Archives

Category: Winter Edition

Sangay’s Story – an Anecdote

Winter Edition , A few months after the launch of the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) initiative on 1 January 2018, the Governor of the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) received a cry for help from a PSL client, 24-year-old Sangay Gempo. Sangay, who had completed his BBA in India in 2016, had returned...

Matching Skills and Jobs

Winter Edition , There are jobs, and there are people, and they need to be brought together. They need financial support. After learning about the mismatch of jobs that were available in the market, and the skills that technical graduates possess, a fibre optic specialist at Bhutan Telecom left his comfort zone...

Women Entrepreneurship in Bhutan – the Scenario and the Way Forward

Winter Edition , Introduction In 2016, the Department of Cottage and Small Industries (DCSI) reported that only 35.53 percent of the total registered micro, small and medium enterprises in the country were owned by women. Women mostly operate cottage and small enterprises and function in the informal economy with very small probability...

Promoting Bhutanese Products to Build Rural Economy

Winter Edition , Introduction To use a provocative pun, this article looks at the “real” Bhutan and “real people”. The writer believes that, beyond the snow clad peaks and lush valleys, rich biodiversity and spiritual monuments-all the wondrous things that we like to talk about-there are colours and flavours of a real...

Establishing a Bhutanese Creative Community: The Salient Driver for Bhutan’s Cultural Industries

Winter Edition , Background and Introduction The focus in 2019’s Bhutan Economic Forum for Innovative Transformation (BEFIT) will be on Bhutan’s small and medium enterprise sector (SMEs), also known locally as the cottage and small industries (CSI) sector. The aim of the forum is to review the Cottage, Small and Medium Industry...

How Not to Miss the Boat

Winter Edition , Across the world, cultural export, through film and music, had always been used by governments to create a positive image of their countries. For decades westerners knew about Thailand from the old musical, The King and I. James Hilton’s Lost Horizon built the image of Shangrila as the world...

Transport to Facilitate the Economy

Winter Edition , Introduction The purpose of transport is the movement of people and goods. It is critical for Bhutan’s economic development, like tourism, which should include scenic drives and cultural tours and treks. The effort to diversify the economy by encouraging Cottage and Small Industries (CSIs) also faces a major problem...

Transforming the Economy Through Tourism

Winter Edition , A High Value Low Impact Dilemma For international tourists, Bhutan has long been a much sought after “global hotspot”, a rare destination. A veteran American tour operator who has been a promoter of high-end tours to Bhutan since the 1980s, now disagrees: “Bhutan used to be a high value,...

Towards Food Sovereignty and Organic Farming

Winter Edition , State of Play: Farming and Food Security in Bhutan Bhutan’s ambition to become wholly organic has drawn much attention among experts and policy makers worldwide. Conventional farming practices are increasingly facing scrutiny, especially in the light of climate change, shrinking wild habitats and agricultural biodiversity, reduced soil fertility, and...

Priority Sector Lending — Redirecting the Course of the Economy

Winter Edition , “Our nation has seen great socio-economic growth but it is more important that we have growth with equity. We must raise, with all our effort, the less fortunate so that they may, at the earliest, begin to partake in the opportunities brought by modernisation and progress.” His Majesty The...

How Much Should Bhutan Worry About its Public Debt?

Winter Edition , Financing for Development Investment is key for high and sustainable growth. The Commission on Growth and Development1 concluded that high levels of investment (25 percent of GDP and above) are needed for strong and sustained growth.2 Investment requires financing from domestic and foreign savings. In Bhutan, investment as a...

Fiscal Support for Cottage and Small Industries

Winter Edition , Fiscal Incentives Bhutan, like all developing countries, offers fiscal incentive packages that reduce direct as well as indirect taxes in various forms of tax incentives and exemptions, like general exemptions and sector-specific exemptions, with the intention of attracting investors and fostering economic growth. Fiscal incentive means slashing taxes legally...

