June 2011 – Tshering Tobgay

Well done ECB

June 29, 2011Democracy1 Comment

The Election Commission of Bhutan have now completed seven rounds of elections. Of the seven, last Monday’s local government elections was by far the largest and most complex. It was also the most successful. ECB officials, including those in the dzongkhags, worked round the clock, for months on end, to organize the elections. They were assisted by about 150 senior civil servants who were on deputation since early April this year to work as observers and returning officers. And more than 5,500 election officials, most of them teachers, were trained and dispatched to man the 1,103 polling stations located…

Think about Lhab Tshering

June 25, 2011Justice24 Comments

Lhab Tshering has been in detention since 31st January. On that fateful day, he was caught with 64 packets of chewing tobacco (Baba khaini) at the Chunzom checkpoint. He didn’t have a receipt to prove that he possessed the khaini legally. So he was charged for smuggling tobacco under the Tobacco Control Act. Yesterday, the Thimphu District Court, found Lhab Tshering guilty of smuggling tobacco, and sentenced him to jail for three years. Lhab Tshering, a driver, had purchased the khaini on 26th January, while repairing his vehicle, a trailer, in Jaigaon, India. He had paid Nu 200 for…

Inappropriate

June 23, 2011Government, Local Government3 Comments

The Budget Appropriation Bill for 2011-12 proposes how Nu 42,174 million of the government's Consolidated Fund will be divided during the coming financial year. Central agencies will keep a good 74% of the funds. The 20 dzongkhags together will get about 20% of the funds. And the 205 gewogs combined will get barely 6% of the funds. And that includes money to build farm roads. Take away farm road construction, and the winners of the forthcoming local government elections will have very little money to fulfill their campaign promises.

Budget – taxes

June 23, 2011Government13 Comments

During his budget report last year, the finance minister informed the National Assembly that the government was implementing a range of measures to rationalize the sales tax and customs duty rates, and to broaden the sales tax base. The measures were expected to bring in additional revenue of Nu 450 million. The government eventually withheld the implementation of all the increased taxes, except those that were imposed on vehicles. The taxes on vehicles were also lifted after the Supreme Court declared them to be unlawful. This year, the government has submitted the Tax Revision Bill 2011 to the National…

Budget – services

June 23, 2011Government

Here are more random thoughts on the budget. Please keep your comments coming. Education. 17% of the total budget will go towards education. And this does not include money for vocational training, which comes under a separate budget head. Excellent! Health. 7% of the total budget will go towards providing free healthcare. Excellent! Incidentally, the government earned Nu 130 million as “health contribution”. That works out to 7% of the total outlay for health. Not bad, considering that healthcare is provided “free of cost”. But we can do better: health contribution (which is currently 1% of basic pay) could…

Budget report

June 22, 2011Government12 Comments

The finance minister presented the government’s budget proposal on Monday. Here are some of my random thoughts on the budget. Pay increase. Last year’s pay hike for public servants cost the government Nu 380 million. PIT increase. The government made an extra Nu 247 million in personal income taxes last year, mainly because of the pay hike. Tax refund. The government collected Nu 28 million by increasing vehicle taxes unlawfully last year. At the Supreme Court’s orders, the government has refunded that money to the taxpayers. Government expenditure. The government’s expenditure for this financial year is budgeted at Nu…

Bhutan builders

June 17, 2011Economy17 Comments

Jai Prakash and Gammon have been selected to construct the 1000MW Punatsangchhu - II hydropower project. Gammon, Hindustan Construction, and Larsen and Turbo are building the 1200MW Punatsangchhu – I hydropower project. Hindustan Construction, Larsen and Turbo, and Jai Prakash built the 1020 MW Tala Hydropower Project. A select group of contractors, characterized by the complete absence of Bhutanese contractors, public or private, even after decades of experience in hydropower construction in our country.

License to kill

June 16, 2011Government8 Comments

It’s good that the government will rake in an extra 10 million bucks from the auction of alcohol vendor licenses in Southern Bhutan. The bids were exceptionally high. Many of them sold for twice, thrice and even five-times the earlier amount. And one of them – the license to sell wholesale liqueur in Kuchidaina, Samtse – saw a whopping 2020% jump. That the government will make that extra money is good news. But we should also be concerned. Our readiness to pay huge license fees means that the alcohol business is thriving. And that just confirms that the government…

Congratulations!

June 11, 2011Monarchy10 Comments

25 additional colonels make our armed forces that much more stronger. His Majesty the King, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, granted promotions to the accomplished officers this morning. I thank the officers for their outstanding services to the tsa-wa-sum, and wish them and their families a very hearty Tashi Delek!

Secondary tertiary policy

June 9, 2011Education, Government13 Comments

About a year ago, on the 26th of July 2010, the prime minister launched the Tertiary Education Policy. The policy, one of this government’s most significant declarations so far, aims to enrich tertiary education in the country by streamlining how colleges and universities are planned, funded, registered, licensed and accredited. The education minister described the 112-page policy as, “… a road map for the development and expansion of tertiary education in the country,” and boasted that it would contribute to making our country a “knowledge hub” and our people an “IT enabled knowledge society.” In his introduction to the…

Utter nonsense

June 7, 2011Legislature12 Comments

The National Assembly’s live TV broadcasts are proving useful. One observer, for instance, a senior civil servant, followed the recent debate on the Anticorruption Bill, and noticed that I “didn’t utter a word” during the discussions. She spoke to Kuensel about it, which reported that: A senior civil servant said the opposition leader was very emphatic about the severity of the tobacco Act’s penalty that he went to the extent of hiring a lawyer for the first Bhutanese to be convicted under the Act, pro bono. “He didn’t utter a word when members were deliberating the corruption amendment bill,”…

Digging deeper

June 3, 2011Justice34 Comments

Yesterday, the government released the Tobacco Control Rules and Regulations. The rules, which come a week after the government had issued guidelines to relax the implementation of the Tobacco Control Act, have made matters even more complicated. According to the rules, we will not be sent to jail for attempting to bring tobacco into the country without declaring it or for possessing tobacco products. Instead, we’ll be let go with a warning or penalized in line with Sections 86, 87 and 90 which state that: 86. If a person tries to bring permissible quantity of tobacco and tobacco product…