The Small Big

        It is heartening to know that the Royal Government of Bhutan is pursuing a mini-hydro project. The fact that it will be owned and operated fully by native Bhutanese people makes it even more intriguing. 

        The undertaking may seem modest, but it is significant for a tiny nation like ours. It is high time, if not already too late, that we lead our venture rather than pulling on mega–projects. We have witnessed that most of our ambitious mega-projects that pledged electrifying employment and economic prospects after completion are still years away from getting done, costing astronomically to the government exchequer. That we need to rely on loans to fund the hiring of external experts and specialists for the construction of those mega-projects is even more distressing. In a Kingdom like ours that operates on a shoestring budget and where development plans are dominantly constructed based on donor aid, this harrowing phenomenon must be downright abolished, if not sagaciously addressed. 

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        The current initiative of the Royal Government to run small projects independently is a noble solution. We have all acquainted with the old cliche that big things come from small beginnings. Regardless of the magnitude of the project, this national assignment will irrefutably be a remarkable cornerstone for us. Venturing ourselves autonomously will benefit us to uncover gaps and identify needs of our own – focused on indigenous values and national interests. 

        The time has truly come for us to consider for how long we should rely on donor nations. What objective should donors support us with their aid? 

        We often brag that most of our people have earned degrees in medicine, engineering, education, economics, and architecture from leading international universities. But what uses is that if we can’t use that education to improve our hospitals, construct roads and hydropower, establish the best curriculum, build the economy, or design things in our ways?  

        Do we utilise them meaningfully? Have we put them to use well? If not, when will we put them to use? 

        If not now, then when? 

        These are rising concerns that the prior generations of decision-makers should have acknowledged. The current generation should be increasingly worried about these challenges. If we persist to be complacent in our quest to develop solutions today, the following generations will also be vulnerable to these same issues. 

        As a concerned citizen, this becomes a perturbing trend when we keep on banking other donor agencies for our developmental assistance. Every 5 years, we held elections – only to witness political parties boldly publicising freebies and pledging developments that often bank on the expertise and capital of unknown donors. 

        But who cares, after all, we are spellbound in getting everything free from the government, not realising that we are increasingly into external debt. Until last year, Bhutan has an external debt of 238.4 billion which is almost Nu.315,288 per person. 🤔

        When I was undergoing the Young Professionals Leadership Program (YPLP-6) at the Royal Institute for Strategies Studies (RIGSS), His Majesty the King stated that every one of us knows the fact that Bhutan is a very small developing country. But what we fail to realise is, how to take advantage of that smallness. 

        If we commit more to serving with honour, dedication, integrity, and visions, for a nation that has only 763,249 people (projected), everything is viable. We have a farsighted monarch to whom we can look for leadership guidance. We have adequate resources that we can use to construct national capitals. We have a prospective workforce, if entrusted and sincerely acknowledged, can be a potential indigenous architect in our nation-building process. 

        All that is required is that we start out small. As long as we keep taking baby steps with consistency and constancy, we will eventually be narrowing our distance toward realising the national goal of self-reliance.