Yangchen C Rinzin 

The Ministry of Labour and Human Resources will now have a new department: the Department of National Human Resources Development. The new department will address the nation’s human resource needs.The Cabinet approved the proposal for the department this month.

The creation of the new department was recommended by the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) as a part of the Organisation Development Exercise (ODE).

The Cabinet has directed the RCSC, in line with Bhutan Civil Service Rules and Regulations 2018, to explore assigning existing civil servants to the newly created department.

The ministry official said during the mid-term review in April that while the RCSC would look after the human resources, the new department would take care of issues related to skills.

The new department is also expected to enhance the synergy of human resources development (HRD) plans or programmes that will develop the critical skills and capabilities of the workforce in different sectors.

The department will be the first of its kind to play a significant role in strengthening HRD for the country.

The department would design a broad sectoral plan for HRD, based on human resource needs in different sectors of the economy and for the nation. It will also project and plan the kind of skills, training, and courses that will be required to meet future human resource needs.

Meanwhile, according to the RCSC report, the Commission also proposed the dissolution of the Department of Agriculture Marketing and Cooperatives, and dissolution of regional livestock development centres with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests. However, the Cabinet rejected the proposal.

Although it was proposed to delink the Department of Intellectual Property and rename the Office of Consumer Protection, which will eventually be delinked, the Cabinet has directed to keep in abeyance.

The Commission has also submitted to the Cabinet to delink the Royal Centre for Disease Control from the Ministry of Health as an autonomous agency and restructure governance in the national referral hospital.

Although the proposal to delink civil servants from the thromde office in Thimphu Thromde was submitted more than a year ago, the proposal is still pending, according to the RCSC.

Edited by Jigme Wangchuk