ASSESSMENT OF SANITATION AND HEALTH EFFECTS BY USING SANITARY TOILET

Sanitation is an access to and use of excreta and toilet facilities and services that ensure privacy and dignity, ensuring a clean and healthy living environment for all. Improved sanitation is the hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact. The United Nation estimates that 2.5 billion people, 40% of the world's population, lack access to adequate sanitation.

Traditional toilet with banana
bark wall

Bhutan has achieved only 51% of rural population to improved sanitation despite its target to achieve 80% by 2015. Poor sanitation was witnessed comparatively higher in eastern Dzongkhags; Lhuentse has the poorest sanitation followed by Pemagatshel and Samdrupjongkhar. Without toilet and unsafe disposal of human faeces pose serious risk on health which associate 30% higher risk of having diarrhea on children under five. Diarrhoeal diseases were reported as second leading cause of child deaths in the world. Moreover, poor toilet is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio that seriously affect the physical development and cognitive performance of children. Without a proper toilet creates vulnerability, particularly for women and young girls who experience a loss of dignity. They are exposed to abuse and harassment while defecating in the open space.

The study was carried out in Dungmaed Gewog, pemagatshel in 4 villages (Laniri, Bangyuel, Mekuri and Durungri) to assess sanitation and health of the population through construction of sanitary toilet. The study also aims to examine income level of households through actively engaging in economic activities. The study found that all the households (n = 42) used some kind of toilet. The majority of households 88.1% had improved flushable toilet, 2.4% had ventilated improved pit toilet and 9.5% had unimproved traditional pit toilet. There was no incidence of child mortality related to diarrhoeal diseases since the practice of open defecation was found completely stopped. The study also found positive correlation between annual households income (M = 670000.00 SD = ±463924.04) and health condition (M = 2.36, SD = ±.485), rs = -.486, p = .001, n = 42 as the family members could earn more income with good health condition.

For further information contact:

Email: choezangsangay@gmail.com

གླུ་གཞས།

                                       ལོ་ངོ་༢༥ འཁོར་བའི་དུས་སྟོན་སློབ་གྲྭའི་བསྟོད་གླུ།

མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭའི་མཐོང་སྣང་།

༆རང་འབྱུང་འཐོན་བསྐྱེད་མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་འདི།། ཤར་རི་དར་བརྒྱད་ལུང་པའི་སྲོག་ཤིང་ཨིན།།

  མཛེས་པའི་ཤིང་དང་མེ་ཏོག་རྭ་བས་བསྐོར།། གསུང་སྙན་དཀྱིལཝ་སི་གླུ་དབྱངས་འཁྲབ་སྟེ་ཡོད།།

  མཛེས་བྱ་འགྲན་ཟླ་མེད་པ་ལྷ་ཡུལ་བཟུམ།། ལུང་པར་དཀོན་པའི་མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་ཨིན།།

  
  

ཚེ་སྔོན་ཚོགས་བསགས་ལས་འཕྲོག་མ་རྫོགསཔ་ལས།། ཧིང་ལས་དམ་ཚིག་ཆེ་བའི་ཆ་རོགས་དང་།།

 ཐུགས་ལ་བྱམས་བརྩེ་ལྡན་པའི་སློབ་དཔོན་རྣམས།། མི་ཚེ་དོན་དག་བཟོ་བའི་མཐའ་དོན་ལུ།།

    ད་རིས་མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་འདི་ནང་འཛོམས།། ཤེས་ཡོན་སྣ་ཚོགསའི་སྦྲང་རྩི་ལེན་ཏེ་ཡོད།། 

 
  མཐར་ཐུག་མཁས་པ་སློབ་ཕྲུག་མཐར་ཕྱིན་མཛད།། འབྲས་བུ་ཞི་གཡོག་མཐོ་བའི་གོ་གནས་བཞེས།།

  རྒྱལ་ཁམས་དབུལ་ཕོངས་དཀའ་ངལ་སེལ་ཐབས་ལུ།། འཚོ་བ་སོ་ནམ་འཐོན་བསྐྱེད་གོང་འཕེལ་དང་།།

  སྒོ་ནོར་འཐོན་ཤུགས་ཡར་རྒྱས་བཏང་སྟེ་གིས།། མི་ནགཔ་ཉམ་ཆུང་དཀའ་ངལ་སེལ་བཞིན་ཡོད།།

 

