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By Leki Chungdon Residents of Metakha Gewog in Chhukha sprang into action to restore a critical farm road soon after heavy monsoon rains receded this week, highlighting the community’s resilience and cooperation. The unpaved road, which connects five chiwogs to the main gewog center, had been severely damaged by continuous rainfall over the past month. Sections were washed away, while …

…𝑻𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 By Tashi Tshewang Over 60 households in Tshogoenpa village, Lumang Gewog, Trashigang, now have access to clean and reliable drinking water thanks to a gravity-fed water system implemented under the Eco-Himal Water Management Initiative. The project was led by the Tarayana Foundation and supported by the Swiss-funded …

…𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒔 By Tashi Tshewang A regional milestone in infrastructure planning was reached on August 2 with the inauguration of the Regional Office of Infrastructure Development (RoID), established to serve Samdrup Jongkhar and Pemagatshel Dzongkhags. The launch was attended by the Dzongdag of Samdrup Jongkhar, Pemagatshel’s Dzongrab, …

…𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 By Kinzang Lhamo & Tashi Tshewang Two newly constructed agricultural warehouses at Jewphu and Bondey farms were officially handed over to the National Seed Centre (NSC) in Paro under the Integrated Temperate Fruit Crops Promotion Project on August 1, 2025. Funded by the Japan International …

…𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒈 By Tashi Tshewang The Norbuchoeling Community Forest in Barshong Gewog took a significant step towards sustainable land and forest management with the inauguration of a 10-hectare bamboo plantation on July 11. The plantation features Bambusabalcooa, a fast-growing and commercially valuable bamboo …

…𝑫𝑵𝑨 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕-𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 By Sonam Choden The National Mushroom Center (NMC), with financial support of Nu. 7,095,964 from the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation (BTFEC), has launched a project aimed at domesticating high-value wild edible mushrooms in the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) area. Scheduled to run from July 2025 to June …

…𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 By Sonam Choden The Wheelchair Centre of Hope and Joy, located in Nemjo, Paro, is a community-based initiative established on May 1, 2023, to improve mobility, independence, and dignity for persons with physical disabilities. It was founded to address a critical gap in the availability of suitable and customized mobility …

…𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒏𝒖 60.73 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔 By Kezang Choden The Food Corporation of Bhutan Limited (FCBL) has recorded a significant financial turnaround in 2024, according to its latest annual report. After enduring six consecutive years of losses between 2017 and 2022, with the largest loss of Nu 112.04 million registered in 2020 …

…𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 By Kezang ChodenAccording to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD), 1,455 children with disabilities are currently enrolled in schools across Bhutan. Among them, 949 are boys and 506 are girls. The national disability literacy rate stands at 26.6 …

…𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚’𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 2000 By Tashi Tshewang Bhutan commemorated 25 years of its FIFA membership with a two-day celebration organised by the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF), beginning with a Legends Match at Changlimithang Stadium on July 31, followed by a Football Carnival and Gala Night on August 1. The event …