Book Review | Ideal, idyllic Bhutan still young and restless

Bhutan is a tiny Himalayan country wedged between two powerful countries, India and China. Its 7,35,000 people and 14,824 square miles of territory (about the size of the Indian state of Kerala) is hemmed in by neighbours with populations well over a billion each. The fact that this tiny, and till recently very backward, nation has managed to both maintain its independence and prosper is testimony to its unique culture and polity.

The country’s first Opposition leader and current Prime Minister, Tshering Tobgay’s book is an insider’s view of the personalities and processes that have guided Bhutan from its inception as a kingdom in 1907 to a multiparty democracy today.

From the author’s account of the political processes in his country, it is obvious that the country’s polity is deeply rooted in tradition and its monarchy that continues to be a paternalistic guiding force. The country continues to seek inspiration in its Vajrayana Buddhist past, particularly the trio of Buddha, Guru Padmasambhava and Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the founding father of Bhutan who posited that if a government fails to cultivate happiness for its people, it has no reason to exist.

This belief continues to guide Bhutan’s leaders. The world would perhaps be a better place if more of its rulers and politicians emulated that ideal.

At any rate, what makes Bhutan unique is its concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) which shifts focus away from economic growth and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of a nation’s development and progress. Bhutan’s 4th king believed it necessary to remove the centrality of material progress and replace it with a more holistic yardstick that would place the wellbeing of the people at the centre of all policy making and governance.

This, according to the author, obviates the potential harm of unfettered development. One major consequence of this approach is the remarkable preservation of Bhutan’s fragile Himalayan ecology. Bhutan today is a global exemplar in sustainability.

Yet everything is not hunky dory, the author admits. Particularly worrying is the outward migration of its youth to the Middle East, America, Canada and Australia.

“Our population is already very small and while the prospect of losing our youth is already deeply concerning, more migration could potentially lead to a hollowing out of Bhutan and pose a significant threat to our future,” the author warns.

This leads us to the overwhelming question: Why, despite being pronounced the world’s last Shangri-la and having an unexceptionable concept such as gross national happiness at the core of governance, do Bhutan’s youth wish to migrate? Is it the human condition that compels the young to forever seek fresh pastures or is there some restless longing in all people that draws them towards the light of frenetic civilisations? At the end of the day what Bhutan perhaps proves is that people everywhere wish to be part of the larger mainstream and cannot be confined to the margins no matter how idyllic that might seem to be.

Enlightened Leadership: Inside Bhutan’s Inspiring Transition from Monarchy to Democracy

Tshering Tobgay

Penguin

pp. 274; Rs 599