Overview

• A June 17 notification from the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department added Nepali to the list of 38 optional subjects for the 2025 WBCS mains examination
• The inclusion fulfills a demand first raised by Darjeeling hill students and leaders in 2015 for greater linguistic representation
• Gorkhaland Territorial Administration head Anit Thapa and MP Raju Bista welcomed the decision as a move toward justice for Nepali-speaking youth
• Nepali has been recognised as an official language in the Darjeeling hills and included in the Constitution’s Eighth Schedule since 1992
• Candidates educated in Nepali medium can now compete on equal footing in the WBCS mains, which features six compulsory papers and two optional papers