Bhutan: 'Democracy' from above

Author(s): Joseph C. Mathew

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 19 (May 10 - 16, 2008), p. 29, 31
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40277439
Accessed: 03-12-2019 03:17 UTC

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 ItRs 1,00,000 from 2005-06.
is ContributionsMoreover, the awwfb instituted for the
als
collected from agricultural labourers
at why andbenefit of agricultural labourers has
amount
farmers are being used to finance the state'sseveral deficiencies and deformities. Agri-
administrative expenditure.
streng cultural labourers from the crisis districts
Though the farm crisis has hit farmers like Wayanad, Idukki and Palakkad are
deputa
and agricultural labourers alike, the latterunder-represented in the matter of live
partme
note that the annual administrative ex- group still remain totally neglected bymemberships of the awwfb. Labourers
penditure of the agricultural workers wel- central and state governments. Even po-from these districts also fail in claiming
fare fund was Rs 13.09 million in 2005-06 litical and social organisations are yet totheir due shares of benefits. The case of
[gok 2006]. The administrative expenses turn to them and take up their issues. It isagricultural labourers reminds the social
for AWWFB vary between 15 and 27 per cent rather strange to note that the social secu-philosophy of neoliberalism that the
of the total amount disbursed as benefits. rity measures instituted for the benefit ofweaker is destined to become extinct.
Had the board not been constituted, the agricultural labourers have not only
REFERENCES
salary component should have been met by ceased to function to a very great extent
the state exchequer, which is now conven- during the period of the impasse, but evenDas J Raju (1996): 'State Theories: A Critical Analysis',
Science and Society, 60(0:27-57.
iently passed on to the agricultural workers. the hard-earned money contributed byGovernment of Kerala (1990): The Kerala Agri-
Until 2005-06, the budgetary allocation to agricultural labourers for their welfare cultural Workers Act, 1974', Government Press,
Thiruvananthapuram.
the board had been a token amount of has been diverted to defray the adminis- - (2006): Economic Review, State Planning Board,
Rs 1,000 per annum, which was hiked totrative expenditure of the awwfb. Thiruvananthapuram.

Bhutan: 'Democracy' from Above

participated in the first ever national assem-.
bly election on the basis of adult franchise.
The elections to both the national coun-

cil and national assembly were not on any

MATHEW JOSEPH C identifiable ideological plank. Both the dp^t
and the pdp were competing with each
Only century
two their loyalty to the king and ol
other regardingparti

'to in Bhutan
the existing ruling establishment.
contest the Before, t
end in
the electorate they the
were trying to prove la
in Bhutan accor
A bicameral
their enthusiasm and commitment to imple- p
draft constitut
basis of adult franchise came into exist- menting the vaguely defined 'gross national
experts chosen
ence through elections conducted over a happiness' index (gnh) better than the
period of four months to the national coun- •other. The election campaiga was generally
parties ended u
cil (upper house) in December 2007 and uneventful due to the non-existence of an
loyalty to the k
January 2008 and to the national assembly autonomous civil society and free media.
establishment.
(lower house) on March 24, 2008. The E
The process of making Bhutan a con-^
constitution is
national council consists of 25 members stitutional monarchy was started by the
of whom five are nominated by the king. fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck. In
international at
The rest represent the 20 'Dzongkhags' March 2005 the government of Bhutan
Bhutanese of N
(districts) in the country. The national brought out a draft constitution. King
whoassembly have
consists of 47 seats. Jigme Singyebeen
Wangchuck abdicated his
and are living
As per the political framework prescribed throne in favour of his son, the present a
by the draft constitution, only two parties king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
eastern Nepal.
were allowed to contest the election to the in December 2005. The formation of the
national assembly. The two political parties bicameral national parliament and the
were the Druk Pheunsum Tshogpa (dpt) - elections conducted were based on this
Bhutan Harmony Party - led by former bu- yet to be ratified constitution.
reaucrat Jigmi Y Thinley and the People's
Democratic Party (pdp) led by Sangay Nge- Misleading Perception
dup, the uncle of the present King Jigme Khe- ' Democracy in Bhutan is considered as a gift
sar Namgyal Wangchuck. The dpt won with from the king thus giving the impression
Mathew Joseph C imathewjosephc@yahoo.com)a more than convincing margin, 45 out of the that the king imposed democracy on a re-
is with the department of strategic and 47 seats. As per the election commission of luctant population. The international media
regional studies, University of Jammu, Jammu.
Bhutan around 80 per cent of the electorate juxtapose Bhutan with Nepal in this regard,