  རང་བཞིན་གནས་སྟངས་འཛིན་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་ནི་འདི།། རྩ་ཁྲིམས་ཆེན་མོའི་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་དགོངས་དོན་ཨིན།།

  བག་ཕེབས་རི་དྲྭགས་སྲོག་ཆགས་སྲུང་སྐྱོབ་ཚུ།། གླིང་འཛིན་འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་གིས་འཐབ་སྟེ་ཡོད།།

  ཕྱུག་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཧོན་མོར་གནོད་རྐྱེན་མེད་།། མི་སྡེ་དཔལ་འབྱོར་གོང་འཕེལ་རྒྱས་བཞིན་ཡོད་།།

 
  དེང་སང་འཛམ་གླིང་གོང་འཕེལ་མགྱོགས་དྲག་ལས་།། གནམ་གཤིས་འགྱུར་བའི་ཚ་དྲོད་འཇིགས་པ་འཐོན།།

  མི་སྡེ་རང་བཞིན་གནོད་པའི་རྐྱེན་ངན་འབྱུང་།། ཚེ་སྲོག་གནོད་པའི་ནད་གཞི་ཡར་འཕེལཝ་མས།། 

  དེ་ཚུ་དཀའ་ངལ་གདོང་ལེན་ཐབས་ནི་ལུ།། ཡུན་བརྟན་གོང་འཕེལ་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་བྱིན་ཏེ་ཡོད།།

 

   ས་གཤིས་འགྱུར་བའི་ཟློག་ཐབས་འགན་ཁུར་འདི།། སློབ་སྦྱོང་འབད་མི་ཕོ་མོའི་ཁས་བླངས་ཨིན།།

  ད་རིས་ལོང་སྤྱོད་འབད་མི་ཐུན་རྐྱེན་ཚུ།། མ་འོངས་བུ་གཞི་ཕན་ཐབས་བདག་འཛིན་འབད།།

  ཡུན་བརྟན་གོང་འཕེལ་དམིགས་དོན་བསྒྲུབས་ཏེ་གིས།། རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དགའ་སྐྱིད་དཔལ་འཛོམས་འབྱུང་པར་ཤོག།

 

  རྟགས་དང་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ལེགས་པ་སློབ་གྲྭ་ནང་།། མི་ལོ་ཉེར་ལྔའི་དུས་སྟོན་བརྩི་སྲུང་ཞུ།།

  ང་བཅས་ཕྱག་དང་མཆོད་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ་བཏབ།། མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་བསྐལ་བརྒྱའི་བར་དུ་གནས།།

  ཤེས་རིག་ཡོན་ཏན་གོང་དུ་འཕེལ་བར་ཤོག། དགའ་སྐྱིད་ཕུན་སུམ་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བར་ཤོག། །། 

བཟོད་གསོལ༔ གླུ་གཞས་རྩོམ་སྒྲིག་འབད་ནི་ནང་ ཐོས་བསམ་སྒོམ་གསུམ་སོགས་གང་ཡང་མེདཔ་ལས་ མཁས་པ་དགྱེས་པའི་ 

སྙན་ཚིག་དང་ སྡེབས་སྦྱོར་ཁུངས་གཏུགས་མེད་རུང་ ང་རང་གི་ཐོས་བསམ་དང་ཉམས་མྱོང་ཆུང་ཀུ་ལས་ ཟིན་བྲིས་འབད་འབདཝ་ཨིན།

འདི་ནང་ལུ་ བརྫོད་ཚིག་མ་དགཔ་ཡིག་སྡེབས་མ་སྒྲིག་པའི་ ནོར་འཁྲུལ་ལེ་ཤ་ཡོད་སྲིདཔ་ལས་ གཟིགས་མི་ཡོངས་ལུ་ 

ཐུགས་ཀྱི་བཟོད་པ་བཞེས་གནང་ཞུ།

                         

                         བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ།

Eligible Local Leader is a priority, not a power!

