[5] Katawal was commissioned into Shree Shreenath Battalion (Infantry) of the then Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) on 20 December 1969, after graduating from the Indian National Defense Academy.

In the same year, he donned the blue beret to serve in the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Suez Canal area.

In 1993, he took post as the commandant of the Royal Nepalese Military Academy, following Service in the Research and Development Wing at the Army HQ.

[5] In a telephone conversation with the then Ambassador Michael E. Malinowski in 2003, Major General Rookmangud Katawal, reported that the Cabinet was planning how to respond to the morning incidents.

However, upon requesting air support from a nearby military unit, the mission succeeded after successive missiles fired from the helicopter forced the rebels to escape.

Katawal reiterated that there was no purely military solution to the insurgency; the army could only create space for political negotiations.

Katawal asserted that the Maoists skillfully exploited the lack of government vision by using the political parties themselves to create tension among the legitimate democratic forces.

They had reached the stage where, Katawal added, if the legitimate democratic forces do not stand together, there is a very real risk that the Maoists will succeed in their goal of forming a totalitarian state.

[citation needed] The then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala swore in Rookmangud Katawal as the new Chief of Army Staff on September 18, 2006.

Some had even conspired to bring back former Lt. General Chitra Bahadur (CB) Gurung (retired) and appoint him as the COAS instead of Katawal.

Their criticism focused on Katawal's tenure as commander of the mid-western division headquarters from December 2003 to September 2004 and his actions during the people's movement in April 2006.

According to the defense secretary, there is no plan by the government of Nepal to issue a formal SIPDIS in response to the human rights accusations against Katawal.

[citation needed] Since the people's movement in April, Katawal, like outgoing COAS Gen. Thapa, had been consistent in affirming his loyalty to Nepal's democratic leadership.

The Defense Ministry (MOD) was in the process, with U.S. and U.K. assistance, of building its capacity to manage and give direction to the army.

On September 4, a group of 16 leaders of various human rights organizations sent a letter to UN Secretary General Annan denouncing the appointment of Katawal as the new COAS.

Katawal also faced unspecified charges of violating human rights for attempting to suppress the people's movement in April 2006.

[citation needed] The unspecified charges against Katawal for his role in April 2006 do not yet appear to substantiate such drastic USG action in the absence of a commission report.

The most troubling accusations concern human rights abuses that occurred while Katawal was division commander in mid-Western Nepal was during the first nine months of 2004.

However, Embassy sources indicate he exercised maximum restraint in conducting operations, mindful of minimizing collateral damage.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) representatives had said on September 19, that it was generally pleased with the progress army had made in the past three years.

Katawal stated that as long as the Maoists came into mainstream political power by legitimate means, the Nepal Army would "nod and salute."

"[citation needed] Katawal had instructed the then major general Dharmala to tell King Gyanendra to make amends with the prime minister and to acknowledge that there was no chance of a political comeback.

[citation needed] COAS Rookmangud Katawal had stated that he opposed integrating Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army for a period of "five years."

Koirala on July 1, 2007, that integration would destroy the Army and deprive the political parties of an institution to fall back on if the Maoists attempted to seize power.

[citation needed] Katawal had opted for an alternative method to provide lethal military assistance to the Nepal Army; that Nepali peacekeepers could go to their postings in Haiti or other places without weapons.

Katawal noted that this solution would avoid upsetting the Maoists and would allow lethal support to arrive without the political complications involved.

Controversy surrounding his relationship with the ruling government, largely focused on recruiting issues, the increase in tenure of 8 Nepalese generals and the boycott of the Nepal Army in the Sports Tournament led to his brief sacking on May 3, 2009.

[7] Protests in response to his sacking included the withdrawal of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) from the ruling coalition government.

In our view, the preponderance of under-educated Nepalese is the number one impediment standing in the way of Nepal's attempt to raise its people's quality of life in the 21st century.

The trust particularly focuses on the education of younger girls and boys living in remote Nepali villages but the organization will extend its functional area gradually all over the country in near future.