During a press conference yesterday Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley said while the country continued to focus on its financial and manufactured wealth, it would also create balanced GNH accounts.

“From now on, we’ll be able to figure, for the first time, the true costs of economic activity, and we’ll be able to balance that activity with a proper accounting of our natural, human, and cultural wealth,” he said. “We’ll create balanced GNH Accounts for this country, and thereby build the world’s first comprehensive set of national accounts.”

He explained the new accounting system, which the UN-commissioned team of researchers helped with meant it would begin accounting, for instance, for the health of the forests and other natural resources.

For example, he said, if the country experienced a bad year of forest fires, the consequent forest loss as a depreciation of the country’s natural wealth would be counted.

“If we plant trees, we’ll count that as an investment in natural capital, just as we presently account for investments in our built capital,” he said.

All of these, Lyonchhoen said was hidden in the conventional GDP-based accounts.

The new accounts, he said, would point accurately to the country’s hidden strengths, like its rich natural and cultural heritage, on which it needed to build than taking them for granted.

Two researchers, Professor Robert Costanza Director, Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Portland State University and Research Assistant Professor in the Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Portland State University Professor Ida Kubiszewski worked out an estimate of the economic value of our country’s natural capital.

In their estimate of the value of the country’s ecosystem services, Prof. Kubiszewski said it provided Nu 760B worth of ecosystem services every year.

That Lyonchhoen said was 4.4 times more than the country’s whole GDP of Nu 72.3B a year.

Prof. Kubiszewski said the country’s 74.5 percent forest cover added the greatest value of USD 14.5B a year, making up more thah 93 percent of the total value of the country’s ecosystem services.

He also said 53 percent of the total benefits accrued to people outside the country largely from climate regulation that worked out to USD 3.5B a year and another USD 2.5B a year from tourism and recreation.

“Potentially there are ideas of payment for carbon sequestration,” he said, adding the forest in Bhutan was capturing carbon out of the atmosphere. “So, there may be the potential for payments for that purpose.”

If someone was producing these services, he said it should be kept preciously.

“We shouldn’t fail to recognise it,” he said, adding there was a need for institutions that could send the right incentives. “We need something, at the global scale that sees the need to protect the atmosphere as an aspect.”

Prof. Kubiszewski said on the one end, there was the objective wellbeing, which concerned with how people felt about life and how happy they were, while on the other side, there was the opportunities, assets and capabilities that allowed people to meet their needs, to feel the sense of wellbeing.

“We need to understand what our assets are in order that it help contribute to the wellbeing,” he said. “I think that’s the challenge we are incurring.”

He said the task was a difficult one, which, had it not been, others would have done it already.

“But I think, a country like Bhutan is a very good place to work out these details,” he said. “It’s a good model and by doing that, it can be a model for the rest of the world on how this process might work.”

Lyonchhoen said the new accounting system would help the country understand “more profoundly” what His Majesty the Fourth King meant when he said GNH was more important than GNP.

“In fact, it’ll help fulfill His Majesty’s vision of a happy and contented people,” he said.

Source: Kuensel Newspaper

Dungtse Rinpoche’s kudungwas moved to Bartsham after it remained for five days at Rangjoong Woseling Dratshang in Rangjung for people to pay their last respects.

At Bartsham most shops remained closed, as did some offices where people had gone for the reception of the kudung at Chadhor Lhakhang.

Even construction workers were given a day off yesterday.

Villagers from other gewogs like Tashang and Majawoong also took day off from their farm works yesterday.

Bartshampas are also planning to stay away from farm works until the kudung left the gewog.

Former gup Neten Duba said it was a rare occasion and privilege to be receiving a kudung of the highly revered Dungtse Rinpoche to the village.

“Everyone should take off from all chores and pray for the rinpoche’s rebirth,” he said.

The kudung that passed by Bidung farm road stopped for more than an hour at Kakani lhakhang for the gewog’s people to pay their respects.

People from neighbouring gewogs Ramjar and Yalang will also visit the gewog to offer prayers, wishes, and prostrate while the kudung stays at Bartsham.

On February 15, the kudung will be taken to Ramjar for a few hours before it heads to the Trashigang Dzong and finally to Younphula lhakhang.

By the evening of February 15 the Dungtse rinpoche’s kudung will be flown back to Paro.

Source: Kuensel Newspaper

It also began its politicking much earlier but secured only two seats in the National Assembly in the March 2008 elections.

Right after the results were declared, the two winning candidates, Tshering Tobgay from Haa, and Damchoe Dorji from Gasa, submitted a notice to the election commission declaring their intent to withdraw. But following “stiff opposition from the fellow party candidates”, they stayed on to play the opposition role.

