Bhutan: The Last Great Himalayan Kingdom
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked sovereign country in between India and China. It is the last great Himalayan Kingdom bordered by Tibetan Autonomous Region of China to the north and west and Indian state Arunachal Pradesh in the east, Assam and West Bengal in the south and Sikkim to the south-west. Bhutan is the second least populous nation in Indian sub-continent after the Maldives. The capital and largest city of Bhutan is Thimphu and Phuntsholing is its financial center of Bhutan. Bhutan is not just an ordinary country but the Himalayan Kingdom is shrouded in mystery and magical environment where they strictly follow a traditional Buddhist culture.
Till 2008, Bhutan was an absolute monarchy, but now the country entertains a Democratic Constitutional monarchy. Bicameral parliament (National Council and National Assembly) is the part of Bhutanese democracy, where members of National Assembly are directly elected by general election throughout the country and the members of National council elected by the electorates of the twenty districts (20 elected members and 5 nominated members). And a democratic cabinet has been formed including Prime Minister by the majority party of the National Assembly, under the His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck. The Cabinet has full authority to take most of the administrative decisions for the Country. Even the Parliament has the power to call an impeachment motion of the King.
The economy of Bhutan is one of the smallest but the fastest-growing in the world. In 2018, the GDP (nominal) of Bhutan is $2.547 billion and the GDP (PPP) of Bhutan is $7.701 billion. The currency of Bhutan is the ngultrum and the value of ngultrum is fixed with the Indian rupee. The Indian rupees are commonly used in Bhutan and legal tender alongside ngultrum except for INR500 and INR2000 currency notes. Unfortunately, Bhutan is one of the least developed countries in the world. Hydroelectricity is the main resource of its export and India is the only importer of this Hydroelectricity. Even then the Happiness Index of Bhutan is high.
