corruption and fostering cooperation with law enforcement.

The seminar will also explore how anti-corruption tools and frameworks can promote ethical behaviour within companies, the importance of responsible lobbying to protect the public interest from corruption, and the need to prevent undue influence.

A key topic will be how aligning with international standards can harmonise global efforts to incentivise cross-border compliance with integrity and anti-corruption regulations.

Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen and His Royal Highness Gyalsey Ugyen Wangchuck graced the Consecration ceremony of Jangchub Choeten in Chelela yesterday.

The Choeten was built under the Royal Command of His Majesty The King, as a Dharma initiative to commemorate the birth of His Royal Highness Gyalsey Ugyen Wangchuck.

The Jangchub Choeten is located at one of the highest points in Bhutan, and offers panoramic views of numerous sacred sites spread across the country.

The consecration of the Choeten fulfills a prophecy by Terton Drukdra Dorje, which states that a Choeten built here would safeguard Drukyul and greatly benefit the country and the people.

The construction of the Choeten began in February 2021, and was completed in August 2024. The construction of this significant and sacred Choeten, to bless and eternally safeguard the Tsawa Sum, enriches Bhutan’s precious spiritual heritage.

The consecration ceremony was presided over by Dorji Lopen, in the presence of Her Majesty, HRH Gyalsey Ugyen Wangchuck, Their Majesties Gyalyum Tshering Yangdoen Wangchuck, Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, HRH Princess Dechen Yangzom Wangchuck, Yum Sonam Chuki, and members of the Choeten construction committee and Desuups who worked on developing the grounds of the Jangchub Choeten.

༉ ལུང་ནག་ནང་གི་ མཐའ་ཟུར་གྱི་གཡུས་ཚན་ བྱང་ས་དེ་ གློག་མེ་མེད་པའི་མི་སྡེ་༡༣ ཡོད་པའི་གྲས་ལས་ ཅིག་ཨིནམ་ད་ ཁོང་ཆ་ཁྱབ་ཀྱི་གྲས་ལས་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་ཐོབ་མི་ འགོ་དང་པ་དེ་ གཡུས་སྒོ་འདི་ཨིནམབཞིན་དུ་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་ཆུང་བའི་རིམ་ལུགས་ ཀི་ལོ་ཝཊ་༣༣ བཙུགས་སྒྲིག་འབད་མི་ལུ་ དགའ་ཚོར་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རྒྱ་མཚོའི་མཐའམ་ལས་ མཐོ་ཚད་མི་ཊར་༣,༤༠༠ གི་ས་ཁར་ཡོད་པའི་ བྱང་ས་གཡུས་ཚན་ནང་ མགར་ས་ལ་ཡ་རྒེད་འོག་ སྟོང་ཤིང་ན་གི་ འཁོར་ལམ་ལས་ ཉིན་ལམ་༨ རྐང་སྟོང་སྦེ་ འགྱོ་དགོ་པའི་ ས་གནས་ཅིག་ཨིན་པས།

ཧེ་མ་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ བྱང་ས་གཡུས་ཚན་གྱི་ མི་སེར་ཚུ་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་ཆུང་བ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ སྡོད་མི་དེ་ཡང་ དགོས་མཁོ་དང་བསྟུན་ མེ་བཏེག་ནི་དང་ འགྲུལ་འཕྲིན་ལྟོ་བསྐྱར་གསོ་འབད་ནི་ཚུ་མ་གཏོགས་ གཞན་གྱི་རིགས་ཚུ་ ཐབ་ཤིང་དང་ མེ་རླུང་རྒྱ་རྫི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ སྡོད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ད་རེས་གསརཔ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་དེ་གིས་ ལོ་བསྟར་བཞིན་དུ་ ནུས་ཤུགས་ཐོན་ཚད་མེ་ག་ཝཊ་༤༠.༧༠ འབད་ཚུགས་ནི་ཨིནམ་ད་ དེ་གིས་ ལ་མཐོ་སར་སྡོད་མི་ ཁྱིམ་གུང་༡༡ གི་མི་སེར་ཚུ་ལུ་ ཕན་ཐོགས་སྦོམ་ར་ འབྱུང་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

