NA approves 13th Five-Year Plan | Kuensel Online

Thupten Sangpo

Parliament approved the 13th Five-Year Plan yesterday after reviewing one general proposal and nine specific recommendations put forward by the Economic and Fiscal Committee.

The House of Representatives passed the plan with 38 votes in favor. Of the 42 lawmakers present, one abstained and three voted against.

The House accepted the committee’s recommendation to incorporate the 13th Five-Year Plan resource allocation mechanism into consideration of population data on registered population and average resident population.

The House also agreed to allocate a separate budget for Tsongkhapa region under the approved Local Area Plan (LAP) during the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Bartsham-Shongphu MP Rinchen Wangdi, chairman of the Economic and Finance Committee, said the resources allocated to the dzongkhag were insufficient to sustain the administration of the dzongkhag and the identified villages.

Discussions included major projects and indicative resource expenditures that should be made during the 13th Five-Year Plan, a mandatory policy of spending one percent of GDP on research and development, and the development of a detailed master plan for human development.

It also includes allocating special resources to develop sports facilities for out-of-school and unemployed youth, and incorporating an economic stimulus package into the main fiscal framework of the 13th Five-Year Plan.

To help policymakers and implementers understand resource allocation trends and provide guidance for forecasting future resource needs, sector-specific resource expenditures equivalent to the allocation framework reflected in the National Budget document for the fiscal year 2024-25 must be developed.

During a show of hands vote, the House supported the committee’s recommendations to eliminate standard deviation in the resource allocation formula, use a uniform standard for Dzongkhag, Tromso and Dzongkhag, reduce the weight of the Gross National Happiness Index (inverse) and apply a similar weight to Dzongkhag.

In presenting the committee’s recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan, Economic and Fiscal Committee Chairman Rinchen Wangdi said the resource allocation formula (RAF) in the plan applied different criteria to Tsongkhapa, Gewog and Trond.

“The committee is also concerned that allocating 65 per cent weight to the GNH index (inverse), especially in the RAF of Dzongkhag, will lead to uneven distribution,” he said.

Article 9, Sections 7 and 8 of the Constitution guarantee a more equal and comprehensive distribution of resources.

Rinchen Wangdi suggested adopting a unified standard for Dzongkha, Dzongkha and Gwok, reducing the weight of the GNH index (inverse) and adopting a weight similar to that of Gwok.

He added that the use of standard deviation in the formula defeats the original intention of allocating resources equitably and therefore recommended its abolition.

According to the resource allocation formula for the 13th Five-Year Plan, three criteria were taken into account in the allocation of dzongkhags, with the weight of permanent population at 25%, the weight of geographical area at 10%, and the weight of the National Happiness Index (inverse) at 65%.

For clans, six criteria are included, namely, permanent population accounts for 20%, geographical area accounts for 10%, poverty distribution percentage (total population) accounts for 25%, climate change vulnerability analysis index, national happiness index and transportation index account for 15% each.

For thromde, resident population was assigned a weight of 40%, geographical area was assigned a weight of 20%, and poverty distribution (population), climate change vulnerability analysis index, GNH index (inverse) and unemployment distribution were each assigned 10%.

Finance Minister Lekey Dorji clarified the committee’s findings, saying resource allocation to the dzongkhag took into account resident population, geographical area and the Gross National Happiness Index (inverse).

Leonpo said the GNH index gave 65 per cent weightage to Dzongkha as the GNH index considers nine areas – health, education, living standards, ecological diversity and resilience, good governance, mental health, time use, community vitality, cultural diversity and resilience.

He added that the GNH index is well representative as the sample size is 11,440 from 20 dzongkhags.

Lyonpo Lekey Dorji said that the standard deviation was used to smooth the maximum and minimum distributions of Tsongkhapa and Gewa by limiting the two standard deviations on either side of the mean distribution to eliminate outliers.

Otherwise, the difference in budget allocations between different dzongkhags could reach 600%.

Nganglam MP Lamdra Wangdi said despite Pemagatshel being one of the most populous districts in the country, a smaller budget was allocated to the district.

Similarly, Dewathang-Gomdar MP Tshering Penjor said Samdrupjhongkhar has the second highest poverty rate and hence gets less budget.

On Pemagat Sher’s resource allocation methodology with three criteria, Lyonpo Lekey Dorji clarified the use of standard deviations, noting that the budget allocation would amount to Nu516 million, while the budget allocation with six criteria would amount to Nu435 million.

He believed that using the standard deviation, the amount allocated to the dzongkhag was 518 million nurs.

The committee found that the country is facing serious concerns Common and our.

“Most dzongkhags in the west have seen a population increase due to net migration, while most dzongkhags in the east have seen a net population loss,” said councillor Rinchen Wangdi.

Councillors are concerned that people move to towns and cities for a variety of reasons, including employment, education, family relocation, marriage and health.

Lawmakers said that if the issue is not addressed, some villages in the country will have no residents at all, and food security and community vitality could disappear at an alarming rate.