Yearbook 2011
Bhutan. At the suggestion of Bhutan, the UN General Assembly voted in July for a resolution aimed at making happiness a measure of development, just as it is in Bhutan. It was Bhutan’s former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, who introduced the concept of “gross national happiness” in the 1970s, as he believed that development should not only be measured in the traditional economic measures that are reflected in the gross domestic product (GDP) but that mental welfare must also be taken into account. According to Countryaah official site, the resolution calls on the UN Member States to find their own measure of happiness that can be included in the UN development program.
In October, 31-year-old King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk married a 21-year-old woman of the people, student Jetsun Pema. The wedding ceremony was performed according to ancient Buddhist tradition in a monastery fortress dating from the 17th century in the ancient capital of Bhutan Punakha. No foreign royals and heads of state were invited because the royal family wanted the wedding to be a matter for the family and Bhutan people. The wedding was broadcast live on TV and watched by thousands of Bhutanese. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of RUB that stands for the country of Bhutan.
HISTORY
In the early 21st century. the prospect of overcoming the absolute monarchy that ruled the Bhutan from 1907 was outlined. King Jigme Singye Wangchuk in September 2001 set up a commission charged with drafting the country’s first constitutional charter. The draft, made public in March 2005, provided for the presence of two parties, the establishment of a bicameral system, the possibility for Parliament to depose the king, the abolition of the death penalty, and freedom of information and religion. Citizenship rules, however, favored the majority ethnic community of Tibetan origin and Buddhist religion, while continuing to discriminate against the Nepalese Hindu minority, most of which had already been forced to take refuge in Nepal in the early 1990s. These refugees had been waiting for over a decade for an agreement between Thimphu and Kathmandu to be able to repatriate; but the progress made in this regard at the beginning of the year 2000 did not follow, due to the persistent resistance of the Bhutanese government to open the borders. In 2003 and 2004 the latter, pursued by New Delhi, launched several military offensives against groups of armed separatists in India to induce them to abandon the bases they had created in the southern part of the country.