ནུས་ཤུགས་ཀི་ལོ་ཝཊ་༣༠ འབད་མི་འཕྲུལ་ཨམ་དེ་ ནུས་ཤུགས་དང་ རང་བཞིན་སླར་འབྱུང་ལྷན་ཁག་གིས་ གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ མ་དངུལ་ཚུ་ འབྲུག་གཞུང་ལས་ཨིནམ་ད་ ལས་འགུལ་གྱི་ཟད་འགྲོ་ཡོངས་བསྡོམས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ས་ཡ་༢༡.༡ གནས་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཁ་སྨད་ ལུང་ནག་ནང་གི་ འཐུས་མི་པདྨ་གྲགས་པ་གིས་ བཤད་མིའི་ནང་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་ལུ་བརྟེན་ བྱང་ས་གི་མི་སེར་ཚུ་གིས་ འཚོ་བའི་གནས་སྟངས་ཡར་དྲག་བཟོ་ཚུགས་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ དེ་གིས་ མཐའ་འཁོར་གནས་སྟངས་ལུ་ ཕན་སྦོམ་སྦེ་ར་ ཐོབ་ཚུགས་ནི་ཨིན་མི་དེ་ཡང་ ད་ལས་ཕར་ མི་མང་ཤོས་ཅིག་གིས་ གཡག་གི་ཨ་བ་དང་ ཐབ་ཤིང་ཚུ་ལག་ལེན་ མི་འཐབ་ནི་ཨིན་པས།
ཁོ་གིས་ བཤད་མིའི་ནང་ ད་ལྟོའི་གཞུང་གིས་ ལུང་ནག་ནང་ལུ་ གློག་མེ་འཕྲུལ་ཨམ་འབྲིང་མ་ འཆར་གཞི་༡༣ པའི་ནང་ གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་ནི་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་མཐར་འཁྱོལ་ཅན་སྦེ་ ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་གིས་ ལུང་ནག་ནང་གི་མི་སེར་ཚུ་ ལོ་ཤུལ་མམ་ལས་ འོས་འབྱོར་ལྡན་པའི་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་ཚུ་ སྤྱོད་ཚུགས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

པདྨ་འབྲུག་པ་གིས་ བཤད་མིའི་ནང་ འབྲུག་བློ་གཏད་མ་དངུལ་གྱི་ གྲོགས་རམ་ཐོག་ལས་འབདཝ་ད་ ལུང་ནག་ནང་གི་ གཡུས་ཚན་དེ་ ལོ་གསུམ་གྱི་ནང་འཁོད་ལུ་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་ནི་ འཐོབ་ཅི་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ནུས་ཤུགས་ལས་ཁུངས་ཀྱིས་ འཕྲོམཐུད་དེ་ར་ གཡུས་སྒོ་ ནུས་ཤུགས་སྦྲེལ་མཐུད་མེད་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ཡང་ གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ འཆར་དངུལ་ཚུ་ བགོ་བཀྲམ་འབད་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

མཉམ་འབྲེལ་གྱི་དོན་ལུ་ ས་གནས་ཀྱི་མི་སྡེ་ཚུ་གིས་ཡང་ ལས་འགུལ་ཚུ་ནང་ གྲལ་གཏོགས་འབད་བའི་ཁར་ ཁོང་གིས་ ལག་ལེན་དང་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་གི་དོན་ལུ་ སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ཚུ་ཡང་ཐོབ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཡུན་བརྟན་གྱི་དོན་ལུ་ ནུས་ཤུགས་སྤྱོད་འཐུས་ ཟླ་རིམ་བཞིན་དུ་ དུམ་གྲ་རེ་ བསྡུ་ལེན་འབད་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

ལུང་ནག་ནང་གི་ ཉི་དྲོད་ནུས་ཤུགས་བཙུགས་སྒྲིག་དོན་ལུ་ འཆར་དངུལ་ཚུ་ འབྲུག་གཞུང་གི་ཁ་ཐུག་ལས་ བཏང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

ཚོ་རིང་དབང་འདུས།

༉ བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་བདག་སྐྱོང་གིས་ ལྕམ་མཁར་ཁྲོམ་ནང་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཁར་སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་ ས་གནས་ས་ཁོངས་ཚུ་ནང་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༩ པའི་ཚེས་༣༠ གི་ནང་འཁོད་ལུ་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་དགོ་པའི་ མཐའན་མཇུག་གི་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་འབད་དེ་འདུག།
དེ་ཡང་ གླར་སྤྱོད་གན་ཡིག་བསྐྱར་བཟོ་འབད་མི་གི་ དུས་ཡུན་དེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༨ པའི་ཚེས་༣༡ ལུ་ ཚང་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ཨིན་པས།

ད་ལ་ཕར་འབདན་ དུས་ཚོད་ཕར་འགྱངས་འབད་ནིའི་ གོ་སྐབས་མི་བྱིན་ནི་ཨིན་མི་དེ་ཡང་ འདས་པའི་ཚེས་གྲངས་ཀྱིས་ ད་ལྟོའི་ཁྲོམ་ཡོད་ས་ལས་ ས་གནས་ས་ཁོངས་གསརཔ་ནང་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་ནིའི་ དུས་ཚོད་ཡོལ་སོང་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ཨིན་པས།