Local government is apolitical and does not belong to any political party. An elected officials of the local government should refrain from engaging in any political activity and politics during his/her tenure in office. They should completely remain out of the horizon of politics; and hence called apolitical party.

Since its first election in June 2011, making the first round a historic movement. Now only two month are left to complete the five year terms of office and readying for another second round of election. Many didn't attempt and was in the dormant to vie for the post of Gup, Mangmi and Tshogpa. That gave confident to some of the incompetent candidates to take advantage during the election and left some stones unturned in the Gewog. Precious five years has been wasted and many of the people were not happy as their wish was not fulfilled. A story was created as people had a wish and they had a power. But now things has just become an opposite as they wish for the help and people holds the power; whom to vote for the competent candidate. Our people are far educated and learned many lesson to become a vigilant voter and cannot easily brainwash to make a prey. Politician need to be tactful and cautious to woo the public support; while the elected one must take an oath of office guided by the principle of the democracy that the power is not vested in it but consider the best interest and for the welfare of the people of Bhutan.

Unlike the first round of election, the second round seems competitive and tough. We can hear the huge wave of candidates turnout to appear the functional literacy test (FLT) equally by both women and men. This indicates good sign of participation and executing a gender equality that will determine the ones ability and confident to become a leader. However, a potential leader and its competency is assured when more number of candidates are turnout. So that our people can choose the competent candidate who will bring changes and need in the society, they can reliance that the leaders are not selected rather convinced as they are unanimously elected.  

As a contestant vying for the post of local leaders, what should be their immediate pledges to gain the people's supports? And how can they promise and fulfill those during their terms in the office? Every candidate will have setup goal and motive to fulfill an aspiration of the people not just to make oneself better. Such was the flimsy impression prevail throughout now and hardly our people believe on it. If it worsen the situation this may even lead to political repression and premature of dissolution has to reshuffle which is wastage of economic resources. Every one of us cannot expect them to come and do favor in our own doorstep. But they are elected bodies to represent the interest of local communities and fulfill their aspirations and needs through public consultation and participation in the development and management of social, economic and environmental well being. 

Today in the village,over 400,000 people do not have access to safe drinking water giving chaos to our innocent farmers in doing their daily activities. The problem is not new, but lacks prioritization in implementation of water safety plan through allocation of budget. The rural-urban migration and human-wildlife conflict is a serious issues that need to take immediate action putting the matter in the annual Dzongkhag conference and further to the Cabinet meeting. Similarly, the cases of Choeten vandalism is high in the village, more than 90 percent of Choeten has been vadalished over the year in the village. The local leaders through involvement of communities should raise concerns and sought protection to minimize the crime rate. However, these problem has been paid less attention and seems diverted their concern towards the other side.

The core value and fundamental duties of local government is to Provide democratic and accountable government for local communities through ensuring the social well-being in all times to come. A candidate must proof his/her possession of adequate skills and competency to discharge all responsibilities in a fair and equitable manner.  A competent and skillful leader is always accepted in the society and inspired that the whole community needs his/her sincere services. A good leader is encourage to move forward and serve the people where powerful leader demand respect and make people work under him/her.   

"Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another." 

                                                                                                                                  ~ John C. Maxwell

A curse of an unemployment

Unemployment is a state where people do not have a job, have seriously looked for a work in the past but has no avail where the money is rewarded to their service. However, people with disability and those who doesn't seriously hunt for a work are excluded and are called dependent.

Today, unemployment is a serious issue and growing concern among the youth. It's an alarming situation that gives burden to the government in bringing immediate solution. Being unemployed is a serious curse but worse than a disease. It weakens physically as well as mentally that eats up the vitality of the youths. It futile the hopes and shatter the dreams that was set up from many years. The situation may further worsen and slip out of control; that will frustrate the young talented graduates and compel them to involve in anti-social activities like robbery,gang fight,sexual harassment and substance abuse. Ultimately, this will creates a disharmony in the society and incur a huge loss to the government handling the problem.

