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Bhutan News Service

Bhutan News Service

Bhutan goes strict to ban tobacco

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 07:22 AM PST

If you are living in Bhutan and that your home has smuggled tobacco, it is time that you got to be cautious: cops can raid your home.

In a bid to becoming the world's first smoke-free nation, Bhutan police are training a special tobacco sniffer dog to help them track down smuggled tobacco from the homes of smokers.

Bhutan officially declared the ban on the sale of tobacco in 2005, but to no avail. It is believed that the ban visibly failed to generate an impact since the smokers continue to smuggle tobacco from neighboring India.

A legislation has been recently passed that grants police powers to enter homes and in the case they find shopkeepers selling tobacco the latter will have to serve jail term up to five years. This rule also applies to those smokers who fail to provide customs receipts for imported cigarettes.

Smoking in private is not illegal in the Himalayan kingdom, but as the sale of cigarettes is banned, smokers are restricted to 200 cigarettes or 150 grams of other tobacco products a month that can be legally imported. And they must provide a customs receipt when challenged by police.

The Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency has started raids, with officials allowed to enter homes if someone is seen smoking or if officials have reason to believe there is illegal tobacco there.

There has been widespread grumbling about the new rule.

“When it comes to the penalties in the tobacco control act, it is, in every sense of the word, draconian,” the country’s largest selling newspaper, Kuensel, said in an editorial.

The Tobacco Act was passed in a joint sitting of parliament, with opposition from only four of the 65 voting members.

“It’s a new year. And I have a new year’s wish: that the first person to be caught and jailed under the Tobacco Control Act is a member of parliament,” opposition leader Tshering Tobgay wrote on his popular blog.

Meanwhile, prime minister said the law cannot be called draconian and it was passed in the “collective wisdom” of the members of parliament.

“It is cancerous, both in the literal and the metaphoric sense, cancerous to society and to individual and in many ways it is no different from psychotropic drugs, for which the penalty in certain countries is death,” Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley said.

Relay hunger strike continues on third day

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 01:11 AM PST

Asylum seekers, absentees of official registration conducted in 2006 and registered exiled Bhutanese, who have been waiting for their identity cards or whose rations have been suspended due to various reasons, have continued their hunger strike on the third day.

Participants of relay hunger strike at Sanischare camp/Jagen Gautam

They have demanded prompt registration and refugee status before conducting the elections of Camp Management Committees (CMC) in various camps.

Over a dozen of such Bhutanese have been carrying out their protest program in Sanischare camp since Monday.

They have displayed various placards with slogans – what is my identity?, ensure my food, shelter and identity, etc.

The agitating folks have also warned that they wouldn’t allow conducting CMC elections if their demands are not met.

The group leading such people has been claiming that around 3,190 are in need of their refugee status.

Reported by Jagen Gautam for BNS from Sanischare camp

Kingdom welcomes Wi-Fi signals in Thimphu

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 12:32 AM PST

For the first time in the internet history of Bhutan, the capital city has started using trial signals of Wi-Fi from this week.

However, it is limited to vicinity of the Bhutan Telecom (BT) head office in Thimphu.

BT aims to expend DrukNet Wi-Fi services to other parts of the capital and rest of the districts gradually if it is able to accomplish the trial service successfully.

BT has revealed that it has around 7,000 broadband subscribers in through-out the country.

PM Thinley assures power cooperation with Bangladesh

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 12:15 AM PST

Prime Minister Jigyi Y Thiney, who is in Dhaka since Monday, on Tuesday assured Bangladesh of all cooperation in the power sector, media reports said.

PM Thinely

PM Thinley gave the assurance during the official talks with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina at her office.

According to his assurance, an upstream country Bhutan would protect the interests of downstream Bangladesh regarding free flow of river water as well.

After the talks, Bangladesh and Bhutan signed an agreement on cultural exchange and a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in health sector, online edition of the Financial Expressed carried today.

Based on this MoU, Bhutan can hire medical doctors from Bangladesh to fulfill the high demand of doctors in Bhutan.

शरणार्थीहरु अनसनमा

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 10:48 PM PST

मोरङको शनिश्चरे शिविरमा आज पनि राहत वञ्चित भुटानी शरणार्थीहरुले अनसन जारी राखेका छन्

हिजो बिहान देखि १७ जना भुटानी शरणार्थीहरु अनिश्चितकालका लागि भोक हडतालमा उत्रिएका हुन् ।

शनिश्चरे शरणार्थी शिविरमा शरणापेक्षीको वर्गमा परेका , शिविर बाहिरका सँग बिबाह गरेका , फोटो खिची परिचय पत्र पाउन बाँकी , शरणार्थी गणनामा छुटेका र शरणार्थीको रुपमा दर्ता नभएका भुटानीले दर्ता तथा सहायताको माग सहितको ज्ञापन पत्र त्यहाँस्थित शरणार्थी समन्वय एकाई र अन्य सहायता निकायका अधिकारीहरुलाई यस अघि नै बुझाएका थिए ।

एउटै परिवारमा पनि सहायता पाउने र नपाउने ब्यक्ती रहँदा परिवारहरु चर्को मारमा परेको हडतालको अगुवाई गरिरहेका शरणार्थी किशोरकुमार भण्डारीले बताउनु भएको छ ।

झापा र मोरङका सातै शिविरमा सहायताबाट वञ्चित शरणार्थीको संख्या ३ हजार एक सय नब्बे रहेको सहायता वञ्चित पीडित शरणार्थी समुहले बताउँदै आएको छ ।