ས་གནས་ས་ཁོངས་ནང་ བདེ་སྐྱིད་གླིང་དང་ རྒྱལ་མཁར་ ལྕམ་མཁར་ཚུ་ ཚུད་དེ་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ ས་ཁོངས་ཚུ་ཡང་ ལྕམ་མཁར་ཁྲོམ་རྙིངམ་ཚུ་ནང་ སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ ཆེད་དུ་དམིགས་ཏེ་ ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
འཆར་གཞི་དེ་ཡང་ ད་ལྟོའི་ ལྕམ་མཁར་དེ་ ཆུ་རུད་ཀྱི་ ཉེན་ཁ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ཉེན་སྲུང་བཟོ་ནི་དང་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་དང་ སྡོད་གནས་ཀྱི་ ས་གོ་བྱིན་ཐབས་ལུ་ བཟོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ལྕང་མཁར་ཁྲོམ་ནང་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ནང་ སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ ས་གནས་ས་ཁོངས་གསརཔ་ནང་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་ནི་གི་ ཚེས་གྲངས་ཕར་འགྱངས་འབད་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ན་ཧིང་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་པ་ཚུ་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལས་ སྐྱིད་སྡུག་སྦེ་ ལོ་༡ གི་ དུས་ཡུན་ཕར་འགྱངས་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ ཚོང་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ ནད་ཡམས་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ལུ་ འབྱེམ་ཕོག་ཡོད་པའི་ ཞུ་བ་འབད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ཨིན་པས།
ཨིན་རུང་ རྫོང་ཁག་བདག་སྐྱོང་གིས་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༨ པའི་ཚེས་༢༦ ལུ་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་འབད་མི་དང་འཁྲིལ་བ་ཅིན་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཁར་ སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ གླར་སྤྱོད་གན་ཡིག་ལུ་ གནས་དགོ་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རྫོང་ཁག་གིས་ བཀོད་མིའི་ནང་ རྒྱལ་པོའི་གཟིམ་དཔོན་ཡིག་ཚང་གིས་ འདས་པའི་གསལ་བསྒྲགས་དེ་ དམ་དམ་སྦེ་ གནས་ནི་ལུ་ ངེས་བརྟན་བཟོ་དགོཔ་སྦེ་་ བཀའ་རྒྱ་ལྷོད་དེ་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རྫོང་ཁག་བདག་སྐྱོང་གིས་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཁར་སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཁར་ལེན་མི་ ས་དང་ རྒྱུ་དངོས་ཚུ་ ཧེ་མའི་གན་ཡིག་ལྟར་དུ་ བཟོ་བཀོད་ཚུ་བཤུབས་ཞིནམ་ལས་ ཧེ་མ་ག་ཨིནམ་སྦེ་ བཟོ་དགོ་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་བཟུམ་སྦེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༩ པའི་ཚེས་༡༥ གི་ཤུལ་ལས་ འཐུང་ཆུ་དང་ གློག་མེའི་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ དེ་ལས་ མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ག་ར་ བཀྲམ་སྤེལ་འབད་ནི་ བཤོལ་བཞག་ནི་དང་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཁར་སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ ལོ་༡ གི་རིང་ ཕར་འགྱངས་འབད་བའི་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཀྱི་ གླ་འཐུས་དང་ མཐུན་རྐྱེན་གཞན་གྱི་ ཁྲལ་ཚུ་ཡང་ ཚེས་གྲངས་དེ་གི་ནང་འཁོད་ལུ་ བྱིན་དགོཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཁྲོམ་སྡེ་ངོ་ཚབ་ ཨོ་རྒྱན་སེངྒེ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ལྕམ་མཁར་ཁྲོམ་གྱི་ ཚོང་པ་ཚུ་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལས་ ས་ཁོངས་གསརཔ་ཚུ་ གྲ་སྒྲིག་སོང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྤོ་བཤུད་ཀྱི་ འཆར་གཞི་ཚུ་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྦེ་ འགོ་འདྲེན་ངེས་བརྟན་བཟོ་ཐབས་ལུ་ དབྱེ་ཞིབ་ཚུ་ཡང་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ཅི་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ས་གནས་ས་ཁོངས་གསརཔ་ཚུ་ནང་ ཉེར་མཁོའི་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ ཆུ་དང་ གློག་མེ་ ག་ར་བཙུགས་ཏེ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ཚོང་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ སྟབས་མ་བདེཝ་སྦོམ་ཅིག་ ག་ནི་ཡང་ མི་ཐོན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཨོ་རྒྱན་སེངྒེ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ས་གནས་གསརཔ་ནང་ སྤོ་བཤུདའབད་ནིའི་ འཆར་གཞི་དེ་ ཧེ་མ་ལས་བཟོ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ མི་སེར་ཚུ་གིས་ཡང་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྦེ་ ཤེས་རྟོགས་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ གྲ་སྒྲིག་འབད་ནི་ ཕར་འགྱངས་དང་ གླར་སྤྱོད་ཁར་སྡོད་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ གོ་བ་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་བའི་སྐབས་ སྟབས་མ་བདེཝ་ཡང་ དུམ་གྲ་རེ་ བྱུང་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ལྕམ་མཁར་ཁྲོམ་ལས་ ས་གོ་གཞན་ཁར་ སྤོ་བཤུད་འབད་དགོ་མི་དེ་ཡང་ ད་ལྟོའི་ཁྲོམ་ནང་ ཆུ་རུད་ཀྱི་ ཉེན་ཁ་ཡོད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