The general rate of unemployment stand at 2.6% with thousands of young graduates are left unemployed. This is not surprising that the government want to achieve the full employment rate not with the level of education but with skills and talent of the job seekers. The irony behind is it should be well equipped that the young and fresh graduates with minimum work experience, course training, interpersonal and communication skills, and the ability to work in a team with the level of their education. The loophole is created here where mismatch between job seekers and available jobs is created. The entire course in the institutions and colleges should consider and redesign to meet the gap. Besides, the learning approach and atmosphere should change in comply with the requirement in jobs sphere.

Annually, thousands of general and technical graduates are being produced. All are in hunt for a lucrative job, want only white collar job. They want to settle down promptly with comfortable shelter and want to look after their parents. However, only handful of them are absorbed as a civil servants and rest in NGOs, CSOs and Corporations. These were mainly attributed to the low salary and status, parents’ objection, poor working environment, and location of workplace. Notwithstanding to this nepotism and pre-selection of candidate is a malady that bureaucracy involved into corruption where competent youth are not selected through an interview. But an overwhelming majority of youth preferred desk jobs than the blue collar jobs that makes unemployment rate still high.

The Constitution of Bhutan clearly reflects that equal job opportunities should be given to both genders, as per their capabilities be it in any place. This arise the question regarding the unemployment in the rural areas where most of the competent youth with economically disadvantaged family are left unemployed. The political parties take full responsibility to look after them pledged to give job bagging the support and vote during the election. The ruling party had promised full employment as their political mandates and come up with new initiatives on employment promotion & facilitation programs, such as Guaranteed Employment Programs, Direct Employment Scheme, Employment Skills Programs and Overseas Employment Scheme. However, the youth are not attracted with these scheme due to security reasons as many of they have fallen prey to unscrupulous practices of consultants that jeopardize their career ahead.

As a graduate, who would also put the first hand experience and face hurdle not less than a few months later. These are some of the collective thoughts and observations I have made before. Infact, time has come nearer to face all those challenges and take opportunity sometime. As a educated and learned man; one must change notion that everything cannot provide by government. As old proverb says-"Self help is the best help". One should find out the own means by applying the collective theories into practice just to make a life brighter and solve the unemployment problem together.      

   

  

Coronation Day of 5th Druk Gyalpo

Coronation Day-The Public Holiday

Source: Coronation of the king of Bhutan-2008

Annually, Bhutan celebrates the Coronation Day of Druk Gyalpo. Since the day was marked as a public holiday, it's considers as one of the major holidays in Bhutan. The fourth Druk Gyalpo's Coronation Day was celebrated on every June 2nd before his abdication of golden throne in 2006.  In memory, people can still remember his glorious reigned and the time spent together. The Coronation Day of fifth Druk Gyalpo falls on November 1st since on 6th of November 2008, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk was crowned as the fifth king of Bhutan in a sacred and intimate ceremony in the Serthri Namgay Khangzang (the Supreme Golden Throne Room) in the Tashichhodzong. His Majesty the fourth king transferred the golden throne to his son in the mandate of practice and experience of ruling the nation with immense of dedication. During the day people found new radiance and with profuse expectation, offered prayers and Tashi Khadhars to their king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk. 

In the last 7 years, the dreams and aspirations of the people and the vision of fourth Druk Gyalpo have been fulfilled beyond all expectations after His Majesty became the fifth king. Through his wise and selfless leadership and the sacrifices and hard work has created a unique and special nation – a jewel of the earth. Today, we refer him as a true people's monarch of our time.

This year on his Coronation Day, I too join with the whole nation celebrating the day by reciting humble prayers and offering butter lamps for the safety of His Majesty's good health and long life. In our small way in the College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan, Lobesa the trainees and staffs joined together by making their sincerest prayers to His Majesty. After, as a tribute various songs and dances were performed on the courtyard closing the day with Trashi Laybey. On this occasion, we heartily wish that the people & nation continue to bask in the wisdom and magnanimity of His Majesty for all the times to come. May Dragon country protect by the guardian deities under your glorious reign where prosperity, happiness and peace flourish in the Kingdom ever.
Happy Coronation Day and Trashi Delak!  

