Kathmandu: The source of Nepali Congress leader and former Foreign Minister Dr. Arju Rana Deuba’s real estate is believed to come as inheritance from her parents, some as dowry and from her personal earnings working for various international organizations.

In Bardiya, Dr. Arju’s father had given her 6 bigahs, or about 80 ropanis, as dowry.
She had deeded 3 bigahas, equivalent to about 40 ropanis, from this inherited land in Bardiya to her son Jayabir Singh Deuba in 2075 BS. It was a transfer of land to her son in the form of a land deed as part of his inheritance, not a purchase he made.

A PhD in Psychology, she worked as a consultant for various international NGOs and development agencies from 2045 BS to 2064 BS. She worked as a consultant for more than two dozen organizations including the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), American Development Agency USAID, Women’s Kind, ICIMOD, IUCN, DFID, The Asia Foundation, UNDP, UNICEF, IPPF International, CARE, Save the Children, the National Planning Commission, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Ministry of Women and Children, Ministry of Forests, UNIFEM (now UN Women), RUWDUC, Saathi, and others. She was one of the highest-paid Nepali consultants in all these organizations, both in US dollars and Nepali rupees. She also served on the boards of IUCN, IPAS, and the Global White Ribbon Alliance for a long period of time, working internationally and traveling frequently.

At the same time, she was also the founding board director of Kathmandu College of Management, a management college in Nepal started in the 1990’s which was the first to offer a BBA in Management in Nepal.

With the money she earned while working for these various organizations, she purchased 13 ropanis of land in Dadeldhura for 400,000 rupees in 2052 BS.

She was given 5 dhurs of land in the industrial area of ​​Makawanpur as dowry by her ancestors. She sold the same land in 2067 BS and purchased 2 kattas of land in a rural area away from the city of Makawanpur.

Dr. Arju had purchased 4 ropanis of land in Sipadol, Bhaktapur before her marriage in 1995. At that time, she purchased the land with the self-earned money she had accumulated while working at the Canadian Cooperation Office.

With the money earned working for various organizations, she also purchased 2 ropanis of land in Gyarjati, Kaski in 2065 BS. With the same self-earned money, she purchased 3 kattas and 2 dhurs of land in Tikapur in 2054 BS for 50,000 rupees.

Out of the 6 ropanis of land where the house is now located in Budhanilkantha, 4 ropanis were gifted to her by her father as dowry and 2 ropanis were purchased by her with her earnings in 2052-2054 BS. The house built on the same land was burned down during the GenZ movement. 2 ropanis from this total 6 ropanis was transferred to her son Jayabir Singh Deuba in 2076 BS. Some have propagated news that this is new land he personally bought, but it was inherited.

Dr. Arju’s land and house in Dhangadhi was purchased with a bank loan in 2074 BS. After it was burned and destroyed during the GenZ movement, the instalment has finally been paid off with the insurance of the same.

About 13.31 ropanis of land from the ancestral agricultural land in Kanchanpur, which was purchased around 2028 BS, which was Sher Bahadur Deuba’s share, was transferred to Jayabirsingh Deuba in 2081 BS. Some have also falsely reported this as a new land purchase.

Jayabir Singh Deuba purchased 12 ropanis of land in Dhikurpokhari, Kaski, in 2077 BS at 5-6 lakh rupees per ropani from his income and inheritance, totalling 65 lakhs in total purchase value. The land is located in the remote village of Dhikurpokhari, which is about an hour’s drive from Pokhara Lakeside. The land was purchased with the intention of building a cottage in the future along with agriculture.

When calculated, it appears that Dr. Arju has a total of 41.64 ropanis of land in her name and Jayabir Singh Deuba has 67.24 ropanis in his name.
Although the land plots seem to be a lot, the land are in more remote and smaller cities where the market value is low.

In addition, most of the land seems to have been accumulated before marriage through dowry and self-earned money. Dr. Arju regularly submitted property declarations when she was in public office, in which all these details are mentioned. Dr. Arju is also the granddaughter of Juddha Shamsher J.B. Rana.