weblog shifted to wordpress

Experimenting I shifted my weblog from blogpost to wordpress. So if anyone is reading this and if you should decide to visit my weblog please go here:

http://www.sangaykhandu.wordpress.com/

Thank you for visiting my weblog.

Obligatory and Timely: RTI

A priority for any government which is seriously committed to transparency and accountability to the public should be entrenching the right to information (called RTI after this). Constitutional provision of RTI alone is not enough and therefore, needs enactment of a specific law. It should also be born in mind that provisions form the basis for such a law.
The rights to information statute, freedom of information statute are some examples of what some of the other democracies in the world have enacted in allowing citizenry rights in terms of information consumption. Only when democratic populace has access to information about the decisions it’s government makes can they truly use powers democracy promises them. The right of the public to access information is vital to making democratic participation more meaningful.

An effective tool in exposing corruption, access to information will complement the government’s strong anti-corruption policy in Bhutan of zero tolerance, it is inevitably a vital force. The public would then truly be participating in the local development and ensuring that development the local government does their jobs correctly, on time and in keeping with relevant rules. While RTI remains a constitutional obligation to have in place, it is also critical that the public at large understand RTI as future users of the statue. Individually and as well as institutions (media for instance), we may have a lot of questions that need answering too. This is not to say that answers are not available now but clearer institutionalized mechanisms need to be in place. Mechanisms which would make information sharing a necessity and for others, points of delivery for information consumers established so that public information does not become proprietary to any one person or institution (unless it concerns national security). It has been a year since knowledge of draft legislation on the right to information has come in the knowledge of the public (post democracy) and since then there has been no news. Right to information legislation has the potential to bring about more transparency and openness in governance and democracy to the people. By not giving it enough priority, it would delay the public that right by such duration and period, especially at a time when we talk so much of a vision of a vibrant and functioning democracy with zero corruption.

Hon'ble Minister for Ministry of Information and Communication on RTI

I sought an appointment with the Hon'ble Minister for the Ministry of Information and Communication in the morning today. He was kind enough to accomodate me around his lunch time. I would like to thank the Hon'ble Minister for always being so accomodating. I had gone to see the Hon'ble Minister on the status of the Right to Information Bill (RTI).

Sometime last year (please forgive my lack of specificity on the date) a workshop was organized where participants from different agencies, including the media, were invited to discuss the draft RTI with an expert from India who had worked on the RTI in India. With hind sight, one realizes the discussions had been mostly about information sharing protocal (on the day that I had joined the workshop), albeit the absence of a RTI draft on the table for the participants. Perhaps, since I had joined only mid way through the workshop, I might have been mistakenh to believed it was really about RTI with a need for a framework or gist of the draft RTI. But I did hear the work RTI mentioned several times during the workshop but no one really had a copy. Nonetheless, it has been a while and with the 5th session of the Parliament drawing closer and dates for submission of draft Bills to the Parliament, it's timely to wonder what the Parliament may table this time.

The RTI, I hear has been in the draft for a while now. Although enshrined in the Constitution, without actually enacting a legislation, it would be difficult to bring the relevant provision into effect. The editorial of Kuensel today mentioned that there were more questions than answers and questions need answering. This is just one of the many questions the Public may have today. The provision in the Constitution needs to be invoked by legislating the RTI statute.

According to the Information and Communication Minister the cabinet had not arrived at any definite decision as to when the draft Bill would be sent to the Parliament but it does appear that the government will be tabling it sometime in a year or so. The cabinet receives matters and prioritizes them and RTI does not appear to be in the priority folder at the moment, although it remains a matter of persepctive if it does deserve priority.

The good news is that the draft has been distributed to the cabinet members for scrutiny and will be discussing and would eventually be sent to the Parliament but the bad news is, there is no timeline or any dates yet.

Right to Information for Bhutan

Section 3 of Article 7 of our Constitution clearly states that a Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to information.

The MOIC had organized a workshop on the topic with particpants from a host of agencies and chaired by the Secretary of MOIC. Since then there has been no news and developments on the matter. The 5th session of the Parliament is approaching and I hope that we can and will be taking it up this session. Governance is at the very heart of democracy and the support and political of the Government was visible with the initiative of the exercise but one may get skecptical if it takes too long for it to come into public domain.

I have now set up a page for dessimination and sensitization on the matter.