The Death-Impermanence of Life

The Death shall come and it's for certain

 Some where in the ephemeral garden of hollow Samsara
There shines a bounty of beautiful flowers to the full bloom
Everyone was attracted by its succulent & aromatic figure 
But how long can it flower and ornament the garden?

The fear of death is worst than death!

   The fragility of its beauty nods in disagreement;
   The impermanence, shining in the glory of eternal life
   Involuntary when autumn comes it'll wither and get rotten.
   Human life too has a season that is short and inevitable
   Where the wavering of happiness and sadness is variable
   Definitely these has no meaning and are essence- less 
   That is not going to last forever in the circle of life
   Where the death shall come and it is for certain!

  For the death to come, it has no specific time and space
  It delivers no message, shows no ominous signs;
  Suddenly it can come to anyone not in a desire place
  Not by the age as young and old;
  It takes randomly and shall come to anyone.
  In which one has to leave everything behind
  Your charming lover, beautiful house and a car
  After-all; all will turn dust and disappear
  Death is inevitable-nothing won and lost-all is Impermanence.
  
  But how can one should prepare to die?
  Ignorance, lust, conceit, self deception and false hopes
  Are the root causes of human suffering and pain
  Desire gives birth to sorrow; cause demerits in action.
  Do everything positively and stop hurting others
  As nothing can be so true, all are bound to die  
  And rebirth are victory of ones deed; all are Impermanence!

                  ~In the memory of my late step mother who was passed away in throat cancer in 2010. Leaving all her children small before they can do stand by their own feet!

Message of Felicitation to the Drukgyal Zhipa

Prayer to my Beloved King in his 60th Birth Anniversary
As prophesied by Ugyen Guru Rinpoche-
'the great precious master' in his famous namthar,
With never ending blessing from the numerous great lama
And by our collective merits of good fortune together;
Fate gave to the birth of His Majesty- the fourth king
From the proverbial land of hidden treasures-
Where the precious jewel revealed and sparkled 
Spread the destiny of domain across the world.

Picture courtesy: www.google.com 

You came in as the world's youngest monarch
Ruled the nation in the spirit of Buddha;
Illuminated & showering us the way in the darkness
Protects every one of us and showered love & affection.
You have gave us the immense happiness and joy
Bought us to the horizon where peace is painted 
Under your benevolent and wisdom leadership;
Your reputed image was captured by the world
As a legendary and enigmatic inspirational monarch
We saw a remarkable chapter was open in the history;
Your Majesty-you are the true monarch in the heart of people! 


On this auspicious occasion of the 60th Birth Anniversary of
Your Majesty 4th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wanchuck;
Its my great honour and privilege to take an opportunity 
Wishing from the depth of my heart with profuse prayers
I join with the nation in expressing my sincerest felicitations;
May Your Majesty have a good health and long life,
That inspires thousand of generations with love & compassion.
May the Drukyul have unprecedented peace & prosperity throughout 
Under the glorious and compassionate reign of Your Majesty 
Happy 60th Birth Anniversary and long live Your Majesty!

"The only message I have to convey to you, my people, is that if everyone of us consider ourselves Bhutanese, and think and act as one, and if we have faith in Triple Gem, our glorious kingdom of Bhutan will grow from strength to strength and achieve prosperity, peace and happiness". said by His Majesty on June 2, 1974 during the coronation ceremony in Changlingmithang.