Harnessing the Power of IT for Development and Nation-building

Winter Edition , The so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0 has arrived and it is being driven by advances in technology, such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, blockchain, virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, robots and drones. The trend shows that we will be able to create systems and robots which are as...

The Entrepreneurship Culture

Winter Edition , Defining Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which is a French word meaning “to undertake”. Entrepreneurs find resources and apply innovation, finance and business acumen to transform innovation into economic goods. This may result in new organisations, or it may revitalise mature organisations to seize a...

Doing Business Bhutan

Winter Edition , Past — What and Why? Whilst 4,500km apart, from Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu to Parliament House in Singapore, the Land of Thunder Dragon and the Lion City are both small countries sandwiched between the geopolitical realities of large neighbours (one landlocked, one sea-locked; one known for prosperity, one for...

How can Bhutan Become a Global Player in the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Winter Edition , Introduction The current rise of populism in many countries is a clear sign that many people are not happy with their lives. They want a better and happier life but successive governments have failed to meet their expectations. Will populist governments succeed to meet their expectations? Most likely not,...

Bhutan’s Journey to Economic Transformation

Winter Edition , Path of Economic Progress in Bhutan: Retrospection Our development philosophy has never considered economic growth as an end in itself, nor has it been viewed as a panacea for any ills that may threaten the holistic socio-economic progress of the country and well-being of its people. It is nevertheless...

What is a GNH Economy?

Winter Edition , A group of people found themselves at the intersection of many paths, deep in a valley named “Economy”. After a night spent in pursuit of delights other than the knowledge that derived from study, or the Enlightenment that may result from meditation, they looked around and saw many signs...

Editorial: Are We Talking GNH and Doing GDP?

Winter Edition , With the theme “Transforming the Bhutanese Economy” this issue of The Druk Journal will be a comprehensive analysis of Bhutan’s economic aspirations, policies, and realities. In the absence of adequate thinking and discourse in the formulation of our national economic vision we will take a macro economics perspective to...

Editorial: Coordination, Collaboration, Consolidation, and the Fourth C (Civil Society)

Winter Edition , The theme for this issue of The Druk Journal, “civil society”, is a critical element of democratic governance. It is an active sphere where civil society organisations (CSOs), non-government organisations (NGOs), and groups work in areas of common interest. This could include areas where the government’s impact is limited...

Civil Society is Important – But Not a Magic Bullet

Winter Edition , Introduction Towards the end of the 1990s, the Administrator of UNDP decided to establish a “civil society advisory committee” with members representing the global civil society community. This was a wise and timely decision, considering how important civil society organisations (CSOs) had become in the field of development cooperation....

Civil Society: Change, Challenge, and Chance

Winter Edition , The Change Bhutan has been going through a tremendous transition in all aspects of life. I have often been reiterating that, in the gap of half a century, the country has moved economically from subsistence farming to a consummerist market economy, socially from a totally rural country to a...

The Pros and Cons of the Traditional Self-help Mechanism: A Story from Shari Gewog, Paro

Winter Edition , Traditional Self-help Mechanism Traditional agrarian Bhutanese society relied on locally available self-help mechanisms to address various societal challenges. There were none of the registered civil society organisations (CSOs) which exist today. People relied on naturally formed systems that were based on local needs at the grassroots level in the...

Emergence of Civil Society in Bhutan

Winter Edition , Given that civil society is generally understood as the total space outside the domain of the government and private sectors in which civilians act collectively to pursue common interests, there is no denying that civil society in Bhutan existed long before we even knew what civil society actually meant....

Birth of the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB) – the First Non-governmental Initiative

Winter Edition , An Interview with Dasho Paljor J. Dorji, one of the pioneers of NYAB The Druk Journal: How did the idea of starting the first non-governmental organisation, the National Youth Association of Bhutan (NYAB), come about? Dasho Paljor J. Dorji: We felt that the growing number of youth coming out...

