Phurpa Lhamo

The Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) will do away with daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for all RCSC administered or funded in-country short term training (STT) programmes.

The decision was announced through a notification the commission issued on May 16.

Addressed to all civil service agencies, the notification stated that while the DSA will not be provided, participants would be supported with normal daily allowance (DA) and travel allowance (TA) after aptly weighing eligibility and applicability.

Bhutan Civil Service Rules and Regulations (BCSR) defined DA as the allowance payable per day to a civil servant during in-country official tour or travel, while DSA is defined as the allowance per day payable to a civil servant during short-term training and ex-country official tour or travel.

The DSA, rate according to the Pay Revision Act of Bhutan 2019, is Nu 2,000 per day.

The notification from the RCSC stated that the cost-saving measures would be implemented without compromising the quality and effectiveness of the human resource development (HRD) programmes.

The annual report 2020-2021 showed that in the financial year, STT received the highest allocation with 96.1 percent of the total fund. Long-term training was allocated 3.1 percent of the total allocation.

The report showed that Nu 94.624 million was disbursed for STT.

According to RCSC, they will prioritise implementing training programmes in a virtual or online mode in most cases.

“We would remain ever committed to embracing the transformation and being a change agent that continuously innovates and uses technology to implement a need-based, holistic and rationalized capacity development initiatives ensuring effectiveness and efficiency,” it stated.