Monthly Archives: December, 0

Of the 10 proposals, the cabinet has approved frameworks for the establishment of six private diagnostic facilities in the country last week. But they are yet to be selected by the Health Ministry. The facilities will only diagnose the diseases and give reports.

Dorokha Middle Secondary School in Samtse is faced with shortage of history teacher.  The school is worried that it might affect the performance of students especially those appearing the board exam. The school has 963 students and 29 teachers. The school does not have a history teacher for higher classes. Currently, Physics and Dzongkha teachers take turns to teach history.

Mobile shops have been a common scene in most of the rural areas. Shopkeepers and businessmen move around to market out their old stocks. Our reporter in Gelephu, Pema Samdrup, says every month, a marketing pick-up truck make rounds to various villages of Zhemgang, Trongsa and sometimes even to Bumthang.

(Forest Fire Update) The forest fire in Punakha was finally brought under control this morning at around 7:30 am. The three-day fire has destroyed more than 2,000 acres of forest.

The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Brazil, and the Ambassador of the European Union presented their credentials to His Majesty the King today.

His Holiness the Je Khenpo consecrated and installed the statue of Gayngyen Jakpamelen at Phularri Gayngyen Lhakhang today. The Lhakhang was constructed recently. His Holiness also performed a Thruelser and Reawsangchu prayers to the new Gayngyen Lhakhang and statue.

(Forest Fire Update) The forest fire in Punakha continues to rage on for the second day today. The fire gutted two houses in Laptsakha yesterday. The two storied traditional house and a hut was completely razed. The hut belonged to a farm caretaker.

Many rural villages in the country have an identified household to attend to guests, especially civil servants coming from Dzongkhags or from Thimphu. This kind of tradition is still practised in most of the remote villages. Kheng Gongdu under Monggar Dzongkhag is one of them. There they call Totsapas. Our Monggar reporter, Sonam Choden, travelled to Gongdu and filed this story.

Located at an altitude of more than 3,500 metres above sea level the sacred hidden place of Aja Ney is attributed to Guru Rinpoche. More than 100 pilgrims across the country visit the sacred site annually.

Women in Bhutan enjoy equality and freedom with men compared to their counterparts in many regions of the world. The Constitution of Bhutan also does not allow gender discrimination. However, the number of women in decision making including politics is very negligible. Men have being dominating the social system for decades. There are currently only nine women in the executive levels whereas there are 163 men. And there are only two women holding Constitutional posts.