Chencho Dema

The mother of a 16-year-old has accused a member of Parliament (MP) from the opposition, Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP), of molesting her daughter when she was 14 in Trongsa. 

The case was lodged by the PEMA Secretariat to the Trongsa police on July 9 after the mother brought her daughter in for consultation.

Police officials told Kuensel that the case has been lodged against the accused.

While the accused has not been informed about the incident because, under the Parliament Act, they could not summon the MP.

According to the Act, MPs cannot be summoned 15 days prior to and 15 days after a parliamentary session.

Police officials also said that they were gathering evidence and verifying statements with the witnesses.

Sources indicate that the incident occurred two years ago when the accused was a gewog Administration officer in Nubi Gewog in Trongsa.

At the time, the victim was 14 years old and in the eighth grade in one of the schools in Trongsa. The victim is currently studying in the tenth grade.

According to the victim, the accused grabbed her left breast in her house while her mother was in the forest with friends collecting mushrooms.

The victim’s mother said that while she was in the forest she received a call from her crying daughter, who couldn’t explain what had happened.

“Later, one of her friends told me that the then ADM sir had molested her,” she said.

The mother also said that the accused gave them a laptop which has been handed over to the police.

The mother also said that her daughter was not well since the incident and had to be taken to the PEMA Secretariat for further treatment.

Meanwhile, the accused denied the allegations and said it was an accident without an intention.

The accused said that he was cleaning the surrounding house and walked in the house of the victim to get the hard broom.

The victim was sleeping with the blankets covered. The accused said that he accidentally touched the victim while pulling the blanket.

He did agree that he had given the laptop to the victim but not because of the case.

The National Assembly’s recent resolution to do away with the ‘Partially Meets Expectations’ (PME) category from the performance evaluation system for civil servants marks yet another milestone in the history of the performance management system in Bhutan. It motivated me to share my perspectives on what could lie ahead. 

When I was fairly young, learning this essential aspect of the employment contract as a civil servant, I heard one of the senior executives say “I help those who are doing well but I don’t harm those who do not perform”. Instantly, he became my hero. I liked his idea of helping those who are doing well, it means recognising and motivating the performers. I also liked his idea of not harming those who do not perform. I saw in him a compassionate leader. A sense of job security sank deep within me. His ideals seeped through me shaping my outlook and I began to expect the same from all other senior managers around me until I learned a little bit more about the uses of the performance management system.

That was when most people only worked on their annual performance evaluation forms when applying for promotion. Many would complete the past four years’ annual evaluation forms in one go, chasing their direct reports who were by then transferred to different agencies.

Back then, while the system was already in place, people were not serious about its implementation. “Need Improvement” as a category, which is renamed as PMS, did exist but everyone was rated as either an outstanding or very good performer. So, the system did not serve its purpose. People used to argue that there was no use working hard because the system did not recognise their achievements and those who failed at work never had their promotion affected. They shared that those who worked hard got their promotion at the same time as those who hardly worked.

And rightly so, there were cases cited when the RCSC was bringing about new reforms to strengthen the performance evaluation system. One notable citation was the cases of some people who were surrendered to the Civil Service Commission Secretariat for their ill conduct and performance, who had their performance rating of the past years at an outstanding or very good level.

I realised everyone was sharing the same “not harming the poor-performer” mindset. What was seen initially as ‘compassion’ turned out to be ‘misplaced compassion’ at play – breeding complacency. Almost all managers were turning a blind eye to the deteriorating work culture, organisational productivity and the need for improvement of the poor-performing group.

A bold decision was taken when the Civil Service Commission took to Forced Ranking. The whole idea behind the change was to enhance meritocracy and subvert the growing culture of complacency, mediocracy and apathy towards poor performance.

The reform has led to a more serious implementation of the performance appraisal system. All the managers were kept on their toes keeping a close watch on the staff’s performances. Annual performance evaluation became more formalised. Some improvements in identifying ‘performers’ and ‘non-performers’ were showing up. Those rated as ‘outstanding performers’ were envied. Those who were marked as PME were worried and, of course, disheartened.

But there has been a huge outcry over the reform and is now even attached to the high attrition rate, which I struggle to relate to. Nevertheless, other findings of the Good Governance Committee of our legislative body are worth considering. They include rising disharmony, reduced collaboration and the fostering of negative attitudes. Indeed, it is highly agreeable that if everyone in an agency did very well yet some had to be put under the ‘PME’ category, it is painful and unfair. Something needs to be done there and it became loud and clear with the unanimous decision of the National Assembly.

Coming back to the purpose, let us acknowledge that the performance management system is a sieve that allows the performers to pass through for reward and motivation, and identify poor performers for either helping up or out. Forcing people into ‘PME’ is the heart essence of the forced ranking system to realise this objective of the performance management system. The National Assembly’s resolution of doing away with the PME category, therefore, risks pushing the system back to the earlier practices of turning a blind eye to poor performers and helping breed complacency.

It is also surprising to see how the narrative changes among the ‘naysayers’. Earlier they did not want to work hard because they saw that those who did not perform were equally rewarded. But now the narrative has shifted, as per the Committee’s findings, that they want to ‘leave everything to the outstanding performers’. This indicates the need to further strengthen the system to remove such a mindset.

Nevertheless, the decision to do away with the PME in the forced ranking has been taken and an executive order may be on the way for implementation. In response to this decision, three things are likely to happen:

Unquestioningly following the resolution of removing the ‘PME Category’ from the system. If it happened, it would be a regressive move leading to a rebirth of the ‘I don’t harm the poor-performers’ attitude and complacency would breed again.

Defending the system and submitting a compelling reason. If it happened, it would mean protecting the status quo and would not address this important issue of growing ‘unfairness’ in the system and the problems this new initiative has caused. And

Identifying new solutions in replacement of forced ranking the ‘PME’ category by substituting with an alternative system that can continue to identify the non-performers to help them up or out. This appears to be a more progressive and favourable response. But if the alternative solution is not able to uphold the strength of the existing forced ranking system in identifying the poor performers, accountability and meritocracy will suffer.

In gist, it is best to handle the issue with care not to compromise accountability, transparency and meritocracy which are the core pillars of Good Governance. There is no doubt that these are areas close to the heart of our Good Governance Committee, given His Majesty’s aspirations of promoting accountability and Ngar in the system.

Therefore, any solution to replace the ‘PME category’ of the forced ranking has to be backed up by well-articulated performance criteria and systems to differentiate talents objectively. Very importantly, the strength of the ‘forced ranking’ system that fixes accountability to the managers to implement the system earnestly should be maintained, at any cost. If a sound alternative is not found, we must think twice before we fiddle with the ‘PME’ category, which is the heart essence of the forced ranking system to identify the poor performers.

I am sharing this reflection observing the experiences of agencies outside civil service. There are cases where even though rigorous standards and performance criteria have been put in place, the managers still cannot help out poor performers who still exist to the detriment of work culture and organisational operation. Everyone knows the fact but nobody takes any action. Therefore, if the civil service slides back to its earlier system, it will only activate this ‘misplaced compassion’ that is still lurking around the corner.

Note: While discussing this, it is discomforting to relate forced ranking to a high attrition rate. Logically thinking, attrition of people forced into the PME category is the most desirable outcome of the system. Elsewhere people who were classified into this category were helped out, meaning they were necessitated to leave the system to be replaced by newcomers to bring in fresh ideas, energy and skills. Therefore, changing the system should not be targeted at addressing the attrition rate rather it should be carried out to address other burning issues like enhancing fairness and collaboration.

Contributed by

Kinley Rinchen

Australia

Bhutan’s entry-level mobile data (2GB) is the second most affordable in the SAARC region after Sri Lanka, according to ITU’s “The Affordability of ICT Services 2023” report

The high cost of ICT services in Bhutan has been a concern since mobile services were introduced nearly two decades ago. The main grievance, both now and in recent years, is the high cost of mobile data, the dominant method for accessing the Internet in Bhutan. This issue gained renewed attention after the 1st session of the 4th National Assembly, with media outlets highlighting high mobile data charges through comparisons and third-party reports, particularly the “Kingdom of Bhutan Digital Economy Development and Transformation Strategy” by GovTech Bhutan and UNDP.

In response to claims that Bhutan has the highest mobile data costs in the region, based on this report, TIPL, one of Bhutan’s two telecom companies, seeks to provide evidence-based clarifications. TIPL aims to inform the public, policymakers, and regulators about the actual state of mobile data affordability in Bhutan. The clarification references following “Table A: Comparative Prices of Mobile Broadband in Other Countries” from the report.

As per our analysis, the comparison of data charges illustrated in the table above is incomplete and unfair for three reasons explained below:

The first limitation of the cost comparison in the table is the use of different data packages to compare the cost per GB, which is incorrect and unfair. For example, Bhutan’s 8.46 GB data package is compared to India’s 30 GB and Vietnam’s 90 GB packages. Due to higher economies of scale, the cost per GB decreases as the size of the data package increases, meaning Vietnam’s 90 GB package will have a lower cost per GB than India’s 30 GB package, and both will be lower compared to Bhutan’s 8.46 GB package. To ensure a fair comparison, the same or similar data packages should be used. Using TashiCell’s 25.37 GB package (Nu. 777) or Bhutan Telecom’s 27.03 GB package (Nu. 799) instead of the 8.46 GB package, the cost per GB drops to about USD 0.35, which is roughly half the cost mentioned in the report.

The second shortcoming of the report is using the absolute cost per GB to compare mobile data affordability among countries. A fair comparison should consider the income levels of users in each country. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) measures ICT service affordability as the cost expressed as a percentage of monthly GNI per capita (GNIpc). According to their latest report, “The Affordability of ICT Services 2023” the cost of a 2GB entry-level mobile broadband basket in Bhutan is only 0.83% of monthly GNIpc, the second lowest in the SAARC region as illustrated in the  Table B.

It can be inferred from the above table that Bhutan’s entry-level mobile data is the second most affordable in the SAARC region, following Sri Lanka, and also more affordable than nearby countries like Vietnam and Thailand. The ITU report specifies 2% of monthly GNIpc as the affordability threshold, which all mobile data packages offered by the telcos in Bhutan easily meet. Thus, while the absolute unit cost comparison makes Bhutan’s mobile data appear expensive, expressing the cost as a percentage of monthly GNIpc reveals Bhutan’s mobile data offerings are highly affordable, even more so than India, a frequent comparison point for Bhutan’s mobile service prices.

The third limitation of the comparison is the lack of information on the validity of the data packages. In Bhutan, monthly data packages are valid for 30 days, whereas in countries like India, they are valid for 28 days, as shown in the table below. This means that operators in India receive 13 monthly payments in a year compared to the usual 12 payments for operators in Bhutan. In other words, a customer in India on a Rs. 249 monthly plan must recharge at least 13 times a year.

The clarifications shown on Table C address only the price component of mobile data. Another critical factor is the cost borne by the telcos. Due to Bhutan’s extremely small market size, telcos pay much higher prices to the vendors for network equipment, materials, and international Internet bandwidth compared to other countries. Additionally, network deployment, operation, and maintenance are costly due to high transportation and engineering charges caused by country’s rugged terrain. These costs are further increased by a 20% import tax and a tripling of the annual license fee due to recent policy changes. Despite these challenges and delays in construction approvals, two telcos strive to make mobile services more affordable while improving service quality, a difficult trade-off to achieve and sustain.

In conclusion, the size of market is critical parameter in determining the prices of telecommunication services. Therefore, it is absolutely unfair to compare the prices of telecommunications services between the telcos catering to a market size of 1 million and that of 100 million, or 1 billion. Despite several cost disadvantages, telcos leverage on new technologies and find ways to reduce data rates. This effort is evident as the cost of telecom services has been decreasing over the years, even while other goods and services become more expensive.