Chencho Dema

Shangsa, a remote village in Lunana, is the first of the 13 unelectrified communities to be electrified with solar power, thanks to the installation of a 33kWp solar photovoltaic mini-grid system.

Located at 3,400 metres above sea level, Shangsa is about eight days on foot from the nearest road point at Tonshina in Laya gewog, Gasa.

From Pg 1

The people of Shangsa previously relied on solar lighting for basic needs, like lighting homes and charging phones while they had to use firewood and LPG for cooking and heating.

The new solar mini-grid, which is estimated to generate 40.70MWh of energy annually, is set to transform the lives of 11 households of this highland village.

The 33kWp solar mini-grid plant was implemented by the Department of Energy, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, with funding support from Bhutan for Life and the government. The total expenditure for the project amounted to Nu 21.1 million.

Member of Parliament of Khamaed-Lunana Constituency Pema Drukpa said that the solar power will improve the lives of the people of Shangsa. “It is also going to have lots of positive impact on the environment as people will use less yak dung and fire wood for heating and cooking.”

He added that the present government has plans to construct a mini hydel in Lunana in the 13th plan.

The successful implementation of this solar mini-grid is part of the broader effort to provide reliable solar electricity to more villages in Lunana in the coming years.

Pema Drukpa said that with the help from Bhutan Trust Fund the entire solarisation of Lunana villages will happen within three years.

The Department of Energy is also exploring funds to complete the last-mile connectivity in these off-grid villages.

In a collaborative effort, the local community was engaged in every step of the project—from construction to commissioning. They also received training for the operation and maintenance of the plant, ensuring its sustainability through minimal monthly energy fees.

The solar electrification in Lunana is funded by Bhutan for Life.

Tshalungna village adopts nature-based solution to ensure reliable water

YK Poudel

Tshalungna, Thimphu—Around 25 villagers from Kimgang have come together at the water source to clean and complete their newly constructed 5.8-kilometre water supply system, which will benefit more than 48 households.

While some villagers are already benefiting from the new water supply, residents in lower elevations are expected to receive access within the week.

The Tarayana Foundation has played a crucial role in this project by introducing a nature-based solution to address water shortage and promote spring-shed management. Initially, the Foundation conducted a feasibility study in consultation with the villagers to ensure the project’s success.

Gyem Bidha, a 49-year-old farmer, says that the new initiative has resolved the village’s long-standing water issue. “The previous supply was built over 40 years ago.”

She further explains that mudslides and flash floods during the summer, along with frost in winter, severely limited the villagers’ access to water for both irrigation and drinking. “Now, we have a clean, abundant supply of fresh drinking water, thanks to the Foundation’s thoughtful intervention.”

A 27-year-old resident, Choki, notes that the villagers previously suffered from various water-borne diseases due to unhygienic water sources. “Diarrhea, typhoid, skin infections, and dysentery were common in the village.”

She said that with the new supply in place, water management has improved greatly.

Women from the village now visit the source monthly to ensure its cleanliness. A monthly fee of Nu 300, which everyone agrees is manageable, is collected to support water management.

The Foundation has also established Water User Groups (WUGs) to oversee and maintain the springs.

According to Choki, the water management group is led by women because they are the primary users of the water for household tasks such as gardening, cooking, and washing.

As part of the project, several villagers have been trained in spring-shed management and the use of nature-based solutions.

