Shanta Chaudhary

{{Short description|Nepali politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Shanta Chaudhary | native_name = शान्ता चौधरी | office = Member of Parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha for<br/>CPN (UML) party list | term_start = 4 March 2018 | term_end = 18 September 2022 | office1 = Member of Parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha for<br/>CPN (UML) party list | term_start1 = 28 May 2008 | term_end1 = 28 May 2012 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1979|5|17}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://hr.parliament.gov.np/uploads/attachments/z3qljvte6vwen2cy.pdf |title=संघीय संसद सदस्य, २०७४ परिचयात्मक पुस्तिका |publisher=Federal Parliament Secretariat |year=2021 |location=Nepal |pages=270 |language=ne |trans-title=Federal Parliament Members 2017 Introduction Booklet}}</ref> | party = CPN (UML) | occupation = }}

'''Shanta Chaudhary''' ({{Langx|ne|शान्ता चौधरी}}) is a social reformer and former member of 1st Constituent Assembly of Nepal as a proportional 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/06/14/never-too-late-to-learn/|title=Never Too Late to Learn|last=Magar|first=Devika Gharti|date=14 June 2015|work=Nepali Times|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://nepalitimes.com/article/Book-Review/Book-review-from-kamlari-to-lawmaker,690|title=She Has a Dream|date=August 2013|work=Nepali Times|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> During this time, she was forced to work for 19 hours a day, and she lived in the cowshed.<ref name=":1" /> She was reprimanded for her mistakes and sometimes beaten by the landlord's wife.<ref name=":1" /> Chaudhary remained as a servants until she was eighteen, during which time she became active in politics.<ref name=":0" /> She represented Dang in a forum for the lands rights movement.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/09/17/the-right-way-to-fight-for-rights/|title=The Right Way to Fight for Rights|date=17 September 2015|work=Nepali Times|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref>

In 2008, Chaudhary was chosen to lead the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Means.<ref name=":0" /> Her illiteracy was a problem in the CA and she started taking classes.<ref name=":0" /> Eventually, in 2013, she published a book, ''Kamlari Dekhi Sabhasad Samma,'' about her experiences.<ref name=":1" />

In 2016, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and is currently receiving treatment.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnSHRgQhbT8 |title=KP Oli fan Shanta Chaudhary Achar business on fire days after inauguration in Surkhet, Birendranagar |date=2025-11-16 |last=Anand Nepal |access-date=2025-11-22 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhary, Shanta}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century Nepalese women politicians Category:21st-century Nepalese writers Category:21st-century Nepalese women writers Category:Nepal MPs 2017–2022 Category:Nepal Communist Party (NCP) politicians Category:Members of the 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly Category:Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) politicians Category:1979 births