2 days Orientation Workshop on United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Gap analysis

The 2 days orientation workshop on UNCAC Gap analysis concluded today in Thimphu. The objective of the orientation workshop was to orient the core team consisting of members from various agencies to champion in the fight against corruption namely the Anti Corruption Commission, the Attorney General's Office, the Royal Monetary Authority, financial institutions like the Bank of Bhutan, the Bhutan National Bank, the Royal Bhutan Police and the National Environment Commission. The core team comprises mostly lawyers from these agencies and with some other participants for workshop. The core team will now in the next several weeks work at the Anti Corruption Commission premises on identifying and doing a gap analysis of our own anti corruption and related laws. This report would become the input for the ACA amendment bill which will then be submitted to the Good Governance Committee of the National Council. Using UNCAC as a reference our own laws could be amended keeping in mind our own needs and context.

The workshop was faciliated by Mr.Manzoor Hasan, Director at the Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC University, Dhaka from Bangladesh. Mr. Hasan was the founding Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (1996 to 2003) and has also been the recipient of the award of the Officer of Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his work on transparency.

Civil Service Bill for debate in the 5th National Council session

The National Council will be deliberating in the House this summer session the Civil Service Bill passed by the National Assembly. In the winter session of the Parliament in 2009, the Houses could not come to concensus over the Bill and therefore, the Bill died. The new Bill comes to the National Council after being passed by the other House.

The Good Governance Committee will be leading the works leading up to the debate in the House. The Committee has already initiated early stages of consultation with stakeholders. Although, discussions from the 4th session of Parliament will become a baseline, final shape of the Bill will depend on the stakeholder consultations that the House had decided to incorporate in law-making process in all legislative works and debates in the House.

The  Royal Civil Service Commission has posted the Civil Service Bill on it's website (this link will take you to the document). Feedback and comments would be a welcome contribution.

House re-convenes again - February 10, 2010

The National Council reconvened in the Lhengzhuk khang of the House yesterday in Thimphu. There were discussions which would lead up to formalization og Agendas for the 5th session of Parliament.

The secretariat made presentations to the House on agency budget for observations before submission on February 15, 2010 to the ministry of finance.

Formalization of agendas would take place over 2 - 3 days starting tomorrow (February 12, 2010) in keeping with the Paro Declaration of 2009 by the 1st National Council.

Planning and Monitoring System (PlaMS)

After it's first workshop in 2009, PlaMS still remains very distant from a segment of users. The members of Parliament could benefit a deal from access to it and it would no doubt save time and effort in trying to provide information queries from individual members of Parliament. It is in my view only logical that these information be accessible so that it would help members do their home works better, have access to a comprehensive framework of data that is privy to only the executive at the moment. Giving accessibility to the members will also help clarify a lot of the questions that individual members may have for the Government. Good information accessibility will certainly help make decisions that may need to be made in the Parliament of higher quality and perhaps, more in snyc with the needs of time as members would be able to analyze for themselves indicators and parameters to get both macro and micro perspectives.

I plan on writing to our Thrizin and to others asking for members to be given access to this rich source of information that is not only critical but vital for an informed parliamentary discharge of duty.

Lunana Gewog

 

Lunana gewog is the largest of the four gewogs of Gasa dzongkhag. At Thanza (at the extreme right corner of the map) GLOF mitigation project starts it's 2nd phase soon. It is seven days walk from Gasa dzongkhag headquarters. It may be the biggest challenge to the government in fulfilling the government's aim of Universal Connectivity of all 205 gewogs and Vision 2020's Electricity for all by the year 2020 (preponed to 2013).

Day 2

McKinsey's 5 major initiatives to achieve target aspirations:

1. Achieve cost savings of 10-15% and throughput improvement of ~10% in existing operations (hospitals and basic health units) in 12-18 months

2. To improve utilization and enhance capacity and quality of healthcare professionals, redraft MoH's HR masterplan through demand-based deployment and focussed training for up-skilling/multi-tasking

3. Provide 100% nationwide access (especially remote and rural segments) to healthcare professional through a technology-enabled platform operated by an independent agency

Restructuring Financing to improve quality of delivery in an equitable, sustainable and efficient manner

This is basically the crux of the entire workshop and the basis. Discussions will continue tomorrow and an outcome should have materialized.

