Kamal Rana

Rana was born in Tansen in 1928, the daughter of Raja Tarak Bahadur Shah and Dibyashori Shah.[1] Related to the royal family,[2] she married Meen Shumsher J.B. Rana, an army general and earned a master's degree in political science.[3][4] She established the Women's Volunteer Services in 1952,[5] and in the same year was appointed vice-chair of the National Assembly.[6] She later served in the Advisory Assembly from 1958 to 1959.[4]

Following the introduction of the 1959 constitution, a bicameral parliament was created with an elected House of Representatives and an appointed Senate. In the 1959 elections one woman – Dwarika Devi Thakurani – was elected, while Rana was the sole woman appointed to the new Senate by King Mahendra.[2] In July 1959 she was elected chair of the Senate.[7] In 1962 she was a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly and between 1963 and 1965 sat on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.[4] She also served in the Rastriya Panchayat.

Following the 1980 referendum on the system of government, she was appointed to the eleven-member Constitution Reform Recommendation Commission by King Birendra.[3]