Koshi Province in eastern Nepal has brought a multilingual government law into effect on Wednesday, November 11, expanding the languages recognised for official provincial business beyond Nepali. The Kathmandu Post reported that 13 additional languages are now recognised, bringing the total to 14: Maithili, Limbu, Tharu, Tamang, Magar, Bantawa, Urdu, Rajbanshi, Rai languages, Nepal Bhasa, Chamling, Sherpa and Santhali. Nepal News separately reported the implementation on the same day.

Source: The Kathmandu Post / Nepal News (via Yatri77 News report)

The legal basis is recorded in the official Koshi Province gazette. The Act on the Language of Official Business in Koshi Province, 2083 was authenticated on Kartik 11, corresponding to October 28, 2026, and states that it begins on Kartik 25, corresponding to November 11. The Act cites Article 7(2) of Nepal's Constitution, which allows a province to determine additional official languages. The Kathmandu Post reported that the Language Commission had recommended Maithili and Limbu for Koshi, and that the provincial law went further by adding 11 more languages to reflect the province's linguistic composition.

The law applies to provincial ministries, commissions, directorates, offices, organised institutions and other agencies under the Koshi government. Provincial offices are required to make arrangements for translation or use of the official languages; the government may submit translated copies of bills to the Province Assembly and may publish the provincial gazette in official languages in addition to Nepali, and a service user who applies in an official language may receive the necessary documents back translated into that language.

The Act also prohibits discrimination or humiliating treatment based on the use of another mother tongue in an office, provides for a registered-translator system, and sets up an expert group of up to 19 members, with at least one-third women, to advise on research, standardisation, grammar, dictionaries and technical terminology. It allows a review of language use and service effectiveness every five years.

The provincial government has also announced that November 11 will be observed annually as Province Language Day. Nepal News reported that the declaration was made on the 141st birth anniversary of Mahaguru Phalgunanda Lingden. No new nationwide public holiday was announced. How far residents feel the change will depend on trained translators, standardised terminology, translated forms and budget arrangements, which the Act empowers the government to put in place.