Bhutan is a Leading Power in Promoting Environment Conservation

As the dominant powers of the world in 21^st century are scrounging ways to halt forest depletion, Bhutan has become the first nation of the world to design specific constitutional obligations for the people to preserve the environment. As per the legislation, atleast 60 percent of the nation must remain under forest cover mandatorily at all times.

There Are No Traffic Lights in Bhutan

In case you visit Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan, then don’t worry about flouting traffic rules because there are no traffic lights to mediate the traffic. Instead of the usual red, yellow and green signals, there are traditional outposts at the intersection on the roads. At these traditional outposts, a policeman stands, mediating the traffic manually, because Bhutanese prefer to have things in a much traditional way.

Here Happiness is Valued Over Money

Bhutan is one of those rare nations of the world where the quality of life is of utmost importance. There Gross Happiness index is more important than Gross National Product. The former king of Bhutan, Jingme Singye Wangchuck, is accredited to introduce the tradition of introducing the Happiness Index. This concept highlights the importance of non- economic aspects in analysing the wellbeing of the people of a country.

Bhutan Has a Uniform Dress Code for Entire Country

Bhutanese are obliged to wear their traditional outfit to work as well as to the monasteries. Men wear a traditional outfit called gho, judo styled suit and women wear a kira, an ankle-length dress to work. As formal wear, men don a Kabney draped over the Gho. Kabney is a symbol that signifies different groups or professions, so there are different colours and designs of a Kabney for different professions and levels

Television and Internet Services Made Their Way Into Bhutan Lately in 1999

Bhutan has always considered television and internet as a corruptive force to its national and traditional Buddhist heritage. To this date, it has restricted contacts with the outside world. Bhutan had banned television in 1992. But as the country stood at the threshold of the new millennium, the former king Jingme Singye Wangchuck showed a green signal to the television and internet services.

No Smoking in Public Areas

Bhutan emerged as the first country on the planet which banned smoking and use of tobacco in any other form in public areas such as dzongs, chortens, parks, hotels, restaurants, markets, cinema halls etc. Public transports, such as buses, are covered under non-smoking zones. Any citizen found guilty of selling of using tobacco in public is subjected to imprisonment.

Halt Before You Eat

In case you end up as a guest at a Bhutanese house then be cautious not to start gulping down the morsel immediately after it is served! This is because in Bhutan there is a custom of refusing food for the first time when it is served. The country has an interesting list of customary rules to remember when eating. For example, when offered food, one is supposed to say meshu- meshu while covering your mouth as if refusing the offer. On the second or third offer, you can accept.

An Ode to Matriarchy

In Bhutan, feminism of its own kind blooms. Traditionally, it is women who inherit family property and after marriage, it is the husband who moves in with his wife in the latter’s ancestral place. In the realm of decision making, women have considerable involvement. Their participation is often as high as 70% at grassroots level. A considerable number of women are also present as landowners.

Bhutan- A Safe Haven for Tourists?

As Bhutan is deep-rooted traditionally, culturally and spiritually in Buddhism which propounds the values like love, compassion and peace, the crime rates here are comparatively low. There are fewer occurrences of grave crimes committed statistically.

Bhutanese Celebrate Birthday on New Year

Do you often keep forgetting people’s birthdays? Well if you do, then get acquainted with Bhutanese who do not have to worry about the birthday calendar. In Bhutan, Citizens turn a year older on January 1st of each year. In case they forget their special day due to illiteracy, the government ensures that they do not miss the celebration on the new year. They give more relevance to year than month or date which has given birth to the tradition.

To Conclude…

Bhutan has emerged as one of the stalwarts leading the battle of environmental sustainability. It has emerged as a nation which stands apart from the crowd in terms of the laws and enactments passed by the government. Moreover, what makes this event special is that all these measures have contributed to an increase in the bar of living of the people in general wherein each citizen leads a contended and satisfied life.

Even though these rules and regulations might sound restrictive and bizarre to ordinary people, the Bhutanese have tremendous respect and reverence towards these customs and traditions. They have accepted their land, religion and the constitution with open arms. Even though the tourism industry has boomed in this serene country, there is a lot more left to explore its culture, traditions and natives. Thus this tiny Himalayan kingdom situated amidst misty mountains still remains an enigma for the larger world

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The art and handicrafts sector is the second largest employment generator after agriculture. According to the 2011 Census, there are over 68 lakh artisans in the country, of which 55 per cent of them are women.

A Tradition Since and For Ages 

India, among other things, is known for her soft power. This soft power stems from our very own civilisation, the Indus. The Indus Valley civilisation is witness to a diverse variety of artisanship. Ancient cities of Chanhudaro (present-day Pakistan), Kalibangan, famous for bangle making (Present-day Rajasthan ) among others were famous for crafts ranging from bead, bangle, pot and seal making. Produce from Indus Valley was exported to far lands of Afghanistan, Oman, Mesopotamia, and this brought in gold and silver in a fairly good amount to the Indus. When we use the word ‘Indian’ before artisanship, we refer to the tradition of thousands of years, we refer to Bandhej from Rajasthan, Pashmina shawls from Kashmir, wooden toys from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Punjab, pottery from Uttar Pradesh in orange, brown and dark red to black and dark red in Himachal Pradesh (owning to its heritage to Indus Valley ). The blue pottery of  Jaipur adorns our rooms till date but the larger question is, despite India’s roots submerged in artisanship for ages, why do our artisans not receive the credit they deserve? Why do they live a life of penury? We will look at the reasons why. 

