Kashiraj Pradhan (11 December 1905 – 31 March 1990) popularly known as Kashi Babu was an Indian pre-merger politician and journalist in

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligu ...

. He was the President of

Sikkim State Congress The Sikkim State Congress, or ''SSC'', was an annexationist political party in the Kingdom of Sikkim. It was founded in 1947 and worked closely with the Indian National Congress (INC) to successfully achieve the annexation of Sikkim to India. ...

party, a member of the Sikkim State Council and Executive Council of Sikkim serving multiple terms in office. Known as the ''Father of Sikkimese journalism'', he was the founder and publisher of Sikkim’s first news magazine ''Kanchenjunga''.

Early life and education

Pradhan was born in the family of the aristocratic

Newar Newar (; new, नेवार, endonym: Newa; new, नेवा, Pracalit script:) or Nepami, are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisation ...

Taksaris in

Pakyong Pakyong is the district headquarters of Pakyong District in the Indian state of Sikkim, located in the foothills of the Himalayas. It holds many Government Offices. Pakyong Airport is the only airport of Sikkim. The "National Research Centre fo ...

East Sikkim Gangtok District, formerly the East Sikkim district, is an administrative district of the Indian state of Sikkim. It was renamed in 2021 as a result of administrative reorganisation of the state, which also saw three subdivisions of the East Si ...

. His parents were Babu Kaluram Pradhan and Bhadralakshmi Pradhan. His paternal grandfather was Thikadar Taksari Chandrabir Maskey of Pakyong, who was a Sikkimese feudal lord of Pakyong, Pendam and other estates in the former Kingdom of Sikkim. He received his early education in Sikkim, thereafter he went to high school in a government school in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Ne ...

and completed his matriculation from Calcutta University in 1923. He completed his intermediate (I.A) from Banaras Hindu University (B.H.U) in the 1924, in arts. Thereafter, he graduated from Calcutta University in Arts. He was amongst the first few graduates from

Career

In 1933, he became a teacher in the Sir Tashi Namgyal high school. Between 1942–1947 he was the headmaster of Sir Tashi Namgyal High School. He also started a business exporting

oranges and cardamom to Calcutta (present day

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

). He was a leader of the pro-democracy movement in the erstwhile

Kingdom of Sikkim The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, ''Drenjong''), officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monarc ...

. In the Sikkim State Council, he held important cabinet positions including that of Executive Councilor (equivalent to cabinet minister). He was a member of the

, a party he led for many years. By late 1950s to the 1970s the

was led by him or his nephew

Nahakul Pradhan Nahakul Pradhan (born 1918 - 17 June 1973) also known as Nakul Pradhan was a Sikkimese pre-merger politician, pro-democracy leader, a member of the Sikkim State Council and Executive Council of Sikkim serving multiple terms. He was the Preside ...

both serving as President of the party in different decades. Under their leadership the party greatly moderated it’s anti-

Chogyal The Chogyal ("Dharma Kings", ) were the monarchs of the former Kingdom of Sikkim, which belonged to the Namgyal dynasty. The Chogyal was the absolute monarch of Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when the monarchy was abolished and the Sikkimese peo ...

stand and participated in the Royal Sikkimese administration through subsequent wins in elections to the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

He was also a journalist, who started Sikkim's first monthly news magazine, ''Kanchenjunga'' in 1957 with his nephew

as its editor. Known as ''Father of Sikkimese Journalism'', the state government of Sikkim has instituted ''Kashiraj Pradhan Lifetime Journalism Award'' for journalists since 2018.

Honours

* Pema Dorji Decoration - Presented by the

Chogyal of Sikkim The Chogyal ("Dharma Kings", ) were the monarchs of the former Kingdom of Sikkim, which belonged to the Namgyal dynasty. The Chogyal was the absolute monarch of Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when the monarchy was abolished and the Sikkimese pe ...

, third-highest civilian honour in the former Kingdom of Sikkim. * Government of Sikkim has named Deorali - Namnang road as ''Kashiraj Pradhan Marg''. * Bhanu Puraskar - On 13 July 1998, the

Nepali Sahitya Parishad Sikkim } Nepali Sahitya Parishad ( Nepali:नेपाली साहित्य परिषद सिक्किम) is a Literary organisation of Nepali language and literature in Sikkim which was established in the year 1984. The organisation mai ...

awarded him with the first Bhanu Puraskar.

References

* {{Cite book , last = Bareh , first = Hamlet , year = 2001 , title = Encyclopaedia of North-East India: Sikkim , chapter = Introduction , publisher = Mittal Publications , isbn = 978-81-7099-794-8 , chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jrr7HPr8NAQC , access-date =19 June 2011 People from Sikkim People from Sikkim by district People from Sikkim by occupation Journalists from Sikkim 1905 births 1990 deaths Sikkim

Pradhan Pradhan (Devanagari: प्रधान) is generally ministerial title of Sanskrit origin in cultures of Hindu tradition, mainly used in the Indian subcontinent. The Sanskrit ''pradhāna'' translates to "major" or "prime"; however, the more modern ...

Sikkim politicians by party