Nurturing Civil Society – Building Legitimacy, Ensuring Relevance

Winter Edition , Introduction The government of Bhutan has initiated a process to review the civil society organisation (CSO) rules and regulations, nearly eight years after the establishment of a formal registration system for CSOs. This is expected to provide a much-needed analysis of the direction and impact of civil society in...

Civil Society – Why it Matters

Winter Edition , Civil society refers to the web of interpersonal connections that includes community engagement, volunteer work, social support networks, and groups of people who get together to help each other and benefit society. These connections can be completely informal, encompassing people in the village helping out those who are sick,...

Bhutan, Civil Society, and the EU

Winter Edition , Why Does the EU Want to Support Civil Society? During the visit to Bhutan of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with countries of South Asia (DSAS) in May this year, we were delighted to help launch the EU’s Programme in support of civil society in Bhutan. This initiative...

Civil Society Organisations in Switzerland

Winter Edition , HELVETAS Swiss Inter-cooperation and civil society A Few General Considerations What is civil society? It is not easy to define as the term is rather vague and there is no clear definition. Basically it is a large space between the State and private households. This means that civil society...

A Way Forward: What’s Civil Society Got To Do With It?

Winter Edition , The role of civil society is not isolated from the role of politics. Politics defines the kind of society each nation cultivates. If we agree that nations around the world see democracy as the most desirable among the different forms of government known to man, then, should the conversation...

Civil Society Should Shift Focus on Human Capital as Democratic Spaces Shrink

Winter Edition , While the term civil society originated in ancient Rome and Greece – it is more or less a direct translation from Cicero’s “societas civilas” and Aristotle’s “koinōnia politikē”. As times changed, the term began to be used differently. In Europe, “civil society” came to refer to civil government and...

Bhutanese Need to Write Compelling Proposals: An Interview With Dr Bruce Bunting, Founder and President of Bhutan Foundation

Winter Edition , The Druk Journal: What are the areas that international donors are interested in? Dr Bruce Bunting: I am not really clued into international donors these days, but I feel in the US support for good governance, growth of democracy, support for cultural institutions in particular the arts, support for...

Skills-based Symbiosis: How Mutually Beneficial Civil Society-Private Sector Partnership Delivers Capacity Building

Winter Edition , Summary Public, private, and civil society organisations form three separate sectors. When the sectors are bridged, many opportunities can be found. In this article, we focus on one such opportunity – making the most of the contributions individual corporate executives may make through cross-sector partnerships. A “Skills-based symbiosis” (SBS)...

Large-scale Innovative Fund Raising for Greater Impact and Sustainability of CSOs

Winter Edition , Introduction Sustainable financing is one of the major challenges faced by many civil society organisations (CSO), particularly in developing countries where the need for CSO engagement is even greater. Although civil society vis-a-vis community participation is not a new concept in Bhutan, the prevailing western notion of non-governmental organisation...

Resource Mobilisation for Civil Society Organisations in Bhutan

Winter Edition , By Saroj Nepal Over the centuries, Bhutanese living in remote mountaintop hamlets had to find a way to survive. They were compelled to cooperate and coexist with each other because rugged geography and underdevelopment made survival difficult. If it were not for the cooperation among villagers, it would not...

Editorial

Winter Edition , Youth Matters The future of Bhutan lies in the hands of Bhutanese youth. Does it? At a recent Druk Journal Conversation one participant argued that the future is decided by today’s leaders who make the decisions that determine this future. And youth have no say in these decisions. However,...

Adolescents and Youth in South Asia: A Force to Reckon With

Winter Edition , “The future of our nation depends on the worth, capabilities and motivation of today’s youth. Therefore, I will not rest until I have given you the inspiration, knowledge and skills so that you will not only fulfill your own aspirations but be of immense worth to the nation. This...

Bhutan’s National Youth Policy: A Gap Between Commitment and Output?

Winter Edition , The endorsement of a National Youth Policy by the Lhengye Zhungtshog¹ and its official launch in December 2011 was an important milestone for the youth and people of Bhutan, as it signaled a promised move towards consolidating the quite vibrant but disjointed efforts related to youth in the country. Prior...

