DARJEELING CELEBRATES BHASHA DIWAS ...Call to safeguard Nepali

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 21 Aug 2019, Darjeeling: The hills on Tuesday marked "Bhasha Diwas" with many literary figures stating it was time to start another movement to safeguard the Nepali language and encourage its use in everyday life.

On this day in 1992, Nepali language was recognised in the eight schedule of the Constitution and since then, the day is celebrated as Bhasha Diwas in the hills.

The demand for the recognition of the language in the Constitution had been long and it gathered steam in 1956 after the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Bhasha Samity took up the cause.

Chandra Kumar Rai, the president of the Nepali Sahitya Sammelan, which was established in 1924, said on Tuesday: "I think time has come to form a Nepali Bhasha Samity to safeguard the language. The government has recognised our language but there have been some weakness on our part, too." Citing an example, Rai said "employees and teachers" "could at least write in Nepali" while applying for leave.

"We are losing our vocabulary. Instead of using different Nepali words like mama, phupa, phuphu and maiju, our children are being encouraged by parents and guardians to simply call `uncle' and `aunty'," said Rai.

Literary figures in Darjeeling were also of the opinion that the Indian Nepali language must be guarded from the influence of Nepali language used in Nepal.

"Some individuals, probably to be in the limelight, are encouraging people not to use certain alphabets of our language. In 2009, we had held a meeting with writers based in India and the overwhelming mandate was that we should follow the language encouraged by stalwarts like Parasmani Pradhan and Babulal Pradhan," said Rai.

The Sammelan on Tuesday conferred the Prem Sherpa "Birogi" Yuwa Sahitya Puraskar on Sanjog Khawash.

Many writers were of the opinion that "use of Nepali language" in government offices should also be encouraged. "It was being used by the GTA earlier but there has been no continuation. We want to work on this aspect also," said Rai..