Know your Ministers

Shisir Khanal

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Shisir Khanal returned to Nepal after completing grad school in the USA and founded Teach for Nepal in 2012, that mobilised young graduates to ensure education for all, and improve quality of instruction in public schools in five districts.

Fourteen years later in 2026, Khanal was appointed Foreign Minister in Nepal’s youth-led Cabinet under Prime Minister Balendra Shah. At age 47, he is one of the older members of the Cabinet and has gone from the grassroots to the global stage.

Before returning to Nepal, Khanal, volunteered for Sri Lanka’s Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in relief efforts in the aftermath of disasters in Sri Lanka and Haiti. He has a Bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy and Diplomacy from the University of Bridgeport and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Khanal entered active politics in 2022 by joining the RSP, and contested the election for the first time from Kathmandu-6. He ran against former Chief of Nepal Police Sarbendra Khanal of the UML and former Defence Minister Bhimsen Das Pradhan of NC, winning by a comfortable margin.

As an MP, he served as a member of Parliament’s International Relations and Tourism Committee and also headed the RSP. In January 2023, Khanal served a 19-day stint as the Minister for Education in the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led coalition government in which the RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane was Home Minister.

In 2026, Khanal contested the election once again from Kathmandu-6 and was re-elected after receiving 27,719 votes, defeating his nearest NC contender by 21,072 votes. In the lead-up to the election, he led efforts from within the RSP to bring Balendra Shah under the RSP banner alongside Rabi Lamichhane.

Much of the public and political discourse in Nepal centres around the influence and interference of neighbours, and Western nations in national affairs. Nepal’s foreign policy remains reliant on antiquated doctrines that fall short in the current geopolitical landscape.

In an interview during his 2026 campaign, Khanal noted that Nepal’s diplomacy is still dependent on 19th and 20th century frameworks, and pointed out the Foreign Ministry’s low institutional capacity — from the lack of expertise on China to economic diplomacy for migrant worker safeguards. Nepal needs to reimagine its place in a multilateral world, he added, to reflect the rapidly changing geopolitical context.

For the RSP, the diplomatic reboot involves ‘development diplomacy’ to steer the country away from traditional aid towards economic partnerships and foreign investments without any strings attached. As the Minister, it is now up to Khanal to implement his ideas. His experience as a public education reformist, which has brought about quantifiable change in public schools, will help select priorities for foreign partnerships.

With the West Asia war, there are more urgent things on his plate. As Nepal’s top diplomat, Khanal has said that there is no immediate pressure on Nepalis to return home, but he has sent two relief flights to Dammam and Dubai to bring back those who want to.

Sobita Gautam

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

One of the most anticipated outcomes in the 5 March election after the Balendra Shah vs K P Oli contest in Jhapa-5 was Chitwan-3 where Sobita Gautam was up against former mayor and daughter of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Renu Dahal.

The RSP candidate who was also the youngest directly elected lawmaker in Nepal’s federal parliament in 2022 from Kathmandu-2 won comfortably with 59,277 votes over Dahal’s 20,615 despite the latter's achievements in improving urban management of Bharatpur.

A trained lawyer with an LLB from Tribhuvan University, 30-year-old Gautam specialises in constitutional and administrative law. She is currently pursuing a LLM in international law and has an undergraduate degree in Development Studies from Kathmandu University.

Gautam’s academic years were also marked by her participation in youth advocacy, student leadership, and discussions on civic engagement, social justice, and democratic governance, leading to her formal entry into politics. She is a founding central committee member of the RSP. Before joining politics, Gautam hosted the health awareness television show Swasthya Sarokar on Nepal Television for over four years.

In 2023, she was named one of One Young World’s Politicians of the Year and elected as a member of the Health Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at its 150th Assembly, representing Nepal on a global platform for health policy and governance. .

Constitutional amendment is among the demands of GenZ activists following the September 8-9 uprising, and this is where the RSP will have to use all of its bargaining power. The party has no representatives in the National Assembly without whose approval constitutional amendment is not a possibility. It will be interesting to see how Gautam maneuvers this minefield when the time comes.

