The Bhutan government discontinued the practice of drafting the Five-Year-Plan - a practice that they had picked up from India which itself had discontinued them from 2014 - for development and resource allocations, a move that irked the main opposition party which said the decision would have “huge” implications. 

Criticizing the government, Opposition Leader Dorji Wangdi said the move will seriously "disrupt" the country’s socio-economic development and governance. He also called the old system a “time-tested method”.
 
Calling the decision a “blunder”, he further said the move will affect the equity in planning and resource allocation, regional balanced development, independence of local governments, and professionalism of civil service, among others, according to a report in Kuensel newspaper. 

“Dangerously, it will lead to highly arbitrary and politicized planning and resource allocation, undermining the functions of different institutions of governance, local governments, for example,” he said in a statement released to the press. The decision will affect both internal and external planning and resource mobilization, he said. 

However, not everyone in the opposition is opposing the move. Sonam Tobgay, the leader of Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party (BKP), termed the move right. The (earlier) development model had served its purpose, he said, and now needed a “paradigm shift” to a more dynamic and versatile platform where long-awaited priority sectors of the economy are smartly harnessed for collective gains.

(SAM)