BY S. B. SUBBA: The Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley speaks of equity and just in his every addresses. But, his ruthless treatment with injustice and unfair social welfare to the laborers who are in fact the back bone of the infrastructural developments could be easily interpreted. When the salary of the government employees and the MPs were revised two times in the span of three years, the wage of the laborers remained stagnant to Rs. 100 per day with hard labour from 7 am till 5pm. Although the labour Act 2007 enacted probably sans economic welfare as if the escalating price does not affect the poor. The constitution says that Bhutan is a secular country and the king is the custodian of all the religions. The Buddhist philosophy and principles of respect, tolerance and co-existence is the fundamental guiding factor and pivot that GNH revolves on […]
October 19, 2010: A film on Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness philosophy is all set to be screened in Himalayan Film Festival in New York. The festival at New York City’s Greenwich Village, the cultural heart of Manhattan at Quad Cinema will run through October 22 till 28. Among 31 Himalayan films selected for the festival, […]
The relation of happiness with democracy is one of the most confronting questions today. As happiness is inherently subjected to the state of natural rights and exercise of freedom, it is clear that democracy without happiness is almost dysfunctional. After the end of Hitler and Stalin rule, the world acknowledged the cohesive need of happiness […]
Recently, Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley, who traveled to the United States this week to speak at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum, told Al Jazeera that, “In Bhutan even the street dogs seem to be smiling.” Article 9 of Bhutan’s constitution puts it simply: “The State shall strive to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness.” To a lay person, being happy means having clothes to keep warm during the freezing Himalayan winter and having money to buy medication when a family member is sick. To this person, Gross National Happiness might mean living in a house with family and working the farm, instead of living in slum by the side of the road doing unpaid, compulsory labor for the government.
June 5, 2010: A delegation of eight exiled Bhutanese has questioned the authenticity and usefulness of the Gross National Happiness in Bhutanese context. The team comprised of Parangkush Subedi, Damber Timsina, Pashupati Timsina, Gopal Subedi, Madhav Acharya, Toya Acharya, Tika Acharya and Harka Khadka who joined the first GNH debates in US this June explained […]
Jan 06: The Ministry of Education is making every effort to include happiness education in the schools curriculum as part of the government mission for practical implementation of the gross national happiness principles. Shortly after concluding an international level workshop on GNH in Thimphu (December 7-12) in presence of the international personalities and government executives, […]
THIMPHU, Bhutan — If the rest of the world cannot get it right in these unhappy times, this tiny Buddhist kingdom high in the Himalayan mountains says it is working on an answer. “Greed, insatiable human greed,” said Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, describing what he sees as the cause of today’s economic catastrophe […]
The debate is currently in table, who will hold the authority of decision at geog level – is it the gup or the geog administrative officer (GAO)? About 205 gups from around the country have converged in the capital to discuss and resolve the issue, determine the boss of the geog