In the past four years, the two opposition members were the only visible trace left of the party. Is the party still alive?

Party’s state:

While admitting the party had not been very active, opposition leader Tshering Tobgay said PDP is very much around and preparing for the next elections.

“We have a party structure in place, the executive committee met as and when required and we have had a couple of conventions in the past,” he said.

He said the focus of the party, in the past four years, had been to fulfill the responsibility as the opposition.

“In my view, political parties are essential for our democracy but our democracy, as defined by the Constitution, purposely limits the scope and role of political parties between elections,” he said.

With slightly over a year left he said it was time to gradually prepare for the 2013 elections.

With the party’s 2012 membership drive started, they are in the process of renewing membership and reestablishing links with party workers, supporters and past candidates. “This will give us good idea of current level of support,” he said. “The initial response is very good from all these three groups.”

Party president:

“Many of us are still hopeful he’ll return,” the opposition leader, said referring to the former party president, Sangay Ngedup, who stepped down “on moral grounds” after the party’s defeat in the first parliamentary elections.

Despite people from all walks of life approaching the former president to run and assume leadership of the party he has, so far, refused.

“He has refused saying the party must evolve and that new leaders and new ideas would be better able to serve Bhutan and the Bhutanese people in the current context,” Tshering Tobgay said.

Meanwhile the party is also looking for other people who may be interested in leading the party. Asked whether he might assume the role, Tshering Tobgay said that would be the last option. “I’ll try my best to fulfill my role as interim president until such time we have a much more qualified and able president,” he said.

Party candidates

Although the party is in the process of re-establishing contacts with past candidates a few have already moved on to join various private and corporate firms, while others have branched out to form a new party.

Dr Tandi Dorji, the party’s former candidate from Punakha who is forming a new party, said it was in the interest of democracy, the need for more than two parties that he decided to move on.

“If several parties had emerged, I would have remained with PDP,” he said, adding, it would have been different if the party president had remained.

Dr Pema Choephyel from Kengkhar constituency in Mongar, said he resigned right after the election realising he was not “cut out for politics”. “I gave it a try and it didn’t work so I decided to consider other options,” he said.

“I enjoy what I am doing now,” Tenzin Lekphel, who represented Shongphu constituency in Trashigang and now runs a management firm, said. “However, I want to see PDP be a part of the democratic process,” he said.

There are also those who aren’t budging from the party.

Ngeema Sangay, PDP’s Lhamoizingkha candidate, said he was still with the party and would remain so. “I resigned from the civil service to take up politics as a career,” he said, adding, during the non-election period, he had been doing a bit of party work and his own consultancy business.

“We are a registered party and there is no question of us not returning,” he said.

The opposition leader said many others have also given positive signal.

“Our ex-candidates get the first priority,” he said. “They are the ones who came forward the first time around and they are the ones who took the blow.”

Source: Kuensel Newspaper

The downsized version of Sunkosh will need Nu 97.6 B instead of Nu 213 B to build.

“These figures will be confirmed when the detailed project report is finalised,” economic affairs minister Khandu Wangchuk said yesterday at a press briefing in Thimphu.

The Teri hydropower development corporation is in the process of preparing the DPR after which the date of construction and estimated cost will be finalised.

With the installed capacity now at 2,560 MW, the height of the Sunkosh dam will be 215 meters from 265 meters and the river backflow will stretch to around 40 kilometers upstream. Sunkosh will be a standalone project without the irrigation component as opted earlier.

The Bhutanese high-level delegation that recently returned from New Delhi after attending the empowered joint group (EJG) meeting finalised the cost, shape, size and the operation of the project.

With the reduced dam size, the project’s generation cost would also come down to Nu 3.72 a unit from Nu 8.15 a unit.

The managing director of DGPC, Dasho Chewang Rinzin, said although the dam size has been reduced, it will still be a reservoir scheme and the dam will hold around 2,569 million cubic meters of water that can be used during lean season.

Two important options were explored in the previous meetings, which was either to have a standalone hydro electric project or a project with a multi storage dam.

As a standalone project, with its original capacity, it was found that the cost of electricity will shoot up if the project is built specifically for electricity generation.

The other option was to have a multi storage dam and divert the cost on civil works like building irrigation channels that will draw water from the dam, which will be utilised in agricultural fields in India.

Around 40 percent cost was to be diverted to reduce cost on the electricity component to 60 percent. With this option, the price of electricity would be reasonable as the cost of construction would come down.

Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk also said that in a bid to strengthen Bhutanese private sector involvement in the project, most of the works will be awarded to Bhutanese contractors while major ones will be done by Indians.

