Saraswati Puja 2023

Saraswati Puja 2023 is one of the most important festivals in Hinduism dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, popularly known as the goddess of wisdom and knowledge. 

It is believed that on this day the Maa Saraswati endows human beings with the powers of speech, wisdom, and learning. She has four hands which symbolize the four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness, and ego. Saraswati Puja often falls in the month of January or February marking the onset of the spring season. The festival of Saraswati Puja 2023 is also known as Basant Panchami. 

Maa Saraswati is the daughter of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. She is the consort of Lord Brahma. Goddess Saraswati is also often credited as the creator of the Sanskrit language of Hinduism. Children are taught to write for the first time during the festival, Brahmin priests are given fine food, and ancestors are venerated.

When is Saraswati Puja 2023?

Saraswati Puja 2023 falls on 26th January, Thursday. 

Puja Muhurat: 07:12 AM to 12:34 PM

Duration – 05 Hours 21 Mins

Significance of Wearing White & Yellow During Saraswati Puja ?

White and yellow are said to be the favourite colour of Goddess Saraswati. During the puja, the devotees wear yellow or white coloured clothes, which is associated with wisdom, light, good energy and prosperity. 

Statues of the goddess are also draped in yellow silk, and the devotees pray for blessings with their pens, books, and musical instruments. Moreover, the mustard fields all over the country are filled with beautiful yellow flowers, signifying the onset of Spring. 

Since the colour white, yellow and Goddess Saraswati, both represent the idea of knowledge, people often associate yellow with the Saraswati Puja or Basant Panchami. 

Benefits of Performing Saraswati Puja 

Worshipping Goddess Saraswati on the occasion of Basant Panchami can enable the devotees to deal with challenges that come with wisdom, intellect and adaptability.

Remembering Maa Saraswati can help the devotees rejuvenate their mind and establish a deeper connection with themselves and the universe after introspection. 

Saraswati Puja is considered to be a very important festival for the students since Maa Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge. Student devotees who worship Maa Saraswati on Saraswati Puja 2023 get blessed with special grace of Maa Saraswati and do very well in their academic career.

Worshipping Goddess Saraswati also helps the devotees in getting jobs, having profit in business and opens doors for financial gains.

Performing the Saraswati Puja helps the devotees to remove all kinds of obstacles and hindrances from their life and climb the ladder of success smoothly.

This puja also improves one’s mental strength and confidence. It makes the minds of the devotees stable and calm which helps them in taking better decisions in life.

De-suups and Fire officials seek public cooperation on fire safety

 

The peak fire season is witnessing a countable number of fire incidences and the fine for causing the fire is hefty. Initiated by the De-suung Head Office Forest Fire Prevention Awareness Campaign that sensitized and reminded people regarding fire safety during this peak fire season, the firefighting response team in Thimphu requests cooperation and support from the citizens for a better outcome this year.

Officials from the Department of Forest and Park Services and 165 De-suups divided into 22 platoons carried out the advocacy on the outskirts of Thimphu city from Chhuzom to Kabisa reaching out to 1,000 households during a recent three days advocacy programme. 

The De-suung Head Office further plans to carry out a similar advocacy campaign in other fire-prone dzongkhags soon. 

Reporting the fire disasters and being cautious between November and March was the focus of the advocacy.

Rinchen Tshomo, a resident at Khasadrapchu said that it is a good initiative from the De-suups to inform and advocate for people on being careful and safe from harm. 

“A group of De-suups came to our field and took time explaining waste management, burning in a proper place, and responding to an emergency. I think that it is a good reminder that people in uniform took this initiative to make sure people are careful and supportive in managing forest fire,” she said.

Sonam Dorji, 67, from Lungtenphu said that the area is a fire-prone area where people witness fire every winter. “The group of De-suups have made sure they remind us to be careful at this season.”

An official from the De-suung Head Office said that support and cooperation from the people are expected during a fire outbreak. “We focused on advocating to people on proper management of waste especially dry waste and burn with caution. The risk of forest fire is high at this point with heavy penalty, for which we want people to be reminded of fire safety and rapid response,” he said.

Deputy Chief Forestry Officer, of the Forest Resources Planning and Management Division, Ram Bahadur Mongar, said that it is one of the plans that the department had focused on. “Our plans, which we are implementing over time, include the formation of inter-agency forest fire coordinating groups at a local level to be ready and respond to fire and advocacy through various media."

Fire and Rescue Service Division, Thimphu alone recorded nine cases of forest fire last year. 

Double ticketing and excess passengers in public transport continues

Public transport services carrying extra passengers due to double passengers having the same ticket number is one of the many inconveniences.

Is this happening because of a lack of monitoring by the Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA)?

Sangeeta Biswa, a passenger who travelled on Sernya Transport bus between Gelephu and Thimphu said: "I would like to know whether RSTA monitors the public transport ticketing system. Such inconveniences must stop. This is not the first time.”

One of the passengers travelling in Pelyab Transport Service said that the passenger seat broke down in the middle of the journey and the passengers behind had to hold the seat. However, the driver continued driving for a long distance without trying to fix it.

"In a 19-seater bus, I travelled on, there were 24 passengers. There are two checkpoints between Gelephu and Thimphu but the RSTA officials do not check the condition of the bus properly. I have seen that with my two eyes!”, said one passenger.

As per Road Safety and Transport Regulations (RSTR) 2021, a vehicle shall have a set of tools sufficient for emergency repairs.

