JANAKPUR: The Madhesh Provincial Government has introduced a bill in the Provincial Assembly to officially recognize multiple languages for administrative and official use, nearly seven years after the province’s establishment.
The bill, presented by Minister for Education and Culture Rani Kumari Tiwari, proposes that languages such as Maithili, Bhojpuri, Bajjika, Hindi, and English be included as official languages alongside Nepali in the province.
Currently, Nepali is the sole official language of the province. The new bill seeks to change that, allowing the use of the additional languages in government offices, public institutions, and other government bodies throughout the province. Furthermore, the provincial government would have the ability to publish the provincial gazette in these languages in addition to Nepali, which is written in the Devanagari script.
The bill also includes a provision for penalties, stipulating that individuals holding public office may be fined between 10,000 to 25,000 rupees if they prohibit the use of any of the recognized official languages in government work or public institutions. This move seeks to promote linguistic inclusivity and ensure that the diverse linguistic communities in Madhesh have access to government services in their native languages.
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