Kathmandu. The local levels of Ilam have intensified the exercise of linguistic inclusion by making the mother tongue spoken by the majority of the citizens as the official language.
In this connection, Chulachuli rural municipality of the district has decided to implement Limbu language as the official language from the coming fiscal year 2083/084 BS while Mangsebung rural municipality has decided to give official recognition to Bantawa language after Limbu.
These municipalities have taken historic steps by respecting the identity of the local people and mother tongue through their policies and programmes.
The Chulachuli rural municipality has unanimously endorsed the proposal to make Limbu language the official language of the rural municipality presented by its chairman Rajendra Kerung in the 18th session of the rural municipality.
The local government has also passed the ‘Limbu Language Official Language Bill, 2083’ to establish the language implementation in legal form.
“We are confident that this decision will not only respect the mother speaking people of Nepal but also contribute a lot to the preservation and promotion of indigenous languages,” he said. ’
According to the National Census 2078 BS, Limbu is spoken by 23.02 percent of the population after Nepali while Bantawa is spoken by 10.80 percent.
Meanwhile, Mangsebung Rural Municipality, which has already implemented Limbu language as the official language since May 26, has taken another important step to make Bantawa language the language of work.
The proposal presented by rural municipality chair Hemanta Rai in the 18th session of the rural municipality assembly was unanimously endorsed. According to the 2078 census, 41.67 percent of the population speaks Limbu and 23.59 percent speak Bantawa language.
Mangsebung has also made practical preparations to bridge the gap between the service seekers who come to seek government services in the mother tongue and the office. Rai said that an interpreter of Limbu language has already been working at the rural municipality and an interpreter will be appointed for Bantawa language from next year.
Leave your comment