Mahat was also a recipient of US Government's Hubert Humphrey Fellowship 1987/88 and was associated with the School of International Studies of the American University, Washington DC, US.

He was a recipient of the Francis Humbert Humphrey Award for leadership role in the public service by the USIA and the Institute of International Education, USA.

Political career Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, a senior leader of Nepali Congress, combines a rare background of an active politician and a technocrat.

Born in a middle-class family in Nuwakot district of rural Nepal, he became politically active since early student days.

One of the leading student activists in his college and university days in Nepal, he was imprisoned several times by the autocratic monarchial regime in the sixties and seventies.

A man of integrity and believer of probity and transparency in public life, he has voluntarily resigned as Finance Minister from cabinet twice.

Following the royal takeover of political power in 2002, he actively participated in Nepal's 'anti-regression movement', which culminated in the mass uprising of April 2006 leading eventually to the abolition of monarchy.

Mahat has several publications to his credit, including the widely acclaimed book In Defence of Democracy: Dynamics and Fault lines of Nepal's Political Economy (2005).