Thinking global, living local: Voices in a globalized world

Read all posts for ‘BHUTAN’

  • The Need for Private Health Care in Bhutan

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    The greatest wealth is health- Virgil I do agree with Virgil here. Though no money can buy health, in modern times it seems that money determines access to better healthcare services all over the world as people have started preferring private healthcare services. In Bhutan too it’s no different. The […]

  • An Open Question: Bhutan’s Maturing Democratic Culture

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    In 2008, Bhutan completed one of the most peaceful – and ironic – transitions  to democracy. Initiated by the Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the process involved a voluntary abdication of power in the face of public opposition to democracy. Imagine the living embodiment of a Platonic Philosopher King, someone universally […]

  • Bhutan: Democracy advances but old fears still persist

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    It’s not everyday that you can listen to a dialogue that flits from geopolitics and tourism to dynasties and culture; from refugees and handicrafts to a World Bank-funded road that leaves you in the middle of a wildlife sanctuary. It was precisely such a discussion, however, CultureSPEAK – Window Bhutan – that […]

  • Harnessing Bhutan’s Sacred Rivers for Power

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    The other day I was in a taxi shuttling between Bhutan’s capital city of Thimphu and the Paro Valley along the Chhu River. I sat cleaved between two ladies in the back seat and as we passed the beautiful 14th century monastery of  Thangtong Gyalpo, the woman next to me tipped the last […]

  • Bhutan’s Money Minting Larva/fungi

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    In 1998 Norman Myers, a British environmentalist specializing in biodiversity, ranked Bhutan as one of the top ten biodiversity hotspots in the world. This was because: i) the diverse topography and climatic conditions – ranging from Alpine conditions in the north to temperate and sub-tropical conditions in the south – […]