| English | Dzongkha | Friday, July 30, 2021 |
More than twenty-five thousand investors applied for Bhutan National Bank and Royal Insurance Corporation shares in the last one month. The shares were held in the name of Sungchop fund and Kidu fund. The proceeds from the sale of shares will go to the National Resilience Fund for continuing income and interest payment support under the Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu.
The Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB) has started conducting potato auctions online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA) is also strictly enforcing Plant Quarantine Rules on potato export which mandates exporters to obtain a certificate from the authority before exporting their goods. FCB and BAFRA officials are currently sensitising farmers and local leaders in various districts about the auctioning system and the new regulations.
Following the shortage of chillies in the country last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers in Samdrup Jongkhar started cultivating the spice on a larger scale this season. The yield is bountiful. But the market isn’t as promising as the yield.
There will not be any Cordyceps auction this year anywhere in the country. However, the government has allowed the direct buying and selling of the fungus this year as well. Under this arrangement, buyers will have to meet and purchase the fungus directly from the Cordyceps collectors. This is being done to avoid gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Becoming an entrepreneur was never a dream for him. However, taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation, he decided otherwise. Deciding to take over his father’s poultry business, 28-year-old Sonam Penjor from Tsamang Gewog in Monggar has raised himself from being unemployed to a successful entrepreneur, today.
Roadside vendors of Changchey and Serutar areas along the Tsirang-Wangdue Phodrang highway can now sell their products conveniently from a formal vegetable shed. In the past, besides their concerns of sale, they had to worry about officials demolishing their temporary informal structures anytime. The Tsirang district agriculture sector constructed three vegetable sheds that can house 12 vendors.
Import and export of goods via Phuentshogling will be stopped during the two-week lockdown. According to a news release from the Prime Minister’s Office, this is following feedback from the town’s residents to enhance the effectiveness of the lockdown.
The finance ministry saw a decrease in the number of beneficiaries claiming the vehicle quotas in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. This is a result of the suspension of monetization of vehicle quotas due to the pandemic. Just over 600 eligible individuals claimed their vehicle quotas compared to over 1800 who claimed quotas in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Dazur village of Tang Gewog in Bumthang had its first three college graduates about five years ago. Today, none of them are civil servants or private employees. They have instead chosen to stay back home and run their own enterprises. One of them is a shopkeeper, another a dairy farmer and the third runs a poultry farm. And all of them are faring well. This is a story about the two of them who are involved in animal husbandry.
As an art, it may be dying. But as a business, it is thriving. At least, this is what Trongsa’s lone potter, Ugyen Dema, claims after being in the line of work for some six years now. She says although illiterate, pottery earned her a decent living.