Top 10 News

Increasing national debt and fiscal deficit prompts the question whether Bhutan is a spendthrift nation By Tashi Namgyal In what could be a crippling effect, the government will only have around Nu 1.3 Million at their disposal in the form of capital expenditure during this fiscal year. This is attributed to mounting expenditures as against the income over the last …

By Sonam Choki There is good news for around 3,700 consolidated contract employees across the country who will now receive better service benefits and social security. The Member from the Maenbi-Tsaenkhar constituency, Choki Gyeltshen, moved the motion to review and regularize consolidated contract employees to regular contract employees today. Choki Gyeltshen said that even though the consolidated contract employees were …

By Chimi Wangmo The Chairperson of the National Council’s Good Governance Committee (GGC), MP Sangay Dorji, presented the interim review report on the quality of roads in the ongoing parliament this week. The main objective of the review is to assess the current situation of the farm road, identify challenges, and issues faced in the construction and maintenance of quality …

By Tandin Wangchuk The Social and Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Council reported that a review was undertaken to assess the situation of suicide and mental health issues in Bhutan and determine their root causes. This was also done to strengthen preventive and treatment programs while presenting the Interim Review of Suicide and Mental Health Issues in Bhutan to …

By Sonam Choki The Good Governance Committee of the National Assembly tabled the review report on Annual Anti-corruption Commission Report 2019 in the ongoing Parliament. The report mainly consists of the salient aspects of ACC‟s annual report and the NA committee‟s recommendations. The review reveals that in the 2019 the Anti-Corruption Commission saw greater impetus for concerted and collective effort …

A WFP study reveals 11.4 percent of Bhutanese obese and 33.5 percent overweight By Tandin Wangchuk Over the years, the health and nutritional status of children in the country has improved with wasting and underweight prevalence reduced to 4 and 9 percent respectively. However, a study conducted by WFP Bhutan reveals that stunting is persistent at 21 percent while overweight/obesity …

Multidimensional Vulnerability Index for Bhutan reveals senior citizens (above 60) and children (below 10) are the most vulnerable to covid-19 Chimi Wangmo It is clear that the nature of the pandemic has had a differentiated effect in different population groups, and it is also evident now that the potential adverse effects of the pandemic are unevenly distributed across the country …

The defendant seeks to fight the accuser one-on-one in the court of law By Tashi Namgyal In his latest rebuttal, the defendant in the “OAG’s AG Vs Penjore” case, Penjore seeks to openly challenge the Attorney General (AG) Lungten Dubjur in the court of law, but through a “fair ground”. Notwithstanding the nature of the case, Penjore claims that since …

Staff Reporter The SAARC Development Fund (SDF) today handed over the USD 1 million (Nu 73.31 million) to the Ministry of Health as COVID-19 emergency grant. Officer-in-Charge of SDF, Mr. Anuj Goel, presented a cheque of USD 0.5 million (Nu 36.66 million), the first tranche/50 percent of the grant amount, to Health Secretary Dr. Pandup Tshering. The remaining amount would …

By Sonam Choki In a recent change of stance against the much-debated uses of the weed, Foreign Affairs minister Dr Tandi Dorji said the government is exploring ways to legalise marijuana for medicinal use in the country. The Foreign Affairs Minister said this when the Member of Parliament (MP) from Dramedtse-Ngatshang constituency quizzed him as to when the Narcotic Drugs, …