From Trongsa to Gelephu: A Brief History of Bhutan's Political Economy

This essay traces how the Bhutanese state was built and paid for, and who it included and left out, from the founding of the dual system in the seventeenth century to the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) special economic zone announced in 2023. It follows a thread of outside income, from the British subsidy for the lost duars to Indian aid, hydropower and foreign investment, and asks whether prosperity can substitute for inclusion. It covers the settlement of Nepali-speaking farmers in the southern foothills, state building under the third king, the "One Nation, One People" policies of the 1980s, the citizenship census and the exodus of the Lhotshampa in 1990–92, the east's own discontent, the democratic transition and Gross National Happiness, and the present-day strain of emigration and debt. The essay is written from the standpoint of the author, born in Lamidara, Chirang (now Mendrelgang, Tsirang), who grew up in the refugee camps in Nepal. It combines family testimony with 81 cited sources, a timeline and a schematic map. First published on bhutaneseliterature.com.