Why it is necessary to revitalize Nepalbhasa and its script Nepal-lipi?

Nepalbhasa is the original language of Nepal. Nepalbhasa has been written in its own script known as Nepal-lipi since its inception. However, Nepalbhasa is now in the verge of extinction. In 2003, the UNESCO declared ‘Nepalbhasa’ as a “definitely endangered language.” One of the major reasons is that the language has not been passed on to the next generation for several reasons by the parents. Majority of today’s teenagers do not speak Nepalbhasa. Many do not correctly use even the name of Nepalbhasa but call it ‘Newari,’ the term imposed by outsiders. Another major reason is that despite the Government of Nepal has corrected its past policies and directed the government agencies to use the term Nepalbhasa in 1995, some government agencies such as the Department of Statistics have yet to heed the call to use Nepabhasa correctly. Many foreign words have replaced many native terms of Nepalbhasa. Of all that, the majority of Nepalbhasa users are not literate in writing their own language in their own script – the Nepal-lipi. If something is not done, Nepalbhasa will become a dead language very soon. Therefore, this is a small effort to revitalize the already endangered Nepalbhasa, the original language of Nepal.