Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2015

भाषा

नेपालको संविधान, २०७२को मस्यौदामाथि केहि भाषा सम्बन्धी सुझावहरू
(ख) राष्ट्रिय भाषानीति सुझाव आयोगको प्रतिवेदन अनुसार

मातृभाषाहरूलाई विकसित, विकासोन्मुख, लेख्य परम्परा नभएका र लोपोन्मुख कोटिमा वर्गीकृत गरी तिनलाई नामसहित संविधानको अनुसूचीमा राख्ने।

....... भाषा आयोगको सिफारीसको आधारमा निश्चित मापदण्ड पुगेको कुनै भाषालाई केन्द्रीय सरकारको सरकारी कामकाजको भाषाको रूपमा मान्यता दिने। ..... जनगणना २०६८ अनुसार नेपाली भाषा ४४.६% मातृभाषा र ३२.७७% दोस्रो भाषाको रूपमा जम्मा ७७.३७% अर्थात् बहुसङ्ख्यक नेपाली जनताले बुझ्ने भएको र आफ्नो सम्प्रेषणमा व्यवहार गरेकोले यो भाषा व्यापक सञ्चारको भाषा (language of wider communication or LWC) हो। तसर्थ, यसलाई सरकारी कामकाजको भाषा तोक्नु धेरै हदसम्म समुचित देखिन्छ। ...... तर नेपाली भाषामात्रलाई सरकारी कामकाजको भाषा तोक्नु न्यायसङ्गत हुँदैन किनभने नेपाली नजान्ने २२.६३% नेपाली जनता भाषाले गर्दा वहिष्कृत भएर केन्द्रीय सरकारले प्रदान गर्ने राष्ट्रिय अवसर र फाइदासम्म पहुँच नहुन सक्छ। दोस्रो कारण, नेपाली भाषा बुझ्ने जनताको वितरण सामान्यत: समग्र नेपालमा भएपनि समान रूपमा पाइएको छैन। जनगणना २०६८को तथ्याङ्कको आधारमा नेपाली भाषीहरूको बसोबास सबैभन्दा बढी पहाडमा तर हिमाली र तराई क्षेत्रमा न्यून पाईएका छन्। हिमाली र तराई क्षेत्रमा नेपाली भाषी न्यून भएकोले अन्य भाषाहरू व्यापक सञ्चारका माध्यमको रूपमा भएको पाईन्छ, जस्तो

हिमालमा सामान्यत: शेर्पा र तराईमा हिन्दी

वा अन्य विकल्पहरू। ...... (१) केही अल्पसङ्ख्यक राष्ट्रभाषाहरू स्थानीय तहसम्ममात्र सीमित रहेकोले तिनलाई पनि समेटने गरी समावैशी सिद्धान्तको आधारमा स्थानीय प्रशासनको सरकारी कामकाजको भाषा निर्धारण गर्ने। ...... (२) नेपाल सरकारका केन्द्रीय, प्रादेशिक र स्थानीय प्रशासनमा विभिन्न राष्ट्रभाषाहरू सरकारी कामकाजका भाषाको रूपमा प्रयोग भएको हुँदा अन्तरभाषिक सम्प्रेषणका निमित्त कुनै एक भाषालाई स्रोत भाषा मानी अन्य भाषाहरूमा अनुवादको सन्यन्त्रको व्यवस्था गर्ने। ..... रेडियो, एफएम, टीभी जस्ता श्रव्य-दृश्य माध्यम र पाठ्य माध्यमहरूमा लेख्य परम्परा भएका भाषाहरूको प्रयोग गर्ने। ...... (स्पष्टीकरण: विश्वका बहुभाषिक मुलुकमा आधारभूत शिक्षामा मातृभाषा सिकाईको माध्यमको रूपमा प्रयोग भएको पाईएको छ।) .......... विद्यालयको भाषिक नक्शाङ्नअनुसार आधारभूत शिक्षा तहमा मातृभाषामा आधारित संक्रमणीय वहुभाषिक शिक्षा (transitional multilingual education) लागू गर्ने। .......... लोकसेवा आयोगले सरकारी जागीरका लागि लिइने परीक्षाका माध्यम भाषा नेपाली इतर अन्य विकसित राष्ट्रभाषाहरू पनि हुनुपर्ने। .... (स्पष्टीकरण: यो प्रावधानले समवेशी र समतामूलक समाज निर्माणमा सहयोग मिल्ने छ।) ......... प्रारम्भिक बाल शिक्षा र विकास (ECED) कक्षामा सहज सिकाइका लागि माध्यम भाषा बाल-बालिकाको मातृभाषा हुनुपर्ने। (स्पष्टीकरण: यो उमेरमा तिनीहरू सामान्यत: मातृभाषामात्र जानेका हुन्छन्।) ...... भारत, चीनलगायत विश्वका धेरै बहुभाषिक मुलुकजस्तै भाषासम्बन्धी मुद्दाहरूको नियमनका लागि एउटा स्थायी राष्ट्रिय भाषा संस्थानको स्थापना हुनुपर्ने। ..... (स्पष्टीकरण: मानव सभ्यताको इतिहासमा सर्वोत्कृष्ट उपलब्धिको रूपमा स्थापित भाषाको विकास र नेपालमा विद्यमान बहुभाषिकता सांस्कृतिक पहिचान र प्राज्ञिक चिन्तनका विभिन्न प्रकारको संरक्षण र उन्नयनकालागि यस्तो संस्थाको अहम् भूमिका हुन्छ।) ....... प्रदेशको सीमाङ्कन गरेर मात्रै संविधान लागू गर्नुपर्ने मेरो सुझाव छ।