Bhutanese private sector can also partner with Indian contractors to carry out works in a joint venture, he said.

Source: Kuensel Newspaper

The RSTA has introduced this from January 1. Most of the taxi drivers and owners said they came to know about the rule only from the car dealers.  They also added that it is unclear why the RSTA have selected the colour red and white. Some of the taxi operators are of the view that the color red and white are the least sold car colors.

“They did not even held meeting to consult with us and did not issue any notification,” said Dorji Wangchuk, one of the taxi driver.

Another taxi driver, Tshering Dorji, said that it was ‘our belief’ that the colour of the cars should match one of the five elements or kham that a person bears. “For instance, if the person’s kham is water then the colour should be blue.”

The RSTA regional and base offices have been advised to strictly adhere to the instructions and will not register any taxis that do not follow the approved colour. However, the rule will not apply to the existing taxis. They will be allowed to drive the current taxis till the end of their life span, which is eight years from the date of registration.

Regarding the allegations made by some of the taxi drivers that they have not been consulted, the Senior Transport Officer, Prem P Adhikari, said that the RSTA being an authority have a clear upper hand in policy making.  “We have also informed them through notification through Media.”

About 118 taxis have been registered last month alone. There are more than 3,300 taxis in Thimphu alone.

Source: BBSC

It is unlikely the government would go back on its decision to have, in another five months, the country’s first medical college, beginning its academic session.

Despite many arguing that it was an ambitious project, the only rational stated so far to start a medical college in the country was to address the current shortages of healthcare personnel.

First it was RUMS (Royal university for medical sciences); then it became BIMS (Bhutan institute for medical sciences) and almost BUMS (Bhutan University for medical sciences) until the Parliament endorsed it as UMSB (University of medical sciences of Bhutan).

Whatever the name, one thing was clear the government was adamant about starting a medical college even if the cost is over Nu 2B.

This amount is only for the infrastructure and not for the most important assets required to run the institution – human resources.

Observers argue that it is still cheaper for Bhutan to send people abroad for studies than to train them in country.

Bhutan needs 224 general doctors in the next 12 years going by the projection in health’s human resource master plan.

The country today has 86 general doctors, which means Bhutan needs 138 more by 2023.

It costs an average Nu 2M to train one doctor in the region, health ministry records show.

Training 138 doctors would, therefore, cost the government Nu 276M, which is more than 10 times the projected cost of starting a medical university.

If Bhutan trains 18 doctors every year against the 21 it sends today to study medicine, observers said, it would have 224 doctors in the next 12 years.

But records with the department of adult and higher education showed 151 students already studying medicine within the region today. Another 30 are studying the same on partial scholarships, taking the total number to 181.

“So why would you want to spend millions to start a medical college when you’re already sending students to the best medical colleges in the region,” an observer said. “And they’re coming home with a degree that’s internationally recognised.”

Even including those leaving for masters and superannuating, he said it would still be cheaper for Bhutan to instead increase the scholarship slots than to train a doctor at home.

There are today more than 300 Bhutanese abroad undergoing specialisation and MBBS courses.

“With that money we could train at least 1,000 doctors under the present system,” a former health personnel said. “The justification of starting a medical college to cater to the shortage of doctors is unfounded.”

University’s project manager Jamtsho said their cost analysis showed that training a doctor in Bhutan would cost about Nu 1M, which is half of what was spent today.

“The cost of airfares and “others” will not be paid, thus bringing down the over all cost,” he said.

Observers and skeptics say it was a political promise the DPT government was mandated to keep.

DPT manifesto states a regional medical college will be established in Thimphu to meet the high demand for doctors and better pay for medical work.

Although not budgeted, the tenth Plan does state about starting a medical college in the country.

“To address the shortage of trained nurses and other medical technicians in the country, options for another health training institute will be kept open,” the plan stated.

Many observers including doctors argue the need for additional health personnel could have been met by starting post graduation courses instead.

University project officials said the project was supported by researches conducted by a WHO consultant and All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Both found, project officials said, it would be feasible for Bhutan to have a medical college. It was also found feasible given the existing infrastructure that the basic and major resources to start a medical school are available.

“It’s not that this was conceived without any ground work,” Jamtsho said. “Shortage is not the only basis, but that if we have our own university we can build our capacity because sending people abroad is becoming difficult.”

The AIIMS report highlighted that Bhutan has two doctors (compared with seven in India) and eight nurses per 10,000 population, which is grossly inadequate going by WHO standards.

Excluding expatriate doctors, Bhutan has 145 doctors, the report stated.

