Orientation isn’t so bad after all..

Penstar is right when he said orientation isn’t so bad. Well I realized that today. Today, unlike the past couple of days, I didn’t sleep a wink. I believe it has got something to do with the focal person.

Well this morning, we had the officials from Ministry of Information and technology (MoIC) along with the secretary, speaking on “the role of ICT and media”. The secretary delivered his lecture very nicely and precisely. I enjoyed the session so much. Later during the Q&A session I wanted to ask a question but missed the opportunity. I had been following on every article on media and had gained some knowledge on it. Hence media has been my favorite topic of discussion.
The question I wanted to ask was:
We all know that media plays a vital role in the democratic Bhutan but Bhutanese media viz. Kuensel and BBS are accused of being too negative by the government. In Bhutan, anything said against anyone or discussed in the forums on internet, are termed as being “too sensitive”. What are the initiatives taken against this and who’s responsible so that people can discuss things in open and perhaps come to a solution which would contribute towards developing Bhutan.

p.s. I did not get to ask the above question. Also it sounds like a stupid question now that I get to re-read it once again so I have no regrets having missed the chance.


This was however amended during the second session. For the second session we had people from the ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) presided by its secretary. The topic of discussion was “Bhutan’s diplomacy, international relations and global identity”. There were many officials accompanying the secretary. The graduates were first briefed on the topic which was followed by a Q&A session. I got back my missed opportunity here. The question I asked was:

Bhutan in the 1900s has signed the Indo-Bhutan treaty with the British-India. One of its clauses was, “India would not interfere in the national interest of Bhutan”. This was however reviewed and amended under the leadership of the 5th king Jigme Kheser. In 2007 Indo-Bhutan treaty was amended. The above said clause was changed to: “Bhutan and India will corporate and help each other with the matters concerning the national interest”.
Well this is not the exact words of the clause but my interpretation of it. In this regard, my question is, if India interferes in the domestic affairs of Bhutan, and then there are chances that India may consider Bhutan as one of its many states. We all know India is Bhutan’s largest developing partner but are we overlooking that fact that India can prove a threat to the security and sovereignty of Bhutan? With the citizens of Bhutan fearing that this may happen in the near future will Bhutan be able to achieve his Majesty’s vision of vibrant democracy?


My question was answered by one of the officials. He was very precise in answering and I liked what I heard. He said he’s happy that we are concerned about the security of the country but was advised not to worry at all. He said Bhutan and India have reached to such a level of relation that trust is an established factor and that India would not harm Bhutan.

Later today, we had officials from Dzongkha Development committee speaking on “importance of Dzongkha Language”. Only the monks and ILCS (Institute of Language and cultural studies) graduates asked questions pertaining to the Dzongkha language and how it’s declining in Bhutan, what are the measures taken by the committee to improve the national language etc etc etc..