Walk talk...

A regular reader, Guest, asked me in “Lobxang’s anger”, my last entry: “Is your party behind this Solidarity Walk? I need to know.” Here’s my answer: “No, PDP is not behind the solidarity walk. And, nor am I.”

Ashan, another reader, commented in the same entry: “I just hope that PDP is not behind the Walk.” My answer, again, is that PDP is not behind the walk. We had, and have, nothing to do with it.

Now, what I’d like to know is this: why is PDP being linked to today’s walk?

Lobxang’s anger...

Dangerous fun

The following letter, from Lobxang, deserves attention. Lobxang works in New York. He keeps a blog. And is on Facebook.

Dear OL,

I was much pained to read in the news the tragic loss of seven promising kids in the Wangchuck River. My deepest respect and prayers goes to the lost souls and the bereaved family. I read again and over again every piece of information that I could find on the net. I am deeply pained at first, and now I am angry, very angry.

Seven lives are lost. This is a national loss. His Majesty the fourth King always said; “Our children are the future of the country.”  Now here we are, mourning the loss of our future, our own kids.

From what I read in the news on that tragic night, I picture some perfect chaos with nobody knowing what to do. It’s my understanding that the river did not just ‘swell up’ and swallowed the innocent victims. There was enough time to save every one of them.

Let’s question ourselves. Do we always have to learn the hard way? Why can’t we be smart and act proactively? Why do we still not have some well trained rescue team?

Kuensel editorial rightly pointed out; We have helicopters flying in and out to rescue a single tourist who is sick. Let me add, we even have guides who are well trained to perform CPR or give out SOS signals in case of a mishap. Now there was a whole team of police and officials watching the kids drown that night. No body seemed to have known what to do. This is madness. They could pass on a mobile phone but they could not send in a single expert swimmer to secure the ropes around the kids. Where were the helicopters? Do we even have a single life jacket in the whole country? How about some life savers or floaters? We know very well our rivers are fast and good for hydropower but we also know it’s threats. It’s not for the first time a life has been lost into those torrential rivers. Watch my words, many more tragic events will follow if we do no wake up now.

Whom do we blame? What do a young active kid do on a sunny sunday afternoon? How long will he line up at the lone basketball court in school? Swimming is not just game and fun. It’s a survival skill. How many swimming pools do we have in the country?

Mourning alone is not enough. Let’s pay a tribute to the lost lives. Let’s have rescue teams in every community. Let’s have diverse recreational facilities in schools. Let’s be aware and learn how to act in tragic calls of mother nature.

Do something please. I lay my thoughts.

In Grief,

Lobxang
New York

A big problem...

We have a problem. In our last poll, 94% of you claimed to either know or think that drug abuse is already a problem in Bhutan. On the other hand, only 5% of you said that drug abuse is not a problem in our country. 1% admitted that they don’t have a clue.

I suspected that substance abuse was growing, especially among out youth. But, I had no reason to think that it was already a problem. The poll results have forced me to rethink my views – that’s why I kept the poll up for so long. Next week, I plan to discuss this issue with the government including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency. I’ve also arranged to meet some youth.

This week’s poll asks: “how prepared are we to cope with disaster?”

Solidarity...

At about 3:30 AM last Monday, seven boys, all of them students of Tshimasham lower secondary school, lost their lives in the Wangchu.

Tomorrow, a group of concerned citizens will participate in a solidarity walk to demonstrate their support to the families of the seven boys. They will also petition the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the tragic incident that claimed the young lives.

I join the nation in mourning the loss of the innocent lives, and offer my condolences to the grieving families and friends.

Parliament rejects Civil Service Bill...

Acting

The joint sitting the Parliament adjourned an hour ago, at about 10:30 PM, having concluded the debate on the Civil Service Bill. The bill, an “urgent” bill, was also rejected by the joint sitting. Only five MPs supported the bill, 7 abstained, and 55 voted against it.

Discussions on the bill started collapsing when major differences emerged over whether the judiciary should be completely independent, or whether the current civil servants in the judiciary should continue to be part of RCSC.