“Bhutan requires another 150 doctors to reach the minimum desired level of doctor: population ratio,” it stated. “Achieving this target requires an annual intake of about 35 doctors over the next 10 years.”

Jamtsho said the ministry had the concept to start a medical school even before the present government took office.

“The government has the political will and gave the concept a very good footing,” he said as opposed to observers who insist that postgraduate courses would have helped address the shortage, would be cheaper and have resident doctors 24 hours in campus treating patients.

“We’re going backwards by starting a medical school first and then developing its faculty later,” one of them said. “When you go for post graduate courses, you don’t have teaching. It’s about working and learning on the job, which means quality of the care will improved.”

Jamtsho said the issue was more like the chicken and egg riddle.

“You need the pool of MBBS doctors to do post graduation studies but also postgraduate people to train MBBS doctors,” he said. “A majority decided it was best to start with MBBS course first.”

The categorising was determined by a sufficiency threshold and a happiness threshold. For a person to be considered happy, sufficiency in at least six of the nine domains of GNH needed to be met. (See box)

The sufficiency threshold is how much a person needs to enjoy sufficiency in a particular domain and to create a happiness condition. The sufficiency thresholds were set using international (i.e. millennium development goals, international labour organisation) and national standards. Normative judgments and participatory meetings with local communities were also used to set sufficiency thresholds.

Next the happiness threshold is determined by looking at whether a person enjoys sufficiency in more than 66 percent, or six GNH domains. A person who enjoys sufficiency in six or more domains is considered happy.

About 41 percent of Bhutanese enjoy sufficiency in six or more domains, so according to the GNH index, are considered happy.

Bhutanese have the most sufficiency in health, then ecology, psychological wellbeing, and community vitality, it was found. In urban areas, 50 percent of people are happy, while in rural it is 37 percent. The unmarried, and the young are among the happiest people in Bhutan.

Around 59 percent of Bhutanese did not fulfill the thresholds of being sufficient in six or more domains and were classified at “not-yet happy”. Of this, 67 percent are women and 51 percent are men.

The findings show that on average, the “not-yet happy” have insufficiency in four domains, with education being the highest contributor to unhappiness.

Within the education domain there are four indicators: knowledge, schooling, literacy, and value. More than 50 percent of Bhutanese are insufficient in three of four indicators. Bhutanese experience low levels of knowledge in cultural and historical aspects of the country, and in health and politics, irrespective of demographic characters. Insufficiency in literacy and schooling came next, although the presentation points out that policies are in line for its advancement.

More than 40 percent of Bhutanese were found insufficient in two of four indicators of good governance.

By region, in urban areas, the highest insufficiency is in governance, time use, and culture, while in rural areas, it is living standards and education.

The findings also shows that even among those considered happy, there are insufficiencies in knowledge, participation in festivals, donations, having more than six years of schooling, enjoying government services, political participation, and believing in the practice of driglam namzha.

By gender, men are happier than women, and the highest percentage of happy and “not-yet happy” people are found in the dzongkhags of Thimphu and Chukha.

Besides measuring and categorising people into the happy or “not-yet happy” groups, the GNH index, using a formula, also calculates the real GNH index for 2010, which comes to 0.743. The GNH index is measured on a scale of 0-1, a higher number being better.

The GNH index is used to understand happiness by finding how many people are happy and how they are happy. It seeks to increase happiness by also finding those who are “not-yet happy” and where there are insufficiencies.

Under a dim glow of a solar light, two fatigued officials from the National Cadastral Resurvey Program (NCRP), the gup and a few helpers are busy with Thram or land transactions and its registration.

One official photocopies a citizen identity card while the other, in a dark green dress, tries to correct forms people have filled before pasting legal stamps. In a high pitched voice, amidst lots of murmuring, he explained to Namgang, an elderly man from Dungmanma, about how the forms should be filled and submitted.

Namgang, 61, nodded to the instructions, gently took back his forms and handed it over to his son, a VTI graduate, who helped fill it.

Lauri gewog, on the eastern fringe of Samdrupjongkhar dzongkhag,  is located on the bank of Dhansiri river and at night a cold wind blows perennially from its shores. But the people are willing to stay even for whole night to complete their transactions once in for all. Some came to the gewog centre a week ago and had spent many days and nights getting the paperwork done.

Namgang came three days ago. He was in a hurry to get his thram transactions done. He said that he had spend nights without blankets and days without food as his home was far away, a half-day walk through the forest, from the gewog centre.

Thram transactions in the gewog, which is a two day from the nearest road head and  does not have electricity or road access, started from Momring, Lauri, Dungmanma and Zangthi. The land resurvey officials are using solar power to run Xerox machines and laptops and to  cook food.

