Architect Of Their Happiness

High on idealism, popularity, Bhutan’s PM Lotay Tshering seeks to fulfil his promises.

- Pranay Sharma

MANY professionals give up promising careers to join pol­itics. But rarely does som­eone pay the government mil­ lions to do so. Bhutan’s new prime minister Lotay Tshering is one such rare individual.

As a urology surgeon in a government hospital, Tshering paid the authorities Nu 6.2 million (Rs 62 lakh), when in 2013 he decided to give up his job and join politics. The amount was compen­sation he had to pay the government as ‘training obligation’ when he left the civil service.

“If it was not for my passion and urge to serve the country at a different level, I would not have resigned by paying such a big amount,” he had said in an interview to Bhutan’s leading media outfit Kuensel.

It was his interest to work at the level where policies are made, he explained, that led him quit his job. “As a doctor, I can only address problems of individual patients. We can fix systemic problems only at the policy level,” Tshering added.