2-day GNH seminar starts
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| The prime minister with the Indian ambassador Pavan K Varma and co-organiser Malvika Singh at the opening ceremony |
11 March, 2010 – In an engagement that goes beyond the usual bilateral relations between the two countries, an academic delegation from India will meet with Bhutanese counterparts for a two-day seminar on GNH, which begins today in Thimphu. “We’re here to learn from Bhutan,” said India’s ambassador to Bhutan, Pavan K Varma, at an opening ceremony last night. The ambassador pointed out that this is the first such kind of engagement between the two countries. It went beyond the mechanics of bilateral relations by engaging in the realm of ideas, he said.
In response, Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, who also attended the ceremony last night, said that it would not be a one-way seminar, since Bhutan still had much to learn on GNH. He said, to find out what may be wrong in its practice of GNH and to enrich it, “Bhutan is always looking for new concepts, ideas, and comments.”
The seminar, co-organised by the centre for Bhutan studies (CBS) and Malvika Singh, a political commentator, and the owner and publisher of Seminar magazine in India, will bring together Indian and Bhutanese politicians, sociologists, environmentalists, conservationists, various kinds of activists and members of the media.
The idea for the seminar was first proposed by Malvika Singh when she visited the country three months ago. “I was intrigued by this country and this concept of GNH, which I still fully don’t understand.” As a result, Singh proposed co-organising the seminar to the Indian embassy in Bhutan.
According to CBS, the main objectives of the seminar will be to share and discuss social contemporary issues, traditions and cultures and how they can be made more relevant to younger generations, and finally, how GNH indicators can be used in government policies to achieve good governance.
Although the seminar was originally an exclusive closed door event, it is now an open door meeting.
Ambassador Pavan expressed his hope that the dialogue in the idea realm, such as on GNH, would continue. The idea is to create a beginning and let it self generate, he said.
The seminar will be conducted in a series both in Bhutan and India. The two-day seminar will cost the government Nu 1.8 mn.