Sunday, September 06, 2009

A Reply To Surendra Devkota On Hindi

Hindi Is Central To The Madhesi Identity
An Afternoon With Prdip Giri

Nepali is the language of the 24% Khas population in Nepal. But when the various Janajati groups talk to each other, they do use the Nepali language. That is what makes Nep

andolan4Image by paramendra via Flickr

ali the link language in the hills. That is the reality.

Similarly Hindi exists as the link language between the various language groups in the Terai like the Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Tharu, Marwadi and Urdu speakers among many.

You could argue Nepali is an Indian language. More than 10 million Indians in India speak Nepali. Nepali has been duly recognized in India's constitution.

So the fact that Hindi is spoken in India and has been duly recognized in India's constitution can not be the reason to politically recognize Hindi in Nepal.

The Pahadis of Nepal should team up with the Madhesis of Nepal and with Indians and other South Asians to work to make Hindi the UN's sixth language. Hindi is key to the larger South Asian identity.

Someone like Surendra Devkota must know that when BP Koirala was Prime Minister, Hindi had equal status with Nepali inside Nepal. We have to reestablish that.

As for Vice President Jha, he is in limbo. He has been elected by the parliament to be Vice President. But according to the Supreme Court he has not taken oath yet. The Supreme Court was not bothered that Prachanda took oath wearing western clothes, as opposed to Daura Suruwal. But Jha's Hindi has been a problem.

Now it is for the parliament to amend the interim constitution so Jha can take his oath again, in Hindi. Until then Jha is Vice-President-elect.

To ask Jha to speak his mother tongue is to ask the SeTaMaGuRaLi to stop speaking Nepali and start speaking their mothertongues.

Jha has not forgotten Nepali. He is not claiming he has. But then he also speaks English. Should he so take his oath in English? It is not about knowledge about a language. It is about his right as a Madhesi to be able to take his oath in Hindi.

Jha has not dishonored rule of law. He does accept his new status as Vice-President-elect. He is not insisting he is still Vice President.

Awadh, Chitwan, Bhojpura, Mithila, Kochila = Madhesh


The politics of language Surendra Devkota NepalNews.com

A new kind of politics on language is evolving and VP’s denial to follow the Supreme Court’s decision may have a very bad socio-political implication.

By Surendra R Devkota

Vice president Paramananada Jha is acting as one of the most polarising political figures in contemporary politics. He has not only defied the Supreme Court’s July 24th decision regarding to retake his oath in Nepali language but has also ignored an appeal of both the president and the council of ministers. Why the VP is so adamant on challenging the rule of land? Commoners are just wondering why VP Jha loves Hindi more than his mother tongue? After more than two decades of service in

Population Density Map Of NepalImage via Wikipedia

judiciary, how come he forgot all Nepali scripts? Why some leaders from Terai parties are politicising this issue and would like to keep VP as their ideal?

