Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Owing to Buddhism principle, Bhutan is having an ancient belief that deities dwell on mountains, rivers, trees, lakes etc and this belief is tremendously helping in conserving the environment. People in Bhutan desist from interfering with the nature. Moreover, Bhutan sets aside a major chunk of budget for environment conservation.
These views were expressed by Yeshi Lhendup, deputy chief, research librarian, department of culture and Dzongka Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bhutan. He was interacting with Free Press at the sidelines of the first day of 7th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference, 2023 held in the capital on Friday.
‘Modernity and culture walk side by side in Bhutan. There is no change in culture in Bhutan,’ he claimed. ‘Our development philosophy is to maintain economic and cultural development. Since 1961, development took place in Bhutan in a rapid manner. Now all digital gadgets are in vogue in Bhutan,’ he asserted.
He also spoke about Gross National Happiness of Bhutan. ‘The Gross National Happiness rests on four pillars vis, preserve and promotion of culture, good governance, sustainable economic development, conservation of environment. Now many countries are embracing the Gross National Happiness model of Bhutan,’ he opined.
When asked that whether Bhutan is also experiencing the global climate change effect, he said that for a decade, there was no snowfall in the capital Thimpu. It was only last year that snowfall took place. Talking about the passion to protect and conserve culture in Bhutan, he said at least 25pc of Bhutan budget goes for preservation of culture.
Shedding light on the manner through which Bhutan has been able to maintain purity of rivers, he said that there is no polluted river in Northern and tropical areas of Bhutan. However he said that when rivers reach in border areas, they have the confluence of pollution to some extent.
On growing ties between India and Bhutan, he said that large number of Buddhist pilgrims from Bhutan visit places of Buddhist importance in India. This is also helping in cementing the cultural bond between the two neighbouring countries.
