Editorial

We read the concerns that Gewog Administrative Officers (GAOs) have raised regarding Royal Civil Service Commission’s (RCSC) letter to the home secretary last month as more than just valid and timely. If the real purpose of the move is to retain GAOs, RCSC could have resorted to a much more rational measure.

Thirty-two farmers from five villages in Punakha are in court for a crime that stemmed out of a water shortage problem. They could most likely get a minimum of one year in prison  for damaging reservoir tanks and pipes of the other village. There is no denying what they did …

As we observed World Autism Awareness Day on Sunday, what dawned on many is that there is today a need to break stigma associated with special needs people. Diagnosis and treatment for many families become difficult because of stigma and shame.

The thromde will soon do away with parking spaces on Norzin Lam and keep in abeyance a plan to completely close the street to vehicles.

Despite increased awareness campaigns, HIV/AIDS cases are on the rise. Since the first reported case in 1993, number of people with HIV/AIDS in the country has grown to 515.

A reinvestigation has confirmed that a bar was in operation and sale of alcohol occurred during a party held on the Tendu Central School campus on the nights of March 5 and 6. We applaud the education ministry for reopening the case and looking into the allegations.

The highest loan that the banks disburse every year is to construction and building industry. Yet housing shortage continues, particularly in places like Thimphu.

Many, including journalists, recently fell for an old, by internet standards, prank or “click bait” on the internet.

Bhutanese roads are increasingly becoming unsafe. This is against the backdrop of growing vehicle number, particularly in bigger towns like Thimphu and Phuentsholing. It is deeply worrying to learn that hundreds of drivers take to the roads without licence. There is so an urgent need to call to attention the dangers of such unhealthy practices on our roads.

In what should provide much needed security and reliability, a government data centre has been established.