Dr. Dhananjayrao Gadgil Centre for Sustainable Village Development was established on 10^th April 2016 at the initiative of  Prof. Rajas Parchure, Officiating Director of the Institute and  Dr. Kailas Bavale, alumnus of the Institute and sustainable development activist. The centre aims to conduct research, training and extension activities  on issues relating to sustainable village development and village transformation with the help of academic resources  of colleges and educational institutions thereby creating a connect between villages and educational institutions. Dr. Kailas Bavale has been the Founder Director of the Institute.

Since its inception, the centre has been involved in a number of outreach activities.

• First and foremost among these has been selection of village Vadgaon Ghenand in Khed taluka of district Pune for carrying out various activities of the Centre  throughout the year.
• An important feature of the Centre has been involvement of the Institute students in centre activities. These include internship programmes  and  study tours for giving students exposure to various sustainability practices which can be followed in the villages.
• The centre has organized a number of lectures as well as capacity building workshops for villagers, various village level officials, NGOs and SHGs in the village. Orientation programmes also have been arranged for college principals and   teachers, government sector officials and youth from various villages. These include Green energy workshops, Cleanliness and Sanitation workshops, Watershed Development and Watershed Management Camps etc.

• A unique feature of the Centre has been its initiation of the ‘Knowledge- College – Village Collaboration Program’ which  makes an attempt to create collaboration among  colleges in nearby talukas of Pune   for sustainable development of the villages through National Service Scheme. As part of this initiative, the Center  has been organizing   training and awareness  programmes for various stakeholders. The attempts of the centre at  achieving objectives of National Flagship Program of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan through this initiative  were  appreciated by Bhushan Patwardhan,  Vice Chairman of UGC.

• A series of Webinars on ‘Village Transformation: Challenges and Solutions’ was organized by the Centre in collaboration with Maha FPO Federation, Pune, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan – Marathwada and Vidarbha Regional Organizations, Sarpanch Parishad Maharashtra and Jeevan Prabodhini Trust, Pune, during September 2020 to January 2021. Experts from various fields were invited to deliver lectures on topics such as  Sustainable Development Goals 2030, Rural Development and Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, New Education Policy 2020 and Rural Development, Gram Geeta – Direction for Rural Development, Importance and Use of Right to Information Act in Rural Development, Technology for Knowledge-College-Village Program etc. Valedictory function for this web-series was graced by  Padmashree Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, Dr. Bhushan Patawardhan (Vice Chairman, UGC), Dr. Dhanaraj Mane (Director, Higher Education Department, Maharashtra).