Born in 1956 and brought up in Suga Village, Mahottary District, C.K. Lal studied civil engineering, public administration, law and urban planning in India and Nepal. He worked as a civil engineer and has simultaneously been writing for different publications for over twenty-five years. Since 2009, he is fully committed to public commentary through various media outlets.
Lal is a columnist for Republica and Nagarik Dainik newspapers and Himal Southasian monthly magazine published from Kathmandu. He also writes regularly for the Nepali fortnightly newsmagazine Himal Khabarpatrika and was a columnist for the Nepali Times weekly for a decade. He reads and writes in four languages - Maithili, Nepali, Hindi and English and is widely read, heard, and seen by readers, listeners, and audiences of Nepali as well as a few other South Asian publications, radio stations and television.
In 2006, he was voted the most influential columnist of Nepal. He was an Asia Leadership Fellow in 2008. In July-August, 2010, his much-acclaimed play Sapana ko Sabiti was staged by the Aarohan Theatre Group in Kathmandu.
Lal has contributed various articles to academic journals and edited volumes. He has also co-edited the volume Chapama Dalit (Ekta Books, Kathmandu, 2001) in Nepali. His book, Human Rights, Democracy and Governance was published in early 2010 (Pearson, New Delhi). In 2011, Martin Chautari published his ‘thinking paper’ on the future of Nepali identity, Nepaliya hunalai… along with commentaries by more than 20 of the leading politicians and thinkers of Nepal.
Lal’s current areas of study include the notion of nationality, functioning of the media, democratization of society and institutionalization of democracy.
The Creation of Public Meaning during Nepal’s Democratic Transition’ is a collaborative research project between the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London and Martin Chautari (MC), Kathmandu. The project is jointly coordinated by Prof. Michael Hutt of SOAS and Dr Pratyoush Onta of MC and is being funded by the British Academy under its International Partnership Scheme for the period March 2010 to March 2013. Read more
Martin Chautari organizes discussions thrice a week.
The library is open to all from Sunday to Friday, 10:30 am to 5:00 pm except for a half-hour tea break between 2:00pm and 2:30pm when the circulation desk will be closed. Read more>>>