Chencho Tshering, a 38-year-old farmer, says that the Foundation has provided all the necessary materials and the villagers did the manual labour work. “In addition to cement, barbed wire for fencing, water pipes, and pipe connectors, we used natural resources such as bamboo, logs, and planks.”

The project was completed in just a month.

The water is now filtered through filtration tanks before reaching the distribution point, ensuring that villagers receive fresh and clean drinking water.

While villagers have traditionally relied on livestock, there is growing interest in vegetable cultivation for sale.

According to Ugyen Dema, a local farmer, her enthusiasm for expanding vegetable farming has increased now that water supply has improved. “With the enhanced water supply, vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, spinach, and chili are thriving. Previously, wheat was the only primary cereal produced in the village.”

The Foundation has constructed three water reservoir tanks in Kimgang village, with capacities of 5,000 litres, 15,000 litres, and 30,000 litres, to ensure a reliable water supply for residents.

Four villages in Mewang Gewog—Kimgang, Drugling, Khasakha, and Sigye—have received spring water infrastructure worth Nu 1.2 million through the Foundation.

The Foundation highlights the urgent challenge of drying springs, exacerbated by climate change, land use changes, and environmental degradation, which have significantly reduced both the quantity and quality of spring water.

To address this, the Foundation has implemented nature-based solutions and spring-shed management, using natural processes to improve water supply cost-effectively.

The project also aims to tackle human-wildlife conflicts, promote sustainable land management, and develop community-based businesses and eco-tourism.

The water security initiative in Mewang Gewog is part of the USD 2.73 million, eight-year project titled ‘Living Landscapes: Securing High Conservation Values in South-Western Bhutan’.

Supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, and the International Climate Initiative, the project spans 21 gewogs across nine dzongkhags: Thimphu, Paro, Chhukha, Dagana, Sarpang, Tsirang, Samtse, Haa, and Zhemgang.

The project is set to conclude in March 2028.

And, this week, Bhutan is observing World Water Week from August 25 to 29, with the theme “Bridging Borders: Water for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future.”

Thinley Namgay

The Chithuen Phendhey Association (CPA), a registered civil society organisation (CSO), started a Youth Leadership Programme for 32 students from eight higher secondary schools within the Thimphu Thromde yesterday.

The programme, which will run till September 17, is in line with the Association’s commitment to raise awareness and educate the youth and public about substance and alcohol use.   

The YLP is designed to develop crucial life skills such as critical thinking, public speaking, research, communication, and leadership.

The programme also intends to foster skills for personal growth and civic engagement such as confidence-building, teamwork, problem solving abilities, empathy, and leadership qualities, among others.

The programme features competitive events, including debates and public speaking in both Dzongkha and English, lasting about two hours.

In a debate yesterday, students from BFF Academy and Rinchen HSS debated on the topic “Parenting vs School: Whose Role is More Crucial in Preventing Drug Use?”

BFF Academy emerged victorious in both the debate and public speaking competition.

Students and teachers of BFF Academy are optimistic to win the competition. They said that the school has been training for the competition for a while and expectations are very high.

Most of debate topics are related to drugs, which includes drug education programmes, addressing drug addiction, social stigma and discrimination against drug users, among others.

During the Preliminary Round, students  demonstrate their public speaking skills by presenting on themes related to eight selected CSOs. Each participant focuses on the overall mandate of their assigned CSO, explaining its significance and impact on the community and nation.

In the semifinals, participants will speak on topics related to drugs, and AI and youth employment, among others.

Tshering Yangdon, a class XII student of Yangchenphug HSS, said that the CPA’s programme not only promotes dzongkha but also helps students broaden their understanding of drug prevention and leadership.

Health Minister Tandin Wangchuk, who attended the launch, said that the government is committed to addressing drug use and mental health issues in the country to promote the well-being of the youth.

Lyonpo highlighted that leadership and communication skills are essential not only for personal development but also for making a meaningful impact in the world.

The programme is organised in partnership with BBS and funded by Bhutan National Bank.

One urgent Bill that could arise in the winter session of the Parliament could be on tax reforms if the government agrees to the Opposition Party’s call on reviewing the 2022 tax revision.

This follows the steep rise in the cost of vehicles that many found out after the moratorium on the import of vehicles was lifted. Sales tax on import of vehicles increased from 10 to 30 percent after the revision in 2022. The government, as claimed, had no hand in the revision, nor is it blaming the former government, but if the people are feeling the burden, it does make sense to relook into the policy.

A lot of restrictions were put in place during the tenure of the former government as it was sailing through a pandemic that derailed the economy and affected livelihood. Some of the impacts and the policy decision are felt even now, long after the pandemic is gone. A lot of measures to curb the outflow of forex, a ballooning trade deficit and soaring food prices were initiated.