4. Explore the mechanics of separating the payor function from the provider function by launching a 3-6 month feasibility study with the aim of

Benchmark int'l case studies
Recommend a Bhutan specific answer (payor model and performance management system)

5. a. Selectively allow private participation in healthcare provision with services (beggining with non-clinical services like cosmetics etc., and finally moving to selected specialized services (e.g. gynecology, ENT, etc)

b. Set up a regulatory framework to ensure quality of private players to be implemented by QASD in the MoH

Day 1 - Workshop on strategic options for Sustainable Healthcare Financing in Bhutan

The resources persons and experts from the WHO, the World Bank and McKinsey made presentations. It also included exchange of a few opinions but questions and discussions have been slotted in for tomorrow. Presentors also shared their experiences in the different regions of the world. It was interesting to note that the Bhutanese public financing of the health care system in only one of two in the region to be closest to the tax financing model. Although pure forms of any of the three major models do not exist now, we are as close as we can get to the tax financing model. Other models that exist are the social insurance system and lastly the private insurance system. The United States identifies with the latter model and the former models can be seen in Korea, Japan and a few others. Notable differences are apparent between these models and for Bhutan, although it maybe a little too premature to conclude, but I thought Bhutan could continue with what we have been doing but however, since sustainability is an issue and a common Bhutanese can not be deprived of healthcare and to allow them to continue to truly enjoy GNH, the Government may have to consider financing to the extent possible, without putting any burden on them and yet, set an inclusive policy. It is most important that we do not creat a divide in obtaining healthcare.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Paro Int'l Airport needs vehicular parking solutions as well

Not having visited Paro Int'l airport many times, I make this opinion with today's visit as my basis.

The parking lot of the airport looked very very crowded and the security personnel simply kept requesting everyone parked near by the entrance and the exit to park their cars some place else. Unfortunately, there weren't many places to park around the parking lots. This is a sign of the issues to arise in the near future as more and more flights are introduced with more visitors coming and leaving the country as is the policy of the Government. Perhaps, the concerned agencies are already looking into the matter. It may not demand immediate action but certainly befits a consideration in the plans to be implemented with the new policies.

Today's kuensel ran an aricle on our flag carriers' hangar conditions and it's very disturbing to learn that it could cause problems. Given the recent spates of grave accidents and lives lost of loved ones; it's critical that no compromises are made when it comes to public transportation in general. Looking forward to the developments in connection.

Liberalization in the Economic sector and the Social sector

The idea of liberalization in the Bhutanese context brings to my mind the the tourism sector on one end and the health sector on the other (from the social sectors).

With liberalization of the tourism sector, it is only natural that most operators and stake holders would be displeased as this would mean entry of more competitors. It would make doing business in the sector very difficult if it wasn't difficult already. Some would even argue that uncontrollable number of visitors would jeopardise cultural diluation at a rate very difficult to rectify. But there are still others who would look at it from a positive perspective. A perspective of opening up avenues for self-employment by more people and better trickle down effect. It may sound hypothetical but it's time more people tap into this natural resource by allowing a more convenient environment. This argument can only be strengthened once the details are etched out. However, working towards more standard hotels is another interesting issue. Although stakeholders of the tourism sector have been expressing displeasure with the idea of liberalization with the argument of protecting the exclusivity of Bhutan; raising the standard of local hotels on the other hand has not received much warm reception either interestingly, perhaps it is so because the hospitality sector and tourism do not integrate together when it is logical to do so. Liberalization in the sector would mean offering opportunities to more Bhutanese in jest.

On the other hand privatization in the health care system could back fire. Hypothetically speaking, if private hospitals were to come into Bhutan for the reason of 'relieving pressure' of the public health care delivery system so that better services could be provided to all. It then becomes a question of affordability, unless ofcourse the entry of the private hospitals does not in any way disturb state spending in the Social sector and how it is operated.

In my mind there are a few pointers to ponder on before allowing privatization in the health care system.

Pro-privatization people are fond of saying that privatization will "relieve pressure" on the public system, helping to control costs and reduce waiting lists. But, these benefits do not necessarily happen and for the reasons I now cite below:

*Private hospitals and clinics cost more. Unlike public establishments, private hospitals and clinics need to set aside significant amounts of money for things like investor profits, marketing and taxes. Public establishments are waived do not have to pay these dues. As a result, only a small proportion of money spend in private establishment actually goes to patient care. In contrast, almost all the money spent in the public system goes directly to front-line care.

*Private health care creates longer waiting lists by siphoning personnel and resources way from the public system. Doctors and other professionals are lured away from the public system by higher salaries in the private sector. The resulting staff shortages in the public system lead to longer waits for treatment, not shorter ones. This has been a reason that we have been toiling with even as an idea for sometime now.

Given these reasons, which I do not claim to be definite, needs to be weighed. If the poorer section of the Bhutanese society needs to wait longer for a sub-standard health care and if the ones who can afford and pay more also need to wait longer becasuse there are richer customers (it is important to remember that the target market is not Bhutan); which Bhutanese stand to gain? Yes, the Government would have helped generate more revenue by way of taxes and also, created jobs but this could cost the average Bhutanese much more than meets the eye.

I remain open with the issue as it has the most profound of implications on the lives of all of us.

