The Ministry of Agriculture and Forests is keen on encouraging farmers to adopt the Kambja method of upland rice cultivation that does not need irrigation facilities, the lack of which hindered farmers from cultivating rice for years. Bhutan is 50% self-reliant on rice production while the rest, it imports. Its target is to increase rice...Read More
Bhutan will be hosting its first South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) ministerial in the capital on July 24. This is the eighth SAFTA ministerial council (SMC) of its kind. On the meeting agenda are matters related to the administration and implementation of the SAFTA agreement and trade services under SAFTA. The commerce and trade...Read More
As part of the fourth Druk Gyalpo’s 60th birth anniversary celebrations, an international GNH conference is being planned for November next year. The plan was announced during Lyonchhoen’s visit to Japan. About 600 participants are expected, half of them international. It’s open to the public, too. The agenda for the conference includes discussing concepts and...Read More
While Lyonchhoen Tshering Tobgay is on a four-day visit to Japan, his counterpart Shinzo Abe has agreed to look into the matter of introducing electric cars in Bhutan to replace fossil fueled ones to conserve the environment and reduce oil imports. The Japanese PM added that the “government and private sector of Japan will examine...Read More
To commemorate the memory of the man who made modern agriculture possible in Bhutan, Dasho Nishioka, a museum was inaugurated in Paro on June 17. The museum displays pictures and video footage of the late Dasho Nishioka as well as various farming machineries acquired through the Japanese non-profit grant project. Dasho Nishioka, a Japanese horticulturist,...Read More
The “Thuenpha Phuenzhi” or “Four Harmonious Brothers” is a religious painting or fresco often seen on the walls of temples and lhakhangs in Bhutan. It depicts a partridge, rabbit, monkey and elephant one on top of the other in that order. This sacred painting which is supposed to have originated from one of Buddha’s parables...Read More
Images of 198 Bhutanese who sent their photos made it to the largest ever, digitally produced photomosaic Happiness Flag at Arena de Sau Paulo ahead of the opening FIFA World Cup 2014 match. Thirty two countries are represented by their national football team in the match but the faces of football fans from 207...Read More
Bhutan has invited a team of social metric experts to improve the accuracy of measuring its famous concept of Gross National Happiness. Bhutan is famed for focusing on the nation’s well-being via its happiness levels as opposed to more conventional gross domestic product. The government is clearly keen that the Gross National Happiness survey be...Read More
In the latest Global Peace Index (GPI), Bhutan has been ranked the 16th most peaceful country among 162 countries.The Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think tank attempting to build greater understanding of the relationship between economics, business and peace produces the GPI. The first 28 countries are ranked as having a “very high”...Read More
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bhutan on June 15 after being elected. Among other South Asian countries he visited Bhutan first. He was received by Lyonchhoen Tshering Tobgay and a delegation of senior government officials. Lyonchhoen said that Prime Minister Modi’s visit was a “historic” event for the kingdom. To welcome Prime Minister Narendra...Read More
