Bhutan spreads happiness to UN
By Barbara Plett

This week the General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution that aims to make happiness a "development indicator".

Bhutan's ambassador Lhatu Wangchuk told the BBC the next step was to help UN members better understand the concept.

He admitted some were sceptical when Bhutan started lobbying for the resolution 10 months ago. But ultimately it won 66 co-sponsors, including the UK.

The idea is based on Bhutan's model of GNH, or Gross National Happiness, ... Read More

Bhutanese royal wedding to be held in October
The 31-year-old king of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan has said that he intends to marry in October, local media report.

The British-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck said his future wife, 20-year-old student Jetsun Pema, would be a "great servant to the nation".

Wangchuck is widely revered in the country of some 700,000 people.

The king took over after the abdication in 2006 of his father, who began the country's democratic transition.

In March 2008, Bhutan became a constitutional ... Read More

Remote Bhutan Aims to Draw Investors to the Himalayas
By PATRICK BARTA

Reuters

THIMPHU, Bhutan—The government of this remote Himalayan nation, which didn't have television until the late 1990s, has a message for the outside world: Bhutan, once largely closed to foreigners, is open for business.

Among the world's most isolated places, Bhutan was ignored in the rush to emerging markets in recent decades. Tourists weren't allowed until the 1970s and even today, only a few thousand visit each year, with just a handful of major foreign ... Read More

The Meaning of Miss Bhutan
Even the tiny Himalayan kingdom can't escape globalization—and may even like it.

If you're looking for evidence that the hackneyed term globalization means something after all, then look no further than Miss Bhutan. On a crisp Sunday afternoon, dressed down in a sequined top, painted-on blue jeans and snake-skin stilettos, 25-year-old Tsokye Tsomo Karchung frets about Facebook. Someone has set up an unauthorized fan page and uploaded her photographs, she says. Friend requests from strangers—2,000 ... Read More

Bhutanese Refugees Are Killing Themselves at an Astonishing Rate
How unemployment, depression, and a lack of family ties lead to extreme desperation.
Danielle Preiss
Apr 13 2013

Jai Subedi still doesn't know why Mitra Mishra killed himself. Subedi, a case manager for Bhutanese refugees at Interfaith Works Center for New Americans in Syracuse, NY, was with the 20-year-old Mishra at Schiller Park the evening of July 3, 2010.
"We played soccer just the previous day until 6 p.m. and he was totally fine," Subedi said of Mishra, ... Read More

Bhutan’s capital Thimphu to have 1st Hindu temple
Bhutan’s capital and largest city Thimphu will have its first permanent Hindu temple in the near future.

Ground-breaking (Sa-long) ceremony, held on October 10 at Kuenselphodrang, was conducted by His Holiness the Je Khenpo (Chief Abbot); and was attended among others by national assembly speaker, opposition leader, cabinet ministers, national council chairperson, parliament members, business community and pundits, according to reports.

Construction work for this temple on 2.53-acre government land, which is on the way to ... Read More

Indo-Bhutan Friendship Rally winners: Pritul Dev and Nirav Mehta
Thimpu: Pritul Dev (co-driver Nirav Mehta) won the top honours in the Extreme Category in the week-long fourth JK Tyre Indo-Bhutan Friendship Car Rally here on March 8th..

In second spot was SK Asgar Ali (Debashish Ghosh) followed by Saptarishi Saha (Indranil Biswas).

Topping the charts in the Adventure category were Sudip Ghosh (Soumen Mondal) ahead of Soumya Jati (Chandan Sen) and Debdutta Mukherjee (Mukesh Thakker).

The rally was organised by Friendship Car Rally Association ... Read More