The Koshi Provincial Government has implemented a law that recognises 13 languages besides Nepali for use in government business across the province, Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki announced on Wednesday.
The Koshi Province Act on Official Government Business Languages, 2083 takes the number of recognised languages to 14, including Nepali.
Karki made the announcement on the 141st birth anniversary of Mahaguru Falgunanda Lingden, a religious and social reformer associated with the Kirat community. He declared Nov 11 (Kartik 25) Koshi Province Language Day, to be observed every year. Karki said languages carry the history, identity, knowledge and traditions of communities.
The 13 languages are Maithili, Limbu (Yakthung), Rai, Tharu, Tamang, Magar, Bantawa, Urdu, Rajbanshi, Nepal Bhasa (Newar), Chamling, Sherpa and Santhali.
The scripts are Devanagari for Nepali, Tharu and Rajbanshi; Mithilakshar and Devanagari for Maithili; Sirijanga for Limbu; Tamiyig for Tamang; Akha for Magar; Kirat for Bantawa, Rai and Chamling; Arabic for Urdu; Ranjana and Devanagari for Nepal Bhasa; Sambhota for Sherpa; and Ol Chiki for Santhali. The final Gazette schedule governs the legal wording.
The 2021 census recorded 100 mother tongues in Koshi, and 14 languages including Nepali were each spoken by about 1 percent or more of the population. The census figures for the 13 languages are:
- Maithili: 579,347 speakers (11.7 %)
- Limbu: 332,512 (6.7%)
- Tharu: 218,534 (4.4%)
- Tamang: 175,445 (3.5%)
- Magar Dhut: 143,117 (2.9 %)
- Bantawa: 133,745 (2.7%)
- Rajbanshi: 128,189 (2.6%)
- Urdu: 114,994 (2.3%)
- Rai: 91,746 (1.8%)
- Chamling: 82,640 (1.6 %)
- Sherpa: 65,399 (1.3%)
- Nepal Bhasa: 62,741 (1.2%)
- Santhali: 53,438 (1.0 %)
Together they account for about 2.18 million people, roughly 44 percent of the province’s 2021 population. Nepali was the mother tongue of 2,246,027 people, or 45.3 percent.
How the law came about
On Mar 12, 2025, Provincial Assembly members Gombu Sherpa of the Maoist Centre and Khinu Longwa Limbu of the CPN (Unified Socialist) registered a private member’s bill. It initially covered Maithili and Limbu, the two languages the Language Commission had recommended for provincial official use. The Assembly rejected it by majority vote on Aug 7, 2025, after reports of a whip from governing parties, which said they would bring their own bill.
In August 2025, Kirat Rai Yayokkha and Rai community representatives demanded that Bantawa and Chamling be included. During the October 2026 process, the organisation opposed a draft that would have limited several additional languages to selected municipalities. Negotiations led to amendments to the committee’s report removing those restrictions. Forty-two provincial lawmakers had filed 25 amendments.
The Assembly passed the expanded bill unanimously on Oct 10. Province Chief Parshuram Khapung authenticated it on Oct 28 under Article 201(2) of the Constitution.
What the law provides
- Officer-level language translator positions to record applications, documents and decisions submitted in recognised languages.
- A language expert group of up to 19 members chaired by the Social Development Minister. It is to research the province's languages, promote their use and literacy, meet at least four times a year and have women as at least one-third of its members.
- Speical grants and budgets for mother-tongue education from school to higher education, along with textbook development and support for publishing newspapers and literature.
- Room for local governments to pass their own laws to use languages predominant in their areas for local business.
Article 7 of the Constitution makes Nepali in Devanagari the official language and, under Article 7(2), lets provinces designate other national languages for official use. Under Article 6, languages not covered by the Act remain national languages.
The Act extends recognition beyond the two languages the Language Commission recommended, and no court ruling on how Article 7(2) applies to the expanded list has been reported.