TashiCell

Yangyel Lhaden

Wangsisina, Gawailing Happy Home, Thimphu, July 11: In the outdoor kitchen area, children are busily preparing vegetables for lunch, while others relax on benches around the table. A boy among the group of girls is tying his hair into two sections, cracking jokes, and keeping everyone entertained.

For 27 children—26 girls and a boy—Gawailing Happy Home is more than just a shelter; it’s a sanctuary. Established by Respect, Educate, Nurture, and Empower Women (RENEW), the home provides a haven of physical and psychological safety for these individuals and families.

Meet the only boy, a 13-year-old in grade seven. He speaks slowly and shyly, but his words carry confidence. His eyes twinkle whenever he talks about his ambition.

From the moment he was old enough to dream, he knew he wanted to be Prime Minister of Bhutan. It wasn’t a passing fancy or a childhood whim. As the years rolled on, his ambition never wavered.

“If I can, I will definitely become PM,” he says, his eyes twinkling with a mix of determination and resolve. “If not, I will settle for being a commando.”

Why do you want to become PM?

“It makes all the more sense that I will be able to bring changes and developments in the country only when I am the head of the country, and that I can,” he says, his voice steady and sure. “I see corruption, people wasting government resources, and a lack of punctuality. I want to change that.”

In Gawailing, a place he cherishes as his life and family, the 13-year-old campaigns earnestly. Addressing elders as “azhim” and younger ones by name, he has garnered widespread support, with everyone pledging their votes to him.

“Although my ambition is to become PM, my dream is different,” he says. “My dream is to give back to RENEW. They are my family—my father, mother, sister, everything. Just as you serve your parents when you grow up, I intend to serve RENEW and take care of my elders and juniors, because they are all I have.”

Apart from his strong ambitions, he finds enjoyment in listening to music and watching animations, particularly favoring Demon Slayer at the moment. He is drawn to the profound bond portrayed between Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko in the series, finding Tanjiro’s unwavering protection and love for Nezuko deeply resonant.

“It shows love and care, and that is the kind of brother I intend to be,” he says, “because my sisters here have looked after me like a mother since I was very small when I first came here.”

He was very young, just four years old, when he first came to Gawailing.

“I remember I was wearing a t-shirt, half-pant, and wellington boots when one madam and sir brought me here,” he says. “ For me, Gawailing is everything. It has nurtured my dreams and taken care of me from a very young age.”

He first started learning A, B, C, D, and Ka, Kha, Ga, Nga in Gawailing. He had never seen the alphabet before or heard nursery rhymes.

“To achieve my ambition and dream, there is only one thing I need to focus on: studying,” he says.

Since starting school, he has consistently hit the top three rank among his classmates in every exam.

“I take pride in identifying myself as RENEW’s child, and my sense of pride grows even stronger at school when I excel and bring honour to RENEW’s reputation,” says this very confident boy.

A globally anticipated legislation to amend the National Gender Equality Policy 2020 is expected to be tabled by the newly elected Government of Bhutan led by Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay. International LGBTIQA+ rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said,  “It is great to see progress in Bhutan: first with the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2021 and now with the National Gender Equality Policy Review. As well as marriage equality, LGBTs everywhere need laws to protect them against discrimination and hate crime, LGBT-inclusive sex education in schools, and the legal recognition of trans and non-binary people. I hope the new Government will legislate accordingly.”

The ongoing National Gender Equality Policy Review by the National Commission for Women and Children, in consultation with Queer Voices of Bhutan and Pride Bhutan, redresses the straight, binary and unrepresentative existing policy, which contains a single mention of the ‘other’ identity. The June 2022 Consultation in Paro had more than fifty delegates, making it Bhutan’s largest LGBTIQA+ conference. Ugyen Yangchen Lhamo, an iconic transwoman from the first openly queer generation, said, “It is interesting to see support equal to the strength it took for us to be open. That is equality.”

The current Gender Equality Policy covers three domains: social, political and economic. The Paro roundtable adds two new domains, health and education, which account for the lionshare of the community’s problems with insensitive service providers and exclusionary systems.

Wearing the national dress in a professional or educational setting is mandatory. A case has emerged outlining the need to respect individuals who identify with a sex that they were not assigned at birth. The gho and kira are in need of queer reimagination.

I grew up around cis-men and cis-women in heterosexual relationships, without conversations around non-heteronormativity. I passed myself off as a heterosexual man, despite my identity being at variance with the label. I masked as homophobic and would invent girlfriends, feeling relief when rejected.

To sustain this straight subterfuge, I bullied people. I felt remorseful when a schoolmate I bullied attended my storytelling workshop. I took the opportunity to apologise and he forgave me. Being bullied is just the tip of the iceberg of repression;  the sedimentary summit from being frosted and sustaining multiple glacial traumas- all the while compressing oneself into “normalcy”, a state of mental ill health as adults. This “normal” is where my self-deprecating humour comes from, which is self-harm.

As an eighteen year old in 2021, visiting Pride Bhutan for the first time, I experienced culture shock. Fresh out of the closet, my straight, binary mindset wouldn’t let me accept diversity. Deep inside my heart, I knew this was the environment I was looking for.

When I joined Queer Voices of Bhutan, I learned about Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC), which will be integrated into secondary and tertiary education following the Amendment. Using SOGIESC, I realised I was non-binary, queer and preferred they/them pronouns. In my self-awareness I have found freedom.

Patriarchal, akin to the rest of South Asia, Bhutan has a binary notion of gender, despite having  diverse queer Bhutanese stories. Only 1% of the LGBTIQA+ population of Bhutan are comfortable being advocates, while most remain closeted or exploring for fear of ostracisation. Besides our allies, a sizable neutral demographic presents opportunities for awareness building.

Article 3 of the Constitution states, ‘Buddhism is the spiritual heritage of Bhutan which promotes the principles and values of peace, compassion, non-violence and tolerance’. Bhutan has its own queer secrets and Buddhism has key queer entities within it. According to Himalayan Art Resources, the celebrated spiritual guardian Goem Maning, a manifestation of Mahakala, is neither male nor female. Their identity is non-binary to highlight their omniscience. The deity makes me feel represented. Psychiatrist Dr. B.N. Raveesh observes that the simultaneous representation of a god as both masculine and feminine in their Ardhanareeshwara form, represents the unity in the opposites of the universe. The Hindu God Lord Shiva too is often represented as being joined in the same entity with Goddess Shakti and challenges patriarchal power dynamics in this androgynous form.

Though spiritually LGBTIQA+ neutral, Bhutan has had limited representation and widespread discrimination due to the erasure of gender fluidity from its history and culture. Being queer, I’ve faced being bullied in the bathrooms, being socially isolated and mocked. Like neighbouring India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, if your expression contradicts gender expectations, you are called a “Chaka”, a derogatory word.

Examining Bhutan in comparison to the rest of South Asia helps make recommendations towards ensuring a National Gender Equality Policy that protects and celebrates queerness.

Same-sex activity was decriminalised in Nepal in 2007, in India in 2018, and in Bhutan in 2021. However, LGBTQIA+ individuals face imprisonment in Bangladesh, Pakistan Myanmar and Maldives. Although Bangladesh has  legally recognised the “third gender”, consisting of “hijras’’ or transgenders, since 2014, sexual orientation and gender identity are not legally protected. In Afghanistan, homosexuality is punishable by death.

The ages of consent vary in the subcontinent and need to be brought in harmony with international law to protect children and consenting adults. It is 18 years in Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal and 16 years in Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Consent should not be tied to marital status, especially since subcontinentals still do not enjoy the right to same-sex marriage. April 2024 brought with it the latest LGBTIQA+ win with Nepal becoming the first country in South Asia, and the second in Asia after Taiwan, to recognise same-sex marriage thanks to an interim Supreme Court order. In June 2024, Thailand became the third Asian country to respect marriage equality. However, in 2023, the Supreme Court of India declined to legalize same-sex marriage by rejecting a petition to replace the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ with ‘spouse’ in the Special Marriage Act. Bhutan’s Marriage Act states, ‘Any couple approaching a Court of Law for acquiring a Marriage Certificate shall have to present before the Court as sureties a male person for the bridegroom and a female person for the bride.’ Bhutan should amend the Act to substitute gendered words like ‘bridegroom’ and ‘bride’ with ‘spouse’.

The 1977 book The World of Homosexuals  by Shakuntala Devi  marked a shift in South Asia’s discourse on homosexuality, calling for complete social acceptance, not just tolerance. Buddhist Master Rinpoche Dzongsar Jamyang Khentse advocates this, teaching, “We Bhutanese think we are a great species on this earth.  We are very conservative. Times are changing, and we should be really tolerant. I mean, you should not be tolerating this, actually. You should be respecting it. Tolerance is not a good thing. If you are tolerating this, it means that you think it’s wrong. But you have to go beyond that.”

Bhutan’s National Gender Equality Policy Amendment Act is an opportunity to progress from being an unsafe country for the LGBTIQA+ community to enlightened recognition. There is hope because we have allies and intergenerational solidarity. Bhutan is at a juncture where it can cast its lot either with countries which celebrate LGBTIQA+ citizens, or languish in the umbra of unjust policies. It is for Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay’s government to decide whether Bhutan will toddle towards tolerance or stride with pride.

Contributed by

Sangay Loday

He is a twenty-one year old queer LGBTIQA+ activist and thespian from Bhutan. This article is syndicated by PoliTweak, which reimagines sustainable wellbeing and democratic peace in South Asia.

The community of Lower Khasakha and Tarayana Foundation collaborate to end water shortage

Dechen Dolkar

Some 32 households of lower Khasakha village under Mewang gewog, located 20 kilometres from Thimphu city, are finally set to receive drinking water at their doorsteps after battling severe water shortage for many decades.

With over 200 households, and emerging constructions, Khasakha village has reached a crisis point due to the lack of reliable water sources. The village is situated around one and a half kilometres above Khasadrapchu town.

The Tarayana Foundation has stepped into provide essential construction materials such as cement, pipes, and sand for the construction of two reservoirs and two filtration tanks. Meanwhile, the 32 households are contributing labour to make this long-awaited project a reality.

The water source, located at Domsangnye above the Khasadrapchu hydroplant reservoiver, is approximately 2.6 kilometres from Khasakha Village. This source currently benefits over 70 households in the gewog, with some individual households having taken private initiatives to access drinking water privately from this source.

Mewang Gup Tandin Pem said that the gewog requested support from the Tarayana Foundation, which promptly agreed due to the  longstanding water crisis in the village. “For now, only the lower part of Khasakha village will have access to drinking water, as the water pipes will be connected from a lower elevation to a higher one,” he explained.

The Gup said that with this water project, drinking water crisis will be solved, and the upper part of the village will receive sufficient drinking water from the old water source.

He also mentioned that the gewog has proposed a new drinking water project in the 13th Plan to include a source from Tshelunye for Khasadruphu chiwog, including Khasakha village, using the central government budget.

Dawa Gyeltshen, 48, the coordinator of the drinking water project construction for Khasakha village, said that construction of the project began about a week ago and is expected to be completed within a month.

The community has already completed 90 percent of the 4,500-litre reservoir and filtration tank at the source. A 20,000-litre reservoir will also be constructed in the village to ensure equal distribution of water.

Dawa Gyeltshen said that the community has gained new skills and knowledge on filtration at the source using bamboo and charcoal. “Earlier, we used to connect water directly to the reservoir,” he said.

The water user group contributes labour, and those households unable to contribute labour provide money equivalent to the daily wage of Nu 500.

Dechen, 53, a resident of the village, recalled fetching water from a nearby stream when she was young, a practice that continues due to the persistent water scarcity in the village.

She currently fetches drinking water from the nearby stream by car every day for several hours. “With the water scarcity, we cannot even grow vegetables. Last year, all my chilli plants dried up without water,” said Dechen.

