a 15 year old boy was brimming with
ambition to complete his middle school
and run away to explore the world to be
a doctor or an engineer or a teacher a
small family of five friends and
relatives all around
mischievous is my labor left his lives
one day he was going to conquer the
world but he was always going to come
back to this paradise officios suddenly
on a cold wintry midnight his house was
surrounded by a battalion of army and he
was forcefully evicted at gunpoint
before eviction seven army personnel
from the battalion raped a family guests
from under village that wasn’t it they
burned his house down with everyone
watching the Army did their job so well
in setting fire to the house that in
minutes the bleeds turned the house into
ashes and the young boy silently
witnessed the destruction of his age or
family history in the blink of an eye my
world couple down my identity lost my
dreams crust and the expression of
happiness disappeared this was only the
I asked you this can you govern people
into happiness to me happiness comes
with freedom of speech freedom of his
spiritual practices freedom to live
freely anywhere in the country freedom
to practice are not practice or cultural
traditions and your ability to make own
choices
to my utter dismay all these are faint
concepts yet to be followed in the
context of Bhutan
families are separated for years and
many died without seeing each other
after separation in 1951 1990 and 1997
democratic moments people inside the
country afraid of repercussions
do not talk to their relatives in exile
Bhutan does not allow exile family
members to go and see their relatives
is your happiness a geniune happiness if
it comes at the expense of others the
answer is obvious yes this is exactly
what Bhutan resum did the government
adopted various discriminatory policies
targeting minorities one after another
and eventually in 1990 it was successful
to evict one-sixth of its citizens for
incumbent Prime Minister aboot on
searing target has repeatedly said in
various international forums that
enlightened 4th King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck imposed the democracy in
Bhutan those elites continue blowing the
trumpet of democracy down a skinks gift
to the people despite their resistance
he never hesitated to state that there
was never a request by people for
democracy in Bhutan
if that is true what do we call to those
forty political prisoners who have been
in prison in chain-gang jail alone since
1990 for wanting democracy what about
the peaceful mass demonstrations by the
ethnic minorities in 1990 in southern
Bhutan and 1997 in Eastern Bhutan when
Bhutan instead Congress demanded human
rights and democracy in 1951 the party
president was backed up alive in a
leather bag and thrown into Suncoast
river to die do the political parties
formed by the leaders nominated by the
king uphold real democratic values and
principles the political parties formed
by the people inside and outside the
country were forbidden to participate in
drafting the Constitution and joining
hands in democracy making process sadly
the pioneers of democracy in Bhutan who
raised boys for human rights and
democracy were either kicked out of the
country or did not allow them to return
home on the down of so-called democracy
have the country been truly democratic
its constitution would not have kept the
king above the law mr. prime minister is
right the democracy in Bhutan is gifted
by the king the food king carefully
floated the loosey-goosey idea of
happiness in the country in 1974 ad and
proclaimed and not so much interested in
gross national product I’m more
interested in gross national happiness
but since then they put together a
curious experiment instead of measuring
the well-being of the nation using the
concept of gross national product they
thought it would be best to measure
happiness it is interesting to imagine
that we
major people’s happiness and increase
the amount of happiness in everyone they
even came up with the idea of measuring
happiness through indicators cultural
living a standard and many others but
how can a government subjectively see
this map factor and objectively measure
the subjective idea of happiness how do
you apply indicators such as happiness
or education to what I see is a purely
subjective phenomenon in pursuit of
national happiness Bhutan is destroying
the well-being of a section of its
citizens the very source of happiness in
other words the dragon Kingdom is making
bonfire out of well-being in the race of
pursuing gross national happiness how
the birthplace of gross national
happiness barely smoking and made
position of cigarettes at tobacco and
orphans worthy of jail sentence in 2010
in the same year a buddhist monk was
arrested and sentenced to three years in
jail for position of mere $2 worth of
tobacco is this river
this idea of single expression of
happiness for the entire nation who is
this for
the current obsession of Bhutan
government to decide what makes people
happy is bizarre after all happiness is
a private affair and no government
should dictate the right kind of
happiness especially in democracy in the
land of happiness the government decides
the moral definition of happiness the
definition is there only to serve
government’s interests they’re
surprisingly Bhutan government defines
happiness in a way that allows what
people have to be considered happy and
here is the irony on the one hand
Bhutanese government has been trying to