The pandemic is gone, the economy is in the recovery mode and there are plans and resources earmarked to reactivate the slow economy. Economic activities can be spurred when restrictions are lifted. There are expectations to the extent that the economy is projected to grow by 13 percent annually.

Lifting the ban on import of vehicles alone will not help the economy. As feared, will only lead to outflow of forex including the scarce Indian Rupee. Many are convinced that vehicles are getting dearer because of the middlemen. Feeling the pinch, many are asking why Bhutanese cannot buy, at a cheaper rate, from Indian suppliers across the Phuentsholing gate. They are convinced that the so-called vehicle dealers are only benefiting a few big businesses. This does make sense because even after paying taxes and duties, it is still cheaper to buy from Jaigaon than in Thimphu.

Import of vehicles, even if it is not a national issue, is a concern among many because of a lack of alternatives. We have been talking, preaching and prioritising efficient and reliable public transport for years. It had not happened. For many Bhutanese, owning a vehicle, a pick-up truck or a SUV is a necessity. Suggestions are being floated. What about taxing the second or third car in a family? What about granting concession to the first car a family is aspiring for?

We cannot make the people happy all the time, but we can prioritise according to their needs. The third or fourth luxury car could be taxed heavily as those who can afford will not feel the pinch. No tax would discourage those with the means. It is the common people who cannot rely on public transport that are wanting to own a simple car. We cannot deny them the opportunity.

Meanwhile, there are calls to relook into our policies put in place during the pandemic. It is a genuine call. As we strive to become a developed economy by 2029, our policies should not restrict people from availing the growing opportunities. A lot of decisions restrict growth. Restrictions will not enable growth.

Lhakpa Quendren

Samtse—Farmers of Samtse are no strangers to elephants and the scale of destruction a herd of jumbos can unleash on agriculture fields, homes, and human lives.

For decades, gewogs like Tashichhoeling in Samtse have been at the receiving end of this human-elephant conflict.

Since 2019, Tashichhoeling alone has reported 309 human-elephant conflict incidents, peaking in 2020 with 155 cases. Forestry officials, however, estimate the actual number is four times higher.

During this period, the elephants destroyed around 2,290 betel nut trees, damaged 24 properties, and took two human lives.

Despite decades of human-elephant conflict, no effective solution is available to fully protect farms, people, and thier livelihoods. If Samtse Forest Division’s co-existence measure succeeds, this could help mitigate the problem to some extent.

The chief forestry officer of Samtse Forest Division, Kuenley Gyeltshen, said that the division was instituting a conflict-to-coexistence programme to enable people and elephants to share the space and co-exist.

“We aim to transform conflict into coexistence by promoting sustainable and reliable interventions and studying movement patterns,” Kuenley Gyeltshen said. “There is no permanent solution to completely mitigate human-wildlife conflict. We have to learn to coexist.”

Solar fencing, waterholes in forests away from human settlements, grassland enrichment, fruit plantations, and salt licks are strategies that will be implemented to manage wildlife and reduce human-wildlife conflicts.

Mitigation efforts, however, require community participation, as well as material and financial resources.

The forest division is also trying to secure funds to use a movement tracking system.

“We also need to provide training to the Quick Reaction Team (QRT), and if possible, offer incentives to encourage their active participation,” Kuenley Gyeltshen said.

Initiatives and challenges

Several preventative measures and management strategies implemented in the past have proven ineffective in mitigating human-elephant conflict.

The measures include large boulder walls, solar and bio-fences, creation of waterholes, watchtowers to monitor elephant movement and alert the community, sound alert systems, camera traps, and audio-visual deterrents.

Alternative crop cultivation, planting buffer plant species, and introducing agave, bamboo, and banana plants in the Lower Penjorling area were ineffective.

The QRT, comprising 50 community volunteers, was established and provided with safety gears such as flashlights, rain boots, and raincoats. However, residents claim that the team is mostly inactive during incidents.

Forestry officials said that only a few volunteered for the QRT and the lack of community support discourages them.

Some residents suggested that constructing physical walls could help mitigate the elephant encroachment but budget constraints remain a challenge. However, forestry officials discourage this approach, as such measures affect movement of other wildlife.

Forestry staff and QRT volunteers face challenges due to a lack of pool vehicles for rapid response. And their dispersed locations impact coordination and response times. “Providing designated quarters would enhance the effectiveness of night patrols and incident management,” a forestry official said.

