Kosali/Sambalpuri, the lingua franca of 2 crore people of Western Odisha (Kosal region) is neglected by both state and union government. Though demands for the same are going on since last 2 decades to get the constitutional recognization.
As per the information, in 2003 Sitakanta Mohapatra Committee constituted by the Govt. of India has recommended a list of 38 languages to be included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India which is under active consideration and Kosali/Sambalpuri is one of them.
In 2012 RNI (Registrar of Newspapers for India) an autonomous institution of central government enlisted Kosali in its language list. (http://rni.nic.in/rni_search_statelang.asp)
In 2013 The Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to make an in-depth study of the entire gamut of the issue.
On 1/3/2014 the Chief Minister urged the Ministry of Home Affairs to include Kosali/Sambalpuri in the 8th Schedule vide letter No UM-5/2014 and reiterate in July 2015.
Further, the term of both State and Union governments are about to finish yet none have responded to the demand of the people of the western Odisha. Neither the state government is considering any demands to constitute a separate Sahitya Academy nor initiating schooling in primary level in the region. The union government has also unheard the demands and neither affiliating Kosali/Sambalpuri with Kendra Sahitya Academy nor including the language in the 8th Schedule.