Unintended Forces That Shape Youth Values: A Theoretical Analysis of the Implicit Messages in the Structure and Processes of School Education Shaping Youth Development

Winter Edition , Introduction Disappointments with youth are aplenty. They range from concerns about their values and attitudes to viewing them as a group to be wary of as drug abusers and gangsters. These are common themes when the topic of youth comes up in formal and informal conversations. Employers find it...

Reflecting on the Past to Forge the Future: What Can Modern Bhutan Learn From Ling Gesar’s Youthful Bodhisattva Warriors?

Winter Edition , Who Was Ling Gesar? Ling Gesar was a Bodhisattva warrior King in the Kingdom of Ling in ancient eastern Tibet. Ling is an historical and idyllic place where Ling Gesar was born in 1038, an Earth Tiger Year. He is believed to be the “heart son” of Guru Rinpoche...

The Promise of Broken Youth: A Positive Perspective

Winter Edition , It was a grey evening in the summer of 2014. I was invited to an ad hoc meeting in the attic of a hotel in Thimphu. In the wake of the furor over the government’s initiative to start what it called “meat processing units”, and what its critics saw...

Dreams, Opportunities, and Realities

Winter Edition , What is it that the young people in Bhutan aspire to? How do they perceive the world they live in? What is their pulse and plight? What are their dreams? Gopilal Acharya A Song With a Message A Saturday in October, 2015. I am driving my family to Phuenstholing...

Let’s Focus on the Gaps: Educational Disparities and Youth Potential in Bhutan

Winter Edition , “…is the education our youth are receiving attuned to needs of the nation? And once educated, will our children find employment and realise their full potential?” – His Majesty the King of Bhutan (National Day, 2011) The Facts It is a well-established fact that education is one of the...

“I Didn’t Know What I Was Capable Of ”: The Voice Of a Bhutanese Youth

Winter Edition , Introduction …government can’t solve all the problems, you know… Because if you look at Bhutan today… we have a lot of skilful, talented youths. I think it is very important that youth come together, they discuss, debate and if they can come up with a good solution… I think it is a...

Raising Them Right: Role of Adults in Shaping Youth

Winter Edition , With more than half the Bhutanese population under the age of 25, youth play an important role in building Bhutan’s future. In almost every Royal address, His Majesty the King highlights the importance of youth in developing the country and carrying the torch forward. However, it is also very...

Protecting Children in Bhutan from Violence: A Call to Action

Winter Edition , The 2030 development agenda, popularly known as the Sustainable Development Agenda, includes a global commitment towards the elimination of all forms of violence against children. The world over, countries have made significant progress in enacting legislative provisions to protect children from violence. In Bhutan, the Constitution and progressive legislation...

Recreation for Youth

Winter Edition , “We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at leastprepare our children for the future.”                                                      ...

Leveraging Youth Groups for Change

Winter Edition , Democracy. Sexual and reproductive health. Crime prevention. Gender parity. Art. Environmental conservation. Substance abuse. Sports. Child protection. Sustainable development. LGBT rights. Civic engagement. Mental health. Employment. What do these topics have in common? They are all issues to which various youth groups in Bhutan are dedicated. With a majority...

Surviving in a Sea of Information

Winter Edition , Today’s youth are drowning in a sea of Internet-fed information. And the increased amount of time young people spend on the Internet raises the question, “What do they do online?” Following trends in many other societies, Bhutanese parents complain that their children are “addicted” to the screen. There has...

Effects of Rapid Urbanisation on Youth in Mongolia

Winter Edition , Nomadic Mongol tribes have lived on the unforgiving steppes of Central Asia for centuries. Seasonal migrations in search of the best pastures for livestock underpin the Mongols’ nomadic lifestyle. Even today, one-third of all Mongolians are still nomadic herders living a lifestyle largely unchanged since the founding of the...