Dawa Dema, 65, from Lauri village was late for her turn. She was waiting for her family members, who are in various parts of the country to come home. The gewog saw many people who had never come home after they left the village. The villages, once dry and empty, were once again flooded with its people.

For the villagers filling up the forms is not easy. Choejay, 49, said he had to fill it thrice before he got it right. “It’s very difficult for an illiterate like us,” he said referring to the difficulty he faced filling up the 12-page form.

When others were fast completing their thram transactions, some family members were still negotiating.  Choezang, an elderly man, was running between his family members requesting each of them to end the misunderstanding of their land lest they would be rejected by the officials.

Except the family of the Thram holder whose census is together, all the land recipients had to pay a sum of Nu 400. Sonam Wangdi, 35, from Dungmanma said he did not understand why he had to pay. The officials, however, said it’s mandatory for the recipient.

Many civil servants had come to the gewog a month early when they heard of thram transactions. Some of them returned to their office without having done what they had gone for. Karma Rangdol, an employee of Punatsangchhu project had leave for only three weeks. He finished a week getting home. He said that he would report a week late to his office.

During the thram transaction, people spent nights in the verandahs and kitchens of the small shops in the gewog. And the shops that sold groceries ran short of many items such as alcohol, candles and noodles.

National cadastral resurvey program’s assistant land registrar, Chhimi Wangchuk, said people in the gewog know the value of land. However, he said, people have less understanding about how it should be processed. “They come with many doubts and we have to explain them,” he said.

Thram transaction in the gewog began on December 27 last year and is scheduled to be completed on January 26. To meet the deadline officials are doing overtime.

The first group came and fixed control poles. After the thram transactions are done surveyors will take over. The surveyors will be in the gewog for six months until the “Kappa” hearing is done. The national cadastral resurvey program nationwide is projected to be completed by the end of the year 2012.

Prime minister Jigmi Y Thinley conveyed losar greetings from Their Majesties and told the thousand people, who had come to celebrate their new year, that the concept of ‘traditional day of offering’ began during the time when people paid taxes to the government annually during the eleventh month of the Bhutanese calendar.

The Chunipai Losar, at the end of the eleventh month was celebrated as a symbol of the burden of paying taxes being over for the year.

Lyonchhoen hosted a tokha for the people and also met the people of Shumar and Gamung gewog where the newly elected gups presented updates on the ongoing 10th Plan activities.

The Prime minister is scheduled to camp at Yechen today and meet the

people of Nanong, Pangthang, Yechen, Khedong and Zingri. Lyonchhen will also interact with the kidu recipients and visit some of their homes.

This is happening in remote Chajeyna under chokor gewog, located at 15,255 feet above sea level and a three-day walk from the nearest road.

Rhododendron is a shurb with large clusters of bell-shaped flowers and typically with large evergreen leaves. It provides more continuous heat and lasts longer than other alternative fuel wood such as dwarf junipers.

“Without any alternative for fuel wood being above tree line, rhododendrons are the main fuel wood for cordycep collectors,” researcher Sangay Wangchuk who did the study said in a telephone interview from Bumthang. “If this continues, in about a decade Chajenya will have no rhododendron.”

Sangay Wangchuk started his study in 2010 on fuel wood consumption and availability, focusing mainly on 36 groups camped in Chajenya. There were 97 cordycep collectors and 13 yak herders. A total of 732 kgs of harvested rhododendron was consumed in Chajeyna during the cordycep season of May and June 2010 according to the study.

The study states that it takes around 169 years for a rhododendron, a woody plant, to grow eight centimeters (diameter), the annual growth being only 0.6 centimeters.

The damages, as per the study may be landslides and erosion leading to sedimentation of Chamkhar Chu. “It may create an artificial lake too,” Sangay said.

The study further states that there has been awareness campaigns enforcing the use of alternative fuels such as kerosene and LPG gas but that according to Sangay is not feasible since the cordycep collectors have to camp for a month.

“The difficulty of carrying kerosene and LPG cylinders upto Chajenya along with high costs makes it difficult,” Sangay said. “On the other hand, selling cordyceps makes a major portion (80 percent) of their income.”

Another cause for dwindling rhododendron is illegal cordycep collectors and poachers from across the northern border who also used the same fuel wood.

The study concludes that the increasing numbers of collectors places a great deal of pressure on all resources, not only on fuel wood, but also water, and proper disposal of human waste. The policy of issuing three permits per household to collect cordyceps may need to be revised and reduced to only one or two individuals a household, which would reduce pressure on biomass to a great extent the study recommends.

There were 534 registered cordycep collectors from Chokor gewog in 2010.