Dr Pradeep Chaudhry, Director, State Forest Research Institute, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh

Dr Pradeep Chaudhry belongs to Indian Forest Service of 1986 batch and has the working experience in different forest types of India like Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh. After obtaining advanced training in “Forest Valuation” from University of Toronto, Canada in 2000; he obtained his doctorate degree in valuation of recreational use benefits of urban forestry of Chandigarh city in 2006. Before joining the current assignment, he worked in different capacities in Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur, an Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) institute including Group Coordinator (Research) and Head Silviculture Division. He has number of research publications in multi disciplinary national and international peer reviewed journals from the fields of Science, Environmental economics, Sustainable development, Tourism, Leisure and Forestry.

Further details about his educational background, professional achievements and work experience are available at: http://sites.google.com/site/drpradeepchaudhry/Home

Dr. A. Nageswara Rao is working as Orchidologist & Head of the Orchidology Division in State Forest Research Institute, Itanagar, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. He is also the Secretary of Arunachal Orchid Society ; Member of Orchid Specialists Group ( IUCN); and Councillor of Orchid Society of India.

Dr. Rao has obtained M.Sc. (Botany) and Ph.D. degrees from Andhra University, Waltair. He has worked on Orchid Flora of Arunachal Pradesh for his Ph.D. Thesis. He has visited Thailand in 1992, for training in Orchid Tissue culture and new trends in orchid commercialization under the sponsorship of Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. He has also visited Australia for 3 months in 1998 for training in plant breeding and improvement, DNA fingerprinting, orchid commercialization under the sponsorship of FAO fellowship.

Dr. Rao has been actively engaged for the last 30 years in orchid explorations in various parts of N.E. India and on R & D activities of orchidology including in situ and ex situ conservation, taxonomy, breeding, micropropagation of rare and endangered species; and commercially viable orchid hybrids, imparting training to local trbal farmers and entrepreneurs in commercial orchid cultivation and motivating them to establish small scale orchid nurseries in their wastelands for their alternative source of income.

Some of the outstanding contributions to the Indian Orchidology by Dr. Rao are discovery of 2 new genera (India, Jejosephia); 35 new species; 40 new distributional records to India including 3 genera viz. Chamaegastrodia, Sarcoglyphis, Stereosandra ; 60 new records to N.E. India and 65 new additions to Arunachal Pradesh. 5 (five) new hybrids have been developed and registered with RHS including a new hybrid genus viz. Arachnocentron.

Dr. Rao is a life member of Indian Botanical Society, Indian Association for Angiosperms Taxonomy (IAAT); The Orchid Society of India (TOSI). He has about 120 research papers on various aspects of orchidology published in national and international journals.

Contact Phone Nos. : 00-91-(0360) 2203528 (O), 2203723 (R)
E-mail : drraosfri@sify.com

Click here for the list of research publication of Dr. A. N. Rao