Passang Tobgay, Senior Field Officer at the Tarayana Foundation, said that the Foundation engaged in community consultations and conducted awareness on springshed management.

“Tarayana Foundation is providing technical assistance for constructing water tanks within the community, integrating traditional water filtration methods using bamboo charcoal, gravel, and sand,” he said. “The community members are being trained in water management techniques.”

This initiative is a part of the “Living Landscape: Securing High Conservation Values in South Western Bhutan” project, implemented by the Tarayana Foundation in collaboration with WWF Bhutan. Funding support for the project comes from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection and the International Climate Initiative.

In our development scheme, education, health, and agriculture stand as pillars of national progress. These sectors are intrinsically tied to our nation’s well-being, yet they face unprecedented challenges.

The current trend of relying on foreign doctors and witnessing our own experts seeking opportunities abroad raises pressing questions about the sustainability of our healthcare system.

Similarly, the migration of educators to more comfortable positions in other countries signifies a profound intellectual loss that hampers our educational infrastructure.

The migration of medical and educational professionals to other nations is a clear indicator of a troubling brain drain. Why is this happening?

This phenomenon not only undermines our healthcare and educational systems, but also signifies a deeper issue: the failure to retain and nurture talent within our borders.

When we call for foreign doctors, it reflects a gap in our ability to provide adequate incentives and conditions for our own experts. This dependency on external assistance is a temporary solution that does not address the root causes of the problem. Instead, it highlights the need for comprehensive reforms to make these sectors more attractive and sustainable for our professionals.

The departure of our educators is equally alarming. These individuals carry with them invaluable knowledge and experience that could have significantly contributed to the development of our education system. Their absence creates a void that is difficult to fill, leading to a decline in the quality of education. The loss is not just in numbers, but also in the potential innovations and improvements that these educators could have brought to our classrooms.

Agricultural development, once a shining example of hope for Bhutan, now seems like a lost dream. The percentage of arable land is decreasing as our hills become increasingly populated. This urbanisation trend is transforming our once fertile fields into concrete jungles. The sight of Thimphu, with its expanding urban sprawl, shows the need for a balanced approach to development.

While the rush for urbanisation is driven by the desire for modernisation and economic growth, it comes at the cost of our agricultural heritage and natural beauty.

The transformation of our fields into urban landscapes reflects a broader issue: the prioritisation of short-term gains over long-term sustainability. We had the potential to be a model of sustainable development, demonstrating how a nation can balance modernisation with the preservation of its agricultural and natural resources. Instead, we are witnessing the erosion of our agricultural potential, which could have been a cornerstone of our economy and food security.

In the pursuit of development, we must ask ourselves what kind of nation we want to become. Are we giving sufficient importance to the sectors that can secure our future and preserve our unique identity? Education, health, and agriculture are not just sectors; they are the foundation of our nation’s wellbeing. Neglecting them in favor of rapid urbanisation and short-term economic gains is a perilous path.

Jigmi Wangdi

Since February this year, despite government plans for various incentives to enhance services and boost morale of health workers at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH), no such initiatives have been implemented nearly six months later.

Initially, based on the requests from the hospital staff for a canteen, the Prime Minister said that a DSP canteen similar to the ones at Chubachu, Kaja Throm and Royal Takin Preserve, would be set up at the hospital to offer food at a cheaper rate to the staff ans at market rates for the public. Plans were in place to establish a crèche for the children of hospital staff and a gym facility for the staff themselves. The Prime Minister also mentioned intentions to recruit new doctors, engage retired health workers, consider one-year meritorious promotions for those attending special training, and provide clinical allowances.

Such incentives were aimed at ensuring that the morale of the medical staff at JDWNRH would be lifted, improving health services and also addressing the attrition rate at the same time.

Today, the situation at the national referral hospital has remained the same, without any of the incentives, which had previously been recommended.

The health workers at JDWNRH shared their concerns on the issue, highlighting that the morale of the staff has reached an all-time low.

A health worker shared that there is a subconscious pressure when all the healthcare professionals are moving abroad.

“Most healthcare workers are burned out and the recruits are inefficient in filling the gaps quickly, hence patient care is greatly compromised,” the health worker said.

The health worker added that the crèche promised for workers with children and other facilities are yet to be installed.

“There is this domino effect, especially when competent and seasoned clinicians explore for better pay, work environment and opportunities, it becomes very discouraging to the newly joined clinicians,” the health worker shared.

Recently, to address the overburdening of nurses and deliver proper services, a 12-hour shift system was also introduced.

According to a doctor, the nurses have to do the shift from two to four times a week. Health workers shared concerns on how it could lead to further burnout among the staff.

Apart from the overtime payment received, health workers currently do not have any financial incentives provided for them.

Heath workers also shared that the working environment has become increasingly tedious, adding that recruiting foreign nurses and paying them higher greatly discouraged the local clinicians.

“Many of the health workers are already preparing to leave. A major challenge with nurses and other health workers is the limited professional development offered by the government compared to physicians. We don’t expect the government to provide equal opportunity with the physicians but rather to have equity with the opportunities,” a health worker shared.

Similarly, a nurse working at a regional referral hospital shared that the attrition rate can be linked to many factors and that financial prospects do not play a major role.

“It is more about how valuable they feel. The government has invested less in upgrading the skills of nurses, and the young nurses give more importance to career development and advancement which is lacking at the moment in the country,” a nurse said.

The nurse added that the silo mentality that has been built within the workforce hampers any new opportunity for change and growth. “It has now become a major reason for frustration in the workplace and reluctance to change. These push the nurses outside of the country.”

The health ministry has previously shared that efforts were being made to enhance the working conditions of the health workers, such as introducing overtime pay for extended shifts and establishing a clearer career pathway for health workers.

However, as plans are not being implemented expeditiously, frustration and dissatisfaction are building among the health workers.

༉ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ པཱམ་ཚོ་ལུ་ སྐྱེས་ལོ་༡༣ ལང་མི་བུམོ་ཅུང་ཅིག་ དམར་བསད་འབད་བའི་ཉེས་འཛུགས་ལུ་བརྟེན་ སྐྱེས་ལོ་༢༦ ལང་མི་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་ཕོ་སྐྱེས་ཅིག་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་སྡེ་གིས་ འཛིན་བཟུང་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
བྱ་ངན་དེ་ཡང་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༥ པའི་ཚེས་༢༣ ལུ་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཉམས་རྒུད་པའི་ཕུངམ་དེ་ བྱང་སྟོར་ཤོར་བའི་ དེ་གི་ནངས་པ་ ཉིན་མ་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ འཚོལ་ཐོབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་སྡེ་གིས་ རྩོད་གཞི་དེ་ བདེན་དཔྱད་ཀྱི་རྒྱབ་ཁུངས་དང་ བུམོ་ཅུང་གི་བརླད་དོ་གུ་ལས་ཐོབ་མི་ ཁྲག་གི་དཔེ་ཚད་ཀྱི་ བརྟག་དཔྱད་གྲུབ་འབྲས་ཚུ་དང་སྦྲགས་ རྩོད་དཔོན་ཡོངས་ཁྱབ་ཡིག་ཚང་ལུ་ བཏང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་སྡེའི་ སྡེ་འཛིན་གོངམ་ རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་ བཤད་མིའི་ནང་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་གིས་ བྱ་ངན་འབད་བའི་སྐོར་ ཁ་བཟེད་ཡི་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
སེམས་ཁམས་རིག་པའི་ ཞིབ་དཔྱད་ནང་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་ འཕྲོད་བསྟེན་ཚུ་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྦེ་ར་ ཡོདཔ་སྦེ་ཨིན་པས།
དོགས་ཅན་དེ་གི་ ཁྲག་གི་དཔེ་ཚད་ཚུ་ གདངས་རས་ནང་དང་ སྤ་རོ་གི་ དམར་བསད་ནང་འབྲེལ་བ་ཡོད་པའི་ དོགས་པ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཡུ་ཀེ་ལུ་ བརྟག་དཔྱད་ཀྱི་དོན་ལུ་བཏང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ད་ལྟོ་ ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་པ་ཚུ་ གྲུབ་འབྲས་ལུ་སྒུག་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་གིས་ གནད་དོན་གཞན་གཉིས་ནང་ འབྲེལ་བ་ཡོད་པའི་སྐོར་ལས་ ཁ་བཟེད་མ་བཏུབ་ཨིན་པས།
དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་ མོང་སྒར་ལས་ཨིནམ་ད་ ད་ལྟོ་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ལུ་ ཚོང་ཁང་ཅིག་ནང་ ལཱ་འབད་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
སྡེ་འཛིན་གོངམ་ རྣམ་རྒྱལ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱིས་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་ ཧེ་མ་ཡང་ བྱ་ངན་འབད་པའི་གནས་ཐོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བུམ་ཐང་ལུ་ བྱ་སྤྱོད་ངན་པ་འབད་བའི་ ཉེས་འཛུགས་ཚུ་ བཀལ་ནུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རྒྱབ་ཁུངས།
སྤྱི་ཟླ་༥ པའི་ཚེས་༢༣ ལུ་ ཉམས་རྒུད་པའི་ཨ་ཞེམོ་གིས་ ནུམོ་དེ་ བདེ་ཆེན་ཕུག་ལྷ་ཁང་མཇལ་བར་སོང་ཞིནམ་ལས་ ལོག་ལྷོད་ནི་མེད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ སྙན་ཞུ་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཉམས་རྒུད་པའི་ཕུངམ་དེ་ པཱམ་ཚོ་ལུ་ ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་པའི་ འཚོལ་ཞིབ་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱིས་ ནངས་པར་ཉིན་མ་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ ཐོབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཕུངམ་ཞིབ་དཔྱད་འབདཝ་ད་ གཟུགས་ཁར་རྨ་དང་ མགུ་ཏོ་གུ་ རྨ་བཏོན་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ བྱ་ངན་འབད་བའི་གསལ་སྟོན་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་གཙོ་བསྟེན་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ལས་ ཕུངམ་ཞིབ་དཔྱད་འབད་མི་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དེ་གིས་ ཕན་ཚུན་གདོང་ལེན་འབདཝ་ད་ ཁ་བསུབས་ཏེ་ དབུགས་གཏོང་ལེན་འབད་མ་ཚུགས་པར་ ཤི་ནུག་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ད་རུང་ ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དེ་གི་ མགུ་ཏོ་གུ་ཡང་ རྨ་སྐྱོན་བྱུང་ནུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
དེ་ཚེ་ཉིན་མར་ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དེ་གིས་ མོ་རའི་ཆ་རོགས་ཀྱི་ ཁྱིམ་ནང་སོང་བའི་སྐབས་སུ་ ཆ་རོགས་ཚུ་ ཧེ་མ་ལས་ ཡར་སོཔ་ལས་ མོ་ར་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་སྦེ་ ལྷ་ཁང་མཇལ་བར་ སོང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དེ་གིས་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་དང་ཕྱད་པའི་སྐབས་ལུ་ ཕོ་སྐྱེས་དེ་ ལམ་ཟུར་གྱི་ རྩིགཔ་གུ་འཛེགས་ཏེ་ ཏམ་ཁུ་འཐུང་སྡོད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཁོང་གཉིས་ མི་ཊར་དག་པ་ཅིག་ ལམ་འགྱོ་བའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ ཕོ་སྐྱེས་དེ་གིས་ ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དེ་ ཚལ་མ་ནང་ འདྲུད་བདའ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཁོ་གིས་ བུམོ་གི་ཁ་ནང་ ཐལཝ་བླུགས་པའི་ཁར་ མགུ་ཏོ་གུ་ རྡོ་བླུགས་བྱིན་པའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ ཨོལ་ལྐོག་བསྡམས་ཏེ་ བསད་ཞིནམ་ལས་ ཕོ་སྐྱེས་དེ་གིས་ ཉམས་རྒུད་པའི་ཕུངམ་དེ་ ཤིང་གུ་དཔྱངས་བཞག་སྦེ་ བྱོག་ཡར་སོཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་པ་གིས་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་ པཱམ་ཚོ་གི་ པར་ཆས་སི་སི་ཊི་བི་ནང་ལས་ ངོས་འཛིན་འབད་ཚུགས་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ ཁོ་གིས་ ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དང་ གཅིག་ཁར་འགྱོ་བའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ དུས་ཡུན་མ་རིངམོ་ཅིག་ལས་ ཁོ་ར་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་སྦེ་ ལོག་འགྱོ་སར་ མཐོང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
རྐྱེན་ངན་དེ་བྱུང་ཞིནམ་ལས་ དོགས་པ་ཅན་དེ་གིས་ སྤ་རོ་ལུ་ བྱོག་སོང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཁྲིམས་སྲུང་འགག་པ་གིས་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༥ པའི་ཚེས་༣༠ གི་ ཕྱི་རུའི་ཆུ་ཚོད་༨ དེ་ཅིག་ཁར་ སྤ་རོ་ རམ་ཐང་ཀ་ལས་ འཛིན་བཟུང་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཉམས་རྒུདཔ་དེ་ སློབ་རིམ་༦ པའི་ནང་ དཔེ་ཆ་ལྷབ་མི་ཨིནམ་ད་ མོ་རའི་ཨའི་དང་ ཨ་ཁུ་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ བདེ་ཆེན་ཆོས་གླིང་ལུ་ སྡོད་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།
ཚེ་རིང་དབང་འདུས།