Happy Blessed Rainy Day

Thruebab- The Bhutanese Social Holiday

The Blessed Rainy Day literally means the flow of blessed cleansing water. In layman's term it is called 'thruebab'-the holy precipitation shower from heavenly Buddha Nangpar Nangzoed on the earth. It falls on 15th day of 8th Month in the Buddhist Calendar. This year, Bhutanese are going to celebrate thrue on 22nd September. That is exactly on 9th day of 8th month of Wood Female Sheep Year, 2015. On this day, people keep aside their daily bustle of activities and come together to celebrate. In a year it is one of the social occasions for the Bhutanese to take a day leave. Similarly, the people from Ladakh in India, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and some parts of China observed the day in their own way.

It is believed that during the Blessed Rainy Day, the whole water bodies on the earth turns into a holy water that acquired elixir like potency to cleanse sentient beings of all negatives and misdeeds of the past bad karma. As soon as the morning comes, people takes bath to purify all their defilements and demerits either from the direct tap water or bucketful of stored water.

I could vividly remember when I was a boy, a night before 'thruebab' my mother used to tell us to keep a bucket with some varieties of flowers outside the house. At night the blessed rain showers and bucket will be full of holy and purified water. Early in the morning she will make us to wash our face and take bath. We also offered the collected holy water as water offering to the god in the altar with the burning incense. My mother has a strong belief that the holy and purified water on 'thruebab' will erase the negative obstacles of us and pick up faster while in learning.

In our context, 'thrue' is a day marking the end of the monsoon season. It marks the end of the farming season and the beginning of the harvest season. As the 'thrue' is observed as a national holiday; the Government offices, Schools and Institutions, and Private Organisations remain closed for the day. Families, relatives and friends from the far distance and nearby gather together to have foods and drinks. Traditionally, families gather together to celebrate the day together since the permanence of their lives is not sure. Together they pray and make a wish as they will meet again later. 

After the foods and drinks the day was celebrated with the various traditional games like archery, khuru, and doegor. The team are formed from different villages and match are conducted where it promotes the preservation of culture and tradition which is one of the pillars of Gross National Happiness. But it was seen as taken blase by some people because of their work load pressure. Our younger one will forget soon and coming generation will never know as such occasion was there before,in turn this may lose our culture and the identity. 
On this very important occasion let me take a privilege to wish you all my dear parents, relatives and friends a "Happy Blessed Rainy Day"! 

Happy Blessed Rainy Day

Thruebab- The Bhutanese Social Holiday

The Blessed Rainy Day literally means the flow of blessed cleansing water. In layman's term it is called 'thruebab'-the holy precipitation shower from heavenly Buddha Nangpar Nangzoed on the earth. It falls on 15th day of 8th Month in the Buddhist Calendar. This year, Bhutanese are going to celebrate thrue on 22nd September. That is exactly on 9th day of 8th month of Wood Female Sheep Year, 2015. On this day, people keep aside their daily bustle of activities and come together to celebrate. In a year it is one of the social occasions for the Bhutanese to take a day leave. Similarly, the people from Ladakh in India, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and some parts of China observed the day in their own way.

It is believed that during the Blessed Rainy Day, the whole water bodies on the earth turns into a holy water that acquired elixir like potency to cleanse sentient beings of all negatives and misdeeds of the past bad karma. As soon as the morning comes, people takes bath to purify all their defilements and demerits either from the direct tap water or bucketful of stored water.

I could vividly remember when I was a boy, a night before 'thruebab' my mother used to tell us to keep a bucket with some varieties of flowers outside the house. At night the blessed rain showers and bucket will be full of holy and purified water. Early in the morning she will make us to wash our face and take bath. We also offered the collected holy water as water offering to the god in the altar with the burning incense. My mother has a strong belief that the holy and purified water on 'thruebab' will erase the negative obstacles of us and pick up faster while in learning.

In our context, 'thrue' is a day marking the end of the monsoon season. It marks the end of the farming season and the beginning of the harvest season. As the 'thrue' is observed as a national holiday; the Government offices, Schools and Institutions, and Private Organisations remain closed for the day. Families, relatives and friends from the far distance and nearby gather together to have foods and drinks. Traditionally, families gather together to celebrate the day together since the permanence of their lives is not sure. Together they pray and make a wish as they will meet again later. 