sell the idea of gross national
happiness internationally while on the
other hand it has always restricted and
violated the in allowing evil rights of
its ethnic minorities including Nepali
speakers Bhutan straddles two worlds
highly fabricated and hypocritical world
where her citizens are endowed with
unexplainable happiness and the real
world where some of her citizens are
oppressed and absolutely unhappy today
youth unemployment is rising at its peak
in Bhutan according to national labour
force survey youth unemployment is
true-that
13.2% in 2016
up from 10 point 7 percent in 2015 and 9
point 4 percent in 2014 this trend is
going the wrong way
urban areas are swollen
while in the countryside fields are left
barren and the villages are only
populated by elderly unfortunately
employment opportunity as an indicator
of happiness is not in their gross
national happiness list the royal
government of Bhutan is not touched by
these aforementioned problems rather it
is busy in artistically packaging
glamourizing and selling the concept of
gross national happiness to the outside
world I’m not sure if this paradox
squeeze under consciousness how happy do
Bhutanese feel about their lives in risk
in relation to gross national happiness
the Center for Bhutan studies and gross
national happiness research 2016 found
out 14 percent of the people were
merrily happy we don’t know what is
there in narrowly happy and 9 percent of
the people reported being unhappy and
only 8 percent of the people who were
deeply happy only eight percent
measuring happiness relying on nine
different domains interestingly they do
not propose happiness itself they have
already prescribed what would make
people happy what if the most important
thing in my life is not in their list of
things major then how do you measure my
overall well-being and happiness what is
in Bhutan the rate of happiness is
measured on the scale of zero to ten
zero being not very happy and ten as the
happiest let us say a person scores 10
for being the happiest person can we say
that this person is twice as happy as
the person who scores five what do these
numbers really mean in the face of
the cultural values and sentiments of
ethnic minorities are never considered
in the land of gross national happiness
there are as many as 22 different
dialects being spoken in this tiny
Kingdom but the truth is rest are
forgotten except zhanka on the evolution
of creating one-track language and
culture in state Bhutanese rulers
profess and enforce that all people in
the country must renounce their heritage
and instead accept Drupa culture and
traditions advancement of Jahnke
obviously means suppression of other
languages as an example in 1980 the
government decided to discontinue Nepali
language in school curriculum
considering it to be counterproductive
for the advancement of national language
zhanka counterproductive language
culture and heritage of Nepali speaking
citizens were wiped out in the name of
regimes one nation one people policy for
the benefit of preserving Mahayana
Buddhism a Buddhist monk who belong to
Ning mapa sect was sued at Point Blanc
in October 1997 simply because he
against government’s intervention on
to Christian pastors were put into jail
in March 2014 in the land of thunder
dragon the chief priest of Ning mapa
sect was chased out of his Hermitage and
dragged into public until he was put
into detention later he was sent to jail
in 1997 Bhutan impose Drupa culture and
traditions on moombas joyous King pass
breakfast and sasuke’s and forced them
to surrender their culture and tradition
to state culture and religion for those
ethnic minorities who are still living
in Bhutan I’m left to wonder how can
they attain authentic happiness when
they are forced to abandon their Israel
traditions and values and cultural
heritage they have had to unwillingly
succumb to the concept of gross national
happiness so that they are not evict it
I’m afraid for happiness how can it
sustain in this dictated and docile
environment I have come to understand
that I was kicked out of my country
where I was born the country that I love
in order to make my King happy I
understand that Bhutanese only
prescription of happiness does not come
from others my forced transition has
taught me to be happy with what I have
not lemon what I lost
I’m happy because I’m still alive and I
have my friends and relatives and family
members all around I’m happy because I
was able to find my beloved wife in the
refugee camp
hurry story is too close to my own I’m
happy because I have met and made
everlasting friendships with my new
neighbors in this great country yet some
days I did dream about their 15 year old
boy in that verdant village flourishing
in its youthful hevanddan and I would
give up everything that I’ve accumulated
so far for a chance to go there many of
my friends don’t understand this but for
me happiness is a private affair no
government no indicator can ever measure
how happy any of us are this is our
students and isn’t it at least that’s
what my journey has taught me there is
underbelly to Bhutan I have always been
told and taught not to believe a single
story and this usually single story is
one of bad stereotypes and the single
I am the living proof of this dual tea
along with many other gluttonous refuses
that bear happiness is at the expense of
us but I am survivor and I’m happy
because happiness for me and us is in me
and you and you and you thank you
[Applause] [Music]
ambition to complete his middle school