Biraj Bhakta Shrestha

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation

The new Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation holds a bachelor's degree in business administration, and worked in development projects and hospitality sector before he got involved in social work.

In the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, Biraj Bhakta Shressta, then 24 years old, led a volunteer team that conducted relief operations and health camps in remote areas like Mustang and Bardibas. As a RSP candidate from Kathmandu-8 he beat his nearest competitor, cultural activist Suman Sayami of the CPN.

Shrestha founded Force Nepal and led environmental campaigns such as One Tree – My Responsibility that strengthened his grassroots engagement. He gained more popularity through his involvement with Newa organisations in heritage conservation, including urging a family to return a stolen idol from Chapagaun.

He also set up a residential post for six police officers for the security of the Swayambhu area, and initiated the construction of security walls to protect green parks in Kathmandu Ward 15. Shrestha was also involved in upgrading in Kathmandu including Birendra Marg in Dallu Awas and Simana Marg at Chauni Cantonment.

As much as his voluntary work, his easy-going nature made him popular and gain much support. He was often seen hanging out with locals around in Basantapur.

As the former Minister of Sports under Pushpa Kamal Dahal government in 2024, Shrestha formalised the inclusion of e-sports, introduced the course of sports science in collaboration with Kathmandu University, and signed an agreement with Qatar government for the development of youth and sports. The Anti-Doping Agency was made fully functional employing full time staff during his short tenure.

Like other RSP candidates, Shrestha was associated with Bibeksheel Sajha party, had close ties with the late founder Ujjwal Thapa and won a seat in the Bagmati Provincial Assembly in 2017. He later left the party due to a rift with Rabindra Mishra over their opposing views on monarchy.

Shrestha is an avid guitarist and singer, and posts clips of himself performing on social media.

It was after joining the RSP in 2022, that his political career reached really took off. As an MP, he continuously advocated for matters of public concern and pressed for accountability and good governance. Now as the minister of energy, one of the most important portfolios to fulfil his party's 100-point delivery thorugh governance blueprint, he has his work cut out.

Although it holds great promise for Nepal's future economic growth, the hydropower sector has been under control of political patronage and cronies. Freeing the sector from their control is not going to be easy. He will need to also ensure energy diversification as well as manage Indian interests in Nepal's water resources and balance that with Chinese involvement in infrastructure contracts.

Shrestha recently implemented a ban on single-use plastics which demonstrates a practical, hands-on approach to his leadership. But at least three governments in the past implemented a similar ban only to yield to powerful plastic lobbyists. A lot will rest on Biraj Bhakta Shrestha's ability to show short-term results as well as implement policy reforms for the longer term.

Sita Badi

Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens

Sita Badi is the first person from her Dalit community to become a minister. A native resident of Birendranagar in Surkhet, Karnali Province, she has spent a lifetime in social work and activism, becoming a strong voice for marginalised groups.

As a Dalit, Badi faced difficulties completing her studies due to societal ostracisation. She spent her childhood as a labourer with her parents hauling sand for construction contractors along the Bheri River. Her family continues to live at Jhuprakhola along the banks of the river.

Sita Badi moved to Kathmandu at age 12, and with the support of a local organisation completed her bachelor’s degree in social work and eventually a master’s in political science. She has since been working through her own activist group Sunda Sahaj Neal, and now through politics to uplift underprivileged communities all over Nepal.

She has also set up the Badi Sustain Company to work towards improving the livelihoods of people from her community. She launched a small enterprise in Chunikhel in Kathmandu, where women sell handicrafts, allowing many women facing exclusion gain financial independence.

On the personal front, she married Suresh Purkuti, and her father-in-law is a member of the National Dalit Commission. She lives in Budhanilkantha with her family and remains committed to end all caste-based discrimination and other forms of inequalities in Nepali society.