A passenger vehicle, according to RSTR, shall not be allowed to pick up excess passengers en-route and the risks associated must lie on the driver and the operator with 20 units per extra passenger as a penalty.

Lhab Dorji, 26, said that when the bus reaches the terminal, RSTA is supposed to carry out a post-arrival inspection to ensure that no extra passengers and luggage are carried and the vehicle is in good condition, but the authority hardly does their required duty regularly. "In Bhutan, many bus drivers do things as they wish, travel on their own comfort time and do not check whether the passengers who paid are comfortable or not," he said.

Staff from the Sernya Transport Service counter said that many people book the tickets over a call and cancel at the last hour, causing issues. "We try our best to adjust them on another bus."

"When a passenger books a ticket online through DrukRide, we get a notification and issue another ticket number when someone comes in person. Many do it over a call or inform the drivers directly and assure their ticket is booked without our notice."

A need for radical policy shift

 

...The report is damning—close to 70 percent of job seekers in Bhutan prefer to go abroad to work.

This is a survey report from the employment ministry.

When emigration rate is high, it indicates that something is seriously wrong with the country’s economic and employment policies.

We are in the process of cleaning the civil service, which makes sense because of our smallness. What we also know is that the civil service alone does not and, cannot, define the country’s economy and long-term future.

Where is our private sector, the so-called engine of growth? There are no job opportunities in the private sector, at least not the kind that ensures security at the end of one’s long career.

Australia is the choice for most Bhutanese today. What is worrying is that we are not just losing young talents but also a critical talent pool that helps shape our long-term national vision.

The civil service has and continues to see an unprecedented loss of talent, especially at technical and managerial levels. What is more worrying is that the gap is widening—we are losing experience and brains.

The report says the continuous emigration of the working-age population from Bhutan could be both an opportunity and a challenge. But the fact is that it is less opportunity and more challenge.

The time has come for the country to prioritise development issues from a modern perspective. Civil service should not be the aim for young Bhutanese. Except for some critical sectors, skill development should receive the pride of place in our continuing saga of nation-building.

Skilled professionals should earn more than civil servants. But that alone will not make much difference if we do not make working in Bhutan attractive. We are a small economy. To make our more vibrant, we need radical policy shift.

For example, why would a Bhutanese work for almost 30 years and retire to a life of uncertainty? Our social security system, in a welfare society that we like to flaunt to the world beyond, is in search of true meaning.

We will continue to lose talents and people so long as we fail to give special priority to the sectors outside of civil service.

@editorial (Kuensel)

Inflation rising while the Bhutanese remain poor

 Residents complain of inflation 

... OCP warns businesses against inflating prices 

 

Despite the recent measures, many residents complain that after the pandemic, goods and services prices have been soaring, forcing them to compromise on their consumption. 

 

The enactment of the Tax Act of Bhutan, 2022 last month, sales tax and customs duty of close to 142 goods have been reduced. Taxes were reduced with the aim of easing inflationary pressure in the market. 

 

The Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) on December 28, issued a public notification saying that as a result of the legislation, market prices of different types of cereals, pulses, cooking oil, milk powder, agricultural spare parts, and seeds are expected to decrease correspondingly.

 

A resident of Thimphu, Sangay Dema said that the cost of basic consumer products has hiked over time. “The consumers in countries like Bhutan, where the major essential products are imported, face the problem of high prices.”

 

She said that the products, which are in shortage, would gradually have higher prices over time. “Majority of the residents do not complain regarding the price hike because they don’t know where to complain,” she said. 

 

Probin Ghalley, a corporate employee, said that the situation could possibly be due to the prolonged global pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine, which broke the major supply chain. 

 

“Although a notice has been passed the price has increased already all over the country. This would mean no decrease in the price,” he said. 

 

“Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s net exporters of agricultural produce. The war has affected the overall trade all over the world because of an increase in the fuel price leading to transportation charges,” he said. 

 

The increase in prices of various goods and services has led to lesser choice and preference for the purchase of goods for many families.

 

Sonam Dorji, a resident in Thimphu said that the increase in the prices of goods has led to the lesser purchase of goods and services. “After the rapid hike in the price of goods, I purchase only the essential goods at the cost of other commodities,” he said.

 

On average, the rate of goods such as eggs per tray has hiked the highest from Nu 250 to Nu 380, Horlicks to Nu 275 from Nu 240, and baby diapers to Nu 100 from Nu 70, among others. 

 

Shopkeepers said that transport cost remains one of the main drivers of inflation. 

 

The prices of goods and services as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 4.89 percent in October 2022 compared to the price of October last year. Non-food products with 6.63 percent increase were the main contributor to the overall inflation with 72 percent contribution to the overall increase. Food prices increased by 2.87 percent in the past 12 months. 

 

The purchasing power of Ngultrum as measured by CPI is Nu 60 as of October 2022 compared to December 2012.  

 

Even after the consumer protection office issued the notification, residents said that the prices of goods and services have not changed. 

The OCP asked businesses to refrain from unjustifiably inflating prices. The office called on the consumers to report to the OCP in the event of any unethical business practices. A total of 200 complaints were registered between 2021 and 2022. 

 

The business entities found violating consumer protection rules or engaging in unfair trade practices were directed to either rectify or were fined as per the Consumer Protection Act of Bhutan 2012.

 

Altogether, Nu 0.24 million were imposed as fines from 40 business entities; while a total of Nu 1.96 million was refunded to aggrieved consumers from as many as 39 business entities.

Source: Kuensel