and run away to explore the world to be
a doctor or an engineer or a teacher a
small family of five friends and
relatives all around
mischievous is my labor left his lives
one day he was going to conquer the
world but he was always going to come
back to this paradise officios suddenly
on a cold wintry midnight his house was
surrounded by a battalion of army and he
was forcefully evicted at gunpoint
before eviction seven army personnel
from the battalion raped a family guests
from under village that wasn’t it they
burned his house down with everyone
watching the Army did their job so well
in setting fire to the house that in
minutes the bleeds turned the house into
ashes and the young boy silently
witnessed the destruction of his age or
family history in the blink of an eye my
world couple down my identity lost my
dreams crust and the expression of
happiness disappeared this was only the
I asked you this can you govern people
into happiness to me happiness comes
with freedom of speech freedom of his
spiritual practices freedom to live
freely anywhere in the country freedom
to practice are not practice or cultural
traditions and your ability to make own
choices
to my utter dismay all these are faint
concepts yet to be followed in the
context of Bhutan
families are separated for years and
many died without seeing each other
after separation in 1951 1990 and 1997
democratic moments people inside the
country afraid of repercussions
do not talk to their relatives in exile
Bhutan does not allow exile family
members to go and see their relatives
is your happiness a geniune happiness if
it comes at the expense of others the
answer is obvious yes this is exactly
what Bhutan resum did the government
adopted various discriminatory policies
targeting minorities one after another
and eventually in 1990 it was successful
to evict one-sixth of its citizens for
incumbent Prime Minister aboot on
searing target has repeatedly said in
various international forums that
enlightened 4th King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck imposed the democracy in
Bhutan those elites continue blowing the
trumpet of democracy down a skinks gift
to the people despite their resistance
he never hesitated to state that there
was never a request by people for
democracy in Bhutan
if that is true what do we call to those
forty political prisoners who have been
in prison in chain-gang jail alone since
1990 for wanting democracy what about
the peaceful mass demonstrations by the
ethnic minorities in 1990 in southern
Bhutan and 1997 in Eastern Bhutan when
Bhutan instead Congress demanded human
rights and democracy in 1951 the party
president was backed up alive in a
leather bag and thrown into Suncoast
river to die do the political parties
formed by the leaders nominated by the
king uphold real democratic values and
principles the political parties formed
by the people inside and outside the
country were forbidden to participate in
drafting the Constitution and joining
hands in democracy making process sadly
the pioneers of democracy in Bhutan who
raised boys for human rights and
democracy were either kicked out of the
country or did not allow them to return
home on the down of so-called democracy
have the country been truly democratic
its constitution would not have kept the
king above the law mr. prime minister is
right the democracy in Bhutan is gifted
by the king the food king carefully
floated the loosey-goosey idea of
happiness in the country in 1974 ad and
proclaimed and not so much interested in
gross national product I’m more
interested in gross national happiness
but since then they put together a
curious experiment instead of measuring
the well-being of the nation using the
concept of gross national product they
thought it would be best to measure
happiness it is interesting to imagine
that we
major people’s happiness and increase
the amount of happiness in everyone they
even came up with the idea of measuring
happiness through indicators cultural
living a standard and many others but
how can a government subjectively see
this map factor and objectively measure
the subjective idea of happiness how do
you apply indicators such as happiness
or education to what I see is a purely
subjective phenomenon in pursuit of
national happiness Bhutan is destroying
the well-being of a section of its
citizens the very source of happiness in
other words the dragon Kingdom is making
bonfire out of well-being in the race of
pursuing gross national happiness how
the birthplace of gross national
happiness barely smoking and made
position of cigarettes at tobacco and
orphans worthy of jail sentence in 2010
in the same year a buddhist monk was
arrested and sentenced to three years in
jail for position of mere $2 worth of
tobacco is this river
this idea of single expression of
happiness for the entire nation who is
this for
the current obsession of Bhutan
government to decide what makes people
happy is bizarre after all happiness is
a private affair and no government
should dictate the right kind of
happiness especially in democracy in the
land of happiness the government decides
the moral definition of happiness the
definition is there only to serve
government’s interests they’re
surprisingly Bhutan government defines
happiness in a way that allows what
people have to be considered happy and
here is the irony on the one hand
Bhutanese government has been trying to
sell the idea of gross national
happiness internationally while on the
