Friday 13 May 2016

BHUTAN

Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, / Druk Yul), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་, /Druk Gyal Khap), is a landlocked country in South Asia. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north, the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, China and the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal in the west, and the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh in the south and east. Bhutan is geopolitically in South Asia and is the region's second-least-populous nation after the Maldives. Thimphu is its capital and largest city, while Phuntsholing is its financial center. Bhutan's independence has endured for centuries. It has never been colonized in its history. Situated on the ancient Silk Road between Tibet, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the Bhutanese state developed a distinct national identity based on Buddhism. In South Asia, Bhutan ranks first in economic freedom, ease of doing business, and peace, and is the least corrupt country in the region as of 2016. It continues to be a least developed country, but expects to graduate from this status by 2023. Hydroelectricity accounts for most of its exports. The government is a parliamentary democracy; the head of state is the King of Bhutan, known as the "Dragon King." The precise etymology of "Bhutan" is unknown, although it is likely to derive from the Tibetan endonym "Böd" for Tibet. Traditionally, it is taken to be a transcription of the Sanskrit Bhoṭa-anta "end of Tibet", a reference to Bhutan's position as the southern extremity of the Tibetan plateau and culture.

Since the 17th century Bhutan's official name has been Druk yul (country of the Drukpa Lineage, the Dragon People, or the Land of the Thunder Dragon, a reference to the country's dominant Buddhist sect); "Bhutan" appears only in English-language official correspondence.

The first postage stamps of Bhutan were issued in 1962, the same year that the first motorable road was opened.  Before that there was a mail delivery system in place for official mail using mail runners, and between 1955 and 1962 revenue stamps were accepted as payment for internal mail. With the opening up of Bhutan in the early 1960s, a formal postal system was introduced. The American entrepreneur Burt Todd assisted in establishing a postage stamp program in the country and Bhutan became known for the unusual designs and materials of its stamps which were chosen by Todd specifically to attract attention. With the assistance of the Indian postal advisor Dr. K. Ramamurti, who was in Bhutan from 1964 to 1968, a proper postal organization and infrastructure was set up under the leadership of a young Bhutanese officer Mr. Lam Penjor, who became the Director of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.

Most of the known covers sent via this route were destined for the Bhutanese representation in Kalimpong, India, known as Bhutan House. However, covers to private people and people c/o the post office in Kalimpong are known, as are covers to more far flung locations in India, Nepal, the UK and the USA. A few covers without additional stamps of other countries are known to have made it to their destinations in the USA. Generally, on items going abroad, the fiscal stamps appear affixed at the upper left of the dual franked covers, with space left at the upper right where eventually the Indian or Chinese stamps purchased at Yatung were placed, resulting in mixed franking. Some covers have the added postage on the backsides. Although disputed, the Finnish philatelist Iiro Kakko opines that the majority of the known covers sent to Kalimpong appear not to be genuine letters routed through the postal system, but especially produced for the philatelic market.

In 1974, the Department of Posts & Telegraphs appointed the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation (IGPC), based in New York, as its sole, worldwide agent that permitted IGPC to design and print stamps against a royalty. One particular initiative of the P&T Department after the introduction of this new policy was the release in May 1993 of the Famous Paintings - Reading & Writing issue, originally designed and printed by the Bhutan Stamp Agency to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the UPU (1874–1974) and prepared by the agency to be issued in late 1974. However, the termination of their contract intervened, while the stamps had been already shipped to Bhutan. Since their arrival in the country, the stamps were kept in customs storage and reportedly forgotten by the P&T Department until the early 1990s.

On 14 February 1982 Bhutan joined the Asian-Pacific Postal Union (APPU). With the introduction of Druk Air services between Bhutan, India and Thailand in 1991, mail no longer needed to be routed only overland via Phuentsholing to India, but could also directly be exchanged with the postal exchange offices of New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangkok. n the 7th Five Year Plan (1992–97) privatization of businesses directly ran by the government was one of the major objectives. As a result, the postal and telegraph activities of the P & T Department were incorporated in an autonomous corporation, the Bhutan Postal Corporation Ltd., with its trade name Bhutan Post, as of 1 October 1996.

The cover posted on May 08, 2016 and I received on May 13, 2016. The stamps are related to WWF with Red Panda's picture.





The covers are posted on April 29, 2016  from Thimphu GPO, the capital city of Bhutan, and I received on May 12, 2016.

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