Showing posts with label Rupee Crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rupee Crisis. Show all posts

04 January 2014

Wang in Phuntsholing, Blessing in Jaigaon

Merchants in Jaigaon have developed a special liking for Buddhism ever since the Wang in Phuntsholing began a few years ago. They say they feel liberated at the very news of Wang in Phuntsholing. They agree that buddhism is the greatest religion because it's the only religion that could bring so many people to Phuntsholing even when country is suffering of rupee shortage.

Photo by Nawang
The pirated CD bhai near Bhutan Gate says that Bhutanese devotee are very dedicated to their religion, they have not only come from different corners of the country but every evening they come on religious walk across the border and return with bags of blessings. He says that pronography CD sells very well.

The pani puri sellers also acknowledge that their health improved drastically ever since the Wang began because they get to do nonstop physical exercise. Their claim is evident from the huge biceps and the whitish fingers. They say that they don't even get time to wash their hands after peeing.

Beggar community however complains to the authority that they need breathing and sitting space. The Bhutanese crowd in Jaigaon during the Wang pose threat to the health of hygiene of the beggars on the street. The authority persuaded them to withdraw their complaint letter with the condition that they will write to Wang organisers to ask the devotees to pay the beggars in rupee.

Bhutanese taxi drivers are in the process of writing a proposal letter to RSTA to allow them to carry at least 20 passengers so that they could compete with the Indian counterparts. But RSTA rejected their proposal. The road safety authority states that only Indian drivers have the religious rights to send Bhutanese devotees to heaven.

Bhutanese Businessmen in Phuntsholing who are not benefiting so much from huge accumulation of people agree that their business is not very good as expected because people choose to visit the Indian side even to buy the things that are sold in Bhutan because the air is warmer on the other side of the border and also everybody knows that Buddha is born in India.

Banks in Phuntsholing have kept several ATMs on standby. They are happy that the machines are put to maximum use. They also have plans to load rupee in the ATMs for the convenience of Bhutanese devotees who otherwise have to stand in long queue at the ATMs in Jaigaon and Birpara to withdraw rupees.

Merchant association of Jaigaon in their press release stated in bold that they are truly blessed by the Wang and they taken the vow do whatever is possible within their means to support the Wang in Phuntsholing. It's also rumored that they are going to sponsor the next Wang to accumulate good karma and to spend their excess Nugltrum.

Bhutan's economic minister expressed his appreciation in Times of India, where he mentioned that Bhutan is a land of Happiness and commended the organisers for taking the goodwill of spreading happiness in Jaigaon beyond mere rupee issue. In reply to that Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh said nothing, he usually says nothing.

P:S: I hope you didn't take it seriously.

18 May 2012

Replace Vehicle Import Quota with Bonus

One of the recommendations submitted by the team that assessed Rupee Crunch was to stop Vehicle import quota for civil servants. At first it seemed like we are going to be deprived of a lifetime bonus but it didn't take long before I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Government may not be worried about the 35% of the total cost of the car it's paying to the quota receiver, it's the 75% that gets dragged along across the border.
Government gives vehicle quota to senior officials upon attaining grade 6, which means at least ten years in service and therefore it's an expression of recognition for unfailing service. But canceling it altogether could be misinterpreted in many demoralizing reasons, thus it's important to device a way to address the rupee issue without depriving civil servants of their rare gift.
As far as the trend goes, most of the civil servants own good cars by the time they reach grade six, and they resort to selling their import quota to private businessmen. The value of a quota is over Nu.400,000 but best price I ever heard of was Nu.150,000 and some surrender at Nu.50,000. By this the bigger portion of the gift from government goes to buyers of the quota. More over quotas are indirectly making the import of cars compulsory, which is the biggest concern now.
Therefore, I suggest my government to replace Quota with Bonus. Pay six months salary as bonus to the employees upon attaining grade six, the amount will be far lesser than what quota is taking away at the moment. This is not only economical for the government but also has big impact on the employees who could receive the full value of the gift. And with this the indirect-compulsion on import of cars will cut down to zero, solving the biggest question without hurting a soul.

