Durga Pokharel, former Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare of Nepal from 2005-2006, grew up in Kachiday Village of Dhankuta district, Nepal, listening to horror women stories told by her five widowed close relatives. These women were forcefully sent packing after their husbands died, but because of the liberalism of the Pokhrel family, they were given shelter to live. She told her widow relatives that she would never get married and would go to school. Her father was the first Ayurvedic doctor of Nepal, sent to Banaras Hindu University for higher education by the Rana Prime Minister, Chandra Shamsher JBR. She was the first daughter to perform the death ritual of her father, shaving heads and 13 days of mourning like her two brothers.
After completing her B.L. in 1981 from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, she received the Ford Foundation Grant to study at Harvard, Kennedy School of Government, 1983-1984, earned her M.A in Public Administration (MPA), and completed her Ph.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy in 1996. She was the receiver of the Mac Arthur Foundation grant for writing in 1994 and the Resident Assistant Senior Tutor of Harvard University from 1988-1989.
After completing her study, she returned to Nepal in 1999 and made significant contributions in several aspects. She was the Chair of the National Women’s Commission from 2002 – 2004. She contributed to passing an amendment to the Public Service Law to ensure that all women who had been temporary women’s development officers in the country for up to 25 years were made permanent. Pokharel, who had led the government delegation to the UN in New York on the status of Minister in 2005, was appointed as a member of the Poverty Alleviation Fund Committee under the Prime Minister. She also contributed as a member of the Reservation (Affirmative Action) Committee of the government of Nepal in 2003 and a member of the Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee, Ceasefire Peace Dialogue in 2003.
As a columnist for numerous newspapers, she was deeply involved in media as an editor of Manas, a Nepali weekly newspaper, and managing editor of The National Star Daily and Horizon, an English quarterly. She was also on the board of directors of Star Publications, Kathmandu. She served as Assistant Lecturer at Padma Kanya Campus from 1973 to 1973, a Lecturer at Dhankuta Degree College from 1971 to 1973, and Principal of Saraswati Primary School, Dhankuta, in 1966. Pokharel, the producer of a couple of movies, was also involved in the cinema industry by establishing Oscar International College, the only film college in Nepal, in 2008. She is the founding member of the Harvard Alumni Club, Nepal, from 2006 to the present and a member of the Asian Human Rights Forum, Hong Kong, from 1978 – 1983.
She is the founder of ADJST Real Estate LLC, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. Pokhrel has published hundreds of articles and research papers in prestigious publications, including some remarkable books. Her book, ‘Shadow Over Shangri-La’, co-authored with Anthony Willett, was published in the USA in 1996.
Considering her magnificent tasks, several national and international institutions have awarded her renowned awards and honors, including Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International, and Mahendra Vidhya Bhushan. As one of the most versatile scholars and bold ladies from Nepali political families, she was even more excited to contribute to the nation. However, some bad things happened in her life, which ended with her bidding the country farewell and moving to the USA in 2013. Dr. Pokharel is settling in Charlottesville, Virginia, and leading a happy life with her husband, a British scholar, and three sons.