Youth Participation in Democracy: The Danish Experience

Winter Edition , Danish youth play an important role in maintaining and nursing Danish democracy. This was underscored when the global report by the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Study identified Danish youth as the most democratic-minded among 38 nationalities¹. The study, in particular, praised Danish youth’s active citizenship skills and understanding...

Korean Youth Flap Their Wings Towards Their Dreams

Winter Edition , The Republic of Korea has been a vibrant country in more ways than one and its youth have always played an important role. In just a short time, only 50 years after the Korean War, the Republic of Korea has grown into a powerhouse that ranks 11th in the world economy...

The Need for Critical Thinking Against a Tide of Social Media

Winter Edition , While Tshering Eudön bases her thought piece on her own experience with Facebook, the Druk Journal believes that it is relevant to all Bhutanese wading through the social media landscape. I am a Bhutanese student in my late 20s currently working towards a Masters degree in Public Administration (MPA)...

Inspired and Driven: Aiming High

Winter Edition , A few kilometres from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan city that is Thimphu, in the anonymity and seclusion of an almost invisible location, Bhutan’s first-ever waste transfer station is coming up. The transfer station, on nearly one acre of land, will have magnets to pull metal objects...

Pursuing a Passion: Making a Dream Come True

Winter Edition , Thrinlay Dorji, 29 years old, was born in Bartsham, Tashigang, and raised by his aunt and uncle in Thimphu. His life’s journey—from struggling young student to creative professional—is a story that is often by-passed in the expectations of most youth, most parents, and by society. It is a story...

Adolescents and Youth in South Asia: A Force to Reckon With

Winter Edition , “The future of our nation depends on the worth, capabilities and motivation of today’s youth. Therefore, I will not rest until I have given you the inspiration, knowledge and skills so that you will not only fulfill your own aspirations but be of immense worth to the nation. This...

The Need for Critical Thinking Against a Tide of Social Media

Winter Edition , While Tshering Eudön bases her thought piece on her own experience with Facebook, the Druk Journal believes that it is relevant to all Bhutanese wading through the social media landscape. I am a Bhutanese student in my late 20s currently working towards a Masters degree in Public Administration (MPA)...

The State and Its Institutions

Winter Edition , On April 13, 1655, Louis XIV, King of France (1638-1715), addressed the Parliament of Paris, famously declaring, ‘L’Etat, c’est moi (I am the state)’. It is also said that on his deathbed he declared, ‘I am going away, but the state will always remain’. The difference in these two...

The Traditional Institutions of Governance in Bhutan Before 1907 and their Modification with the Coming of the Monarchy

Winter Edition , History of Governing Institutions Before the Zhabdrung Rinpoche The governing institutions of any country are rooted in the founding principles and social history of its people. Prior to the country’s unification during the 17th century, Bhutan consisted of numerous independent communities of diverse origin. Governing institutions from that era...

Institutional Setting: The Role of the Unheralded Factor in Bhutan’s Growth Story

Winter Edition , What are Institutions and Why Do They Matter? This year Bhutan was found eligible for graduation away from Least Developed Country (LDC) status, a group of 49 countries facing deep structural impediments to development. Its stellar performance in improving social outcomes and in raising average incomes provided the justification...

The Changing Role of the Bhutanese Civil Service within the Bhutanese State

Winter Edition , Introduction The changing role of public administration globally is often portrayed using the analogy of a boat. The functions of public officials have been associated with ‘rowing’ and ‘steering’ the boat.1 These two functions are reflective of the models of public administration. Rowing represents the hierarchy or the bureaucratic...

Decentralisation and People’s Participation

Winter Edition , Decentralisation to local government bodies, by definition, means that these bodies take on greater authority and responsibilities that are relevant to them and that were previously with the central government; in effect, becoming centres of authority themselves. Within the framework of the Local Government (LG) Act of Bhutan 2009,...

Parliament: The Legislative Arm of the Bhutanese State

Winter Edition , Introduction ‘One of the most important responsibilities of a king is to enable the people to govern and look after the country through the establishment of a dynamic political system’.1 This conviction had led their Majesties the Fourth and Fifth Kings to complete the change in political system by...

