…𝒅𝒖𝒕𝒚-𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 7,385 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 2023 Sonam DekiBhutan has put-up duty-free gold for sale to the tourists visiting the country, who may have been deterred earlier from traveling in because of the revised Sustainable Development Fee (SDF). With implementation of the new SDF, the inflows of …

… 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 Tenzin LhadenMany people are suffering from a severe flu-like sickness across the country at the moment. The symptoms comprise severe cough with chest pain, headache, stuffy nose, fever, sore throat, and body aches. Kunzang Dorji, Dy. Chief Laboratory Officer, National Influenza Center, Royal Centers for …

…𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 Phurpa WangmoIn a move to align with increasing life expectancy, the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) has revised the retirement age for all civil servants in Bhutan. The new age limits were announced in a notification last …

… 10 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 Sonam Deki On April 20, 2023, the Fourth National Council elections of Bhutan took place, and it marked an unprecedented level of voter participation with the highest turnout in the country’s history. Out of the 485,811 registered voters, a significant number of 254,982 individuals exercised their right to vote, resulting …

… 𝑮𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 Sonam ChokiIn a recent message to the public, the Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering emphasized the importance of clear communication and transparency in government decision-making. To that end, the government has launched a new series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to help citizens better understand some of the major policy decisions …

… 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 Sonam DekiThe Youth Employment and Livelihood Program (YELP) will be kept on hold. Due to budget constraint YELP will not employ any youth for some time until the release of next financial budget. The next financial year (FY) is expected to start from July, 2023. The …

Phurpa WangmoBhutan voted for a lone woman to represent in the fourth National Council from 20 seats. In a historic win, Tshering Tshomo has emerged as the only female candidate to win the seat to the National Council 2023 from Zhemgang, the remaining 19 seats were all male elects. Among the five candidates who contested in Zhemgang, Tshering Tshomo secured …

…𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 Bhutan Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (Bhutan ADRC) since its establishment, it has received and administered mostly arbitration related to construction disputes. As per the report Bhutan Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre 2022, “The Centre has received 191 total cases in five years and highest being at 45 in …

…𝒃𝒚 2023, 𝑩𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒏’𝒔 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔. Phurpa WangmoIn 2022, the United Nations’ Country’s Team (UNCT) supported the Royal Government in improving the economic conditions of the country as well as resilience amidst the uncertainty posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. To improve economic conditions as well …

…𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑩𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 163 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 145 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 Tenzin Lhaden With the first portable cell phone initiated in 1973 by Motorola, cell phones became popular during the cellular revolution which started in the 90s and by 1990; the number of mobile users was around 11 million. By 2020, this number …