Shanta Chaudhary
शान्ता चौधरी
Member of Parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha for
CPN (UML) party list
In office
4 March 2018 – 18 September 2022
Member of Parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha for
CPN (UML) party list
In office
28 May 2008 – 28 May 2012
Personal details
Born (1979-05-17) May 17, 1979 (age 44)[1]
NationalityNepali
Political partyCPN (UML)

Shanta Chaudhary (Nepali: शान्ता चौधरी) is a social reformer and former member of Constituent Assembly of Nepal as a proportioanl representative from CPN (UML) party. Chaudhary was a forced child labourer as part of the, now abandoned, Kamalari system.

Biography

Chaudhary was forced to become a Kamlari when she was eight.[2] She was leased for Rs 7,000 a year by her parents who had nine other children. She was sent to work for a family in Dang.[3] During this time, she was forced to work for 19 hours a day, and she lived in the cowshed.[3] She was reprimanded for her mistakes and sometimes beaten by the landlord's wife.[3] Chaudhary remained as a servants until she was eighteen, during which time she became active in politics.[2] She represented Dang in a forum for the lands rights movement.[4]

In 2008, Chaudhary was chosen to lead the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Means.[2] Her illiteracy was a problem in the CA and she started taking classes.[2] Eventually, in 2013, she published a book, Kamlari Dekhi Sabhasad Samma, about her experiences.[3]

In 2016, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and is currently receiving treatment.[2]

References

  1. ^ संघीय संसद सदस्य, २०७४ परिचयात्मक पुस्तिका [Federal Parliament Members 2017 Introduction Booklet] (PDF) (in Nepali). Nepal: Federal Parliament Secretariat. 2021. p. 270.
  2. ^ a b c d e Magar, Devika Gharti (14 June 2015). "Never Too Late to Learn". Nepali Times. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d "She Has a Dream". Nepali Times. August 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  4. ^ "The Right Way to Fight for Rights". Nepali Times. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
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