Gelephu sits on widest flat land of the country yet Bhutan’s mountain terrain mean the uneven geography is the challenge for any infrastructure development that are necessary for a thriving commercial hub. Bhutan’s commitments to ecology conservation is internationally recognised. On top of that GMC requires enormous investments to build infrastructure in the terrain, for which the country lack adequate capital. Under such circumstances, GMC leadership’s task requires fine tuned marketing skills to win the trust of investors that GMC guarantees return on investments. Read full

This research attempts to explore secular aesthetics reflected in Punarwaspachhika Bhutani Nepali Kavita (Post-Resettlement Bhutanese Nepali Poems), an anthology of Nepali poems representing post-resettlement Bhutanese-Nepali literature published by Nepal Academy in 2022. Religion is still a dominant aspect of the everyday politico-cultural life. It has been more than three decades the people of Bhutan were evicted and made refugees. Majority of those are now resettled in the Global North countries. Their call for human rights, equality and democracy echoed from exile since 1990. But finding secular aesthetics in Bhutanese-Nepali literature is very rare. This qualitative research primarily explores secular aesthetics in the post-resettlement Bhutanese Nepali representative poems. The anthology Punarwaspachhika Bhutani Nepali Kavita has been assessed from the notion of hegemony and counter-hegemony. And this research analyses historicity of the selected post-resettlement Bhutanese Nepali poems with an aim how this text exists (or fails to act) in the counter-hegemonic actions.  Read in full

Interpretation of poetry is generally based on qualitative analysis of semantics, figurative language and expression, and knowledge about the author and literary elements. Recent advancements in computer-based text processing allow us to analyse a large amount of text quantitatively. In this study, we analyse 135 poems published in the anthology ‘Post-resettlement Bhutanese Poetry’ quantitatively using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. We analyse and interpret the words and word patterns in the anthology, classify each poem based on codes for word-use and combine assigned codes into broader themes. NLP in the Nepali language is not developed enough to classify every poem into meaningful categories; however, it can help extract meaningful insights on word-use and themes even in a complicated literary text that would not have been possible using a qualitative approach. NLP was instrumental in breaking down a large amount of text into words and subsequently categorizing the words into codes, sub-themes, and themes for further analysis. This paper presents two useful aspects of literary analysis. Firstly, it interprets the social, cultural, and contemporary aspects of Bhutanese people’s lives after resettlement represented through poetry. Secondly, it presents NLP as a methodological technique in analysing literary texts written in the Nepali language.  Read in full

Citizenship of a state is the right of the holder to have the same rights as any other member of the state. In contrast, categorization of citizenship creates distinct groups with different limitations, rights, and privileges and makes citizens unequal before the law. In Bhutan, there are three major and seven subcategories of citizens created by the government. The three major categories include ‘natural-born citizen of Bhutan,’ ‘Bhutanese citizen by registration,’ and ‘naturalized citizen of Bhutan.’ Based on marriage and presence or absence during regular and surprise censuses, there are seven sub-categories of citizens ranked F1 to F7, the abbreviations of the files (F) in which their names are listed. Marriage laws of Bhutan discourage marriages between a Bhutanese citizen and a non-Bhutanese spouse through lifelong penalties and demotion in citizenship categories. While both polyandry and polygamy are legal for up to four marriages, the encouragement is on intra-category marriages. The marriage law applies even to the crown prince, who is a successor of the throne, that he must marry only ‘natural-born citizen of Bhutan’ to remain eligible to the throne. This article highlights the background of promulgation of citizenship and marriage laws and their implication, so that future researchers can compare the Bhutanese and international laws and study how the outlook of the people are shaped. Read full