༉ གཞུང་གིས་ འཆར་གཞི་༡༣ པའི་ནང་ འབྲུག་ཨོ་ལིམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་ལུ་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ རྩེད་རིགས་གོང་འཕེལ་གཏང་ནིའི་དོན་ལས་ འཆར་དངུལ་ཡོངས་བསྡོམས་ དངུལ་བཀྲམ་ཐེར་འབུམ་༡ བགོ་བཀྲམ་འབད་ནུག།
དེ་ཡང་ ད་ལྟོ་ཚོན་ཚོད་ གཞུང་ལས་ ཨོ་ལིམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་ལུ་ དེ་བཟུམ་མའི་ འཆར་དངུལ་ཐོབ་མི་དེ་ མཐོ་ཤོས་ཅིག་ཨིན་པས།
འཆར་གཞི་༡༢ པ་དང་ཕྱདཔ་ད་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ས་ཡ་༢༩༤ དེ་ཅིག་ ཡར་སེང་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་ཟད་འགྲོ་ཐད་ཁར་ གསུམ་ལྟབ་སྦེ་ ཡར་སེང་སོང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
འབྲུག་ཨོ་ལིམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པའི་ ལས་རིམ་འགོ་དཔོན་གོངམ་ ཚེ་རིང་བཟང་མོ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ མ་དངུལ་དེ་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་གནས་ཚད་རྩེད་རིགས་ གཞི་རྟེན་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ ཡར་སེང་འབད་ནི་ལུ་ གཙོ་རིམ་བཟུང་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཚོགས་པའི་ཡུན་བརྟན་དམིགས་ཡུལ་དེ་ གཞི་རྟེན་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ལུ་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་ མངམ་འབད་ཐོག་ལས་ འབྲུག་དེ་ ལུང་ཕྱོགས་རྩེད་རིགས་ལྟེ་བ་ཅིག་སྦེ་ བཟོ་ནི་དེ་ཨིན་པས།
ད་རེས་ འབྲུག་ལུ་ རྩེད་རིགས་ས་ཁོངས་༢ རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་ ལུང་ཕྱོགས་འགྲན་བསྡུར་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ནི་ལུ་ འོས་འབབ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ སྦས་སྦིས་ན་ལུ་ཡོད་པའི་ ཆུ་རྩལ་ལྟེ་བ་དང་ དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུག་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་ཀི་རི་ཀེཊ་རྩེད་ཐང་ཨིན་པས།
ཚེ་རིང་བཟང་མོ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཚོགས་པའི་འཆར་གཞི་གཙོ་གཅིགཔོ་དེ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ས་ཡ་༦༦༧ གཏང་ཐོག་ལས་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ སྡེཔ་སྲིད་ལུ་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་གནས་ཚད་ཀྱི་ ཀི་རི་ཀེཊ་རྩེད་ཐང་ཅིག་ རྐྱབ་ནི་དེ་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
དེ་ལས་ སྡེཔ་སྲིད་ཀྱི་ལྟག་ལུ་ ལྕང་ར་མ་ལུ་ ཁྱིམ་ནང་གི་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་གནས་ཚད་ཅན་གྱི་ རྩེད་ཐང་ཅིག་ རྐྱབ་ནིའི་ལས་རིམ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ནང་ མཐུན་རྐྱེན་གཅིག་ནང་ རྩེད་རིགས་ཁག་མ་འདྲཝ་ཚུ་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ཚུགས་ནི་ཨིནམ་ད་ ཁྱིམ་ནང་གི་རྩེད་རིགས་ཚུ་ཡང་ བོ་ལི་བཱོལ་དང་ བཱསི་ཀེ་བཱོལ་ བེག་མིན་ཊཱོལཝན་ ཊེ་བཱལ་ཊེ་ནེསི་ མཛོག་ཁྱད་ ཀ་ར་ཊི་ དེ་ལས་ ཊའི་ཀཱོན་ཊོ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཚུ་ ཚུདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
འཆར་གཞི་གཙོ་རིམ་༣ པ་དེ་ ལྕང་གླིང་མི་ཐང་ནང་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་རྩེད་རིགས་ཚན་རིག་ལྟེ་བ་ རྐྱབ་ནི་ཨིནམ་ད་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ཡང་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་གཞན་ཁར་ ལུས་རྩལ་ལྷན་ཐབས་དང་ གསོ་བ་དང་ ཞི་བདེ་གོང་འཕེལ་ དེ་ལས་ རྩེད་རིགས་མདུན་སྐྱོད་ཀྱི་ ཞིབ་འཚོལ་འབད་ནི་ལུ་ གལ་ཅན་ཅིག་ཨིན་པས།
ལྟེ་བ་གིས་ ལས་དོན་ལྷན་ཐབས་དང་ རྨ་སྐྱོན་བཀག་ཐབས་དང་བསྐྱར་གསོ་ མཐུན་སྒྲིག་ དེ་ལས་ གསོ་བ་དང་བདེ་ཁམས་གོང་འཕེལ་ལ་སོགས་པ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ཚུ་ བྱིན་ཚུགས་ནི་ཨིན་པས།
ཚེ་རིང་བཟང་མོ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ད་ལྟོའི་ གླང་རྒྱུག་ཕར་ཁ་ལུ་ཡོད་པའི་ ཨོ་ལོཝིམ་པིག་མདའ་རྩེད་ལྟེ་བ་དེ་ཡང་ རྒྱ་སྐྱེད་གཏང་སྟེ་ ཁ་སྐོང་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ཚུ་ བཙུགས་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
མོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ འབྲུག་ཨོ་ལིམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་གིས་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་མ་འབད་བའི་ཧེ་མར་ རྩེད་རིགས་ཀྱི་ འོས་འབབ་ཚུ་བལྟ་ནི་ཨིནམ་ད་ འཆར་གཞི་༡༣ པའི་ནང་ འབྲུག་ཨོ་ལོམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་གིས་ མི་སྟོབས་གོང་འཕེལ་དང་ ལུས་རྩལ་གོང་འཕེལ་གྱི་དོན་ལུ་ཡང་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ད་རེས་ ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་དང་ ཀི་རི་ཀེཊ་ མདའ་རྩེ་ དེ་ལས་ ཊའི་ཀཱོན་ཌོ་ཚུ་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ འོས་འབབ་སྦོམ་ཡོདཔ་སྦེ་ མཐོངམ་ཨིན་པས།
དུས་ཅི་ གཞུང་གི་ འཆར་དངུལ་མང་ཤོས་ཅིག་ རྩེད་རིག་གོང་འཕེལ་གཏང་ལུ་ ཁས་ལེན་འབད་དེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ འཆར་གཞི་༡༣ པའི་ནང་ རྩེད་རིགས་གོང་འཕེལ་དེ་ མི་སྡེ་ལས་སྡེ་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ ཤེས་རིག་དང་ གསོ་བ་དེ་ མཉམ་དེབ་འབད་དེ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ འཆར་དངུལ་མངམ་བགོ་བཀྲམ་འབད་དགོཔ་དེ་ དགོས་མཁོ་ཅན་ཅིག་ཨིན་པས།
གཞུང་གིས་ ཚོགས་པ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ཐེར་འབུམ་༡ གནང་བྱིན་སྦེ་ ཁ་སྐོང་བྱིན་ནིའི་ ཁས་ལེན་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
འབྲུག་ཨོ་ལིམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་གིས་ གཞུང་ལས་ ཟླཝ་འདི་ནང་ གནང་བྱིན་ཐོབ་སྟེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ འཆར་དངུལ་དེ་གིས་ མི་སྟོབས་གོང་འཕེལ་དང་ ལུས་རྩལ་གོང་འཕེལ་གཏང་ནི་ལུ་ ལྷན་ཐབས་འབད་དེ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
གནང་བྱིན་གྱིས་མ་དོ་བར་ འབྲུག་ཨོ་ལིམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་གིས་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་ལས་ཡང་ རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་ཚུ་ འཚོལ་ཞིབ་འབད་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ གཙོ་རིམ་ཅན་གྱི་ རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་པ་ཚུ་ཡང་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་ཨོ་ལོམ་པིག་ཚོགས་ཆུང་དང་ ཨེ་ཤི་ཡ་གི་ ཨོ་ལོམ་པིག་ཚོགས་པ་ཨིན་པས།
རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་དེ་ ཡོངས་གྲགས་ཅན་གྱི་ རྩེད་རིགས་ཅིག་ཨིནམ་ད་ འབྲུག་ཕུཊ་བཱོལ་ཚོགས་པའི་ བརྡ་བརྒྱུད་དང་ཚོང་བསྒྲགས་འགོ་འཛིན་ ཕུན་ཚོག་དབང་འདུས་ཀྱིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཚོགས་པ་གིས་ ལྕང་གླིང་མི་ཐང་གི་ རྩེད་ཐང་ཉམས་བཅོས་དང་ སྦས་སྦིས་ན་ལུ་ ཚོགས་པའི་ཡིག་ཚང་ལྟེ་བ་ གོང་འཕེང་གཏང་ནི་ དེ་ལས་ བཀྲིས་སྒང་སག་སྟེང་ལུ་ འགྱིབ་ཀྱི་རྩྭ་གདན་འཐིང་ནིའི་ འཆར་གཞི་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
གཞི་རྟེན་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ཡར་དྲག་དང་ རྩེད་རིགས་ནང་ ན་གཞོན་འབྲེལ་གཏོགས་ཀྱིས་ མ་དོ་བར་ ལུས་རྩལ་དང་ རྩེད་རིགས་ལུ་ དགའ་མི་ཚུ་དང་འཁྲིལ་བ་ཅིན་ རྩེད་རིགས་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་དཀའ་ངལ་ཚུ་ ལེ་ཤ་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།
ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

