Nepali cabinet approves new national anthem

The government has approved Nepal's new National Anthem written by poet Byakul Maila, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prithivi Subba Gurung said on Friday.

On November 30 last year, the National Anthem selection task team had selected the song written by Maila as the new National Anthem. However due to disputes over the background of Maila and some words used in the song, there was no further progress.

The new National Anthem was selected from a total of 1,272 different songs submitted from across the country, the minister said.

The minister also informed that musicians Ambar Gurung and Nhyu Bajracharya have been given responsibility to compose music for the song.

Poet Maila was born in the Hilepani village of Okhaldhunga district in eastern Nepal 34 years ago.

Maila, who holds a Bachelor's degree in Law and a Master's in Public Administration has been serving the Nepali literature for the last one and a half decades.

The National Anthem is two stanzas long and each stanza has four lines. There are altogether 47 words in the new National Anthem.

The House of Representatives in its May 18 proclamation declared the existing National Anthem null and void and decided to develop a new one.

Source: Xinhua