K. C. Pradhan is a Botanist cum Forester by training having graduated in Botany from Presidency College in Calcutta, undergone training in Forestry in Indian Forest College, Dehradun followed by post graduation in Forestry from University of Yale in USA. A flower lover cum orchid-specialist by passion and retired as senior most bureaucrat in the State of Sikkim. Having retired from active service, he continued to serve the State in various capacities including Member, State Planning Commission and still engaged in multifarious activities including heading the Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation, Sikkim Development Foundation, and Sikkim Ornithological Society.
He is a renowned Orchidologist and was Judge cum Speaker delegate in various triennial World Orchid Shows and Conferences (WOC) right from 1963 to 2002. Also Member in the Conservation Committee of American Orchid Society President JD Hooker Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society (ARS) and the only surviving Pioneer Achievement Awardee of the ARS.
Keshab C. Pradhan has authored the book Sikkim And The World Of Rhododendrons. The book is on a very significant genus in the plant kingdom with its origin in the Himalayan mountain chain and which has of late become a great eco-tourism product with quarter million visitors clamouring to see them at their best (April - May) in their natural habitats. Besides, departing from usual botanical treatise, the author has covered people, both past and present, spanning over 160 years who played a significant role in the discovery and popularization of the rhododendron as a garden plant in the temperate regions of the world. This is the first book of its kind where nature, people and the Rhododendrons - the Glory of Sikkim - are well intertwined to make it a good read in this International Year of Biodiversity. The Book is edited by Clive L. Justice, the eminent Landscape Architect and Plant Historian based in Canada, who visited Sikkim several times (1974 to 2000) advising the Government on conservation and development.
