Real losers

June 17, 2012Posted inEconomy, Government28 Comments
Does anyone know why the government insists on permitting only FCB to import vegetables? I don't. The prime minister had explained that only FCB would be provided Indian rupees to import vegetables as FCB would be able to buy in bulk and would not be motivated by profit, which would make prices come down. But vegetable prices have not come down. Instead, they've skyrocketed, because FCB's prices turned out to be much higher. Plus, a lot of their vegetables had turned bad even before they reached Thimphu. As a result, consumers paid higher prices, but received poorer quality, and…

Really important business

May 29, 2012Posted inEconomy6 Comments
Doing business in Bhutan is already difficult. But it’s getting even more difficult. Each year, the World Bank publishes a “Doing Business” report in which they rank countries according to the “ease of doing business” in those countries. Here’s how our country has fared in their report over the last few years. In 2008, Bhutan was ranked 119 out of the 178 countries that the project studied. In 2009, we fell to 124 out of 181 countries. In 2010, we were placed at 126 out of 186 countries. In 2011, we plummeted to 146 out of 183 countries And…

But nat!

May 15, 2012Posted inGovernment40 Comments
At school, we, like all children, all over the world, loved playing pranks. Our arsenal boasted an impressive range of innovative pranks. But the simplest and the most popular of them by far was the very versatile but nat! prank. This is how it was administered: We’d go up to a fellow student and excitedly declare, “I found your wallet!” And then, very slowly, add, “But nat!” Or we’d tell him, “Our math test is postponed … but nat!” Or, “She says she likes you too … but nat!” The but nat! was meant to negate whatever news had…