Labour shortages being witnessed due to stringent labour laws; Bhutan making laudable strides in ICT, in poverty reduction; Illiteracy and unemployment still remain major challenges; PM Thinley applauds BIMSTEC as a free-trade area
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • Reports have noted that although the industrial base of Bhutan was expanding, labour shortages were being witnessed at various levels. This was mainly due to the restrictions imposed on hiring labourers from across the border. Stringent labour laws have made the hiring of workers costly with stiff penalties for workers found working illegally1.

    The country has however made laudable strides in the outreach of information communication technology (ICT). For instance, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), has launched a website for updating the prices of agriculture commodities2.

    A recent report on the Millennium Development Goals notes that Bhutan has made substantial progress on issues like malnutrition among children (which has reduced from 19 percent in 2000 to 9.8 percent in 2007), a decrease in the number of people living below the poverty line (from 36.3 percent in 2000 to 23.2 percent in 2007). The report notes that major challenges still faced by Bhutan include illiteracy and unemployment. Unemployment rate among the youth had quadrupled from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 9.9 percent in 2007 and around 16,500 children still cannot access primary education3.

    In other developments, Bhutan would be hosting the BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory, which would be a centre of information on culture-related issues. Poverty reduction and community vitalization would be the two focal areas of research for the centre4. Bhutan has also applauded the proposal of making BIMSTEC a free-trade zone area. Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley noted that transport and infrastructure, international terrorism, crime and drug trafficking, poverty alleviation and environmental degradation were potential areas of cooperation between countries of the region5.

    Top