Nepali Times
Constitution Supplement
"Many official languages"



How important is the Committee for Determining Basis of Cultural and Social Unity?
At first, we all thought it wasn't that important a committee. Later, however, we began to believe the opposite.

Are there major disagreements in your committee?
Initially there was agreement on the draft, but then debate arose over whether to call the conflict 'people's war' or 'civil conflict.' We decided to put it to a vote. Besides that, there are disagreements about what the official state language should be.

What has your committee decided will be the official state language?
Currently, Nepali is the official language since it is spoken most widely. However, we propose that a language commission be formed to look into the feasibility of making particular languages the official language in the provinces where they are predominant.

Madhes-based groups are demanding that Hindi be made the official language. What do you say?
Hindi is also included in the census, so can very well be made the official language in some province.

Won't this put other languages spoken in the Tarai, like Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, at a disadvantage?
There are no restrictions here. Those languages can be made official languages too.

READ ALSO:
Constitution 2010, Nepali Times coverage of issues related to writing the new constitution



LATEST ISSUE
638
(11 JAN 2013 - 17 JAN 2013)


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