A Change in the Attitude of Buyers Post Globalisation

With the age of globalisation, the world is moving at an ever speedy pace. Most of us have secluded ourselves to the urban-mall-going fancies of life, not that it is wrong but it is an attitudinal problem where we refrain to stop our vehicle for a few minutes to acknowledge the products made by an artisan standing at a stall all day for a few hundred rupees. The same middle and upper-middle-class do not refrain to buy the same product at a much higher price in an expensive shopping complex. This move is not just that of convenience, rather it is important to ask the question, why was there an artisan, a craftsman standing on the street in the first place? If they had a choice, would they still sell their craft on the streets?

Competition with Machine-Made Goods

Companies solely work for profit-making and this zest for profit-making has put many artisans out of work. It takes hours to make a pot or put beads in a zardozi saree on the contrary, machine-made fabric is easier to make, considering, the same fabric is manufactured in thousands of pieces in a single day. The gap between machine made and hand made goods is hard to bridge, but with measures like save our artisans’ campaign, putting active pressure on famous clothing brands to employ to fulfil their corporate sector responsibility (CSR) in promoting rural artisans and creating social media presence for artisans to sell their produce depending on the changing taste and preference for the consumers might just help bridge the gap. 

Lack of Incentives for the Youth 

Most artisans believe that the current generation is uninterested in handicraft due to lack of recognition and monitory value, Easier alternatives, strenuous work hours, etc. Most artisans are found reluctant to have their children follow their steps as they don’t believe there’s a  bright future in the line of artisanship. With an increase in the educational base, the unwillingness to work in a line of uncertainty increases. This may be one of the very serious challenges to the present-day state of artisans.

Infrastructural Bottlenecks

Most artisans are on the belief that lack of infrastructural facilities retard the growth of the handicraft industry and the same number of respondents have to face grumble from the customers concerning the quality and durability of handcrafted products. The types of equipment used to make the products are mostly outdated and time-consuming, this not only limits the number of products an artisan can make in a day but also impacts the quality of the product made. 

Change in Taste and Preferences of Consumers 

We must note here that change is the law of nature and today’s generation is fast changing. Hence, only those who can accept change with time can survive in today’s day and age. Thus, artisans must be trained to deliver quality products that after the demands of today’s market. Now we will discuss the steps taken to uplift artisans in the country. 

Handicrafts constitute a huge part of the unorganised sector. They’ve sustained through globalisation and continue to be in demand in the foreign market. However, the artisan who works in his/her/their vicinity or it migrates to another city, hardly gets enough to sustain their livelihood. Women constitute 55% of the workforce who largely remain aloof from the organised sector drowned under the burden of dual responsibility, one at home and the other without any social security. To solve this issue, several steps are taken. Some of them are as follows-

Research and Development Scheme 

 The scheme is formulated based on evaluation and research conducted by the governmental, research and developmental team. The following initiative was introduced to receive feedback on economic, social and promotional aspects of various crafts and artisans in the sector. Surveys are conducted on certain specific crafts on which there is no substantial information available, regarding problems to availability of raw materials, technology, and more.

Marketing Support and Assistance to Artisans 

Under this scheme marketing support is provided to artisans to help them participate in melas and marketing events in India and abroad, buyer-seller meets are organised to help the artisan get the link needed to showcase the talent. Financial assistance is further provided to hep participate in marketing events in foreign lands, cultural exchange programs during craft exposure programs. The purpose of the initiative is to form a link between an artisan at home to the global market and provide the financial assistance required to fulfil the desired goal. 

Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY)

The programme mainly focuses on community empowerment. Under the scheme, artisans are motivated to join Self-help groups (SHG’s). After this, the implementing agency will be responsible for further assistance and reform required for the same. A 25-day workshop is the highlight of Ambedkar hastshilp Vikas Yojana. In the workshop, artisans will be provided with training to create new prototypes to suit the changing taste and preference of the consumers, this will make artisans reach bigger markets at home and abroad. However, the larger question is what more needs to be done to uplift artisans from the life of penury?

• The most important aspects of inclusive development is social security, the government must ensure social security by the Ministry of Rural Development. The ministry needs to ensure that there are enough subsistence facilities available to the artisans on the ground and for their families.
• Estimation of raw material requirement, over 32 major craft categories use diverse types of raw materials. While most of the natural resource-based raw materials are locally available, over the years the reserves have been depleting largely due to lack of sustainable utilisation. To overcome the issue of cost competitiveness it is important to undertake bulk procurement through raw material bank scheme under AHVY. 
• We need to study the characteristics of the kind of loans demanded by artisans and provide for them accordingly. According to a report of NITI Aayog, most artisans require short term loans, mostly ranging for 1 to 6 months, credit requirement per artisan amounts to Rs. 0.15 lakhs, the need of the hour is easy credit, regional rural banks, cooperative banks and post office banks must ensure easy credit at customary rates to the customers so that artisans don’t have to depend on money lenders and fall in the debt trap.  
• Use of social media and NGO’s, social media provides a platform to every artist. If you have a talent, and you can showcase it to the world through social media and earn both respect and income. NGO’s in this regard must provide the necessary knowledge of social media once the digital divide is dismantled. With over 560 million internet users in the country, we are slowly but getting on the other side of the digital divide and there’s no better way to instantly become closer to a world that is appreciative of your craft and at the same time ensures you steady income. 
• Attitudinal change is extremely important. We often associate occupations with certain castes and attach prejudices with it. This not only hampers our overall development as informed individuals but also attaches a stigma concerning occupations. This attitudinal change will only come when schools and colleges sensitise young students on issues of caste prejudices, gender typing of roles among others. The emphasis on vocational studies cannot be emphasised further, students must be encouraged to learn at least one craft in their school lives, this will not only help them become in the touch of their creative side but also prepare them for a world where academic excellence is equally valued to craft. 

One must remember words of Leo Tolstoy,

“Art is not a handicraft it is a transmission of feeling the life has experienced” 

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