LALITPUR: Stakeholders have expressed concern why the mother languages were still not practiced in government works.
The Valley Province Committee of the Federation of Nepalese Indigenous Nationalities Journalists (FONIJ) held a ‘FONIJ Dialogue’ on Wednesday under the theme, ‘Foundation of Prosperity: Fully Inclusive Communications’.
During the dialogue, participants discussed the practices and obstacles to use of Newari and Tamang languages as the official languages by the Bagmati Province government.
Chairman of the Indigenous Nationalities Commission, Ram Bahadur Thapamagar, pointed out the need of more provisions eg in budget for safeguarding and promoting mother tongues. “While policies and programmes are for promotion of mother languages as official uses, inadequate budgets are sheer hindrances,” he underlined.
Thapamagar also informed that recommendations addressing the needs of indigenous nationalities were submitted to the government.
General Secretary of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, Diwas Rai, however, said as per the Constitution, protection of mother tongues and their application in official was initiated as part of the federal governance.
Both the state and the government need to give serious attention to the preservation and effective implementation of the languages, cultures, and scripts of indigenous communities.
Under Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Bagmati Province, Pawan Kumar Pokhrel, observed that it was challenging to make laws, regulations, and execute budget and policy programmes owing to recurring change in government. He clarified that although funds have been allocated for language training and literary development, they remain unutilized because the stakeholders had not approached, claiming the resources.
Officiating Secretary at the Language Commission, Dr Lok Bahadur Lopchan, informed that Bagmati Province had facilitated government by appointing language trainers and translators for Newar and Tamang languages.
Central President of FONIJ, Lucky Chaudhary, emphasized that to preserve linguistic vocabulary and mother tongues, the number of people speaking those languages needs increase.
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