༉ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༧ པའི་ཚེས་༧ ལུ་ གཞལམ་སྒང་ བར་དོ་རྒེད་འོག་ལས་ སྐྱེས་ལོ་༩ ལང་མི་ རྡོ་རྗེ་དབང་མོ་དེ་ ཡེ་སྦིས་ལབ་རྩ་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ལས་ དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུག་ལུང་ཕྱོགས་གཙོ་བསྟེན་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ སྐྱེལ་བའི་ལམ་ཁར་ གཞལམ་སྒང་དང་ དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུག་གི་གཞུང་ལམ་ཁར་ བོགསི་ཀཊ་ལུ་ འཁོར་ལམ་བསུབས་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ དུས་ཚོད་ཁར་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ མ་ལྷོད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཤི་རྐྱེན་བྱུང་ནུག།
ནདཔ་སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་འབད་མི་སྣུམ་འཁོར་དེ་ འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་གླིང་གཞི་རྟེན་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ སྲོག་རླུང་བསྐྱར་གསོ་འབད་དེ་ ལོག་འོང་པའི་ལམ་ཁར་ བུམོ་དེ་ ཤི་སོཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཚེ་འདས་བུམོ་དེ་གི་ དུག་ཡོད་པའི་ ཤ་མུ་ཟ་སྟེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༧ པའི་ཚེས་༤ ལུ་ ཕྱི་རུའི་ཆུ་ཚོད་༥ ལུ་ བུ་ལི་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་བའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ གནས་སྟངས་སྐྱོ་དྲགས་ཐལ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༧ པའི་ཚེས་༧ ལུ་ ཡེ་སྦིས་ལབ་རྩ་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་ཡོདཔ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
བུམོ་དེ་ གྱོངས་སོ་པའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ ཚེ་འདས་ཀྱི་ བཟའ་ཚང་ཚུ་གིས་ བུ་ལི་སྨན་ཁང་གིས་ སྣང་མེད་བཞག་པའི་ཁར་ སྨན་ཁང་སྦོམ་ནང་བསྐྱལ་ནི་ལུ་ དུས་ཚོད་ཕྱིས་ཡོད་པའི་ ཉོགས་བཤད་བཀོད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བུམོ་གི་ གནས་སྟངས་དེ་ དྲོ་པའི་ཆུ་ཚོད་༤ ལས་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་མེད་ནི་དེ་གིས་ དྲོ་པ་ལས་ ཞུ་བ་འབད་ཡོད་རུང་ ཌོག་ཊར་དེ་གིས་ ཆུ་ཚོད་༩ ལུ་མ་གཏོགས་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ འོང་མ་བཏུབ་ཟེར་ ཚེ་འདས་བུམོ་གི་ སྤུན་ཆ་ཅིག་གིས་ བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
བུམོ་གི་གནས་སྟངས་དེ་ སྐྱོ་དྲགས་ཐལ་ཡོད་རུང་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ ཉིནམ་༢ ལྟ་རྟོག་བཞག་པའི་ཤུལ་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་ སྨན་ཁང་སྦོམ་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ གལ་སྲིད་ བུམོ་དེ་ དུས་ཚོད་ཁར་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་སྦོམ་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་བ་ཅིན་ སྲོག་སྐྱབས་འབད་ཚུགས་ཚུགསཔ་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཚེ་འདས་བུམོ་དེ་ དུས་ཚོད་ཕྱིས་མི་དེ་ཡང་ བུ་ལི་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ ནདཔ་སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་འབད་མི་ སྣུམ་འཁོར་མེད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ཨིནམ་ད་ སྨན་ཁང་གི་ ཧེ་མའི་སྣུམ་འཁོར་དེ་ མེདཔ་ཐལ་ཏེ་ གསོ་བ་ལྷན་ཁག་ནང་ རྩིས་སྤྲོད་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ སྣུམ་འཁོར་མེད་པཔ་ ཟླཝ་༡ དེ་ཅིག་ ལང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཚེ་འདས་ཀྱི་སྤུན་ཆ་ཚུ་གིས་ སྨན་ཁང་ལུ་ སྨན་གཡོགཔ་ཅིག་དང་སྦྲགས་ཏེ་ སྒེར་གྱི་སྣུམ་འཁོར་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་དགོ་པའི་ ཞུ་བ་འབད་ཡོད་རུང་ ངོས་ལེན་འབད་མ་བཏུབ་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ སྨན་ཁང་སྦོམ་ནང་ སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་འབད་ནིའི་གྲོས་ཆོད་དེ་ ཕྱིས་སུ་ཅིག་སྦེ་ འོང་ཡི་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ནུབ་མོའི་ཆུ་ཚོད་༡༠ལུ་ནང་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་ ཡེ་སྦིས་ལབ་རྩ་གི་ ནད་པའི་སྣུམ་འཁོར་ ཞུ་བ་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྣུམ་འཁོར་དེ་ དྲོ་པའི་ཆུ་ཚོད་༡ ལུ་ ལྷོད་པའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ དྲོ་པའི་ཆུ་ཚོད་༣.༣༠ལུ་མ་གཏོགས་ ལྷོད་མ་ཚུགས་ཟེར་ ཚེ་འདས་ཀྱི་ སྤུན་ཆ་ཅིག་གིས་ བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
བཟའ་ཚང་ཚུ་ བོགསི་ཀཊ་ལུ་ ཆུ་ཚོད་༢ དེ་ཅིག་ བསྒུགས་ཡོདཔ་ད་ གནམ་གྲུ་ཧེ་ལི་ཀོབ་ཊར་གྱི་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ཞུ་བ་འབད་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ གནམ་གྲུ་གིས་ ཚར་༢ དེ་ཅིག་ འོང་ནི་གི་ དཔའ་བཅམ་ཡོད་རུང་ གནམ་གཤིས་ལེགས་ཤོམ་མེདཔ་ལས་ འོང་མ་ཚུགསཔ་ཨིན་པས།
བུ་ལི་སྨན་ཁང་གི་ཌོག་ཊར་ འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་སྒྲོན་གྱིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ནདཔ་གི་ཁ་གསལ་སྙན་ཞུ་ཚུ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་གསོ་བའི་ཞབས་ཏོག་ལུ་ བྱིན་ཏེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྨན་ཁང་གི་སྣུམ་འཁོར་དེ་ མོ་ར་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་མ་ལྷོད་པའི་ ཟླཝ་༣ གྱི་ཧེ་མ་ལས་ར་ ལྷན་ཁག་ནང་ རྩིས་སྤྲོད་འབད་ནུག་ཟེར་ མོ་གིས་ དོགས་སེལ་འབདཝ་ཨིན་པས།
གནས་ཚུལ་བཤད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཤ་མུ་གི་ དུག་གིས་སྦེ་ ཚེ་འདས་ཀྱི་ གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ཆ་ཤས་ཚུ་ ལཱ་འབད་མ་བཏུབ་ཐལ་ཡོད་པའི་ དོགས་པ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ནདཔ་དེ་ སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ སྐྱེལ་བའི་སྐབས་ དབུགས་གཏོང་ལེན་གྱི་སྨན་དུང་ ནང་ན་མ་བཙུགས་པར་ལུས་པའི་ཁར་ ཕོཝ་སྟོད་ལུ་ ཁྲག་ལེ་ཤ་ཐོན་ཡོདཔ་མ་ཚད་ དྲན་པ་མེདཔ་ཐལ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུག་ལུང་ཕྱོགས་གཙོ་བསྟེན་སྨན་ཁང་གི་ སྡེ་འཛིན་ཌོག་ཊར་ ཆོས་གྲགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ སྨན་ཁང་གི་ སྣུམ་འཁོར་དེ་ དྲོ་པ་ལས་བཏང་ཡོད་རུང་ ལམ་བདའ་སྟེ་ ཆུ་རུད་ཐོན་མི་དང་ མི་གིས་མ་མཐོང་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཐོགས་ལུས་སོ་ནུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ནདཔ་གི་སྣུམ་འཁོར་ནང་ སྲོག་རླུང་རྫོགས་སོཔ་ལས་ འཇིགས་མེད་ཆོས་གླིང་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ ལོག་སྲོག་རླུང་བསྐྱར་གསོ་འབད་དེ་ འགྱོ་བའི་ལམ་ཁར་ ཤི་སོ་ནུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཚེ་འདས་བུམོ་འཁྱིད་དེ་ ཡེ་སྦིས་ལབ་རྩ་གི་ གསོ་བའི་གཙོ་འཛིན་འགོ་དཔོན་འོང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ལམ་བསུབས་མི་ལས་ བུམོ་དེ་ སྒལ་ཏོ་ཁར་འབག་སྟེ་ ལམ་ཕར་ཁར་འབག་ནིའི་འཆར་གཞི་ཡོད་རུང་ འཁོར་ལམ་དེ་ རྩ་བ་ལས་ འཕྱགས་བདའ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ འབད་མ་ཚུགསཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ནདཔ་པའི་གནས་སྟངས་དེ་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་མ་འགྱོ་བའི་ཁར་ འཁོར་ལམ་ཁག་མ་འདྲཝ་ཚུ་ནང་ བསུབས་སྟེ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ དུས་ཚོད་ཁར་ དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུག་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་མ་ཚུགས་ཟེར་ གསོ་བའི་གཙོ་འཛིན་འགོ་དཔོན་གྱིས་ བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཧེ་མ་ ཚེ་འདས་བུམོ་དེ་ ཁོམས་ཤར་གཞི་རྟེན་སྨན་ཁང་ནང་ལས་ ཨོ་ཨར་སི་དང་ ཌའི་སི་ཀོ་ལོ་མཱན་སྨན་བྱིན་པའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ ལོག་ཁྱིམ་ནང་བཏང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༧ པའི་ཚེས་༡ ལུ་ དུག་ཡོད་པའི་ ཤ་མུ་ཟ་བའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ ཚེ་འདས་ཀྱི་ བཟའ་ཚང་འཐུས་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ བཤལ་ནད་དང་ ཕོཝ་ན་ནི་ ཁ་ལས་དུམ་གྲ་རེ་སྐྱུག་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བཟའ་ཚང་འཐུས་མི་༣ དེ་ཡང་ སྨན་ཁག་ནང་ བསྐྱལ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
སྨན་ཁང་དང་འཁྲིལ་བ་ཅིན་ ནདཔ་ཚུ་ལུ་ ཆུ་སྐམ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ རྟགས་མཚན་ཚུ་ མ་འཐོན་པར་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་བསྒང་ ཤ་མུ་ཟ་མི་ཚུ་ སྟབས་གཅིག་ཁར་ ནདཔ་ཐོན་ཡོད་པའི་ སྙན་ཞུ་མ་འབད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཞིབ་དཔྱད་འབད་ནིའི་ མཐུན་རྐྱེན་ཚུ་མེདཔ་ལས་ དུག་ཡོད་པའི་ཤ་མུ་ཟ་ཡོདཔ་ གཏན་འཁེལ་སྦེ་ མ་ཤེས་ནི་དེ་གིས་ སོལ་མོ་ཚུ་ བྱིན་མ་ཚུགསཔ་ཨིན་པས།
གློ་བུར་ཐག་ལམ་ལག་ལེན།
རྐྱེན་ངན་བྱུང་པའི་སྐབས་ ས་གནས་ནང་སྡོད་མི་དང་ གསོ་བའི་ལས་བྱེདཔ་ཚུ་གིས་ དེ་བཟུམ་མའི་ གློ་བུར་གྱི་ དཀའ་ངལ་བྱུངམ་ད་ དམིགས་བསལ་དུ་ འཁོར་ལམ་བསུབས་མི་དང་ གནམ་གྲུ་ལྷོད་མ་ཚུགས་པའི་ ནམ་དུས་ལུ་ གློ་བུར་ཐག་ལམ་ལམ་ལུགས་ཀྱིས་ སེལ་ཐབས་འབད་ཚུགས་ནི་མས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
གསར་སྤང་ འགྲོ་འགྲུལ་སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་ལས་ཁུངས་ཀྱི་ བཟོ་རིག་གཙོ་འཛིན་ བསོད་ནམས་བཀྲིས་ཀྱིས་ དེ་བཟུམ་མའི་ ཐབས་ལམ་ལུ་ ངོས་ལེན་འབད་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ གནད་དོན་དེ་ ལྷན་ཁག་ལུ་ སྙན་ཞུ་འབད་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཁོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཨོ་སེ་ལུ་ ཐག་ལམ་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་གིས་ བོགསི་ཀཊ་ལུ་ཡང་ བཙུགས་ནི་གི་ དང་འདོད་བསྐྱེད་དེ་ཡོད་རུང་ བོགསི་ཀཊ་ལུ་ མི་ཊར་༣༠༠དེ་ཅིག་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ འབད་མ་ཚུགས་སྐོར་ལས་ བཤད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཨོ་སེ་ལུ་ མི་ཊར་༢༠༠ལས་བརྒལ་མེདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ང་བཅས་ཀྱིས་ ཐག་ལམ་ལག་ལེན་གྱི་ གྲོས་འཆར་ཐོག་ལས་ གྲོས་བསྟུན་འབད་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
འགྲོ་འགྲུལ་སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་ལས་ཁུངས་ཀྱིས་ ཚ་ཆུའི་ས་ཁོངས་དང་ གཙང་ཆུའི་རྒྱབ་ཕྱོགས་ལས་ ཟུར་ལམ་བསལ་ནི་གི་ ཁ་གསལ་སྙན་ཞུ་མཇུག་བསྡུ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཟུར་ལམ་བསལ་ནི་དེ་ ད་ལྟོའི་ རྩིས་ལོ་ནང་ གྲོས་འཆར་བཙུགས་ཏེ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཟུར་ལམ་ལུ་ ཟད་འགྲོ་དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ཐེར་འབུམ་༡ གནས་ནི་ཨིན་པའི་ ཚོད་རྩིས་བཏོན་ནུག།
གནམ་བྱཱར་ཨ་རྟག་ར་ བོགསི་ཀཊ་འཁོར་ལམ་ བསལ་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ གཞུང་གིས་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ས་ཡ་༢ དེ་རེ་ ཟད་འགྲོ་བཏང་དོ་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ ད་ལྟོ་ཚུན་ཚོད་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ས་ཡ་༢༠ཟད་འགྲོ་བཏང་ཡོད་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།
ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

