January 11: The Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley said the cabinet has discussed the final pay revision proposal and it will be released shortly. This was disclosed yesterday afternoon at the meeting of cabinet ministers and senior civil servants in the capital.

The Prime Minister said how attractive and satisfying the pay package is will depend on how people take it.

He said there is nothing much that can be done when it comes to benefit package for civil servants. The Prime Minister said the civil servants deserve to be paid the highest salary but this is a wishful thing and is not possible.

“No matter how much we give you, you will never be happy. And no matter how much I as a minister get, I will never be happy because we are all human beings and our greed can never be satiated,” said the Prime Minister.

He added that our country is also moving towards consumerism.

Mistake has been made with PCS, says PM

Talking about the Position Classification System (PCS), the Prime Minister said nobody seems to be happy with the Position Classification system. He said this has resulted, in many cases, a mismatch between the job and the qualification of officials. He cited an example of a forester working as a Dungpa.

The Prime Minster said PCS will be reviewed and this will be the first and the most important task of the new Civil Service Commission.

The Prime Minister also said civil servants and the parliamentarians need to understand each other.

He said many believe that the MPs are excessively arrogant. They say the MPs are getting hefty salary and enjoying undue privileges. But, he said, if we listen to them, they have a different story. Many MPs, he said, have had nasty experiences.

He said when they visited the constituencies after the National Assembly session, some dzongdas even refused to meet them. When they called on the government secretaries and heads of departments, they were badly received.

The Prime Minister said the MPs are a new entity and the people, the bureaucracy and the government do not know how to relate to them.

He said the MPs represent the people, they carry their mandate, the people that the bureaucracy and the government also serve.

This was the first meeting of cabinet ministers and senior civil servants. It discussed issues ranging from housing crunch and tenancy act, GNH, organic farming, shortage of doctors, education on democracy, freedom of press and media independence, unemployment, brain drain, sustainable development and the roles, responsibilities and the relationship between politicians and civil servants.

The gathering was also briefed on the party manifesto and the vision of the DPT government.

The Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley said the goal of the government is to ensure that democracy takes root within their five year term and that democracy is irreversible. He said if the government were to choose between party priorities and democracy, the later will prevail.