So now what? According to the Constitution, His Majesty the King may command a national referendum if, in His opinion, the bill is of national importance. Otherwise, the bill is dead. But, if needed, a new bill on the same issues can be introduced in the Parliament.

Parliament rejects LG bill...

BREAKING NEWS The Parliament, this morning, did not pass the Local Government (amendment) Bill. Of the 68 MPs present, 44 voted to for the bill, 23 voted against, and 1 abstained. The Hon’ble Speaker did not cast a vote. According to the Constitution, he can only cast a deciding vote.

A bill is passed by simple majority when it is debated in the individual houses (the National Council and National Assembly). But, if the two houses cannot agree on the provisions of a bill, that bill is debated in a joint sitting. In which case, two-thirds of the members must support the bill to endorse it.

About Tshering...

Tosh

A couple of months ago, I launched an “About” page in this blog.  But, that page, till now, remained empty. Instead, it announced that a certain Tashi P. Wangdi was writing the content for the page.

That content is now complete. So, if you go here, you’ll see what Tashi – better known as Tosh – has written about me.

About measures and incentives...

Last week, the government announced that they “…will be introducing measures to expand the revenue base.” And, that they are “…also considering fiscal incentives to stimulate the private sector growth…” These announcements were made, quietly, in the government’s National Budget for 2009-10. But, the budget report offered no details.

These are significant financial policies. So, our government should elaborate what “measures” and “incentives” our people can expect during the coming year.

Poor villages...

No Shangrila

Our government estimates that 23.3% of our population live in poverty. And that the incidence of poverty in our villages is significantly higher than in our towns. In fact, the poverty rate in rural Bhutan is 30.9%. That is, almost one in every three of our villagers lives below the poverty line. Compare this to the urban poverty rate of just 1.7%, and it becomes clear that our villages need serious and immediate attention.

But, the amount of money allocated to local governments, and hence to rural Bhutan, for this financial year, again, is negligible. Only 22.8% of the national budget has been earmarked for the dzongkhags. And, a paltry 3.5% has been kept aside for the 205 gewogs. The rest is in the hands of the centre.

The government reasons that much of the money budgeted for the ministries is actually for the villages. They say that roads, schools, hospitals and RNR centres will be built for the villages. I say, let local governments do their own work. And, give them the means – money and people – to do so. After all, they know, better than anyone in Thimphu, what they need. Plus, they, unlike most of us in Thimphu, have a stake in their own progress.

So, if a programme, say school education, benefits only one gewog, let that gewog handle it. If it benefits more than one gewog, let that dzongkhag handle it. The centre, as far as I’m concerned, should be involved only for national-level programmes.

But, look at how this year’s education budget has been allocated. A very generous 17.5% of the entire budget has been earmarked for education. That’s very good. However, none of it – not a single chetrum – will be in the hands of our local government. All Nu 5,309 million will be handled by the centre. That’s not good at all.

This is no way to wage war against poverty. And, at this rate, the scourge will prevail.

The photograph is of Thangdokha, a village in my constituency.

Farmers’ produce...

Not much

Our economy grew by 8.1% last year. That’s not the 9% growth per year promised by DPT. But, given all that happened in those 12 months, from a host of national celebrations to the global financial crisis, 8.1 is really not too bad.

The share of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to our GDP are 16%, 45% and 36% respectively. And, during the past year, the primary, or agriculture, sector grew by 1.7%; the secondary, or industry, sector grew by 7.5%; and the tertiary, or service, sector grew by 12.1%.

These figures were given to the National Assembly by the Finance Minister. Let’s see what they could mean for the majority of the people – our farmers. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 79% of our population depends on agriculture. Yet, they contributed only 16% of our GDP. This means that our farmers are a lot poorer, economically speaking, than the other Bhutanese. But, we all know this, don’t we?

Now the agriculture sector grew by only 1.7% last year. And that’s much lower than last year’s inflation, which averaged about 7%. So, in real terms, our farmers produced less last year than the year before. That is, they became poorer. This, we didn’t know.

The news for the next financial year is not good either. Our government forecasts that the share of the agriculture sector to the GDP will fall even further, from 16% to 14%. Obviously, we need to focus a lot more on the agricultural sector. After all, most of Bhutan depends on it.