༉ ལོ་༡༠གྱི་རིང་ ག་ནི་ཡང་འབད་མ་ཤེས་པའི་ གནས་སྟངས་བྱུང་བའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ གཞུང་གིས་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ཚུ་ནང་ཡོད་པའི་ མི་སྡེ་ཞབས་ཏོག་ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ རྒེད་འོག་བདག་སྐྱོང་ལུ་ རྩིས་སྤྲོད་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ཡང་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༡ ལུ་ འགོ་འབྱེད་འབད་དེ་ འབྲུག་འགྲེམ་རང་སྐྱོང་ལས་འཛིན་འོག་ལུ་ ལག་ལེན་དང་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་སྟེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༥ ལུ་ ལས་འཛིན་གྱིས་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ འབྲུག་གོང་འཕེལ་དངུལ་ཁང་ལུ་ སྤྲོད་པའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༡ ལུ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་སི་ཨེསི་ཨའི་དངུལ་ཁང་ལུ་ རྩིས་སྤྲོད་འབད་ནུག།
ན་ཧིང་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་སི་ཨེསི་ཨའི་དངུལ་ཁང་དེ་ འབྲུག་གོང་འཕེལ་དངུལ་ཁང་དང་ མཉམ་སྡེབ་འབད་བའི་ཤུལ་ མི་སྡེ་ཞབས་ཏོག་ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་གིས་ ཁོང་གིས་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
གཞུང་གིས་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ འབྲུག་གོང་འཕེལ་དངུལ་ཁང་ལུ་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོ་འཐབ་བཅུག་མི་དེ་ཡང་ དངུལ་འབྲེལ་ཞབས་ཏོག་གི་ འགན་ཁུར་ཚུ་ གཞུང་ལས་མི་སེར་གྱི་ཞབས་ཏོག་བརྩིས་ཏེ་ མི་མང་དང་ གཅིག་སྒྲིལ་འབད་ཐབས་ལུ་ཨིན་པས།
ཧེ་མ་ ལྟེ་བའི་བདག་དབང་དེ་ བརྡ་དོན་འཕྲུལ་རིག་དང་བརྡ་དོན་ལས་ཁུངས་ལས་ ས་གནས་གཞུང་སྐྱོང་ལས་ཁུངས་ལུ་ བརྗེ་སོར་འབད་ནི་སྦེ་ཡོད་རུང་ གྲོས་བསྟུན་མང་རབས་ཅིག་འབད་བའི་ཤུལ་ལས་ གནད་དོན་དེ་ སེལ་ཐབས་འབད་མ་ཚུགསཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ འབྲུག་གོང་འཕེལ་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་དགོ་པ་ཅིན་ གཞུང་ལས་ མ་དངུལ་གྱི་རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་ས་ཡ་༢༣༠དགོཔ་སྦེ་ མཁོ་འདོད་བཀོད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ལྟེ་བ་གི་ དམིགས་ཡུལ་དེ་ཡང་ དབུལ་ཕོངས་མར་ཕབ་དང་ མི་སྡེའི་དབང་ཆ་ དེལས་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ཚུ་གི་ འཚོ་བའི་སྤུས་ཚད་ཡར་དྲག་གཏང་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ཨིན་པས།
ད་རེས་ འབྲུག་ལུ་ གཞུང་ལས་༡༧ དང་ རང་དབང་ལས་སྡེ་བརྩིས་ཏེ་ ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་ཐོག་ལས་ ཞབས་ཏོག་༣༥༠དེ་ཅིག་ ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
འབྲུག་རྩིས་དཔྱད་བཀོད་འཛིན་གྱི་ འཚོ་བ་གནས་ཚད་བརྟག་ཞིབ་སྙན་ཞུ་༢༠༢༢ ཅན་མ་དང་འཁྲིལ་བ་ཅིན་ འབྲི་ལག་ཤེས་ཡོན་གྱི་གནས་ཚད་ བརྒྱ་ཆ་༧༠འབདཝ་ད་ མི་རློབས་༢༢༨,༧༩༤ ཡོད་མི་གྲས་ལས་ བརྒྱ་ཆ་༣༠འབྲི་ལྷག་ཤེས་ཡོན་མེད་མི་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
དེ་མ་ཚད་ གུང་པ་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༦༠འབདཝ་ད་ གུང་པ་༡༦༤,༣༣༡ ལས་ མི་རློབས་༡༠༠,༠༠༠གྲོང་གསེབ་ནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
འཕྲལ་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ མཇུག་བསྡུ་མི་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཚོགས་འདུའི་ དྲི་བཀོད་ལས་རིམ་སྐབས་ རང་སྡི་-སག་སྟེང་གི་འཐུས་མི་ བཀྲིས་བསྟན་འཛིན་གྱིས་ བརྡ་དོན་འཕྲུལ་རིག་གོང་འཕེལ་འགྱོ་མི་དང་འབྲེལ་ ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་ཐོག་གི་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ཚུ་ རྒྱ་སྐྱེད་གཏང་ནི་དང་ གཞུང་གིས་ཡང་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ག་ར་ ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་བཟོ་དགོཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཁོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ཚུ་ བདག་སྐྱོང་དང་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་ནི་གི་ བརྟན་མེདཔ་ཡོད་མི་ཚུ་གི་ གནད་དོན་ཡང་ སེལ་ཐབས་འབད་དགོཔ་ འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
དེ་བསྒང་ བློན་ཆེན་ཚེ་རིང་སྟོབས་རྒྱས་ཀྱིས་ བཤད་མིའི་ནང་ མི་སྡེ་བརྡ་དོན་ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ རྒེད་འོག་བདག་སྐྱོང་གི་འོག་ལུ་ འཕྲོ་མཐུད་དེ་ར་ ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་ནི་ཨིནམ་ད་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ཡང་ བློན་ཆེན་ཡིག་ཚང་གིས་ ཆེད་དུ་དམིགས་ཏེ་ རྒྱུན་སྐྱོང་དང་ འཕྲུལ་རིག་གི་ རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་ཚུ་འབད་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༠ ཟླ་༧ པ་ལས་ཚུར་ ལྟེ་བ་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༩ ལུ་ བློན་ཆེན་ལུ་ ཞུ་བ་འབད་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ གཏན་འཇགས་སྦེ་ བཟོ་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ ཁོང་ཆ་ཁྱབ་ལུ་ ཟླ་རིམ་གྱི་ དངུལ་ཕོགས་ཡང་ དངུལ་རྩིས་ལྷན་ཁག་གིས་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
དངུལ་ཕོགས་ཡང་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡༡,༢༣༠ ལས་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡༢,༠༩༥ འི་བར་ན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཨིན་རུང་ དངུལ་ཕོགས་དང་འཐུས་མ་གཏོགས་ ཀམ་པུས་་ཊར་དང་ པར་འཕྲུལ་ ཡིག་འབྲི་མཁོ་ཆས་ཚུ་ མཁོ་སྒྲུབ་འབད་ནི་གི་ འཆར་དངུལ་ཚུ་ ལོགས་སུ་སྦེ་ བགོ་བཀྲམ་འབད་དེ་ མེདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ད་རེས་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ མི་སེར་ཚུ་ལས་ འཐུས་དུམ་གྲ་ཅིག་ལེན་ཏེ་ ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ལྟེ་བ་༢༠ དེ་ཅིག་ལུ་ ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་མེད་པར་ ལོ་༣ དེ་ཅིག་ ལང་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
རྒེད་འོག་དེ་ཚུ་གི་ མི་སེར་ཚུ་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ལེན་པ་ རྒེད་འོག་སོ་སོ་ཚུ་ནང་ འགྱོ་དགོཔ་བྱུང་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ ལྟེ་བ་༢༠༢ ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་རུང་ རྒེད་འོག་༣ ལུ་ ལྟེ་བ་མེདཔ་ད་ ལག་ལེན་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ ལུང་ནག་ན་དང་ ནཱ་རོ་ཚུ་ནང་ ལཱ་འབད་མི་བཏུབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ ལྕང་རྒེད་འོག་གི་ མི་སྡེ་བརྡ་དོན་ལྟེ་བ་དེ་ ཁྲོམ་སྡེ་ནང་ མཉམ་བསྡེབས་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
མི་སེར་ཚུ་གིས་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ཡང་ སྐྱེས་རྩིས་དང་ ཤི་རྩིས་ཐོ་བཀོད་འབད་ནི་དང་ བཟའ་ཚང་གི་རྩིས་ཐོ་ཡིག་ཆ་ལེན་ནི་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ཤིང་ཆ་བགོ་བཀྲམ་ དེ་ལས་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ཁྱིམ་རྐྱབ་ནི་གི་ གནང་བ་ཚུ་ ལེན་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ནཱ་རོ་རྒཔོ་ མགོནམ་ཚེ་རིང་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ རྒེད་འོག་ནང་ མི་སྡེ་བརྡ་དོན་ལྟེ་བ་མེདཔ་ལས་ མི་སེར་ཚུ་ལུ་ དེ་ཐོག་གི་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ཚུ་ བྱིན་མ་ཚུགས་པའི་ཁར་ འཕྲལ་འཕྲལ་ གློག་མེ་ཡོད་པ་ཅིན་ རྒེད་འོག་བདག་སྐྱོང་འགོ་དཔོན་གྱིས་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ཚུ་ འབད་བྱིན་དགོ་པས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཁོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ གློག་མེ་གི་ཞབས་ཏོག་ རྒྱུན་གཏན་མེདཔ་ལས་ འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་ ལཱ་ཁག་སྦེ་ རྫོང་ཁག་ནང་ ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་གྱི་ ཞབས་ཏོག་བྱིན་པ་ འགྱོ་དགོཔ་ཐོན་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ རྒེད་འོག་གཞན་བཟུམ་སྦེ་ ཁོ་གི་ རྒེད་འོག་ནང་ཡང་ མི་སྡེ་ལྟེ་བ་ཅིག་ དགོ་པས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཧཱ་ དགའ་སྐྱིད་གླིང་རྒཔོ་ དབང་ཚེ་རིང་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་ཞབས་ཏོག་ གོང་འཕེལ་འགྱོ་མི་དང་འབྲེལ་ ལྟེ་བ་གིས་ མི་སྡེ་ནང་ ཁེ་ཕན་སྦོམ་སྦེ་ར་ བྱུང་སྟེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ གལ་སྲིད་ ལྟེ་བ་ཚུ་ རྒེད་འོག་ནང་ རྩིས་སྤྲོད་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཞབས་ཏོག་ཚུ་ མགྱོགས་དྲགས་སྦེ་ བྱིན་ཚུགས་ནི་མས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
བློན་ཆེན་གྱིས་ མི་མང་ཞབས་ཏོག་ཡར་དྲག་གཏང་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ འབྲུག་གཞུང་འཕྲུལ་རིག་ལས་སྡེ་དང་ གྲོས་བསྟུན་འབད་བའི་བསྒང་ ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།
ཁྲོམ་སྡེ་གི་དོན་ལུ་ གཅིག་སྒྲིལ་ཞབས་ཏོག་ གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་ནི་གི་ འཆར་གཞི་ཡོད་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།
ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

