Bhutan News

“Bhutan could play a critical role in showing the world how to respond to climate change”

Other countries need to follow Bhutan's lead in promoting Gross National Happiness as a gauge of national wellbeing, a World Bank official told the Himalayan nation's state newspaper. via Business Report

JHAPA: About 1200 Bhutanese refugees, residing in sector 'A' at Beldangi camp in Jhapa district, were displaced when more than six dozen hutments were burned on Saturday. via South Asian Media Net

“We don't call it gross inter-national happiness but philosophically and practically it's the same.”

Bhutan's unique concept of gross national happiness to measure the country's wealth, an alternative to the world's economic scale, could now become a global buzzword with the World Bank trying to popularise the ... via Earth Times

“I registered myself, but I don't want to interfere with my two children's decisions”

The extended family is a distinct Bhutanese phenomenon. Uncles, aunts, cousins ... our bonds are strong and we generally tend to listen to each other. via Kuensel

“We missed the larger issue of gearing them up to address monitoring and verifying asset declaration forms and institutionalising the asset declaration system”

THIMPHU: No concrete outcome emerged from the daylong consultative meeting, among almost 50 or so asset administrators from various agencies in Thimphu, that was held on November 5 by the Anti Corruption ... via South Asian Media Net

“The credit growth of the financial sector at 28.5 percent, almost twice that of the GDP, is just too much for the economy. It's like eating more than you can digest.”

The rapid credit growth that the country's commercial banks have been experiencing in recent years is being reined in. via Kuensel

“The US and many other international communities believe that Bhutan has a moral obligation with people who are genuinely Bhutanese citizens, to let them come home”

The process of resettlement of hundreds of Bhutanese refugees living in camps in neighbouring Nepal to the US has begun and the first batch is expected to migrate by January next year. via Earth Times

“I know everyone in my constituency, which is very small, so I am confident of winning for PDP”

In what could arguably be described as the first foray into politics from the Bhutanese corporate world, four mid-career bankers have quit their jobs to join the fray. via Kuensel

I was talking to Ravi when he suggested that I do a teaser on my Bhutan trip to start off with. via Just a little something

“If you have been to refugee camps, they are not nice places and these people have been in the camps for 17 years. That is a long, long time”

Ms Ellen has just visited Nepal and Bhutan Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal are facing "severe intimidation" ever since plans to resettle them in the West were announced, a senior US official says. via BBC News

THIMPHU: The managing director of the World Bank Mr. Graeme Wheeler delivered a talk on The Endless Knot: An Economic Path toward Gross Inter- National Happiness. via South Asian Media Net

THIMPHU: Many Japanese people will get to understand the real Bhutan, according to a scholar and long-time friend of Bhutan, Dr Yoshiro Imaeda, who has translated Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck's book, ... via South Asian Media Net

“It will go a long way in preparing Bhutan for recovery in times of earthquake disasters”

THIMPHU: Over the next two years, the Disaster Management Division of the home ministry and the Standard Quality Control Authority will work as partners on a project to create awareness on safe construction ... via South Asian Media Net

THIMPHU: Save the Children USA celebrated 25 years in Bhutan on November 2. To commemorate the day, students and local singers and musicians presented a cultural program which included traditional and modern ... via South Asian Media Net

“I had to literally start all over again and I couldn't have done it without the moral support from my wife”

With every inch of their muscular, well-chiselled bodies thoroughly oiled from the neck down, the professionals walked on to the floodlit stage and into the view of the judges and hundreds of spectators. via Kuensel

“We will first talk to people and, if they don't listen, then they would be dealt with according to the rules and doing this will prove quite difficult”

THIMPHU: The next time you throw a chocolate wrapper or a bottle from the balcony or a cigarette stub out of the car window, you could end up paying a fine of anywhere between Nu 100 and 500. via South Asian Media Net

THIMPHU: The Presidents of both Druk Phuensum Tshogpa and People's Democratic Party have concluded their familiarization tours in eastern Bhutan. via South Asian Media Net

“While India benefits from import of clean renewable energy supply to meet part of its demand, Bhutan benefits from the revenue earned from export of hydroelectricity”

Executives from the power and energy ministries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in the country on an exchange programme to learn about the Bhutan-India cross border hydropower ... via Kuensel

“It is a spectacular combination to maintain and also to move forward”

The path that Bhutan had chosen for development and change, inspired by Gross National Happiness, was not just a unique philosophy but had scientific basis and, in that sense, was enlightening, according to His ... via Kuensel