Arzu Rana Deuba (born 26 January 1962)Profile of Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba
is a member of the

Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress ( ne, नेपाली कांग्रेस ; abbr. NC) is the largest social democratic political party in Nepal. As per the results of recent local election, ''Nepali Congress'' stands as the single largest party o ...

Party of Nepal since 1996 and elected Central Committee member of the party since December 2021. She is currently serving as a member of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. In the

2022 Nepalese general election General elections are expected to be held in Nepal in November 2022 unless the House of Representatives is dissolved earlier. The discussion is underway due to interest of leading Nepali Congress while the opposition, CPN (UML), is already deman ...

she was elected as a proportional representative from the

Khas people Khas people (; ne, खस) popularly known as Khas Arya are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayas, Himalayan region of South Asia, what is now present-day Nepal, Indian states of Uttarakhand, West B ...

category. She is the wife of former PM

Sher Bahadur Deuba Sher Bahadur Deuba ( ne, शेरबहादुर देउवा, ; born 13 June 1946) is a Nepali politician and former prime minister of Nepal. He has also been serving as the president of the Nepali Congress since 2016. Deuba has served ...

. Deuba is the member of Nepali Congress Party convention and Central Leadership Voting Committee since 2000. She was a member of Constituent Assembly and Parliament of Nepal for ten years (2008-2017). She pursued issues such as women's rights, especially reproductive rights, equal citizenship rights, equal property rights, violence against women, and women's equitable and equal political representation at all levels while writing the

constitution of Nepal Constitution of Nepal 2015 ( ne, नेपालको संविधान २०७२) is the present governing Constitution of Nepal. Nepal is governed according to the Constitution which came into effect on 20 September 2015, replacing the ...

. She was a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee and served as Chair of the Women Parliamentarians Coordination Committee. Deuba is a gender activist and social worker and has established a number of women and children related NGOs in Nepal, including RUWDUC, Saathi, SMNF and established SAMANTA, a research-based institute for social and gender equality. She served as an elected regional councilor for South and East Asia for

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

and currently serves as the board of Ipas and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development based in New Delhi. Deuba served as Chair of the Gender and Biodiversity Task Force (GBTF) of the IUCN Council as well as a member of the steering committee of the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and co-chair of the Theme on Environment, Conflict, and Security (TECS). She also served on the Bureau of IUCN Council. She represented IUCN as the keynote speaker at the IUCN-PATA Asia Pacific Conference in 2009 and also as Keynote Speaker on the Himalayas at a Mountain Conference organized in Munich, Germany by ICIMOD and its partners in 2010. Deuba was re-elected as the IUCN Regional Councillor from South and East Asia in the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC). She was invited as Speaker in diverse international forums including at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, March 2017.

Education

Deuba graduated from St. Bedes College,

Himachal Pradesh University Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) is an Indian public state university at Summer Hill in the state capital city Shimla. It is close to the vicinity of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study. It is wholly financed by the government of Himachal ...

. She obtained her master's degree from Punjab University. She also obtained her Ph.D. in organizational Psychology in 1990 from Punjab University

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Political career

Deuba has been a member of the Nepali Congress Party of Nepal since 1996. Since 2000, she has been a member of the Nepali Congress Party convention and Central Leadership Voting Committee. She was a member of the Constituent Assembly and Parliament of Nepal for ten years (2008-2017). She pursued issues such as women's rights, especially reproductive rights, equal citizenship rights, equal property rights, violence against women, women's equitable and equal political representation at all levels while writing the constitution of Nepal.

Social works

Deuba has established a number of women and children issues related non-government organizations (NGOs) in Nepal, which include- Saathi (1992) which works on elimination of violence against women; The Rural Women's Development and Unity Centre (1995) which works in areas with the lowest human development indicators; The Safe Motherhood Network Federation (1996) which works in the area of reproductive health and rights; and Samanata – Institute for Social & Gender Equality (1997) which is a research-based organization. Deuba was elected as regional councilor of the

World Conservation Union The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) during its fourth world congress held in Barcelona,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in October 2008. Deuba is the first candidate to be elected from Nepal in IUCN's highest decision-making body. She served for two terms as an elected regional councilor for South & East Asia for IUCN (2008 – 2016). She currently serves on the board of IPAS, USA (2014 ongoing) and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, which is a UNESCO Type I institution based in New Delhi, India (2014 ongoing). She is also associated with the White Ribbon Alliance for safe motherhood. Deuba was a panelist on discussion on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council (Geneva 2017).

Family life

She is married to former Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress Party,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deuba, Arzu Rana 1962 births Living people Nepali Congress politicians from Sudurpashchim Province 21st-century Nepalese women politicians 21st-century Nepalese politicians Nepalese Hindus Himachal Pradesh University alumni People from Lalitpur District, Nepal Spouses of prime ministers of Nepal Members of the 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly Members of the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly Nepal MPs 2022–present