Kathmandu, June 3 -- Ujwal Bahadur Thapa, an influential social activist and the founder of Bibeksheel Nepali Dal - Nepal's first values-based and youth-led political party - passed away on the 1 June in Kathmandu from Covid-induced complications. He was 44. He is survived by his parents, wife Erica and a younger brother who lives overseas.

Born to a middle-class family from Syangja in central Nepal, Ujwal completed his secondary education at Budhanilkantha School in Kathmandu. Classmates nicknamed him "maverick" after he outscored them by submitting cartoons and sketches as answers in an O-level English literature final exam.

The sciences were his strength, and he soon earned a full scholarship to study astrophysics at Bennington Colle...