Migae Adventure Travel

Bhutan At Glance

Political System:
The establisment of monarchy in 1907 was the watershed event in the history of modern Bhutan. The country enjoyed peace and progress under successive reformist monarchs. The third king,His Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck reformed the old pseudo-feudal system by the abolishing serfdom, redistributing land,and reforming taxation. He also introduced many executive, legislative, and judiciary reforms.The fourth kings, His majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, took decentralization t the people, and devolved all executive powers to a council of ministers elected by the people in 1998, besides introducing a system of voting no confidence in the King, which empowered the parliament to remove the monarch. The nayional constitution committee started drafting the constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan in 2001. The draft constitution was distributed to the people in 2005, which was followed by public consultation initiated by the 4th and 5th Kings. Its implementation will establish parliamentary democracy in the country.

The people in different villages of the gewog in turn elect the chimis (people's repressentatives). The King is now the head pf the state. The goverment or post of prime minister rotating amongst the ministers. At the district level, Dzongda function as the chief executive officer and the gup (gewog head man) elected by the people is the chief executive officer at gewog level. Under the policy greater decentralization and empowerment of the people, the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdu and the gewog Yargye Tshogchung have been given full administrative, policy making and financial powers in thier respective Dzongkhags. Therefore, the success of devolopment programmes will now be determinedby the decisions taken the people and the quality of thier participation in implementing them.

Aministrartive Division:
The country is divided into twenty administrative units called dzongkhags. The larger dzongkhags are further divided into sub-district called dungkhag. A group of villages are grouped to form a constituency called gewog and administered by a gup, who is elected by the people.

Judiciary:
His Majesty the king the final court of appeal. The Royal High court is the apex of the judiciary system. It is supported by district courts in all 20 dzongkhags. There are sub-district courts called Dungthrim in larger dzongkhags. In villages the gup and chimis settle petty disputes.