Democracy For Nepal: Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday

September 25, 2009, Friday, 5:30 PM
Entrance: Free
Theme: Federalism In Nepal
Chian Federation Hall
44-01 Broadway
Astoria, NY 11103
Take the R or V train to 46th St

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Republic of Nepal

Date: September 24, 2009 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Location: Rotunda, Low Memorial Library, Columbia University

"Post-Conflict Challenges and Development"

A keynote address by
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

With remarks from
Sujata Koirala
Foreign Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

Followed by a question and answer session with the audience

Registration is required.

Right Honorable Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal, Prime Minister of Nepal, was born in Nepal's southern Rautahat district on March 6, 1953. He graduated in commerce from Tribhuvan University in 1973 and worked in banking services before joining politics.

Mr. Nepal joined the communist movement in 1969 as a member of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) under Pushpa Lal Shrestha, founder of the CPN. During his political career, Mr. Nepal spent two years as a political prisoner. In the democratic struggle against the one-party Panchayat System, he remained underground from 1974 to 1989. In 1978, Mr. Nepal became a founding politburo member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist Leninist), which later became CPN (United Marxist Leninist), popularly called UML in Nepal.

He played an active role during the first People's Movement and he was one of the members of the commission that drafted the Nepalese constitution in 1990. In 1991 he led the opposition in the National Assembly, the upper house of the Nepalese parliament. In 1995 he became Deputy Prime Minister with foreign and defense ministries under his portfolio in the Nepalese government led by Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari.

Since 1995 he has remained one of the main leaders in Nepalese politics, including his role as the leader of the Nepalese opposition in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. With other democratic parties, he played an active role in leading the People's Movement in 2006 that overpowered absolute monarchy and contributed to the signing of peace agreements with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), beginning a peace process to end the deadly internal conflict that had entrenched the country for over a decade, killing over 13,000 people.

Mr. Nepal was the General Secretary of the CPN (UML) until he resigned in April 2008 after remaining in that position for over a decade. In 2009 Mr. Nepal became a member of the Constituent Assembly and was elected chairman of Constitutional Committee of the Constituent Assembly that is entrusted to draft Nepal's new constitution. He became Prime Minister of Nepal on May 25, 2009.

Apart from Nepali and English, Mr. Nepal also speaks Hindi and regional dialects of Maithali and Bhojpuri. He is married to Ms. Gayatri Nepal. They have a daughter and a son.
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