After the foods and drinks the day was celebrated with the various traditional games like archery, khuru, and doegor. The team are formed from different villages and match are conducted where it promotes the preservation of culture and tradition which is one of the pillars of Gross National Happiness. But it was seen as taken blase by some people because of their work load pressure. Our younger one will forget soon and coming generation will never know as such occasion was there before,in turn this may lose our culture and the identity. 
On this very important occasion let me take a privilege to wish you all my dear parents, relatives and friends a "Happy Blessed Rainy Day"! 

Bastard or Fatherless child?

Fatherless Child or Bastard- Are they not Bonafide Bhutanese Citizen?
I feel awkward to say bastard to a child who is brought-up by a single parent. It is an offensive and serious crime to say, when the child was born having his/her biological father and mother. How can one should say, a baby will born without a father? And they are called 'bastard' because they don't have a father. In our dialect 'Bastard' refers to as 'drang', and it's an abusive and humiliation to describe it. In literary, 'Bastard' is a old use to a person born of parents not married at the time of his/her birth. Instead, they are called illegitimate or fatherless child.

It is common where a single mother and a fatherless children in the village. When the mother could not identify the child's true biological father. And the father don't want to accept the truth and cannot take her as his wife thereby refusing to accept a child as his own blood. Such was a evil sin which makes a child to suffer and do not get warm love & care that cause morally disappointment in later age of a child.

Just a few weeks ago, I was dumbfounded when the young School going children humiliates one of his friends on their way to the School. A boy was shouted to a girl; "Poor bastard, you don't have a proper bag to put your books". It was raining, may be she was his classmate. She remained silent and shows her sign of assistant from him. As they headed off, I was asking to myself; Are they children of next door neighbour? Did his parents teach such conduct in that way? Because a girl was a fatherless child and look down. Usually people gullible and deceived a single woman in the village when the child was born without a father. It's a common to all and every time happening. Which creates social stigma and alienation in the society, giving more pressure of distress and exclusion to those innocent souls. 

The fatherless children are more jeopardize to get into danger. They may get into the drugs & alcohols out of disappointment, fighting & suicide, thief and robbery. Lack of financial supports may results a child to drop from the School, whereby he/she cannot pursue for a tertiary education. This a serious issues which requires urgent attention from the government side to care and support them. Because the fatherless children are also born as bonafide Bhutanese citizen. Why should these innocent souls left neglected and make to suffer?

Not very recently, I have witnessed a pitiful incident in one of the Schools. I was going to enroll my uncle's son during the admission day. A young and charming woman was also there with her six year old son, who was seated behind us silently and fully bowed her head down. When everyone was making full-swing. I didn't notice making her head up. In my discursive thought, I guessed she has some problem to discuss. I went to her side and asked in a low voice. 
I was astounded, when she says; "I could not registered into the census of my son, he's six years old now". I asked her, "why, what was happened to that?".
She turned almost red and said, "I have no marriage certificate, and couldn't registered of him into the census". She added, "His biological father refused to accept him as his son".
For the moment I was confounded by hearing that. And fortunately, the School finally approved his admission despite in needs of his documents. 

Such was a pitiable condition, it requires dire intervention from the relevant stakeholders of various spectrum. But the problem will remain as it is and may become the worst, if the matter is not take as seriously. When the concern authorities are not involve to care those innocent single woman in the village. How can they expect to file a court case and determine their child's biological father? Since settlement in the court takes a long time. How does a poor and single woman can face an accrual of huge expenses? 
In the village level, they have a Local government and Dungkhag court to take defence. And further Dzongkhag authorities to appeal. The authorize agencies must not expect a innocent souls to defence by them individually. They are backward not highly learned. They can't go and do DNA test which it incur a huge lump-sum of expenditure. For a rustic villagers like them, it's too expensive and huge amount where they can't afford it.

But the question is, why the siblings are call 'Bastard'? Are they not offspring of human? Do they have feelings and are not hurts when abused? Would he/she can be your friend?
"You may have both the parents now. And you are born and brought-up by them under a Kangaroo care. But how can you assure to escape from the death and live permanently with them"?