Despite laws, higher literacy and empowerment, the Badi community continues to suffer from stigma and exclusion. There are challenges including protection and social safety net for children and the elderly, shelters for the vulnerable.

As minister, her Facebook has pictures of her in the maternity ward of hospitals monitoring the status of pregnant women, and posting a QR code for any complaints or suggestions for the ministry.

It was Sita Badi’s interest in activism and commitment to improve status of the marginalised that led the RSP to pick her as a proportional representation candidate in last month's election. Badi’s ministership is not just a symbolic gesture of tokenism, it is recognition of her past commitment and work on behalf of Nepalis who are exclused from the mainstream where decision-making is dominated by men from powerful caste groups.

Sasmit Pokharel

Minister of Education, Science and Technology / Minister of Youth and Sports

One of the youngest MPs at 29, Sasmit Pokharel has the swankiest personal websites of all the ministers in the RSP government.

As a close colleague of Prime Minister Balendra Shah, he has been given the responsibility of not just Minister of Education, Science and Technology, but also Minister of Youth and Sports, as well as being the government spokesperson.

Earlier, he worked with Prime Minister Shah for three years when he was Kathmandu mayor as Associate Expert in the City Planning Commission, and as an Adviser on Education and Urban Planning.

After spending his formative years in high school in the United States he returned to his roots to become a lawyer. He holds a BBM-LL.B from Kathmandu University School of Law and is currently pursuing a master’s degree on governance and anti-corruption policies.

He was only 18 when he joined the Bibeksheel Sajha Party, and like many other RSP colleagues was inspired by its founder Ujjwal Thapa. He led the Sajha Youth Organisation and became a Central Committee member. After Bibeksheel fell apart, he contested the 2022 provincial elections as an independent, but lost.

In the 2026 election, Pokharel contested from Kathmandu-5 and defeated three heavyweight politicians, including the NC’s Pradip Paudel, the Ishwar Pokhrel of the UML, and RPP Chair Kamal Thapa.

Immediately after taking office, Pokharel banned bridge entrance preparation courses for students applying to +2 or A levels following their SEE exams, saying they were too commercial. After an outcry, the decision appears to have been rescinded, and again reapplied although there is confusion about the status.

Pokhrel also announced no evaluation exams till Grade 5, saying there was too much pressure on young students. The moves have been criticised as being ad hoc, piecemeal, and not entirely through through because schools have already planned out their academic calendars.

At Kathmandu Metropolitan City, he installed smart boards in community schools to enhance digital learning, developed masterplans for infrastructure and academic improvement, and launched Book Free Friday to promote experiential learning.

As minister, Pokharel wants to crack down on student and teacher unions affiliated to political parties within 60 days, although this does not sit well with those in favour of freedom of organisation. He also wants education curricula and management to be decentralised, and address a major grievance of students: delayed exam results and disrupted classes.

A move that has been widely welcomed is the much-hated requirement for students to obtain no-objection certificates before going abroad for higher studies, and the requirement to have a citizenship papers to enrol in colleges.

Nisha Mehta

Minister of Health and Population

One of the four ministers in Balen Shah’s cabinet educated in India, Nisha Mehta is a nurse who completed her postgraduate from Gwalior in India where she specialised in patient care, healthcare management, and public health. Before that, she studied at the College of Nursing at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi between 2006-2010.

Mehta, 39, was born in Sunsari district, and after her studies worked as a clinical nurse at B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan for three years. She then joined Birat Teaching Hospital in Biratnagar where she served as both a nurse and an associate professor.

She has been a general member of the RSP since its formation in 2022, and was in the party proportional representation list in the last general election also, but did not make the cut.

Speaking at an event to mark World Health Day this week, Mehta stressed the concept of One Health, and how the health of nature and animals must be ensured for the health of the people. She also spoke about how vector-borne diseases are spreading due to climate change, and non-communicable diseases are a result of environmental pollution. She is also concerned about overuse of antimicrobial drugs leading to resistance.

