It has been four years since we opened a public discussion on March 20, 2010 about encoding Nepal Lipi in Unicode. On this day, a consultative meeting was held at Harati Hotel in Kathmandu. It was organized by Nepal Lipi Guthi (Nepalese Script Trust) (NLG hereafter) chaired by its chair Sharad Kasah “Kasahchhen” and attended by Professor Premshanti Tuladhar (the Head of Central Department of Nepal Bhasa, Tribhuvan University) and many scholars, experts of language, script and language policy including many supporters.
With two presentations of the importance of encoding Nepal Lipi into Unicode: one by Sharad Kasah (former chair of NLG and lecturer at the Tribhuvan University) and another by Suwarn Vajracharya (International Coordinator of Nepal Lipi Encoding Committee) of Japan, two more proposals have been submitted to the Unicode Consortium by Anshuman Pandey (A script expert) of the US and Devdass Manandhar (Another script expert) of Nepal. However, the Unicode has yet to approve these proposals. What is prolonging to approve the proposals?
The answers seem to be of multiple folds. First, the nomenclature of the script. One proposal named Nepal Lipi as โNewarโ and another proposal named as โNepaalalipi.โ Both names were considered inappropriate for the popular term Nepal Lipi or Prachalit Nepal. Two, both proposals indicated they need some improvement and there was an agreement to meet both parties in Nepal in 2012-13. But for some personal difficulties, the meeting did not take place.
However, the recent discussion among the concerned parties of encoding Nepal Lipi or say Nepalese script (in English until we find a proper name) has resumed and we can be hopeful that the encoding is moving forward.
Anyone can participate in this project. It is highly appreciated anyone interested in contributing of knowledge and information to the encoding Nepalese script. We shall appreciate if you can provide whatever information you know about Nepal Lipi, Prachalit Nepal, Nepalese Prachalit etc. It will be a great help for us to well plan the encoding. For example, documents such as government or city or any manuscripts that explain the importance or relation to the said script or refer above terms are welcome. You can write to: [email protected]