Roar of the Thunder Dragon: the Bhutanese Audio-visual Industry and the Shaping and Representation of Contemporary Culture

The Bhutanese audio-visual industry plays a critical and important role in the creation of cultural products, which are consumed by the masses. The industry's significant role in the preservation and promotion of culture is worthy of state support. Although comprehensive data is not available on the industry, available data and anecdotal evidence prove that the industry is growing and playing its own role in shaping and representing contemporary culture in Bhutan

Occupational Health and Safety Assessment of the Industries in Bhutan: A Three Years’ Trend Analysis

Introduction: Workplace plays an important role in the lives of not only workers but also their dependents and families. Therefore, it is very important to consider safety and health in every workplace. However, the health and safety standards in Bhutan is still at a premature stage.Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the overall occupational health and safety situation in the country to better understand the level of occupational safety and health standards in the country.Methods: All the enterprises in Bhutan, who had constituted a health and safety committee in 2016 to 2017 were considered. Structured questioners were used for assessing and evaluating the health and safety standards at the workplace.Results: The study found that the health and safety standards have improved however, improved marginally with the higher percentage of improvement falling in the fair practice of health and safety at their workplace.Conclusion: The Department of Labour plays a pivotal role in taking leadership and educating employers, employees, the general public on workplace safety and health. Therefore, it is important for the Department to rigorously enforce the safety and health standards in the companies. Further, the management of the companies also needs to ensure commitment and leadership for implementation of workplace safety and health

Determinants of households’ membership in agricultural cooperatives in Bhutan

The Royal Government of Bhutan has been promoting agricultural cooperatives (ACs) in the country; however, the number of people joining ACs is small. This study was conducted to identify the factors influencing households' decision to join ACs in Central Bhutan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect data from 384 households (192 AC members and 192 non-AC members). Trained enumerators collected data in June and July 2018 using structured questionnaires. The binary logistic regression showed that households with older heads of household, being literate, having more family labour, more land under cultivation, owning farm machinery, being further away from a market, and having access to credit increased the likelihood of households joining ACs. Conversely, households earning off-farm income and locating far from the Renewable Natural Resources Centres decreased the likelihood of becoming member of ACs. Additionally, the gender of the head of a household and the number of cattle owned by a household showed no significant influence. As this paper is the first to empirically investigate the determinants of households’ membership in ACs in Bhutan, the findings have some important policy implications. The government should continue to provide in-depth awareness to farmers on concepts and benefits of ACs in retaining existing members and recruiting new members

発展途上国の環境経済学に関する実証分析：ブータンの諸問題

早大学位記番号:新8226早稲田大

Occupational Health and Safety Practices and Challenges in the Construction Industry of Bhutan: A Situation analysis

Introduction: The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industrial fields, wherein the construction workers are prone to work related accidents resulting in disabilities and/or deaths. The probability of fatality in the construction industry is five times more likely than in the manufacturing industry. In developing countries, construction work is ten times more dangerous than in industrialized countries. ILO (2016) estimated that of all workplace accidents, about 30% of fatal accidents occur at construction sites. Similarly, the construction industry in Bhutan accounts for 60% of total workplace accidents in the country.Objective: This paper will evaluate the existing Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) practices in the construction industry of Bhutan. It will also identify the challenges and problems faced by both the contractors and those attempting to implement OHS policies and procedures.Methods: A study was conducted involving 119 participants from several construction companies and government regulatory organizations relevant to the construction industry in Bhutan. Data was collectedthrough questionnaire surveys, interviews and discussions.Results: The study identified a number of OHS problems in the construction industry, including: i) Low priority given to safety; ii) Poor attitude of contractors and laborers towards OHS; iii) lack of competent manpower to enforce regulations; iv) lack of safety promotion; and v) poor health and safety management systems.Conclusion: It is concluded that the biggest challenge faced is to shape the safety culture through behavioral change, of employers and workers. Perhaps most important, however, is the education and training component - not only for the workers, but their managers and supervisors, who must be heldaccountable for workplace safety

Factors associated with under-five mortality in Bhutan: An analysis of the Bhutan National Health Survey 2012

Background: As an important marker for health equity and access, under-five mortality (UFM) is a primary measure for socioeconomic development. The importance of reducing UFM has been further emphasized in an ambitious target under Sustainable Development Goals. The factors influencing UFM are not adequately understood in Bhutan. Methods: The most recent dataset of the Bhutan National Health Survey (BNHS) 2012 was used in this study. Multiple logistic regression analysis using a backwards elimination approach was performed to identify significant factors influencing UFM. All statistical analyses were adjusted for the complex study design due to the multistage stratified cluster sampling used in BNHS. Results: Bhutan's UFM rate was 37 per 1000 live births. The weighted mean age of the children was 7.3 years (SD: 1.53; range: 3-12). Mother's age, household size, access to electricity and sanitation, residential region, and parity were the key factors associated with UFM. The UFM risk was significantly lower in children born to mothers aged 36-40 years, 41-45 years, and > 45 years when compared to that in children born to mothers aged < 26 years. The likelihood of mortality was 66% lower (95% CI: 0.21-0.55) among children born in households with > 5 members. Children born in households without electricity and safe sanitation had a significantly higher risk of death, by 81 and 49% respectively. Relative to those born in the west, children born in the central and eastern regions were 1.72 (95% CI: 1.07-2.77) and 2.09 (95% CI: 1.46-2.99) times more likely to die, respectively. Children born to mothers who gave birth to > 2 children were significantly more likely to die than their counterparts. Conclusion: These findings suggest that younger mother's age, the higher number of births and being born in the central and eastern regions are associated with a higher UFM risk, whereas a larger household size and access to electricity and safe sanitation are key factors associated with lower UFM risk in Bhutan. Women empowerment, health education and strategies promoting maternal and child health in rural areas need to be scaled-up. Additionally, socioeconomic development programs should seek to reduce regional disparities

