Development Blogs.com

Bhutan, a small country wedged between China and India, has made great strides over the past 45 years toward transforming itself from an isolated kingdom into a fledgling modern democracy. The country has progressed in terms of economic and political development, but one significant area still lagging behind is the education system. In his Feature Service article, Kinley Rinchen, Planning Officer in the Office of the Vice Chancellor at the Royal University of Bhutan and an honorable mention winner in CIPE’s youth essay competition, traces the development of Bhutan’s education system and analyzes its current challenges. He emphasizes that more reforms are necessary to make the country’s education system able to better meet the needs of students and employers. As the Bhutanese economy...

Last week a tiny Himalayan country of Bhutan (population of 600,000) became the world’s newest democracy. With a high turnout of nearly 80 percent, the winning Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) party took 44 out of the 47 seats in the parliament and gained a strong mandate to implement reforms. There wasn’t much drama involved in the elections. First, it was the King himself who initiated the transition from hereditary monarchy to democracy. In 2006, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck handed over power to his son, the current king, and ordered an end to absolute monarchy (the country will continue to have a monarch as the head of state). Second, the two leading parties competing in the elections had nearly identical programs. Both were promising to bring modernization and pursue greater “gross...

from the Voice of America By Raymond ThibodeauxThimphu, BhutanThe tiny, isolated Himalayan nation of Bhutan is experiencing record economic growth. But some experts are concerned about rising rates of unemployment among the country's youth as a growing migrant workforce takes many of the new jobs. Raymond Thibodeaux reports for VOA from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.Anyone traveling the hundred miles of road leading from the southern Bhutanese border town of Phuentsholing to the capital, Thimphu, can see the people who are building the infrastructure of this tiny Himalayan nation, almost from scratch.For the most part, they are not Bhutanese. They are mainly young men and women from Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. And they have come to Bhutan for the jobs that the vast...

from Kuensel OnlineThe number of Bhutanese living below the national poverty line has dropped from 31.7 percent in 2004 to 23.2 percent of the total population, according to 2007 Bhutan Living Standard Survey (BLSS) carried out by the National Statistical Bureau.The national poverty line has been established at a minimum monthly earning of Nu 1,096 a person, with estimated food requirement at Nu 688 and non-food requirement of Nu 408. Previously, the poverty line put the minimum monthly earning at Nu 740 a month.The survey, which focussed solely on poverty analysis, puts the number of people below the poverty line at 146,100 out of an extrapolated population figure of 630,000.The NSB estimates the population in 2007 at 658,888, a projection based on the 2005’s National Housing and...

Nepali Police Need to Protect Refugees’ Freedom of Expression Violent clashes this week resulting in two deaths in Nepal’s Bhutanese refugee camps underscore the need for the Nepali police to protect refugees from mob violence and ensure their right to peaceful expression, Human Rights Watch said today....

Refugees Have Right of Return, but Should Be Free to Choose Other Options A US offer to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese refugees has given hope to many of the 106,000 refugees living in Nepal for more than 16 years, but has also heightened tensions in the camps, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Refugees who insist on repatriation as the only acceptable solution have been threatening and intimidating those who voice support for resettlement in the US....

The new and updated edition of the Digital Review of Asia Pacific contains authoritative reports on how 29 economies/countries are using ICT in business, government and civil society written by senior authors who live and work in the region. Included are three subregional chapters on the Pacific Island States, ASEAN and APEC....