Mehta’s main challenge will be to improve access and affordability of medical care for all Nepalis, and reduce out of pocket expenses. Many Nepali households become indebted or fall below the poverty line when a family member falls sick. Private hospitals are too expensive, and government hospitals generally have poor service.

Universal health insurance would help solve this, but past efforts have floundered. Yet, her party’s 100-point roadmap has no mention of health insurance. The Gagan Thapa-led NC had put rolling out comprehensive health insurance as its main plank.

Currently, the government’s insurance plan costs Rs3,500 annually for a family of five, providing up to Rs100,000 in coverage. However, the Health Insurance Board hasn't repaid the hospitals for their services, raising questions about the scheme's viability.

Meanwhile, one of the first decisions taken by the RSP last week was to instruct all hospitals to set aside 10% of their capacity to provide free healthcare to patients who cannot pay.

Mehta's decision this week to reinstate Junu Shrestha, the wife of Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dipak Kumar Sah, in the Health Insurance Board from which she was removed, has raised questions about the RSP's commitment to accountability. Sah was already under scrutiny for alleged medical exam fraud.

Dipak Kumar Sah

(Former) Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Security

On Thursday, Prime Minister Balendra Shah sacked Labour Minister Dipak Sah after the RSP found him in breach of the party's code of conduct and discipline. He served 14 days in the Cabinet, one of the shortest tenures for a minister in Nepal

The qualifications of the Dipak Kumar Sah, professional or academic, has nothing to do with the ministry he was appointed to. This contrasts with the RSP’s campaign slogan of “जान्नेलाई छान्ने” that promised ministers qualified for their posts.

It might have all come down to a political arithmetic to balance a Madhesi minister when Dol Prasad Aryal who was previously Labour Minister from the RSP for his seniority was rewarded speakership

Nonetheless, Sah’s public health and law background provides him with familiarity with community health systems that intersect with migrant workers’ welfare and occupational safety.

Sah, 35, contested from Mohattari-2 and scored a resounding victory over Sarat Singh Bhandari, who has been a minister 20 times in the past 30 years and was labour minister under the previous UML coalition.

Sah has a PhD in Health Policy Planning and Financing from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has a bachelor’s degree in optometry and served as president of the Nepalese Association of Optometrists.

Sah is now responsible for the ministry that oversees a sector that essentially keeps the country afloat. Remittance from Nepali migrants overseas made up 26% of GDP equivalent, surpassing agriculture. In terms of the remittance-to-GDP ratio, Nepal ranks ninth globally, fifth among low- and middle-income countries, and first in South Asia. In USD, remittance inflows rose by 31.0% to $10.15 billion this year.

Over half of Nepal's remittances come from workers in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Oman. After the RSP’s 100-point plan was approved, Minister Sah reviewed it and called for drafting and implementing measures to reform the country's labour sector. Key instructions included replacing the old ‘token’ system with same-day permit issuance and to develop digital content based on Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT) curriculum.

The ministry now enrolls prospective migrant workers in the contribution-based social security scheme, alongside strict enforcement of minimum wage standards under the Social Security Fund, and opened health screenings to any government-approved hospital, ending a system that had created syndicates and monopolies. It is now mandatory for migrant workers heading for foreign employment to present their ticket bills at the airport to controls fraud against workers.

Sah needs to prioritise the safety of Nepali workers abroad and have rescue plans in place if the West Asia war spirals out of control. His ministry must also push for better destination and well paying high skill jobs for workers overseas through government to government negotiations.

In 2016, Sah was arrested after his consultancy approached a student's mother and demanded Rs200,000 to secure backdoor entry into medical school. He was investigated and acquitted. This week, his wife was reinstated in the Health Insurance Board from which she had been ousted by Sah’s Cabinet colleague, Health Minister Nisha Mehta.