༉ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༧ པའི་ཚེས་༡༡ ལུ་ མི་དབང་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་དང་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་སྲས་འཇིགས་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ དེ་ལས་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཨྱོན་དབང་ཕྱུག་གིས་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་རྒྱལ་ས་ ཨུ་ལཱན་བ་ཊར་ལུ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་རྩེད་ཐང་ནང་སྦེ་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་མི་ ནཱ་དམ་དུས་སྟོན་བརྩི་སྲུང་ནང་ གྲལ་བཞུགས་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ནཱ་དམ་དུས་སྟོན་དེ་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་ དུས་སྟོན་སྦོམ་ཤོས་དང་ གལ་ཅན་ཅིག་ཨིནམ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ གནམ་བྱཱར་ལུ་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ རང་ལུགས་ཀྱི་རྩེད་རིགས་ སྐེད་བཤེད་འཛིང་ནི་དང་ རྟ་རྒྱུག་རྐྱབ་ནི་ དེ་ལས་ མདའ་རྩེད་ཚུ་ སྟོནམ་ཨིན་པས།
དུས་རབས་ལས་བཅད་དེ་ མ་ཉམས་པར་གནས་བཞིན་ཡོད་མི་ ནཱ་དམ་དུས་སྟོན་སྐབས་ གནས་སྤོ་ལམ་སྲོལ་དང་ སྲོལ་ཁྱུན་བཟང་པོ་ཚུ་ བརྩི་སྲུང་འབད་དོ་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ ནཱ་དམ་དུས་སྟོན་དེ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དུས་སྟོན་སྦོམ་ཤོས་ཅིག་དང་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་མཐའ་དབུས་མེད་པར་ བརྩི་སྲུང་འབདཝ་ཨིན་པས།
མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ ཀྱིས་ དུས་སྟོན་གྱི་ འགོ་འབྱེད་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ནང་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་ སྲིད་འཛིན་དང་ ཕཱསི་ལེ་ཌི་གཅིག་ཁར་ དབུ་བཞུགས་མཛད་གནང་པའི་ཁར་ རང་ལུགས་ཀྱི་ རྩེད་རིགས་ཚུ་ནང་ གྲལ་གཏོགས་གནང་ནུག།
དེ་གི་ཤུལ་ལས་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ ཀྱིས་ དུས་སྟོན་ནང་ ཡོངས་གྲགས་ཅན་ཅིག་ཨིན་མི་ རྟ་རྒྱུག་རྐྱབ་ས་ ཁོའེ་དོ་ལཱུན་ ཁུ་དག་ལུ་ གཟིགས་ཞིབ་གནང་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ ལུ་ རང་ལུགས་ཀྱི་ལམ་སྲོལ་ཐོག་ལས་ ཉིན་མའི་ ནཱ་དམ་གསོལ་སྟོན་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
སྤྱི་ཟླ་༧ པའི་ཚེས་༡༠ལུ་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ ཀྱིས་ རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཚུ་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ ཅིང་གིསི་ཁཱན་འགྲེམས་སྟོན་ཁང་ནང་བྱོན་ཏེ་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཅན་གྱི་ འགྲེམས་སྟོན་ཚུ་ གཟིགས་ཞིབ་གནང་ཡོདཔ་མ་ཚད་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་ རྒྱལ་ཆེན་དྲན་རྟེན་ ཅིང་གིསི་ཁཱན་སྐུ་འདྲའི་ས་ཁོངས་ནང་ གཟིགས་ཞིབ་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ཉིན་མ་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ ཀྱིས་ དུས་རབས་༢༠པའི་སྔ་ཆ་ལུ་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་ ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབུ་ཁྲིད་ རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ ཁུ་ཏུག་ཀུ་༨ པའི་ མིང་བཏགས་ཏེ་ཡོད་མི་ བོཌ་ཁཱན་ཕོ་བྲང་འགྲེམས་ཁང་ནང་ གཟིགས་ཞིབ་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།
ད་རེས་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་བཙུན་རྣམ་༢ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་གི་ སྲིད་འཛིན་ཡུ་ཁུ་རེལ་སུག་གིས་ མགྲོན་བརྡ་ཕུལ་མི་དང་བསྟུན་ མོང་གོ་ལི་ཡ་ལུ་ རྒྱལ་ཁམས་གཟིགས་སྐོར་ གནང་པའི་བསྒང་ཡོད་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

The Integrated Agriculture and Livestock Census 2023, released recently by the National Statistics Bureau, reveals a troubling trend in Bhutan’s agriculture sector. Despite an increase in the number of agricultural holdings, the production of major cereals has decreased.

Bhutan currently has approximately 69,008 agricultural holdings, marking a rise from 67,093 in 2022. However, the total production of major cereals in 2023 was 68,786MT, a two-percent decline from the previous year’s 70,168MT. This illogicality of increasing agricultural holdings and decreasing production signals a serious problem that demands immediate government action.

This decline in agricultural productivity is not an isolated incident but rather part of a disturbing trend. Despite the critical importance of agriculture, which supports our economy alongside hydropower and tourism, the sector has long been neglected. With only about seven percent of our land arable and compounded by issues such as human-wildlife conflicts and goongtong (emptying of households), agriculture is on a path toward further decline. The situation poses a serious threat to our national food security.

The implications of this downward trend are profound. Increased dependence on imports to meet our basic food needs places us at the mercy of external forces, which can be unpredictable and costly. This vulnerability underscores the urgent need to bolster our agricultural sector to ensure self-sufficiency and resilience against external shocks.

Historically, agriculture has received the lowest budget allocation among the many sectors. Even the recent slight increase in funding falls far short of what is needed to truly transform the sector – a mere incremental approach will not suffice. We need a comprehensive strategy and significant investment to revitalise agriculture and secure our future.

We must prioritise investment in modern agricultural techniques and technologies. This includes providing farmers with access to high-quality seeds, fertilisers, and irrigation systems. We still need to do a lot more in this department. Introducing and promoting sustainable farming practices can help mitigate the challenges posed by limited arable land and environmental degradation.

Addressing the issue of human-wildlife conflicts requires innovative solutions. Implementing community-based wildlife management programmes and providing compensation for crop damage can help balance conservation efforts with agricultural productivity. Policies aimed at repopulating abandoned villages should be pursued actively to rejuvenate rural communities and increase agricultural output.

Enhancing infrastructure and market access for farmers also is crucial. Building better roads, storage facilities, and processing units can reduce post-harvest losses and ensure that farmers receive fair prices for their produce. Empowering farmer cooperatives and associations can also facilitate better market linkages and collective bargaining power. Here too, we have a lot of work to do.

Investing in agriculture is not only about addressing immediate food security concerns; it is also a strategic move to curb the outflow of young talent seeking better opportunities abroad. By creating a vibrant and sustainable agricultural sector, we can provide meaningful employment opportunities and foster rural development. In the long run, this will contribute to our overarching goal of becoming a self-sufficient and prosperous nation

Dechen Dolkar

After more than a decade in limbo, the government will finally transfer Community Service Centres (CSCs) to the gewog administrations.

Launched in 2011, the operation and management of CSCs were under the Bhutan Post Corporation. In 2015, the management was handed over to the Bhutan Development Bank Limited (BDBL), and in 2020, it was transferred to the National CSI Bank. Following the merger of the National CSI Bank with BDBL last year, BDBL has been in charge of CSCs, as an interim measure.

The government’s decision to entrust the management of CSCs to BDBL was to bolster their functionality by integrating financial services with public services, including government-to-citizen (G2C) services. The duration of BDBL’s stewardship remains undetermined, with operators transitioning as contract employees.

The ownership of CSCs was initially intended to transition from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication to the Department of Local Government. Despite multiple discussions, the issue remained unresolved.

It was mentioned that BDBL required government’s subsidy of Nu 230M to manage the CSCs.

The overarching goal of CSCs is to reduce poverty, empower communities, and improve the quality of life in rural areas.

Currently, there are over 350 online services available through 17 government and autonomous agencies in Bhutan. According to the Bhutan Living Standard Survey 2022 by NSB, the literacy rate stands at approximately 70 percent, suggesting that around 228,974 people, constituting about 30 percent of the population, are illiterate. Additionally, about 60 percent of households, amounting to 100,000 out of 164,331 households, are located in rural areas.

During the recent National Assembly question-answer session, Tashi Tenzin, an MP representing Radhi Sakteng, highlighted the anticipated expansion of online services due to advancements in ICT and the government’s initiative to digitize all services. He asked the government about its strategies to resolve uncertainties regarding the management and administration of these services.

Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said that the government would continue utilising CSC services under Gewog Administrations’ charge. “CSCs will be supported by a dedicated office within the PMO that handles maintenance and provides technical support.”

Since July 2020, centre operators have been regularised following their appeal to the Prime Minister in 2019.

The Ministry of Finance is paying the salaries of the operators. Their salary ranges from Nu 11,230 to Nu 12,095 per month.

However, there is no separate budget for procuring computers, printers, and stationery; only pay and allowances are allocated.

CSCs currently function with minimal service charges from the people.

There are currently 202 CSCs in the country, with three gewogs that lack centre facilities. Candidates are unwilling to work in Lunana and Naro gewogs; Chang Gewog Centre in Thimphu was merged with Thromde.

Of the total CSCs, 20 centers have been without operators for more than three years. In these gewogs, community members have to travel to other gewog centers to avail services, which they claim consumes a lot of time.

People primarily use CSC services for birth registration, death certificates, family tree documentation, rural timber allocation, and rural house construction approval.

Naro Gup Gyem Tshering said that the gewog could not provide online services promptly without a CSC, leading to delays. “Sometimes, the gewog administration officer provides the services when there is electricity.”

He added that frequent power outages force officials to travel to the dzongkhag to facilitate online services. “We also need CSCs like other dzongkhags to provide prompt online services to people.”

Haa’s Gakiling Gup, Wang Tshering, noted that CSCs benefit the community with increasing online services. “If the CSCs are transferred to gewog administration, the services would be faster and prompt as we will be working under one umbrella.”

Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shared about the ongoing discussions with the GovTech aimed at improving public service delivery.

