Himalayan Times (1961)

Two

Himalayan Times

April 9, 1961

STATE WAITING FOR CENSUS RESULTS

Recognition Of Nepali As Regional Language

Calcutta, April 7

In a statement issued
to the Press on Wednes-
day Dr. Roy expressed
the hope that the census
reports of 1961 would
■how an increase in the
number of Nepali-speak-
ing peopla in Darjeeling.
He promised that as soon
as the oensus results were-
available, steps would be
taken to approaoh the
President "to deolare Ne-
pali to be the officially
recognized language in the
hill areas of West Bengal."

Dr. Roy said that
for some time past, con-
siderable excitement seems
to have been roused in
the hill subdivisions of
West Bengal on the issue
that the Government lias
not taken any steps to
reoognizi the Nepali lan-
guage for use in official
business and transactions
in the hill areas of Dar-
jeeling.

"In March, 195^, there
was a non-official resolu-
tion passed , unanimously
by the State Assembly.
In the oourse of th* de-
bate then I stated that
aoriording to Art. 317 of
the Constitution there
should be no difficulty in
the President allowing a
language like Nepali, or

a language of the Lepchas
or Bhutias, Thioh are not
mentioned in the Eighth
Schedule of the Constitu-
tion, to be one of the
regional languages of the
State.

"Therefore, the only
way by which we could
satisfy the desire of the
hill people was to make
a demand under Art. 347
of the Cinstitution.

"According to the 1951
census the- Nepili speaking
people in the" district of
Darjeeling is 19 98% of
the total population of
the district. Even if Sili-
guri subdivision is exclu-
ded, the percentage rises
to only 25 92 The States
Xeorganization Commis-
sion reeommended: If 70%
or more of the population
of a district is constitu-
ted by a group, which is
a minority ill the State,
the language of the mi-
nority group, and not the
State language, should be
the official language in
that distriot.

''The percentage of
Nepali-speaking population
of Darjeeling distriot or
even of the three hill sub-
divisions of that district
falls far, below this level.

SEVERAL HUNDRED
CHINESE KILLED

Gangtok, April 6

Several hundred Chi-
nese were killed and large .
quantities of arm* and
food supplies seized two
weeks ago when some 3,000
.Khampa resistance figh-
ters ambushed a long
Chinese military uonvoy in
South Tibet, a reliable
source said here today.

Aocording to a Tibe-
tan coming from North
Sikkim, the Khampas
ambushed the convoy in
the region of Tingri, near
Tibet's southern border
with Nspal, on the high-
way leading towards Gar-
tot. Tne looal population
of the Tingri area gava
aid to the Khampas.

A high-level diploma-
tic source said fighting
was still going on in sou-
thern Tibet resulting in
many Chinese casualties
who were taken to hos-
pital at Phari.

The new . spurt of
fighting was the second
since the 1969 revolt.
The local population, re-
portedly suffering from
famine, was said to be
supporting the resistance.

"Meanwhile, the Go-
vernment of West Bengal
has extended many facili-
ties for the use of Nepali
in all possible spheres in
the distriot of Darjeeling,
including the medium of 1
instruction."