Education Minister of Assam assures Gorkhas of addressing its literary & educational issues.

Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha (ANSS) delegation met Education Minister Dr. Ranoj Pegu to press for solution of long pending issues.

Nanda K Dewan  | KalimNews | Guwahati : Dr. Ranoj Pegu, Minister of Education, Welfare of Plain Tribe & Backward Classes (non-BTC), Government of Assam has assured a delegation from Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha(ANSS) – the apex literary organization of Nepali speaking Gorkha community of Assam headed by its Durga Khatiwora on Tuesday evening at Janta Bhawan in Guwahati. Concerned Minister had a detailed discussion on the issues highlighted by the ANSS and assured the delegation that Himanta Biswa Sarma lead Assam government is working with motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Bikash and Sabka Biswas’.  ‘Gorkhas being an integral part of greater Assamese society, their issues are being resolved phase wise to begin with from political issue of correction of D Voters of genuine Indian citizens followed by protected class status and land rights in tribal belt and block as reserved in the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act 1886. Now based on the representation from the Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha, we will resolve the educational and literary issues of Gorkhas as soon possible’, Dr. Pegu told the delegation as stated by Dr. Chintamoni Sharma, Working President, Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha.

ANSS has been submitting memorandum to all departments concerned of the government since 2013 to include Nepali subject in State Eligibility Test ( SET) by the State Level Eligibility Test (SLET)  Commission, N.E.Region (Assam) while sanction in this  regard is a long standing issue. It is worth mentioning that Nepali language (Gorkha Bhasa) has been included in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution since Aug 20, 1992 but this language has not got due recognition in comparison to those which are in the same schedule.

“Many posts of Assistant Professor in Nepali in colleges of Assam have fallen vacant owing to superannuation of teachers working in these posts but the candidates with good result in M.A. in Nepali are not allowed to apply for the vacant position due to non clearance of NET /SET. As students in other subjects get an opportunity to appear in SET but the same opportunity is not provided to students of NE states for Nepali subject. 

This is a sheer injustice to Gorkha students of North East’ said Bhabani Prasad Sarma, Vice President of ANSS. Madan Thapa, who was inducted as General Secretary of the organization in 4th central executive meeting of ANSS held at DRDA guest house ,Kohora said that education minister was appraised in details about the long standing issues of ANSS and after threadbare discussion with the delegates and the respective officials, Dr Ranoj Pegu assured of inclusion of Nepali Subject in SET by SLET Commission of N.E.Region (Assam)  from 2023.

The ANSS delegation also appealed to the Education minister to incorporate Gorkha litterateurs of Assam in 'Sahityik'(Literary) pension award who have immense contribution in Nepali and Assamese literature. ‘In 2021-22 not a single litterateur belonging to Gorkha community was enlisted for the award. 

ANSS delegation requested the education minister to include the members of this community in coming years for the award to which Dr Ranoj Pegu assured the team that he would look into the matter seriously and reward the deserving ones’, said Durga Khatiwora president of ANSS while confirming developments. ‘Besides the above we also emphasized that the vacant post of Assistant Professors in Nepali language should be filled by giving fixed pay to the incumbents till they qualify SET in the subject’, asserted Khatiwora.

The literary body now named Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha the pioneer and apex Nepali literary organisation of Gorkhas living in Assam was established on 4th January 1974 and is going to celebrate golden jubilee in less than 16 months. Its main aims and objectives in short are developing language, literature and preserving culture and heritage among the Gorkhas of Assam ; establishing ethnic integration among the different ethnic literary organisations in the state ; create awareness of  the various problems of Gorkhas and finding solutions of them establishing relations/contacts with the literary, cultural and educational institutions of the state as well as central government ; honour, felicitate and inspire eminent and new literateures of Assam.  

The state government in 2019 had decided to allocate Rs. 10 crores to Corpus Fund of Asom Sahitya Sabha, Rs. 5 crore to Bodo Sahitya Sabha and Rs. 3 crore each to the other 22 indigenous Sahitya Sabhas as one time grant of which the Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha is one of the recipient of this grant. Accordingly, Asom Sahitya Sabha derives an amount of Rs. 80 lakh annually as interest from the corpus fund while Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) receives Rs. 40 lakh and other indigenous Sahitya Sabhas including ANSS receives Rs. 24 lakh each annually. 

The Chief Minister also announced that the state government would provide one-time financial grant of Rs. 50 thousand to one thousand new writers belonging to various communities of the state under 'Bhasha Gaurav Achoni' to which Gorkha literatures too were awarded on the recommendation of ANSS. 

The Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha is the only Nepali language literary organization affiliated by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi and is believed to the largest organization in its category in India that puts lots of emphasis on research works for preservation and promotion of Nepali language (Gorkha Bhasa) and its indigenous language and cultures of various tribes of the Himalayan community.