- SAARC members states have agreed to conduct a regional meeting to finalise the strategy and action plan to eliminate the threats and harmful impact of communicable diseases on health and socio economic development in the region. This was one of the recommendations made by the SAARC expert group during their two-day meeting in Paro from July 7-8 to develop the SAARC regional strategy on communicable diseases.

Common cold, skin infections, diarrhoea and skin disorders were the main cause of health problems for children under five years old in Bhutan, according to the annual health bulletin 2008. Last year 54,781 cases of common cold, 22,472 cases of diarrhoea, and 23,817 cases of skin infections were recorded across the country. Of the 13,851 children born last year, 61 were stillbirths and foetal death, followed by 98 neonatal deaths. Ten children were born with STD.

Around 30 percent of the maize crop in two gewogs of Mongar dzongkhag, that was hit by windstorms on June 27, suffered considerable damage, according to the agriculture minister, Lyonpo (Dr) Pema Gyamtsho. The minister visited some of the affected areas on July 9 with a team of agriculture, dzongkhag and gewog officials. According to a preliminary report, more than 80 acres of maize crop belonging to 96 households of Chali and Mongar were flattened by the windstorm. Meanwhile, villagers have been trying their best to straighten their crops using sticks.

Torrential rain did not deter 75 people in Dakpai, Zhemgang, from planting tree saplings and live cuttings on a five-acre area above the Zhemgang

- The Right to Information Act, once passed, will allow ordinary Bhutanese to be informed and get a responsible, transparent and accountable government. Though the Act was drafted in 2007, the cabinet is yet to introduce it in the Assembly. "Information is absolutely critical for fighting corruption and the government should introduce the act and enforce it at the earliest date possible,' said the chairperson of the anti corruption commission (ACC), Neten Zangmo.

Villagers of Bjemina, approximately 25 km from Thimphu, are hoping their health and harvest will improve with the dzongkhag yargay tshogdu (DYT) having discussed the issue of air pollution and crop damage caused by the dust from stone crushing machines in the area.

The States of north-eastern India demand their share of the development pie. PTI Union Minister for the Development of the North-Eastern Region Mani Shankar Aiyar (centre) with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar (third from left), his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga (right) and Manipur counterpart Okram Ibobi Singh (extreme right), along with other members of the NEC in Agartala on May 12, the day before the signing of the vision document.

Bhutan, in compliance with the Vienna convention for protection of ozone layer and the Montreal protocol, will have to cut chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) to zero percent by 2010. According to the national ozone officer of the national environment commission (NEC) secretariat, Peldon Tshering, Bhutan had already phased out 85 percent CFC of the baseline.

Ninety-four live poultry birds, 94 dressed chicken pieces, a kilogramme of chicken sausage, 50 trays and 154 cartons of eggs, and 89 pieces of feather and feather dusters were seized by the Bhutan agriculture and food regulatory authority (BAFRA) between January and June 9 this year for contravening the existing ban on poultry and poultry related products.