The lack of wireless communication, a sense of ownership, technical capacity, equipment, facilities, and compensation schemes also strain ongoing efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts.

The Tashichhoeling range office is currently short of seven staff members required for 24-hour shifts.  “The current seven staff members who handle nighttime wildlife conflict response come to the office the next morning to provide services,” Kuenley Gyeltshen said.

An uneasy coexistence

With a significant reduction in elephant habitats on both sides of the Bhutan-India border due to expanding human settlements, the number of human-elephant conflicts has increased over the years.

The habitat adjacent to Gorumara National Park and Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, India, was the last remaining habitat for elephants in Samtse.

Elephant habitats are mostly surrounded by farmlands. Lower Penjorling in Samtse, located adjacent to these habitats, is particularly vulnerable to crop damage by elephants.

Infrastructure development in Lower Penjorling has also intensified elephant encroachment in Upper Penjorling and Singyegang over the years.

Fifty-year-old Tashi Wangmo from Lower Penjorling said that her family members take turns to keep watch for elephants during the night. “We stay active in the community WeChat group to alert and update each other about any elephant sightings.”

The situation is exacerbated when farmers plant crops that elephants prefer, such as bamboo, bananas, maize, vegetables, and areca nut plants.  These cash crops are the primary source of income for most farmers.

“A herd of eight elephants damaged about 80 areca nut plants in my field. We cannot go out alone even during the day,” said 60-year-old Kuenzangmo, adding that the elephants also damaged her neighbor’s single-storey house.

The increased human-elephant conflict has also resulted in vast swathes of fertile land between Singyegang and Penjorling being left barren for decades.

Forty-four-year-old farmer Autwa Uraon from Singyegang abandoned his 75 decimals of wetland about 20 years ago and instead chose to work as a sharecropper. “It was productive land before the elephant started coming in the 1990s,” he said.

Parents are also concerned about the safety of their school-going children

Farmers believe that without the implementation of sustainable solutions, there will be no respite from elephant predation.

In a landmark event that has redefined baseball’s reach and influence, a group of 12 young Bhutanese kids made history as the first-ever from Bhutan to receive a VIP tour of the iconic Yankee Stadium. This historic visit was made possible by the Hudson Valley Renegades. The young athletes were granted the extraordinary honor of stepping onto the hallowed grounds of the Yankee baseball field, a privilege few ever experience.

Standing beside the great Yankee players, the group had the unique opportunity to meet with Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, who shared insights into the operations behind running a major league team. This discussion offered the kids a rare glimpse into the complexities and dedication required to manage one of the most storied franchises in sports.

The Bhutanese atheletes joined the Yankees players for the national anthem, a moment that united them with the team and the 41,263 fans in attendance. But the excitement did not end there—each young player was called to the field to run out to their respective positions during the first inning, standing shoulder to shoulder with their baseball heroes.

A highlight of the day was the heartfelt gesture made by the young athletes, who gifted Bhutan Baseball hats to Yankees captain Aaron Judge, star pitcher Gerrit Cole, Jazz Chisholm, Manager Aaron Boone, and GM Brian Cashman. This symbolic exchange not only represented a cross-cultural connection but also served as a token of gratitude for the warm welcome they received.

KP Sharma

The Bumthang dzongkhag administration has issued a final relocation deadline for leaseholders in Chamkhar town, informing them to vacate their premises by September 30, 2024, as the revised lease term expires on August 31.

This time, no further extensions will be granted, as previous deadlines have already been missed for relocating the present township to the new Local Area Plans (LAPs).

The LAPs, which include Dekiling, Jalikhar, and Chamkhar, are the designated areas where residents of the old Chamkhar town are expected to resettle.

These plans have been developed to provide a safer and more organised space for businesses and residents, as Chamkhar’s current location is identified as a flood hazard zone.

The leaseholders in Chamkhar town were previously granted extensions to move to these new areas.

Last year, a one-year extension was provided as kidu to the leaseholders whose businesses were set to be relocated. This extension was a response to their appeal, citing the economic impact of the pandemic and their need for additional time to recover.

However, the dzongkhag administration, in a notification issued on August 26, stated that the leaseholders must now adhere to the terms of the lease agreement.

The dzongkhag administration stated that the Office of the Gyalpoi Zimpon has directed the dzongkhag to ensure that the earlier notification is strictly followed.

The dzongkhag administration has asked the leaseholders to remove all their belongings from the leased land and return the property to its original condition by the end of the agreement term.

It also announced that existing facilities such as water, electricity, and other services will be disconnected after September 15.

Further, leaseholders have been instructed to settle their one-year extended lease rent and clear all pending utility bills by the same date.

