Hydropower Projects in Bhutan are ‘India-tied’ and meant to Service India

If the de facto position as it stands today is anything to indicate, Bhutan is under the 'electricity-colonization' of India. No matter what one may put in, in reality, under the guise of friendship, knowing the geopolitical reality of Bhutan, India for her own interest has manage to squeeze undue benefits from the hydropower cooperation with Bhutan. It's a common sense to simply understand why Bhutan's hydroelectricity is meant to service India.

The billions of ngultrum that are pumped into for construction of hydropower projects in the country are almost all drained off to India as everything is provided by India. The contractors, consultants, professionals, management of projects, technology and products are India-tied and India takes the lion’s share of benefits during the construction stage. There’s little Bhutan could gain during the construction phase.      

If we recall, during the tariff fixation of Tala project, India didn’t budge to give in for a justifiable electricity price & pricing mechanism as it was evident from many rounds of frustrating talks (more than 10 rounds) between the officials of India and Bhutan. India has always played upper hand on deciding electricity tariff as Bhutan has no means to negotiate.   

While some major hydropower projects in India (E.g. Teesta Hydropower Project) are developed in partnership with foreign companies from abroad, all mega hydropower projects in Bhutan is circuitously conditioned to be pure Indian version. In other words, Bhutan has become the place of testing and experimentation of India’s technology and products, while India herself enjoys the advance technology and products from abroad. Bhutan has no autonomy over the business of electricity on her own land; not even in equal terms of a State in India.

Some efforts are being made by the govt. of Bangladesh to partner with Bhutan for development and trade of electricity but to no avail not because Bhutan is not interested but mere fact that it’s under India’s control. At one time, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, the then the Prime Minister of Bhutan, had tough time answering to a query by a notable Bangladeshi journalist on why Bhutan cannot cooperate with Bangladesh on electricity. After a momentarily pause and careful thought, he replied, “At the moment we are comfortably arranged with India.” The SAARC Energy Grid proposed by member nations also saw a deadlock with India (Big brother of SAARC) showing no interest for obvious reasons. If SAARC Energy Grid comes through, Bhutan is likely to enjoy the free market price of electricity.      

India is one of the largest importers of crude petroleum and is constantly under the dictation of brazen price hike from the international suppliers from time to time. However, there’s nothing India could do to stop the unmerciful price hike as there’s always takers. On the other hand, India enjoys the luxury of very low electricity tariff for import of electricity from Bhutan. Although there’s provision in the Agreement to revise tariff every after five years, India seem less bothered irrespective of cry from Bhutan. The tariff once fixed is not subject to any adjustment such as inflation and depreciation of value of money. Therefore, Bhutan is not only suffering with low tariff but also suffers from inflation from year to year.   

A simple analysis would show that the annual turnover rate with respect to investment for Tala Hydropower Plant is 21.23% whereas it’s 55.55% in case of Dungsam Cement Plant. Tala Hydroelectric power Plant, constructed at the cost of Nu. 41.26B with an annual generation capacity of 4865 GWh electricity fetches annual gross revenue of about Nu. 8.76B (at tariff rate of Nu. 1.8 per kWh). However, Dungsum Cement Plant constructed at the cost of Nu. 10.8B is projected to earn annual gross revenue of Nu. 6B(Kuensel 24 Dec. ’13).

Therefore, irrespective of what the government says, it makes sense to simply believe that Bhutan’s electricity is under the strict control of India. Despite all these realities, the choice of government isn’t bad after all as something is better than nothing. The effort of the govt. should be to break away from iron grip of India diplomatically and in a holistic way. 

The Abrupt Cessation of JYT’s Celebrated Career is a Closed Book to the Nation

Barely after four months of JYT’s mysterious exit from Members of Parliament, it’s yet another mystery added to the utter astonishment of many supporters with JYT’s stepping down as the president of DPT. This is apposite from the context of ensuing events unfolded following General Election 2013. As some believe, the possibility of his resignation under duress cannot be ruled out. Nevertheless, it’s a subject of deep contemplation though. But for whatever reasons, it’s not the right time to resign at this point of time.

Such a distinguished leader, whose popularity and experience of governance is at peak, whose leadership is needed for a young and immature democracy, it’s saddening to see him out of public service prematurely. He has been the key player (apart from HM K4) in making Bhutan one of the most admired and a peaceful nation in the world at this time of age. I always believe that Bhutan has been blessed with leader like him and I am of the view that we may not get good leader as JYT in years to come.

There’s a gross misconception to construe JYT’s age as old enough for retirement as perceived by many. By Indian standard, the average age of politician is around 80. JYT’s age is just 61years which is a prime age for leaders. Retirement age for CEOs of the many notable companies normally have age limit around 75. His leadership as president of DPT and prime minister under democratic setup is just five years old and to think of ‘change’ at this point of time is in fact out of context. Some people are paranoid of this elusive catchword ‘Change’ without understanding what it really means as if Bhutan suffers from adversity. Are we looking for replacement of unprecedented peace and prosperity we are enjoying?

DPT under the leadership of JYT has emerged as a party who practices clean democracy, upholds principle of equity and justices, and takes hard decisions for the national interest at the risk of being unpopular in the eyes of voters. DPT is an embodiment of a group of society who truly believes in independence and clean democracy. However, without the influence of JYT, some people are of view if DPT could ever maintain its original ambience. Will DPT stand on its foot without excessively stooping too low to undue external influences?  

There’re people who think otherwise; JYT’s exit would allow DPT to be more independent and be more robust in their cause for clean democracy. This is because there’s a general reading that JYT wouldn’t let his Party to exercise its rights to the full extent to negotiate for any actus reus that comes along its way.

What has been explained and made official are not sufficient enough to justify his subsequent resignations. Whether the resignation is by the own free choice of JYT or under duress or under certain compelling situation, it’s a matter of concern for the country to have missed one of the most capable leaders in history. DPT with the new set of leaders has to prove and make their presence felt through over time because people take time to understand and assimilate. The abrupt ending of JYT's celebrated career is a mystery and a potential hypothesis that would explain how democracy flourished in Bhutan.