Plans are also underway to introduce Integrated Service Centers for Thromde, beginning in the capital city with future expansions to every dzongkhag.

Family of the deceased accuses hospital of negligence

Lhakpa Quendren

Gelephu—Dorji Wangmo, a nine-year-old girl from Bardo gewog, Zhemgang, died at the Boxcut roadblock along the Zhemgang-Gelephu Highway on July 7 en route from Yebilaptsa hospital to Gelephu Central Regional Referral Hospital (CRHH).

She died while returning from Jigmecholing Primary Health Centre (PHC) after replenishing the ambulance’s depleted oxygen supply.

She was admitted to Buli hospital around 5 pm on July 4 due to mushroom poisoning. And on July 7, she was referred to Yebilaptsa hospital, after showing signs of agitation, irritability, and hallucinations.

Following her death, the family of the deceased accused Buli hospital of negligence and delay in referral. “Her condition worsened from 4 am, and despite our requests since morning, the doctor arrived at the hospital at 9 am,” said a relative. “The child was kept under observation for two days as her condition deteriorated.”

Relatives believe timely referral could have saved the girl’s life.

The delay was partly due to the lack of an ambulance at Buli hospital. The hospital had been without an ambulance for months after the previous one was taken off the road and surrendered to the ministry.

Relatives had requested the hospital to transport the patient in a private vehicle with a nurse as an escort, but this was denied. “The referral decision came late. It was only around 10 pm when the Yebilaptsa hospital ambulance was requested,” the relative added.

The ambulance from Yebilaptsa hospital arrived at Buli at 1 am and returned to Yebilaptsa hospital by 3:30 am.

The family waited for two hours at the Boxcut for the road to be cleared. They also requested for helicopter service but bad weather prevented helicopter rescue despite two attempts.

Speaking to Kuensel, Buli hospital’s medical doctor, Jigme Choden, said that a detailed case report has been submitted to the National Medical Services.

She clarified that the ambulance was surrendered before her arrival at Buli hospital three months ago.

A source revealed that the patient died due to suspected organ failure from mushroom poisoning. A breathing tube could not be inserted during the referral, and severe symptoms like upper gastrointestinal bleeding and unconsciousness were observed.

Gelephu CRRH Medical Superintendent, Dr Choeda Gyaltshen, explained that the CRRH ambulance, deployed early in the morning, was stuck at the slide due to continuous landslide and poor visibility. “The patient’s ambulance ran out of oxygen and had to return to Jigmecholing PHC to replenish before heading back to Boxcut,” he said.

The Chief Medical Officer of Yebilaptsa hospital, who escorted the patient, planned to carry her on back through the slide area but couldn’t as the entire base of the road had been washed away. “There was no improvement in the patient’s condition, and there were many roadblocks that impeded the referral,” she reported.

Initially, the deceased was discharged from Khomshar PHC after receiving ORS and dicyclomine. The deceased, along with four family members, experienced mild to moderate diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps on July 2 after consuming mushrooms on July 1. Three family members were later admitted with similar symptoms.

Patients showed no signs of dehydration, and according to the PHC, not all who consumed mushrooms were reported as ill at that time.

Due to limited investigation facilities, mushroom poisoning could not be definitively confirmed, and activated charcoal was not administered.

Call for a ropeway for emergencies

In wake of this incident, residents and health workers said that a ropeway system could provide critical transportation during emergencies, particularly when roadblocks and adverse weather conditions hinder ground or air transport.

The Chief Engineer of Sarpang Regional Surface Transport Department, Sonam Tashi, acknowledged the importance of such initiatives during emergencies. “We will inform the department and explore alternatives,” he said.

He said that a resident who operated a ropeway at Ossey had expressed interest in establishing a similar system at Boxcut. “However, he was unable to do so because the Boxcut spans 500 metres whereas the rope he used at Ossey was only about 200 metres long,” Sonam Tashi said. “We will also discuss our proposal with the ropeway operator.”

The surface transport department has also completed a detailed project report for bypass construction via the Tshachhu area and the opposite side of the river. The bypass construction has been proposed in this fiscal year.

Geotechnical and geo-feasibility studies done by international experts estimated that stabilizing the current slide area with mitigation measures would cost around Nu 1 billion.

The government spends about Nu 2 million every three months during the monsoon season for road clearance at Boxcut, totaling to Nu 20 million as of 2019.

YK Poudel

Bhutan’s total dairy production, which includes milk, butter, cheese, and chugo, saw a total figure of 48,014 metric tonnes (MT) last year.

The Integrated Agriculture and Livestock Census 2023  (IALC 2023) attributed this growth to efforts such as dairy breed intensification programmes, improved management practices, enhanced nutrition and animal health services, and strengthened farmers’ institutions in the dairy sector.

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a rise of 1,739 MT in production, according to the IALC 2023.

In terms of dairy production, the economy between 2022 and 2023 recorded about 43,829 MT milk, 1,727 MT butter, 2,326 MT cheese, and 132 MT chugo.

Among the dzongkhags, Trashigang led the production of milk, butter, and cheese with total production of 5,503 MT, 226 MT and 311 MT, respectively.

However, the cheese production last year decreased slightly by two percent due to increased chugo production and higher demand for buttermilk in the market.

To enhance the dairy breed intensification programme in the country, the ministry last year supplied a total of 71,653 litres of Liquid Nitrogen across all 130 artificial insemination centres, and improved about 1,174 acres of pasture land for the dairy cattle.

As per the press release from the ministry of agriculture and livestock, the introduction of sexed-semen technology as one of the advanced reproductive bio-technologies was aimed at increasing the milking cattle population with potential of producing over 90 percent female progenies.

According to the Bhutan Trade Statistics 2023,the country exported about 267.89 MT of milk, butter, and cheese worth Nu 29.37 million.

Even so, the country imported 13,060.46 MT of milk and milk products worth Nu 1.31 billion. Similarly, the country imported 389.75 MT of butter worth Nu 160.4 million and 1,451.79 MT of cheese worth Nu 677.84 million.

Today, there are close to 222,600 cattle population in the country, which is a steady decline from over 320,000 in the 1960s.

Chencho Dema

The Thimphu police have charged 26-year-old prime suspect with the murder of 13-year-old girl in Pamtsho, Thimphu.

The incident occurred on May 23. The victim’s body was discovered the following afternoon.

The police have forwarded the case to the Office of the Attorney General, with all supporting evidence, which includes DNA and blood samples found on the victim’s thigh.

The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Colonel Namgay, said that the suspect has confessed to the crime.

The psychological assessment has also confirmed that the suspect is medically sound.

The DNA and blood samples of the suspect have also been sent to the UK to rule out the suspect’s involvement in the Dangrina and Paro murder cases. The police are waiting for the results.

The suspect has however denied his involvement in these two cases.

The suspect is from Mongar and was working at a shop in Thimphu.

SSP Colonel Namgay Namgay revealed that the suspect had a past criminal record, having been convicted of malicious mischief in Bumthang.

Background of the Case

On May 23, the victim’s sister reported her missing after the victim did not return home from a visit to Dechenphu Lhakhang. The victim’s body was found the next afternoon in Pamtsho by police search parties.

Examination revealed strangulation marks and head injuries, indicating foul play. A post-mortem examination at the National Referral Hospital confirmed the cause of death as asphyxia due to ligature strangulation and choking from soil particles. The victim also suffered a traumatic brain injury from blunt force to the head.

On that fateful day, the victim had walked to her friend’s house but when she found that they already left, she went alone toward the lhakhang.

The suspect was on a culvert, smoking, when he encountered the victim. After walking a few metres together, the suspect forcefully dragged the victim towards the forest.

There, he gagged her with soil and strangled her after striking her with a stone. The suspect concealed the victim’s body with tree branches before fleeing.

Police identified the suspect through CCTV footage from a building in Pamtsho, which captured him walking alone shortly after the victim.

Following the incident, the suspect fled to Paro. A manhunt concluded with his arrest at Ramthangka in Paro around 8 PM on May 30.

The victim was a class VI student living with her mother and stepfather in Dechencholing

Chencho Dema

Punakha—The road to the popular Chubbu Tshachu (hot spring) in Toedwang gewog, Punakha is riddled with potholes, and a journey that should take less than 90 minutes prolongs into a painstaking two hours or more.   

The poor condition of the road particularly makes the journey hard for the elderly who visit the hot spring seeking relief from a myriad of physical ailments. The journey becomes even longer and more challenging during monsoon.

Constructed in 2011-12, the 20km road connects 39 households in Tsachhu phu chiwog. Chubbu Tshachu is over 30km away from Khuruthang town.

Due to the road condition, taxis charge Nu 500 and upward till the hot spring and Nu 350 per person till Tsachhu phu chiwog.

The blacktopping of the road will happen in two phases under the small development project activities. The Punakha Dzongkhag administration has allocated a budget of Nu 63 million for both phases of blacktopping.

Villagers and visitors alike are relieved with the news of the road getting blacktopped in the 13th Plan.

“In the past, due to the bad condition of the road, we were not able take much of our produce to the market and the little amount earned was spent on taxi fare,” a 48-year-old resident of Tsachhu phu said.

The manager of the tshachu, Tshewang Nidup, said that with the blacktopping of the road, the number of visitors coming to the tshachu will increase.

In a year, around 8,000 to 9,000 people visit the Tsachhu, not including day visitors. More than 50 people, including villagers, visit the Tshachu daily.

Earlier, locals managed the Tshachu on a rotational basis. The Punakha dzongkhag took over the management of the Tshachu in 2022 and leased it to Tshewang Nidup for 10 years.

He was paying lease rent of Nu 100,000 per season for two years but the amount has been revised to more than Nu 200,000 from this season.

He has built six quarters on a seven-acre land to meet the increasing demand for accommodation at the Tshachu, Additional quarters are also being constructed.

A room costs between Nu 230 and Nu 300 a night, depending on the size of the room. Gas for cooking and stove can be rented for Nu 250 per day.

The Tshachu has necessary amenities such as toilets, water tap, and footpath.  The dzongkhag administration has constructed three guesthouses, including a VIP guest house.

Visitors throng the Tshachu starting mid-September till late February. Most visitors stay at the Tshachu for a minimum of seven days while some for months.

There are two hot water ponds at the Tshachu, both believed to have healing properties for ailments like body aches, sinuses, ulcer, gastritis, and piles.

Both ponds have been recently renovated. A shower facility has also been built for visitors to use before entering the ponds.

Having availed Nu 8 million loan, Tshewang Nidup is constructing additional infrastructure at the Tshachu.

His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses Gyalsey Jigme Namgyel and Gyalsey Ugyen Wangchuck, attended the Naadam celebrations at the National Stadium in Ulaanbaatar as the Guests of Honour.

Naadam is Mongolia’s biggest and most important festival, held in summer with traditional games of wrestling, horse-racing, and archery. Said to have existed in some form for centuries, Naadam celebrates Mongolia’s rich nomadic culture and heritage as well as national pride. It is celebrated across the country, with the largest, the National Naadam, held at the Stadium.

Their Majesties viewed the spectacular opening ceremony of the festival together with the President and First Lady of Mongolia, and then joined some of the traditional games.

Their Majesties then visited Khoi Doloon Khudag race field to view one of the most famous horse races of the festival. A Naadam lunch was hosted for Their Majesties in a traditional Ger.

Yesterday, Their Majesties visited the Chinggis Khaan Museum with Their Royal Highnesses, and viewed the exhibits of Mongolia’s history displayed there. Their Majesties also visited the Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex- a landmark celebrating Mongolia’s great emperor. In the afternoon, Their Majesties visited Bogd Khan Palace Museum, named after the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, who was the theocratic ruler of Mongolia in the early 20th century.

Their Majesties are on a State Visit to Mongolia on the invitation of the President, U. Khurelsukh.