Lawmakers have demanded that non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) must know one of the national languages of Nepal to acquire non-resident citizenship.
Members of the State Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) speaking during the clause-wise discussion on the citizenship bill on Monday have argued that keeping the language provision will boost their love toward the country.
The bill has a provision requiring the NRNs to sign a commitment paper before acquiring citizenship certificate.
Lawmakers have demanded that the provisions of making them take oath, and knowledge of national language should be added to that.
Some lawmakers including Yashoda Subedi, Binda Pandey and Ram Kumari Jhakri of the ruling CPN opined that the NRNs should be required to speak one of the many national languages while Jhapat Rawal of the same party argued that they should speak Nepali language.
Surya Pathak of CPN, on the other hand, opined that language should not be made mandatory. "We are not giving all the rights to those with non-resident citizenship. It is not to make them come and live here but with hope that they will invest in different political and social sectors here," Pathak stated. "It may not be practical as implementation will be difficult if we keep the provision requiring knowledge of language."
Home Secretary Prem Rai, who represented the government during the discussion, pointed that keeping the provision of language will make it hasslesome. "The feeling of the respected lawmakers is commendable. But this provision has not been kept considering the practical problems that may arise during implementation. Keeping the provision would add burden on the officers issuing the citizenship certificates," Rai clarified.
The issue could not be resolved due to the different opinion of Home Secretary Rai despite the majority of lawmakers demanding the language provision.
Committee Chairman Shashi Shrestha said the issue that economic, social and cultural rights to be granted to those acquiring non-resident citizenship certificates must be explained has been concluded.
Lawmakers initially did not agree on the place of issue of such citizenship certificates. Lawmakers Subedi, Navaraj Silwal, Jhakri and others opined that they must come to Nepal to acquire the citizenship certificates while Pathak argued that it should be issued from Nepali embassies and missions abroad.
The lawmakers finally agreed that it should be issued by the Home Ministry or bodies picked by it.