Thromde Ngotshab Ugen Sangye said that the new relocation areas are well-prepared to accommodate the businesses moving from Chamkhar town. Thorough assessments have been conducted to ensure the smooth implementation of the relocation plan, he said.

“The new LAPs are equipped with the necessary facilities, and business owners should not face major inconvenience  since essential services like water and electricity are already in place in the new locations,” he said.

Ugen Sangye further highlighted that the relocation plan has been in place for a long time, and the people are well aware of it. Given the extensive preparations and the awareness among the leaseholders, he expects minimal challenges during the relocation process.

The decision to relocate Chamkhar town is mainly due to its vulnerability to floods.

The new townships under the LAPs are designed to offer a safer and more organised environment for both residents and businesses while ensuring the continuity of business operations.

༉ ཁ་ཙ་ ལི་སོ་ཐོ་གི་ རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ལས་ ལོག་བྱོན་པའི་སྐབས་ མི་དབང་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་གིས་ སྤ་རོ་རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང་ཚུན་ བྱོན་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ལི་སོ་ཐོ་གི་ རྒྱལཔོ་དང་ རྒྱལ་བཙུན་ དེ་ལས་ སྲསམོ་ཚུ་ཡང་ འབྲུག་ལུ་ མི་དབང་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་གིས་ མགྲོན་བརྡ་གནངམ་བཞིན་དུ་ ཉིན་གྲངས་༨ ཀྱི་ གཟིགས་སྐོར་ལུ་ བྱོན་ཡོད་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

༉ འབྲུག་གི་སྐྱེས་ལོ་༢༠ མན་ཆད་འབད་མི་ ན་གཞོན་ཚུ་གིས་ ནེ་པཱལ་ལུ་སྦེ་ སཱཕ་༢༠༢༤ གི་ ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་རྩེད་འགྲན་འབདཝ་ད་ མཐའ་བཅད་འོག་མའི་ནང་ ནེ་པཱལ་སྡེ་ཚན་ལས་ ཕམ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་ཡང་ སྡེ་ཚན་གཉིས་ཆ་ར་གིས་ དོ་འགྲན་ཅན་སྦེ་ རྩེད་འགྲན་འབད་བའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ འབྲུག་གི་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱིས་ ནེ་པཱལ་ལུ་ གཱོལ་ཅིག་བཙུགས་ཏེ་ ཧ་ལམ་ རྒྱལ་ཁ་ཐོབ་ཚུགས་པའི་ རེ་འདོད་སྦོམ་བསྐྱེད་རུང་ ཤུལ་ལས་ ནེ་པཱལ་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱིས་ གཱོལ་ཅིག་བཙུགས་དཔ་ལས་ རེ་བ་དེ་ རྒྱ་ཆུང་སུ་ཅིག་ལུ་ གྱུར་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཨིན་རུང་ འབྲུག་གི་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱི་ ཨང་༡༠ པ་དེ་ ཤོག་བྱང་དམརཔོ་ཐོབ་སྟེ་ ཕྱིར་དབུང་བཏངམ་ད་ སྡེ་ཚན་ནང་ རྩེད་འགྲན་པ་༡༡ དང་༡༠ སྦེ་ དོ་འགྲན་འབད་རུང་ ནེ་པཱལ་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱིས་ གཱོལ་ཐེབས་བཙུགས་མ་ཚུགས་མི་ལུ་བལྟཝ་ད་ འབྲུག་པའི་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱི་ ན་གཞོན་རྩེད་འགྲན་པ་ཚུ་ཡང་ ཧ་ལམ་སྦྱང་བ་ལེགས་ཤོམ་ཚུད་པའི་ འབྲས་རྟགས་བཏོནམ་ཨིན་པས།

ཨིན་རུང་ མཐའ་བཅད་འོག་མའི་རྩེད་འགྲན་འབདཝ་ལས་ རྒྱལ་ཕམ་ཕྱེ་དགོ་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ རྒྱལ་ཕམ་ཕྱེ་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ པེ་ནཱལ་ཊི་རྐྱབ་པའི་སྐབས་ལུ་ ནེ་པཱལ་གྱིས་ གཱོལ་༤ བཙུགས་པའི་སྐབས་སུ་ འབྲུག་གི་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱིས་ གཱོལ་ཅིག་ལས་བརྒལ་ བཙུགས་མ་ཚུགསཔ་ལས་ ཕམ་ཁ་ལེན་དགོཔ་བྱུང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ནེ་པཱལ་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱིས་ མཐའ་བཅད་ནང་ལྷོད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

ཚེ་རིང་དབང་འདུས།