Language of Barams facing extinction (fwd)

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Language of Barams facing extinction

By Our Correspondent,
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/pageloader.php?file=2005/01/23/topstories/main8

KATHMANDU, Jan 22: The language of one of the most marginalised
indigenous communities Baram is on the verge of disappearing as the new
generations does not know the mother tongue.

Joint Secretary of the Gorkha Baram Association, Purna Baram, said that
the new generation Barams were unaware of their language although an
initiation had been made to prepare a thorough dictionary of their
language.

Even the president of the Gorkha district based association, Indra
Bahadur Baram, cannot speak and understand his own mother tongue, who
turned 51 this year.

He said that no one from his community at his age could speak the mother
tongue. Only some old people have the ability to speak our language, he
added.

According to joint secretary Baram, the young generation spoke the
Nepali language instead of Baram.

He said that the dictionary was being prepared by Tribhuwan University.

Nepal Indigenous People National Empowerment Academy has listed the
Baram community in the category of one of the most marginalised groups.
Their population stands at 7,383 as per the census of 2001, according
to the Central Bureau of Statistic (CBS).

The association said that the community is found to have lived in 10
different districts of the country - Gorkha, Dhading, Chitwan,
Lalitpur, Makawanpur, Dolakha, Rasuwa, Tanahun, Lamjung, Syngja and
Nuwakot. But the population is thick in Gorkha. So, the initiation of
establishing our identity began from Gorkha, Baram said.

Their main profession has been farming.

He said that the problems of the community in the different districts
are yet to be identified, but the main and the common problem is the
risk their language faces of extinction and also the community.

President Baram said that the state had discriminated against them in
providing opportunities in the government. He said that he himself had
to change his second name to Gurung in the citizenship to be admitted
to the army.

The Gurungs and Magars the most preferred communities in the army at
that time, he said.

Thus, many people of our community have changed their actual identity.

But our representation in the civil service and the security agencies is
low said Joint secretary Baram.

So, we seek the preservation of our language and community and
reservation for us in the civil service so that our rights as citizens
of Nepal could be ensured, he said.