other hand it has always restricted and
violated the in allowing evil rights of
its ethnic minorities including Nepali
speakers Bhutan straddles two worlds
highly fabricated and hypocritical world
where her citizens are endowed with
unexplainable happiness and the real
world where some of her citizens are
oppressed and absolutely unhappy today
youth unemployment is rising at its peak
in Bhutan according to national labour
force survey youth unemployment is
true-that
13.2% in 2016
up from 10 point 7 percent in 2015 and 9
point 4 percent in 2014 this trend is
going the wrong way
urban areas are swollen
while in the countryside fields are left
barren and the villages are only
populated by elderly unfortunately
employment opportunity as an indicator
of happiness is not in their gross
national happiness list the royal
government of Bhutan is not touched by
these aforementioned problems rather it
is busy in artistically packaging
glamourizing and selling the concept of
gross national happiness to the outside
world I’m not sure if this paradox
squeeze under consciousness how happy do
Bhutanese feel about their lives in risk
in relation to gross national happiness
the Center for Bhutan studies and gross
national happiness research 2016 found
out 14 percent of the people were
merrily happy we don’t know what is
there in narrowly happy and 9 percent of
the people reported being unhappy and
only 8 percent of the people who were
deeply happy only eight percent
measuring happiness relying on nine
different domains interestingly they do
not propose happiness itself they have
already prescribed what would make
people happy what if the most important
thing in my life is not in their list of
things major then how do you measure my
overall well-being and happiness what is
in Bhutan the rate of happiness is
measured on the scale of zero to ten
zero being not very happy and ten as the
happiest let us say a person scores 10
for being the happiest person can we say
that this person is twice as happy as
the person who scores five what do these
numbers really mean in the face of
the cultural values and sentiments of
ethnic minorities are never considered
in the land of gross national happiness
there are as many as 22 different
dialects being spoken in this tiny
Kingdom but the truth is rest are
forgotten except zhanka on the evolution
of creating one-track language and
culture in state Bhutanese rulers
profess and enforce that all people in
the country must renounce their heritage
and instead accept Drupa culture and
traditions advancement of Jahnke
obviously means suppression of other
languages as an example in 1980 the
government decided to discontinue Nepali
language in school curriculum
considering it to be counterproductive
for the advancement of national language
zhanka counterproductive language
culture and heritage of Nepali speaking
citizens were wiped out in the name of
regimes one nation one people policy for
the benefit of preserving Mahayana
Buddhism a Buddhist monk who belong to
Ning mapa sect was sued at Point Blanc
in October 1997 simply because he
against government’s intervention on
to Christian pastors were put into jail
in March 2014 in the land of thunder
dragon the chief priest of Ning mapa
sect was chased out of his Hermitage and
dragged into public until he was put
into detention later he was sent to jail
in 1997 Bhutan impose Drupa culture and
traditions on moombas joyous King pass
breakfast and sasuke’s and forced them
to surrender their culture and tradition
to state culture and religion for those
ethnic minorities who are still living
in Bhutan I’m left to wonder how can
they attain authentic happiness when
they are forced to abandon their Israel
traditions and values and cultural
heritage they have had to unwillingly
succumb to the concept of gross national
happiness so that they are not evict it
I’m afraid for happiness how can it
sustain in this dictated and docile
environment I have come to understand
that I was kicked out of my country
where I was born the country that I love
in order to make my King happy I
understand that Bhutanese only
prescription of happiness does not come
from others my forced transition has
taught me to be happy with what I have
not lemon what I lost
I’m happy because I’m still alive and I
have my friends and relatives and family
members all around I’m happy because I
was able to find my beloved wife in the
refugee camp
hurry story is too close to my own I’m
happy because I have met and made
everlasting friendships with my new
neighbors in this great country yet some
days I did dream about their 15 year old
boy in that verdant village flourishing
in its youthful hevanddan and I would
give up everything that I’ve accumulated
so far for a chance to go there many of
my friends don’t understand this but for
me happiness is a private affair no
government no indicator can ever measure
how happy any of us are this is our
students and isn’t it at least that’s
what my journey has taught me there is
underbelly to Bhutan I have always been
told and taught not to believe a single
story and this usually single story is
one of bad stereotypes and the single
I am the living proof of this dual tea
along with many other gluttonous refuses
that bear happiness is at the expense of
us but I am survivor and I’m happy
because happiness for me and us is in me
and you and you and you thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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