Pratibha Rawal

Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration

A former journalist with Republica and a fact-checker, she graduated from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. Pratibha Rawal also hosted a popular public service oriented program on Galaxy 4K tv station when Rabi Lamichhane

Rawal, 32, a proportional representation RSP candidate from Sudurpashchim Province, said she felt journalism was too slow to bring about change and that she was committed to entering politics for policy reform and its implementation.

Bikram Timilsina

Minister of Communication and Information Technology

Bikram Timilsina defeated Nepali Congress (NC) stalwart Prakash Sharan Mahat in his home turf of Nuwakot-1, after getting only politics only two years ago.

With extensive experience in media and academia, he is one of nine PhD-holding MPs. The 43-year-old Timilsina is possibly the most qualified person to become Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

He will oversee a sprawling list of responsibilities: traditional and digital media, telecommunication infrastructure, cybersecurity, regulating social media, and ensuring that the push for digital governance is carried out successfully.

Born in Nuwakot into a farming family, Timilsina raised funds with his friends to establish a village library. After completing school, he moved to Kathmandu and studied English and Economics at Tribhuvan University, also completing a Master’s in English there.

Timilsina also holds a Master of International Studies from the University of Queensland, and a PhD in Politics, Geopolitics, and International Relations from Griffith University in Australia. His PhD dissertation focused on the Role of External Forces in Nepal’s Peace Process.

He served as a producer and presenter at Radio Sagarmatha, Nepal’s first FM radio station. He was editorial adviser for the portal SouthAsia.com.au while in Australia.

In academia and research, Timilsina has served as lecturer in the Governance and Anti-Corruption Studies program at Tribhuvan University, and founded the Asian Institute for Advanced Research.

Timilsina will now have to make the big jump from theory into practice, especially in the task of good governance and transparency. The role almost seems too broad. Fifteen of the 100 points of the RSP’s Good Governance Blueprint are about implementing digital governance: drafting of bills, implementation of data autofill, appointment systems, and file tracking within 60 days.

Timilsina, for all his expertise, does not have a technical background. He has a steep learning curve and finding the correct people to pick if he is to deliver on the new government’s digital promises.

Regrettably, an inside source tells us that Timilsina's team so far has no tech experts, but it does have ‘swakiyas’ who were with during the election. The source adds that these loyalists see qualified candidates as threats, and are gatekeeping positions.

What a tragedy. Timilsina and the other ministers must be more ruthless in choosing by merit if this cabinet has any hope of a different result to all the duds before it. His current attitude is discouraging young talent, who were initially enthusiastic about the change.

There are also rumors that the responsibilities of the ministry will be split such that Balen oversees the technology side of it. It will still be massively difficult to deliver, but at least Balen has that engineering degree he can dust off.

Taking responsibility for arguably the primary issue would be as bold a move as contesting from Jhapa - 5. It would be also fit with the government’s promise to be action-oriented, and allow Timilsina to focus more on the comms – his forte.

Geeta Chaudhary

Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Forests and Environment

A self-made social justice activist and lawyer, 33-year-old Geeta Chaudhary, who has struggled for the rights of her Tharu community, knows what exclusion means in practice.

Sudurpaschim Province already suffers from neglect because of its geography, and the Tharu community in the Tarai has historically been ostracised and exploited by later settlers from the mountains. Chaudhary is now in a position to make a difference on behalf of all Nepalis in the periphery: farmers impacted by droughts and floods, landless tillers, and the outmigration of youth.

Chaudhary herself had to struggle against economic hardship, and fight discrimination both for her ethnicity as well as being a woman in the legal profession. For her, lawyering was not just a profession, but also the means to an end: helping the disenfranchised and those pushed to the fringes.

Formerly a UML activist, she has defended Dalits, Tharu and other communities in cases involving property, discrimination and domestic violence.

She faces an immediate challenge in the Ministry of Agriculture due to the fallout from the West Asia war, which is driving up inflation, the cost of fertiliser and fuel, hitting the poorest farmers hardest. In the longer term, Nepal's farms and forests are at risk from climate breakdown.