Jamyang, former sales executive with the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Ltd. (RICBL), has declared his intention to stand as National Council (NC) candidate from Trashigang.

If elected, the 31-year-old from Pam intends to help frame policies that are implementable and address the need of people.

Jamyang said that many policies have been endorsed in the agricultural sector to help farmers improve and commercialise their production. However, a marketing policy to help the farmers sell their produce is missing, he added.

“There are policies such as providing electric fencing and high-yielding seedlings to the famers to improve production but without a conducive marketing policy, the rest of the policies serve no purpose,” he said. “At the end of the day, if there is no place to sell the products, everything fails.”

He said that there are adequate number of laws and policies in place. “The need of the hour is to review theses policies and make them implementable and more understandable for the people in the villages.”

Completion of the domestic airport at Yonphula and road widening projects along the east-west highway could help promote tourism in Trashigang, he said. “What is limiting the tourism growth for now is limited facilities in terms of accommodation and other infrastructures. Policies to address this issue need to be worked out.”

Trashigang is one of the dzongkhag with the highest number of gungtongs (empty households).

“All necessary amenities such as road connection and electricity are provided, but still we are not able to retain the people especially youth in the villages,” he said. “We need to work on policies that would help retain and encourage youth to come back to the villages.”

For this, he said, the house of the review needs young people to help formulate policies that are doable and practical for the youth. “The opportunity to contest as a NC aspirant also provides youth with the much needed experience.”

Six years as a sales executive with RICBL enabled him to understand the issues at the grassroots, said Jamyang. “I’m contesting in the elections so that I can provide the people of Trashigang with a choice to address their needs,” he said. “At the end of the election, the winner should be the people of Trashigang and not the contestants.”

Jamyang has a Bachelor’s degree from North Bengal University.

Younten Tshedup |  Trashigang