The State News Agency, RSS, launched news services in Maithili, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, and Tharu languages, while the state-run Nepali newspaper Gorkhapatra introduced a Ranatharu-language page.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung, inaugurated the new additions of news services in Maithili and Nepal Bhasa provided by the state news agency Rashtriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) in Kathmandu. The Minister emphasized that these initiatives align with the Ministry’s 100-day targets and support Nepal’s federal structure. He noted the importance of these services in promoting and protecting languages in Nepal’s multi-ethnic federal landscape.

Executive Chairman of RSS, Dharmendra Jha, expressed satisfaction with the formal launch of Maithili and Nepal Bhasa news services, highlighting the agency’s acknowledgment of the 120-year legacy of Maithili journalism and the 100-year history of Nepal Bhasa journalism, along with Bhojpuri, Tharu, and Awadhi traditions. Chairman Jha emphasized that citizens’ right to access public-interest information in their mother tongue should be guaranteed, especially through state-funded public entities.

RSS currently disseminates news in Nepali and English. Maithili, Nepal Bhasa, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, and Tharu are among the most widely spoken languages in Nepal after Nepali.

Meanwhile, Nepal’s oldest daily newspaper, Gorkhapatra, launched a Ranatharu-language page. Minister Gurung, while inaugurating the new page at a program in Kathmandu yesterday, stated that promoting and protecting these languages would contribute significantly to the literary development of their respective linguistic communities.

By – Sweta Singh (Kathmandu)