Bhutan Daily News 22-06-23

𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗗𝗜 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹

Continuing the deliberations on the National Digital Identity Bill of Bhutan 2023 today, National Council members raised concerns about the complexity of certain sections. The house referred these sections back to the Social and Cultural Affairs Committee to review and re-deliberate for adoption next week.

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𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗴, 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗵𝘂

People of Naro Gewog in Thimphu will no longer have to worry about availing themselves of basic health services. The new primary health centre that was inaugurated yesterday brings much-needed healthcare services closer to the community. In addition, an arrangement has been made to deploy a female healthcare worker once every month to the Gewog. This is expected to ease the burden on the existing lone health worker in the gewog. The new health centre will benefit nearly 200 people in the gewog.

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𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗖 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗕𝗵𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀

The Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC Fund has pledged assistance to Bhutan in achieving its sustainable development goals related to energy, climate action and non-communicable disease. This includes providing technical assistance, advisory services, and knowledge through their Climate Finance and Energy Innovation Hub. Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering attended the OPEC Fund Development Forum 2023 in Vienna, Austria, yesterday where this commitment was made. OPEC Fund is already involved in financing hydropower projects such as Gamri-1 in Trashigang and Begana hydropower project in Thimphu. According to a joint statement from the Bhutanese government and the OPEC Fund, the multilateral development finance institution has also expressed interest in supporting the Dorjilung Hydropower Project through a World Bank co-financing consortium.

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𝗗𝗡𝗧 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀

The Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa revealed three more candidates today. The candidates will represent the party from constituencies in Lhuentse, Samtse and Zhemgang. The party has declared nine candidates so far.

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𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗶𝗻

Bhutan’s senior men’s national basketball team is all pumped up to face Bangladesh in the finals of the Five Nation Championship tomorrow on the back of a dramatic semi-final win against Nepal last night. In an evenly contested match, Bhutan broke Nepali hearts in the dying seconds of the game when Sonam Tshering Jattu hit a 3-point buzzer-beater sealing the victory. This is the very first time Bhutan’s national basketball team reached a final of an international tournament according to Bhutan Basketball Federation.

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𝗛𝗛 𝗝𝗲 𝗞𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗽𝗼 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆

His Holiness the Je Khenpo has appointed Ugyen Dorji as the new principal of the Cheri monastery in Thimphu. The new principal received dhar from His Holiness at the Tashichoedzong today. The 55-year-old is from Khamaed Gewog in Gasa. He began his monastic education at the age of 8 from the Pungthim Dratshang. He did his masters from the Tango Shedra and served as a lecturer for the Shedra for five years. He completed his 3-year retreat at Cheri after which he served as a meditation teacher for the Dechencholing Drubdey in Wangdue Phodrang for 17 years. Before his new post, he worked as the vice president of the Tango Institute for Advanced Vajrayana Studies for three years.

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𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿

It has become crucial to improve opportunities and bring development to both the rural and urban areas in the country. This is according to the Home Affairs minister, who shared this during the question hour session of the national assembly yesterday. Lyonpo Ugyen Dorji said all the past developmental plans have been focused on rural places, resulting in all corners of the country being equipped with necessary facilities such as roads, hospitals and mobile networks. However, he says the youth are still not interested to stay back in the villages. Furthermore, the youth today are not interested in even the capital city and want to go abroad. This he said emphasises the need to bring development in the cities.

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𝗠𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀

The men's national football team is all set to face the Maldives in the South Asian Football Federation Championship in India's Bengaluru tomorrow. The team was in Kolkata for almost a week to train and acclimatise to the Indian weather. Bhutan is placed in Group B alongside Bangladesh, Lebanon and the Maldives. Meanwhile, Kuwait, India, Nepal and Pakistan are in Group A. Lebanon and Kuwait are competing as guest teams. Matches in the group stage will be played in a single round-robin format. The top four teams from the group stage will go through to the semifinals. BBS talked with Bhutan's captain Karma Shedrup ahead of tomorrow's 8 PM encounter with the Maldives.

𝗕𝗣𝗖 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝗽𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲-𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲

Works are underway to enhance the power supply in the country including in the rural areas. According to the Energy and Natural Resources Minister, the Bhutan Power Corporation is upgrading the single-phase power supplies to three-phase which supplies more electricity.

However, to do that he shared that all the power transformers in the country have to be replaced which the BPC is currently doing. The minister was responding to Maenbi Tsenkhar MP, Choki Gyeltshen during the NA question hour session yesterday. The minister was asked about the government’s plans on increasing power supply in villages considering the changing needs and demands of the people.

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𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿

The Community Engagement Platform developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs is expected to combat corruption and bring transparency in local government offices. The home affairs minister Ugyen Dorji shared this during the deliberation on the follow-up report on resolutions regarding the ACC annual report of 2021-2022. The report revealed a total of 107 recorded corruption complaints in the local government offices. Considering the high number of corruption reports, the house had recommended the ACC in the last session to strengthen and conduct more advocacy programmes for the local government leaders.