Had the VP taken oath in his mother tongue, people would have excused it. There won’t be any moral question about it. Then, it would have been the best if he had repeated his oath in Nepali – so far the only official language. Unfortunately, he tried to gain cheap popularity and become a messiah of Hindi language in Nepal

andolan2Image by paramendra via Flickr

as his party had instructed him earlier. So the question arises: is he a VP of his party or Nepal?

Hindi is a very resourceful language in India, but its introduction in Nepal can mainly be credited to Bollywood movies and music. Whether people in Nepal know Hindi in toto is doubtful. Nepalis are indeed fond of Hindi movies and listen to Hindi music, which is for pure entertainment. But, to say that all the people in Nepal understand Hindi is a illogical.

Further, based on Hindi movie watchers’ inspiration and aspirations, advocacy for Hindi to keep as the next official language could be morally wrong and unfaithful to the majority of Terai based people’s mother tongues. In Terai, as 2001 Census shows, 12.3 percent population speaks Maithili, as mother language, whereas Bhojpuri is spoken by 7.53%, Tharu by 5.86%, Awadhi by 2.47%, Urdu 0.77%, and Rajbanshi is the mother tongue of 0.57 %. Hindi as native language scores at the lowest -- 0.47%. Now, why is this big fuss about Hindi? Wouldn’t it be good idea to enhance one’s mother language?

Being honest to the past, language discrimination has been a fact in Nepal. For example, since the Panchayati days the then political as well as religious leaders had tried to uphold Sanskrit – the oldest language, but ended up narrowing it down to a tool of priesthood. They failed to integrate Sanskrit into the society. Consequently, some people initiated a campaign to hate it as dead language, in spite of Sanskrit being taught at top rated US and European universities. A politics of hate against Sanskrit was widespread among different ethnic communities as if it were the only factor to inhibit the prosperity of other languages. Like Nepali, Sanskrit is also the mother of Hindi, so how folks would digest Hindi and hate both Nepali and Sanskrit, if present rule of street is to be followed?

As of now a new kind of politics on language is evolving and VP’s denial to follow the Supreme Court’s decision may have a very bad socio-political implication. Politics on language and ethnicity may serve few people, but in the long run it will harm the society and the country. That has been proven in India, Russia, Africa and old Europe. By knowing all the failures, why politicians in Nepal are gearing up to a head to head collision in the name language and ethnicity? Do they want to become tribal leaders of their region(s) by weakening the central government?

It is very surprising to note that the leftist ideologues, self-declared social transforming agents in Nepal, seem pleased to play such a dirty politics on Nepal’s ethno-language diversity. For example, leftists in Nepal seem in favor of delineation of federal lines on ethno-lingual basis. But will it deliver social justice to majority of the population is doubtful because of Nepal’s multi-ethnical social structure and not a single ethno-lingual community has absolute majority in any local governmental jurisdiction. If one has to be fair to all languages, then country’s lingual federal lines could be more than 116 as outlined by Paul Lewis (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_map.asp?name=NP). Will federalism exclusively based on languages and or ethnicity herald social justice in Nepal? Who can guarantee that future will be without any sort of ethno-lingual conflict? Are left politicians ready to take on this?

Languages and dialects reflect social indentify and Nepal is proud to have huge diversity in social identity in spite of historical setbacks to many of them. By realising the past mistakes, it is the responsibility of the Constitution to keep alive all ethno-linguistics intact. Again, mind it if politicians agree to set up a high level commission, that’s another political gimmick which won’t address the real need of the country. Say for example, wouldn’t it be nice step to set up a university of

andolan3Image by paramendra via Flickr

ethnic languages so that it would pave a scientific way of studying Nepal’s ethnography! They need to be explored, preserved, and sustained without any biasness. To sustain ethno-lingual diversity, we need have a vision for future citizens: all students graduating from high school in future ought to have working knowledge of at least three languages: first mother tongue, second national, and third international language so that future citizens would be globally competent as well as won’t miss their social identity locally. Let’s make the state and local governments responsible to draft such mandatory provisions.

Language does not limit to only medium of communication. It is a part of social life and a major system of socio-cultural function. Politicians’ missteps of short run use of language and ethnicity as polarizing figures may hamper country’s prosperity and sovereignty in long run. The way VP’s flip-flopping to defy the rule of land is simply inexcusable. It is being very difficult to digest further political irrationality. Enough is enough!

(Author’s email: srdevkota@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
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