Exchange rates and currency buyer: an experience at BoB, Thimphu

I had an interesting experience yesterday while I was at the main office of the Bank of Bhutan in Thimphu. I was there to buy USD800. After getting the necessary approvals from the Royal Monetary Authority, I took my turn at the counter where the bank officials did their routine processings. The next stop was with a gentleman who then actually handed over to the clients the actual foreign currency to complete the transaction.

Here's the interesting part, he pulls out USD300 travellers cheques and another USD500 and sums up my total to $800 accurately. As I re-count the money I realize that four bills of USD50 denominations in addition to three USD100 bills had also been thrown in to make the total of USD800. On enquiring, not only does he tell me that the exchange rate for the USD100 bill and USD50 bill were equal but he kindly reminded me that I was lucky to be in a position to have even that. That statement particularly became the high light of my own personal experience of the customer service at the Bank of Bhutan, Thimphu. I did try and clarify with the General Manager about the differences in the exchange rates of these two bills of different denominations, but he explained to me that the Royal Monetary Authority had not supplied the Bank with enough bills and instead had been asked to distribute these assorted bills to the customers in a mixed fashion. I could not really get a clear picture as to what a good mix was talking to the general manager but it occurs to me that perhaps, it's not right for the customers to have to pay the equivalent exchange rate for USD100 bills when one is provided with bills of other denominations whose value is below what has been paid for. The general manager also referred to earlier complaints by customers and that since then they had stopped issuing USD bills of smaller denominations but USD 50s still remained acceptable.

Being able to acquire foreign exchange in Bhutan is a right conferred to each Bhutanese although some people may like to refer to it as luck (an astounding feat) but more critical here is the flaw in the system where one pays for product A and is supplied with product B which values less than the former, in a simple logic of transaction.

My experience yesterday has certainly brought this anamoly in the system to my notice and I hope this avid effort from my side helps bring it to the notice of others as well as I will be writing to all concerned.

This piece of writing is intended only to high light something that could be considered as "improvable" for the benefit of all and not to try and tarnish anyone or any organization.

GNH and being Bhutanese

One often finds there is so much discussion on and about Gross National Happiness or GNH where ever the Bhutanese inteligensia is said to be found. I do not disagree with it's significance given especially the deep and powerful impact on all our lives that GNH as the core givernance and development philosophy commands. It is only befitting that such an issue be discussed at all levels of society more than ever now.

Thinking about Happiness, one is inevitably confronted with the question of the definition and understanding of Happiness in context of persons, people and ultimately communities. It is in this light that it is absolutely critical that one needs to first understand people and communities before even beggining to discuss general happiness as a subject.

In arriving at what GNH now means to a Bhutanese, we perhaps might need to understand what being Bhutanese is all about. Maybe then GNH can truly be said to have worked it's way into the very social fabric of the Bhutanese life. Perhaps then GNH would mean more to invidials as Bhutanese and as one large community.

Even as academics and great thinkers discuss GNH; more often than not one would find that for someone who has no technical understanding of GNH and it's nuances find themselves simply lost. Someone like that would probably think of happiness in his or her context which is only logical. In identifying and characterizing Bhutaneseness, we are then trying to characterize a commnunity which is the agrregation of Bhutanese individuals.

One would find that even though we have GNH in our constitution and every other important document in the country, many ordinary Bhutanese still do not understand how to relate to GNH. Does GNH leave room for individual happiness or is it only as one large community or it is the one and the samething?

The four pillars seem fine in the order of the priority but really, why is that ordinary Bhutanese can not find themselves to relate to them easily.

Entertainment for thothormi site workers

Between my trip to Thothormi (Lunana) and now, I have had a lot of time to think and I thought this issue was importnat and hopefully, I will be able to write something to this effect in one of the papers. This is just an attempt to pool together my thoughts on the subject.

The task of removing huge boulders and also breaking them; working in the very very cold waters of thothormi lake is a vert difficult job. While I hiked upto the summit, I realised it was a good distance for the workers each morning, possibly about an hour and a half. Although this may seem like a good idea at first, one soon realises that the hard work once at the site needs all the energy that can be conjured. I hear that next camp site will be closer to the lake, that should make it easier to save some energy walking.

I learnt during my visit that initially the idea had been to engage the workers from 0900 hrs till 1600 hrs with an hour's break for lunch like anywhere else. However, the management later arrived at a decision to execute the labour work on contract, allowing for flexi-hours work. Sundays still remain a holiday and other free times often one would run into many workers wandering around thanza locality and beyond. Thanza is the place in the picture where the camp is posted.