20 April 2012

Trade Fair in Bajothang- Irresponsibly Bhutanese

The Trade Fair in Bajothang ended yesterday, which began on 13 April. There were over forty Indian stalls with skilled salespersons, who won't get tired of demonstrating how their product works like 'magic'. But by the last second day these Indians were swearing they will never come in Wangdue again because the business wasn't good. They even started giving heavy discounts, yet the turnout was poor. On the other hand, Bhutanese were all waiting for the last day to come, they heard the story from Thimphu trade fair that Indians give heavy discount on the last day. 
Traffic Jam in my Parking
The final day saw the biggest crowd gathering in Bajothang, which surprised even the Indians. They were desperate for last few days and they knew their chance has come to hit hard. There was a sudden price hike and Bhutanese paid more for their foolishness. By the evening yesterday Bhutanese were more desperate to get the 'last piece' than to bargain, and I am sure it was bumper sale.
By today evening these Indians will leave the country and I don't think they will walk out with Ngultrum. If our country was suffering from rupee crisis then from today we will suffer little more. As if the economy draining in border towns weren't enough, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) created a big leak in Bajothang to drain our Bhutanese money. It was a strange insult to rupee injury by an organization who should have been more responsible than the rest of us in such times.
Before the trade fair the business in Bajothang town was good enough to sustain itself but now things have changed. The trade fair diverted costumer from every corner to the Bajothang school football ground and therefore leaving the town empty. Business was already shaky in the town and now it will sure break because most of the people have already spent more they have earned in the fair. It was a great betrayal by BCCI who was supposed to work "toward 'Bhutanese' private sector development" landed up developing Indian private businessman. 
And Before the trade fair people were content with what they had at home and all they had to spend on were grocery items but now people have defied the words of our Prime Minister who had said, “We have to remember the lessons we have learned and work towards it; hopefully we will now change our habits of spending unnecessarily.” In fact the trade fair fairly changed our habits of spending; people bought new gas stove when they already have one, they bought big sofa for their small rooms, they bought more carpets than they have rooms, they bought chopping machines when they don't have enough to chop with their knife, they bought plenty of unbreakable buckets as if they are going to fight with buckets, they have bought blankets for next winter, they bought shaver when nobody shaves at home, they were feasting on chicken drumstick at a price which could buy a whole chicken,... would all these happen if BCCI didn't bring these Indians here? What positive changes did it bring to people who have already emptied their bank accounts on things they may not need at all? How would BCCI justify trade fair to our Prime Minister who was urging people to "change the habits of spending unnecessarily"?
Just a few days back The Bhutanese reported that "BCCI study shows that government spending is main cause of rupee crisis" which was contradicting the findings by the government task force. PaSsu Diary on the other hands finds the BCCI and their numerous trade fairs responsible for the leakage of excessive Bhutanese money into Indian pockets and that too unnecessarily.

18 March 2012

Black Money Heaven

It's funny that black money is not black in color, it can be of any color but obtained illegally or undeclared to authorities, and therefore untaxed. During the BBS discussion on rupee crunch the Governor of Royal Monetary Authority explained why it all happened. The man was straightforward to the extend of declaring everybody as ignorant and irresponsible. Of course, everybody know who's been irresponsible.
What was so disturbing was the figures he shared of our import and export. Going by the record he mentioned Bhutan is a rich country with export far exceeding import, and record he had was our national record, which means import figure is insanely understated. Nu. 25 Million is so much we imported? Later on Twitter I got to know from some learned Bhutanese that we import 9 Billion worth of fuel, forget all the other things. Now it's simple maths to solve and see how much money is unaccounted for. When unaccounted, it is untaxed and that's black money.
For the population of ours, and the economy health, so much black money is outrageously too much, and so far neither authorities made any stringent law to stop black money nor we thought it would impact this big, thus Bhutan was the heaven of Black Money. If every import was declared and taxed we would have never reached here. And now I am worried if there is anybody who knows how to get out of this mess.

12 March 2012

My Rupee Worries

Even without any knowledge on commerce and economy I always saw this problem coming, I am not bluffing, and I am surprised some are only waking up now. I was in Phuntsholing last winter and had the misfortune of seeing how those four ATMs ran out of cash every hour. Our money was going to India as if Bhutanese economy was suffering from shooting diarrhea.
RMA's sudden measure to curb rupee crunch send panic waves across the country; Import business are threatened, constructions sectors are stunned, industries are shocked... and for once I thought out central bank is trying to cut off the neck that pains instead of healing it. Only today, after Dawa's show on BBS I saw the light, the light that should have been shown long ago. But now is not a bad time either.
However, this temporary measure, I fear, might cause permanent damage to our trade relation with people in Jaigoan. With Indian businessmen already shying away from Ngultrum I foresee sudden inflation in daily commodities in few days time. I have to gamble on weather I should already fill my kitchen with cartons of milk powder and cooking oil. I have already fueled my car -as if the problem would be solved before I run out of fuel again, and that sort of shortsightedness is prevalent among us Bhutanese. And even the central bank.
During the discussion, I didn't hear them talk anything about dollar. But some of us on twitter did a little talk of our own, where we mentioned why not use dollar to buy rupee. The problem is with rupee and we are supposed to have earned good amount of dollar through tourism, why can't we use it?
Without taking long term measures the economy diarrhea will never stop, and the current measure is just a radish corked in the bottom, only to build the pressure of outflow after it's been removed. We may have to look at agriculture seriously so that we don't land up importing what we could grow at home. We should revisit our tourism policy and bring some wise reforms. Our daily tariff of $250 scares many potential tourist from coming and spending in our country.
Of all the things we pride in so much, hydro power puts me to shame. We counted on it to rain rupee on us but the funny export agreements for 30 years with outrageously low tariff would making any difference to our economy during our time. By the time we have full ownership the walls of the dam may fall apart and new projects may have to begin again- followed by new agreements. Last winter's news of importing power from India shocked me 440 volts full.
The only two options we could play with are agriculture and tourism: Agriculture for controlling import and tourism for building economy.