KATHMANDU, Sept 8:The government on Thursday formed a Language Commission and appointed Lawadev Awasthi as its head, in accordance with a provision of the new Constitution that makes formation of such a commission mandatory by September 19.
A cabinet meeting Thursday also decided to appoint Awasthi as its chairman. The members of the commission are yet to be appointed.
“The cabinet meeting today decided to form a language commission under the leadership of Awasthi, as per a proposal of the Ministry of Education,” Minister for Information and Communications Surendra Kumar Karki, who is also spokesperson of the government, told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Article 287 of the new Constitution states that the government shall, no later than one year after the commencement of the Constitution, constitute a language commission comprising representation of the provinces.
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The commission is tasked with determining the criteria to be fulfilled for the recognition of the languages of official business, and making recommendations to the government on languages. It will also make recommendations to the government on the measures to be adopted for the protection, promotion and development of languages, assess the levels of development of the mother tongues and make suggestions to the government on the potentiality of their use in education. Similarly, the commission will carry out study and research activities and monitor languages.
Despite formation of the commission, it can't function unless the bill related to it is endorsement by Parliament. The government has yet to submit the bill to Parliament.
Likewise, the cabinet meeting has also decided to send representatives led by Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun to the meeting of non-aligned countries to be held in Venezuela on September 17-18.
