New Delhi: Nearly a third of the Balen Shah-headed, 15-member cabinet in Nepal received an education in India. The newly sworn-in prime minister himself has a Master’s degree from the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology in Bengaluru.
Apart from Shah, the others who studied in India are Sunil Lamsal, Minister for Physical Infrastructure, Transport & Urban Development; Nisha Mehta, Minister for Health; and Pratibha Rawal, Minister for General Administration—all of whom graduated from India-based universities.
Balendra “Balen” Shah, an ex-mayor of Kathmandu, was sworn in last Friday as the new PM of Nepal, after the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) swept the recently concluded elections in the Himalayan nation.
For years, Nepal has maintained a close educational relationship with India, even as countries such as Australia have become more alluring destinations for Nepalese youth in recent years.
Former Prime Ministers of Nepal, including Baburam Bhattarai, studied at the Chandigarh College of Architecture in the 1970s, before studying at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) in New Delhi, and later graduating from Jawaharlal Nehru University with a PhD.
More recently, Sushila Karki, Nepal’s first female Chief Justice and interim Prime Minister following last year’s protests, studied at Banaras Hindu University. She graduated from BHU with a Master’s in Political Science in 1975.
Balen Shah, a structural engineer and rapper, graduated from the structural engineering course with a Master’s in Technology (M.Tech) in 2018. Shah studied at the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology between 2016 and 2018.
At 35, he is the world’s youngest leader and heads one of the youngest cabinets currently.
Shah also made history as the first leader from the Madhesi community to become Nepal’s PM. The PM has established a cabinet, where the oldest member, Swarnim Wagle, is 51 years old, while a majority of the leaders have college qualifications.
Late last year, the Nepal government—led by K.P. Sharma Oli—was ousted from power following a youth-led protest movement that began over a temporary social media ban. Widespread anger spread against the corruption of the powerful since the Himalayan country’s transition to democracy in 2008. The RSP thereafter swept the polls, winning 182 of 275 seats in Nepal’s House of Representatives.
Other ministers with an India connection
Lamsal, the 35-year-old infrastructure expert, will oversee the majority of Nepal’s development and infrastructure construction work. He is also an alumnus of the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, holding a Master’s in structural engineering, according to news reports.
The newly minted infrastructure minister in Nepal served as an expert during Shah’s tenure as the mayor of Kathmandu. Like Shah, Lamsal is the youngest leader with multiple ministries under his charge.
Of all the development-focused ministries, the Ministry for Physical Infrastructure and Transport has received the largest budgetary allocation, according to The Kathmandu Post. The Ministry of Urban Development has also received a sizable allocation.
Nepal’s new Minister for Health, Nisha Mehta, studied at the College of Nursing at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi between 2006 and 2010. According to Outlook, Mehta later studied at Gwalior University. She worked for a year at the Birat Teaching Hospital in Biratnagar, Nepal.
Pratibha Rawal, appointed as Nepal’s Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, is an alumna of the Asian College of Journalism from the 2014-15 batch.
Rawal worked as a journalist for South Asia Check and Republica Daily before hosting the show Lalmohar on Galaxy 4K Television and transitioning to politics. Mehta and Rawal are part of the five women members of Shah’s cabinet.
The other women leaders given posts include Sobita Gautam as Minister for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs; Sita Badi, Minister for Women and Children; and Gita Chaudhary, who handles the Ministry for Agriculture, Livestock Development and Forest and Environment.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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