Economic & Political weekly QXS may 10, 2008 29

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 ==P= COMMENTARY
portraying the king of Nepal as a power and human rights in the mid-1990s. The agricultural land. Even the forests succumbed
hungry outdated medieval personality and Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist- to the heavy axe of the 'intruders' and the 'chil-
the king of Bhutan as a "modernising mon- Leninist-Maoist) is the latest entrant in the dren of nature, like the birds of the sky* and the
culture fell prey to those who are now masters
arch" in a traditional country. This projection struggle for democracy in Bhutan. of their homeland. With the destruction of their
is a misleading one. It camouflages the vari- The resistance of the people of Nepali environment, the Lepchas had lost their habitat
ous struggles waged by the people to achieve origin led to their forceful eviction by the and source of sustenance.3
human rights and democracy in Bhutan. ruling establishment and this continuedGiven the mindset made clear in the above-
The genealogy of opposition politics in unabated throughout the first half of thementioned quote, it would be a mistake
Bhutan started way back in the 1920s. It 1990s. Around 1,35,000 people of Nepali to assume that he would try to solve the
began with the protests regarding high origin were forcefully expelled from Bhutan
refugee problem in the foreseeable future.
land tax rates by the people of Nepali in this manner of which 1,08,000 people Prime minister Jigmi Y Think^s cabinet
origin. This was followed by the formation live in the seven refugee camps manned by
has two Nepali ministers namely Thakur
of the Jai Gurkha Solidarity Front (jgsf) the United Nations Commission on HumanSingh Powdyel (education) and Nandalal
in 1947. The establishment of the Bhutan Rights in eastern Nepal [Frelick 2008] . The
Rai (information and communications). The
State Congress (bsc) in 1952 was a landmark efforts taken to resolve the refugee problem
presence of these Nepali faces in the cabinet
in the history of opposition politics in through negotiations between Bhutan andis intended to show the international com-
Bhutan. The demands put forward by the Nepal did not yield any result due to the in-
munity that Nepalis in Bhutan are safe and
BSG like the granting of civil and political sincerity of Bhutan and the lack of politicalpolitically empowered. However; it would
rights for all citizens, démocratisation will in the case of Nepal. India has main-
be difficult for the government of Bhutan
of administration and the abolition of tained a diplomatic distance from the issue
to project that all is well with thè Nepalis in
feudalism were unheard of in Bhutan of Bhutanese refugees trapped in Nepal.Bhutan when around 1*35,000 among them
earlier. The bsc was active till the late The us and countries like Australia, Canada
are languishing outside as refugees.
1960s [Joseph Mathew 2006]. and New Zealand proposed phased resettle- Unlike Nepal, the "democracy" in Bhutan
The Bhutanisation drive initiated by the
ment of Bhutanese refugees in their territo-
is a gift from the monarch. It is democracy
ries. According to Ellen Sauerbrey, the us
fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck in the from above and the drafting of the consti-
late 1970s and 1980s as a response to the
assistant secretary of state for population,
tution clearly illustrates this. The constitu-
political developments in Sikkim - merger
refugees and migration, the us will resettle
tion has been drafted by "experts" and not
of Sikkim with India - once again created
60,000 Bhutanese refugees in its territory.1
by a duly elected constituent assembly.
The third country resettlement is bitterly The much hyped transformation of
the opportunity for oppositional politics to
opposed by the refugee organisations and
take off. The violent struggles waged by the Bhutan from an absolute monarchy to a
Gorkha National Liberation Front (gnlf) in
the political parties. constitutional one in a "democratic" man-
the Darjeeling Hills in the 1980s also played ner is an attempt by the Bhutanese ruling
an important role in the resurfacing of op-Anti-Nepal Propaganda elite to hoodwink the international com-
position politics in Bhutan. The most important issue before themunity. The projection of the image of
The Bhutanisation drive included the Citi-
new government under prime ministerthe "bloodless transformation" of Bhutan
from an absolute to a constitutional mon-
Jigmi Y Thinley is the resolution of the
zenship Acts of 1977 and 1985, Marriage Act
of 1980, the census conducted in 1987 to
refugee problem which is lingering for
archy is to deviate the attention of the
the last 18 years. Thinley, an importantinternational community from the resolu-
identify "illegal immigrants" and the imple-
former bureaucrat, was one among the
mentation of 'driglam nam za' (code of so- tion of the refugee problem and to accom-
cial etiquette) in 1989. As a reaction to thesemajor figures in evolving the Bhutanisa-
modate the emerging political dissent in
tion drive in the late 1980s. One of his
discriminatory policies the people of Nepali Bhutan by its ruling elite.
articles titled 'Bhutan: A Kingdom Be-
origin in the southern districts of Bhutan
came out on the streets in large numbers.sieged' published by Bhutan's ministry of NOTES
foreign affairs in 1993 testifies to this.2
Their anger towards the regime got crystal- ì See 'Offe
http://w
He articulated the stereotypical "Nepali
lised into formation of human rights organi- 2oo6-io/2
aggressiveness" which threatened the in-
sations like the People's Forum for Human &CFT0KE
2 See Jig
tegrity of Bhutan. A quote from the above-
Rights, Bhutan (pfhrb), the Human Rights Besieged' i
Organisation of Bhutan (hurob) and the
mentioned article by him amply illustrates A Traditi
Three Vie
Association of Human Rights Activists,
this point. It reads as follows: Affairs, T
Bhutan (ahura Bhutan), and political par- 3 Ibid, p 7.
After the signing of the Sinchula Treaty of 1865
ties like the Bhutan People's Party (bpp), the under which the Bhutanese ceded the Kalim-
Bhutan National Democratic Party (bndp) pong subdivision along with the 18 duars, the REFERENCES
hitherto forbidden land of the Lepchas lay open Joseph C, M
and the Bhutan Congress Party (bcp). The Bhutan', Econ
to the Nepalese. Soon the Lepchas were driven
Druk National Congress (dnc) - a party deeper and deeper into the forests while the 14, April 8-14
Frelick, Bill
formed by the non-Nepali people of eastern aggressive, colonising Nepalese took over the URL: http://
Bhutan- joined in the struggle for democracy more fertile areas for conversion to permanent bhutan17955

Economic & Political weekly B323 may io, 2008 3.1

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