Imagine bringing in some 300 people who mostly do not come from the locality into a community. Imagine then that they have hours to spend with not much to do after working. They go out looking for something to do obviously.When one thinks of it on the surface, one would easily be lead to believe that these workers are trouble makers, thinking of the times they may have gotten drunk and caused comotions. Imagine living in a very very secluded place, cold and harsh weather conditions, not the most apetizing of meals, difficult working conditions and after add all that, no family to return to or any engaging entertainment, in a place like lunana, there arent many things one could do as days pass by.

While I was sitting there, watching these workers at work, I heard a radio (walkie-talkie) crackle and then a voice. I was transported back to Thimphu for a second, listening to Kuzoo on the FM radio. I realised quickly it was the radio operator at the base camp who player some music over the walkies and the music echoed around the site. When the song completed, the operator called out to listeners to make requests and obediently, our guide named a song and dedicated it to the workers, once again, the site echoed with the song and it seemed almost like easier somehow to work.

Entertainment to occupy time in a more accpetable fashion is what I am talking about. Movie screenings, television programmes (and I saw people play khuru) and some other forms of entertainment would benefit everyone greatly. The camp leaders would have less worries and the workers would be happier works by that much. Productivity would increase and the gross savings of the families of the workers there would greatly improve not to mention the mishaps that could be avoided.

Corruption : High Risk and Low Gain - Thinking in my own head

This is a reference to recent spurt of news on mines and how agencies have failed to clarify in the minds of the people doubts about the system's unclear, opaque and confusing buck passing.Fines have been levied and warnings made out; such stories come to light with each edition of news prints (thanks to committed works by journalists). And on the other hand we say we want to turn corruption into a high risk but low gain prospect.

Would fining such serious gaps mean we are making corruption a High Risk and Low Gain prospects for amassing quick wealth? Are warnings enough? Wouldnt these actions sent out messages to others that corruption is worth it if by paying a small fine and perservering through some warnings could fetch a good chunk of wealth (proceeds of corruption)? Most people would know that mines as natural resources belong to the entire nation and allowing them to be misused without benefitting the masses (in terms of royalties and other fees) means violating the rights of the common Bhutanese? As someone with no knowledge I can only guess that even 1 single day of activity and transaction at a mine site would translate into 1000s of Ngultrums and here we are talking of a tiny winy fine and a warning which may continue again in the future.

The example maybe of mines for now but, really the enforcement needs to be better in other fields too. Otherwise this may sent out a very very wrong message and become the source of rising corruption in Bhutan.

Could MPs have been another agency at the GLOF inception workshop

An inception workshop was conducted in Punakha with representation from various agencies of the Government and the UN system in Bhutan on January 14, 2010. I have come to understand that an Early Warning System (work-in-progress) was also discussed for the benefit of the people of the 5 dzongkhags.

GLOF stands as the biggest natural disaster threat to us and perhaps, involving elected representatives from the concerned dzongkhags would have been meaningful and helpful in the implementation of the project, however small the contribution may have been. The locals need to be sensitised in all ways possible and one could see some concerted effort towards that objective in addition. As someone who has visited the GLOF identified thothormi lake project site at lunana in Gasa, I can appreciate the effort agencies have been expending, however, teaming up in such matters can only bring benefits.

There could be other such matters where MPs could contribute in their little ways when it concerns their constituencies and much more. One might want to consider the Parliament as another agency in the country to contribute as team players and not an isolated and compartmentalized institution with a separate goal of legislation only.

1st Annual Nomad Festival in Nagsephel, Bumthang

The 1st Annual Nomoad Festival was organized in Bumthang by the Cenn. Park and consisted a congregation of 8 regional nomads.

It was interesting for me to learn about a lot of the projects the Government continues to support in these communities and gives one an idea of the other possible support in future.

The homestay programme needs to improve in a lot of ways but if one just ones to enjoy warm Bhutanes hospitality, I would say it's ready but for the ones expecting along with that some degree of modern comfort of a farmhouse, it's got some way to go but in anycase, I think it's a good start and hopefully, by the next festival, it would be only gotten better.

Perhaps then other districts could benefit from it.

Catching Gasa's 1st Snowfall

The 102nd National Day celebrations continued after December 17 with a 2 day archery match amongst the public, their representatives and civil servants. It was a way to pay tribute and celebrate Bhutan and being Bhutanese.

The morning of the 1st day of the match saw Gasa white and fluffy and shooting arrows in the whiteness was a most memorable way to celebrate and end the 102nd National Day celebrations. Gasa received her 1st snowfall on December 18, 12 days before the rest of Bhutan received hers.