Ujwal Thapa ( ne, उज्वल थापा; 7 January 1977 – 1 June 2021) was a

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

i youth leader and activist, entrepreneur, and social worker. He was the president of the

Bibeksheel Nepali Bibeksheel Nepali Dal (विवेकशील नेपाली दल) is a political party in Nepal. The name ''"Bibeksheel"'' translates to "common sense wisdom". When the first Constitutional Assembly was dissolved, it organized a recurrin ...

party.

Early life

Thapa was born as a first child to Udaya Bhadur Thapa and Shanta Thapa.He was educated at the

Budhanilkantha School Budhanilkantha School, often referred to as BNKS, is a competitive public boarding school in Nepal. It is located in Narayanthan, 8 kilometres north of Kathmandu, at the foothills of Shivapuri mountain (). It is named after the Budhanilkantha T ...

in Kathmandu, Nepal and finished his bachelor's degree at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

in Vermont, USA in 2000.

Career

Thapa ran as an independent candidate in the

2013 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election Constituent Assembly elections were held in Nepal on 19 November 2013. The vote was repeatedly delayed, having previously been planned for 22 November 2012 following the dissolution of the 1st Constituent Assembly on 27 May 2012, but it was put ...

from Kathmandu Constituency Number 5. He was the president of the

party which, under his leadership, staged protests at the Maitighar Mandala monument in support of the senior orthopaedic surgeon at

Tribhuwan University Tribhuvan University (TU; ne, त्रिभुवन विश्वविद्यालय) is a public university located in Kirtipur, Kathmandu. Established in 1959, TU is the oldest university in Nepal. In terms of enrollment, it is ...

Maharajganj Teaching Hospital Dr.

Govinda K.C. Govinda K.C. (Nepali language, Nepali: गोविन्द के.सी.) is a Nepalis, Nepali orthopedic surgeon, orthopaedic surgeon and philanthropic activist. He is a professor of orthopedics, orthopaedics at Tribhuvan University Teachin ...

, who was on a fast-to-death protesting for reforms in the medical sector. Thapa also led a symbolic protest against members of the

Legislature Parliament of Nepal The Second Constituent Assembly of Nepal, later converted to the Legislature Parliament ( ne, व्यवस्थापिका संसद), was a unicameral legislature of Nepal. It was elected in the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections af ...

Baneshwor Baneshwor ( ne, बानेश्वर) is the largest residential area of Kathmandu, Nepal. The area is composed of New-Baneshwor, Mid-Baneshwor, and Old-Baneshwor, Baneshwor Height, Minbhawan, Shankhamul, Bhimsengola and Thapa Gaun.. Major lan ...

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, demanding affordable medical facilities for the citizens. In 2002, Thapa started Digital Max Solutions, a website development and software branding business. With Chandra Maharzan and Sakin Shrestha, he founded the IT community

WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...

Nepal. He also established Shangrila Coffee, a coffee farm in

Syangja district Syangja District ( ne, स्याङ्जा जिल्ला; ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Syangja bazaar (a small town) as its district headquarters, covers an area of ...

in 2009. He helped start and run the entrepreneurial forum Entrepreneurs for Nepal. He also ran a personal blog called "Why Nepal?".

Death

Thapa died on 1 June 2021, aged 44, due to post

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

illness, while undergoing treatment at Mediciti Hospital of Lalitpur, according to a statement issued on behalf of his family and friends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thapa, Ujwal 1970s births 2021 deaths Bennington College alumni Bibeksheel Nepali politicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal Nepalese activists Nepalese businesspeople People from Syangja District Year of birth missing Nepalese political party founders