The Nepali Language Movement () was a political movement in the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

advocating the recognition of the

Nepali language Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...

as an l anguage with official status in India. On 20 August 1992, the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

passed a motion to add the Nepali language to the

Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India. At the time when the Constitution was enacted, inclusion in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Officia ...

. According to an estimate in 2017, in India there about 40 million Nepali-language speaking Indians.

''Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas''

Annually,

Indian Gorkha Indian Gorkhas also known as Nepali Indians, are Nepali language-speaking Indians. The modern term "Indian Gorkha" is used to differentiate the ethnic Gorkhas from Nepalis. Indian Gorkhas are citizens of India as per the gazette notificatio ...

s celebrate Nepali Language Recognition Day (officially ''Nepali'' ''Bhasha Manyata Diwas'') on 20 August. The day is celebrated by organizing parades, literary and cultural programmes throughout India in places with significant Nepali speaking population. The same day is also celebrated as the

Meitei Language Day ) , type = cultural , image = "Meitei Language Day" alias "Manipuri Language Day" written in Meitei script and Latin script.jpg , imagesize = 300px , caption = Meitei translation of "Meitei Language Day" written in M ...

(aka

Manipuri language day ) , type = cultural , image = "Meitei Language Day" alias "Manipuri Language Day" written in Meitei script and Latin script.jpg , imagesize = 300px , caption = Meitei translation of "Meitei Language Day" written in M ...

) as both Nepali and

Meitei language Meitei (), also known as Manipuri (, ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of north-eastern India. It is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in pa ...

(officially called

Manipuri language Meitei (), also known as Manipuri (, ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of north-eastern India. It is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in pa ...

) get the "official language" status at the same time.

Sister movements

During the same time, there was

Meitei language movement The Meitei language movement ( mni, Meitei Longi Kongjang), also known as the Manipuri language movement ( mni, Manipuri Longi Kongjang), is any linguistic movement undertaken by the literary, political and social associations as well as organis ...

. Both the Nepali and Meitei language movements get their goals on the same day, with the declaration of

and

(officially termed as "

") as the

official languages of India There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official pur ...

Current movements

There is also an ongoing movement to create a Nepali-speaking Gorkhaland state in India.

''Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas''

Sister movements

Current movements

See also

References

Further reading