The Story of Bhutanese Culture

Winter Edition , The Premise The premise of this article is that it is not the responsibility of the government but the responsibility of the Bhutanese state to coordinate all national institutions to ensure the functioning of Bhutanese society in a way that serves the populace. I interpret the functioning of society...

Zhung Dratshang: The Central Monk Body of Bhutan

Winter Edition , Bhutan is regarded as one of the last Buddhist countries where the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism has flourished uninterrupted and undiluted since its arrival in the 7th century AD. Bhutanese culture, tradition, customs, history, and landscape bear the influence of Buddhism. This is attributed to the institutionalisation of the...

Devotion, Culture, and Social Work: Royal Patronage in Bhutan

Winter Edition , Patronage of the arts has been an undertaking of royal families in all monarchical cultures. Examples abound: In the 12th century, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 or 1124- 1204), Queen of France and then of England, had numerous castles and abbeys built; the Sun King, Louis XIV (1638-1715), is synonymous...

The Status of Bhutan’s Knowledge Repository: An Introduction1

Winter Edition , Bhutan has a rich literary heritage that tells the story of the country’s evolution over a millennium, from naturalist primitive communities through the process of Buddhist socio-cultural refinement until modern times. Today, Bhutan is the most resolute custodian of the northern Buddhist civilisation, which was initiated over a millennium...

Good Governance: How Can Politics Promote Wellbeing?

Winter Edition , Introduction ‘Good governance’ usually refers to the way that a political organisation such as a national government or local municipality is run. However, these days the phrase is often used to denote sound policy and practice for any large-scale institution, including a university, union, or business. Central questions about...

The State and I

Winter Edition , Let me start by stating what this article is not about. It is not an academic investigation into the features of the Nordic model of a state called the welfare state; and it is not an attempt to compare the welfare state model with other state forms that have...

Yes Minister: Ministers and Civil Servants need to Sort Out Their Relative Authority

Winter Edition , The Yes Minister television sitcom that became a Textbook It is inevitable in parliamentary democracies that there will be tensions between elected ministers, who usually serve for only relatively short periods of a few years, and civil servants who often work in government for their entire careers. While a...

Leading by Example: Constitutional Bodies and Their Role in Governance

Winter Edition , Dasho Neten Zangmo, the former Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of the Kingdom of Bhutan and now the Executive Director of Samdrup Jongkhar Initiative and Lho Mon Education, spoke with her colleague Dr. Tashi Colman on the role of constitutional bodies in Bhutanese governance. In sharing her views,...

The Financial Sector Needs to Be a Step Ahead of Economic Actors and Government

Winter Edition , Dasho Penjore, the recently appointed Governor of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (the country’s Central Bank), spoke with journalist Gyalsten K. Dorji on the role of the financial sector in Bhutan and whether it is fulfilling its role.This interview, however, took place in November 2015 when Dasho was...

Law and Justice in Bhutan
: A Review of the Book The Constitution of Bhutan: Principles and Philosophies

Winter Edition , It is now seven years since Bhutan adopted a written Constitution as part of a series of far-reaching reforms commenced in 2001 by the Fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. His Majesty aimed to, among other things, provide Bhutan with ‘a democratic system of government best suited for the future...

Leadership of the Wise: Kings of Bhutan: A Review

Winter Edition , This small volume antedates, but complements, the
 massive and magisterial The 
History of Bhutan by Karma
 Phuntsho. Karma Phuntsho 
drew upon it for his own
work (it is cited in his bibliography), but Karma Ura’s
 discussion of royal leader-ship stands on its own, and
any reader will benefit great
ly from its...

Biography Series on Jigme Namgyal and Druk Gyalpos: A Review

Winter Edition , The publication of the biographies of Gongsa Jigme Namgyal and the four kings of Bhutan by the Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research between 2008 and 2011 is a monumental undertaking. In all–1,478 pages spread over five volumes–the biography series is the biggest work of documentation on the...