The Picnic Makers of Bongo: Developing rituals and ritualising developments in a transitioning frontier Bhutanese community

My thesis is based on a year's ethnographic fieldwork conducted in what has been called 'frontier zones' or 'zones of contact' in the anthropological literature of the Himalayas (Pratt 1991 as cited in Shneiderman, 2010: 291). Because of its removed distance from Bhutan's civilizational centre, Bongo was home to a multifaceted indigenous culture that is part of what Tucci (1980 [1970]) called 'folk religion' of the Tibetan cultural area. However, as the Bhutanese state embarked on a systematic modernisation process in the 1960s, precocious children from Bongo became one of its primary beneficiaries. Because of its close proximity to the neighbouring Indian hill stations of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, many of these children received British-style managerial education. Their new competencies enabled them to rise through the ranks of the then nascent Bhutanese civil service. However, the earliest interventions that these educated members of Bongo made in their community was to emulate the state's sophisticated Buddhist culture in their community in what I call the development of rituals. Similar processes can be witnessed in other Himalayan areas that Ortner (1995: 359) labelled as 'religious upgrading', where adoption of Buddhism was the first and primary manifestation of development and progress. From 2008, when the Bhutanese state became secularised and as successive elected governments promoted a material culture that is amendable to their more immediate electoral imperatives, Bongo's communal capabilities have been recalibrated to serve what I call a ritualised development. Therefore, I employ Shneiderman's (2015) distinction between the 'practice' and 'performance' of rituals to argue that "the process of modernisation [has been] a process of ritualization" in Bongo. In view of the rich ritual culture that I was confronted with in my fieldwork, my research seeks to ask why the so-called 'development' or 'modernisation' (as some prefer to call this phenomenon) takes on ritual form in certain historically peripheral societies? In answering this primary question, I found that the state acts a major cause and catalyst of change, and so, this thesis asks what role does the state play in triggering such transformations? But contrary to some simplistic perceptions, the people can be agentive actors and can often mediate effectively with what is called the 'state effect' (Shneiderman, 2010: 291). Therefore, my research seeks to answer what broader impact does such modernising processes and 'objectification of culture' have on the redistribution of key economic resources and in realigning the axis of power between centrally and peripherally located actors in the state

Do Outpatient Rehabilitation Interventions Improve The Functional Capacity And Quality Of Life Of Colorectal Cancer Survivors?

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity representing a major public health problem. Globally, it is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in male patients and the second in female ones. Internationally, its incidence is characterized by a wide geographical variation, with almost 55% of the cases being diagnosed in Western countries. In contrast, the incidence and the number of new deaths in Bulgaria, 28.5 and 2,687 (14.04), respectively, are still among the highest in Balkan countries and EU countries as well. Adenocarcinomas originating from epithelial cells of the colorectal mucosa comprise more than 90% of all CRCs. Other types of CRCs include neuroendocrine, squamous cell, adenosquamous, spindle cell, and undifferentiated carcinomas. Recently, the surgical treatment of CRC has made great progress. However, about 50% of patients relapse after treatment, indicating that improving the treatment of CRC with several rehabilitation interventions is still necessary. Rehabilitation is defined as the secret weapon in the holistic management of patients with cancers, aiming to restore mental and/or physical abilities, which might have been lost due to injury or disease, so that the individual is able to lead a normal or near-normal life. Cancer survivors and patients with terminal diseases are highly dependent on rehabilitation in order to optimize quality of life (QoL) and still preserve their dignity. Rehabilitation is an immanent team process that should be integrated throughout the oncology care continuum and delivered by a dedicated physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) team. There is an increased demand for a patient-centered approach, tailored to the CRC survivor’s individual needs and wants, which will allow optimal physical, psychological, social, and professional functioning within the limits imposed by cancer and its treatment, as well as maximize the independence and QoL

Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan: A Hot Spot for Wild Felids

The non-uniformity of the distribution of biodiversity makes allocation of the limited resources available for conservation of biodiversity a difficult task. Approaches such as biodiversity hotspot identification, endemic bird areas, crisis ecoregions, global 200 ecoregions, and the Last of the Wild are used by scientists and international conservation agencies to prioritize conservation efforts. As part of the biodiverse Eastern Himalayan region, Bhutan has been identified as a conservation priority area by all these different approaches, yet data validating these assessments are limited. To examine whether Bhutan is a biodiversity hot spot for a key taxonomic group, we conducted camera trapping in the lower foothills of Bhutan, in Royal Manas National Park, from November 2010 to February 2011. We recorded six species of wild felids of which five are listed on the IUCN Red List: tiger Panthera tigris, golden cat Pardofelis temminckii, marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata, leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis, clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa and common leopard Panthera pardus. Our study area of 74 km(2) has c. 16% of felid species, confirming Bhutan as a biodiversity hot spot for this group