The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) joins the rest of the world in celebrating “World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD)” 2021.This year the theme of the celebration is “Accelerating Digital Transformation in challenging times”. On 17th May every year, the WTISD is celebrated with a purpose to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

Bhutan today has come a long way in the field of information technology and telecommunication. Today the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Bhutan are providing Telecom and Internet services to some of the remotest parts of the country. In line with this year’s theme for WTISD, the MoIC is implementing the Digital Drukyul program in the current five year plan that shall contribute in accelerating the digital transformation in the country.

Digital Drukyul Flagship Program aims to harness the power of ICT to transform Bhutan into a smart and inclusive society. The program’s objective shall be achieved through focused turnkey initiatives that will radically improve citizens’ satisfaction with public services in the areas of health care, education, business licensing and other critical public services. Integrated Citizen Services, E-Patient Information System, Digital School, E-Business (Integrated Business Licensing and Single Customs-Trade System), One Digital Identity (Digital identity, biometrics and digital signature), Government Initiated Network and ICT Capacity and Capability (ICT professionals’ certification and digital literacy for non- ICT) are the components of the Digital Drukyul flagship program.

Coinciding with the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, the MoIC would like to announce the result of the National Website Competition for the fiscal year 2020-2021. The website competition for the fiscal year 2020-2021 was conducted by the Department of IT and Telecom (DITT),MoIC. The websites were evaluated over a period of 9 months in 2 rounds. The actual evaluation took place from 5th October, 2020 to 19th February 2021. A total of 135 government websites and interested private websites were evaluated.
The evaluation of websites was carried out with the following objectives:
To encourage agencies to use their websites as a major channel for sharing information and services.
To ensure regular updates and enhancements are made to websites.
To increase the utility of websites for our citizens.
The top 10 websites are
www.moea.gov.bt
www.tsirang.gov.bt
www.wangduephodrang.gov.bt
www.mongar.gov.bt
www.punakha.gov.bt
www.gcit.edu.bt
www.bumthang.gov.bt
www.dzongkha.gov.bt
www.zhemgang.gov.bt
www.jnec.edu.bt
The top 3 websites and top websites in categories under Department, Dzongkhag, Ministry, Private and Autonomous will be awarded certificates.