Social Initiatives

Bharati Vidyapeeth has contributed significantly for the promotion and protection of interests of deprived sections of population. The sense of social commitment of Dr. Patangrao Kadam is reflected in the institutions which he has started and in their activities. Bharati Vidyapeeth stands for:

• Empowerment of women
• Upliftment of rural people
• Spread of education in rural areas
• Quality education through the institutions of professional education
• Upliftment of tribals
• Promotion of sports activities
• Encouragement to arts, artists and literary people
• Rural Health
• Development through cooperative institutions

Women Empowerment

Realizing the significance and urgency of empowerment of rural women in the context of overall development of rural people, Bharati Vidyapeeth has started various schools and colleges, exclusively for girls, particularly in rural areas. The institutions located in rural areas are provided with similar facilities and amenities as are available to those in urban areas.
Educational Institutions especially for women are as follows:

• College of Engineering for Women, Pune
• Kanya Prashala Dhankwadi, Pune
• Kanya Prashala, Erandavane, Pune
• Matoshri Bayabai Shripatrao Kadam Kanya Mahavidyalaya Jr. & Sr., Kadegaon, Dist. Sangli
• Kanya Prashala and Junior College, Kadegaon, Dist. Sangli
• Kanya Prashala and Junior College, Palus, Dist. Sangli
• Industrial Training Institute, Kadegaon, Dist. Sangli
• Anganwadi Prashikshan Kendra, Kadegaon, Dist. Sangli

Matoshri Bayabai Shripatrao Kadam Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Kadegaon, (Dist, Sangli)

Bharati Vidyapeeth has established this College, exclusively for girls. The catchment area of this College is the rural region surrounding Kadegaon, which is a small town. This College has its own beautiful building with modern amenities and infrastructural facilities, quite comparable to those which are available to the girl students in the urban areas. There is a hostel attached to the College. The girl students in this College are provided with educational concessions in various forms to enable them to take education.

Bharati Vidyapeeth's Kanya Prashala & Junior College,Kadegaon, (Dist. Sangli) & Bharati Vidyapeeth's Kanya Prashala & Junior College, Paius, (Dist. Sangli)

These two places, Kadegaon and Palus, are small taluka towns surrounded by villages. Since these are academically and infrastructure wise better schools in the region, a large number of girl's students from these villages enroll themselves in them. But for these educational institutions started by Bharati Vidyapeeth most of these girls students would have been deprived of educational opportunities. So the credit of social awakening among the women in these areas goes mostly to the educational endeavour, Bharati Vidyapeeth has been making.

Industrial Training Institute, Kadegaon, (Dist. Sangli)

There are very limited job opportunities for girls in rural areas. Many of them cannot afford to spend longer time in taking education because of their poverty. So with a view to develop potential among the girls students for self-employment, Bharati Vidyapeeth has started this Industrial Training Institute, wherein annually more than 300 girl students are given industrial training in 10 different trades.

This industrial training helps the girls to be self-employed and financially self-dependent. The girls are given not only free education, but also free lodging and boarding facilities at this Institute.

Mahila Audyogik Sahakari Sanstha, Kadegaon

This cooperative unit exclusively for women was established in 1991 under the guidance of Mrs. Vijayamala Kadam. It is a part of Bharati Vidyapeeth Family. The jurisdiction of this unit covers, Khanapur and Kadegaon Talukas in Sangli district. Under the auspices of this unit, women in rural areas are given training in tailoring. The trained workers are given the jobs of stitching uniforms for employees of Bharati Vidyapeeth and also for the students of Bharati Vidyapeeth. The unit has its own building and the necessary equipments. Within a short time, it has established its reputation.

Working Women's Hostels

Bharati Vidyapeeth has constructed and manages three working women's hostels in Pune, one in its Erandawane campus and two in its Dhankawadi campus. These hostels provide accommodation to more than 350 working women.

Moreover, Bharati Vidyapeeth adopts every year a few girl students and provides them with not only free education but also free lodging and messing facilities to enable them to pursue their higher education particularly professional education. A large number of girl students have benefited by this scheme and many of them are now working as medical practitioners, dentists, teachers, computer engineers etc.

Women Directors on Central Cooperative Consumer Store

The Cooperative Consumer's Stores at Pune, Sangli and Kadegaon are sister concerns of Bharati Vidyapeeth. A notable feature of this Store is that, 90% of members of its Board of Directors are usually women.

Upliftment of Rural people

Bharati Vidyapeeth is more than an educational institution. Its motto is to bring about Social Transformation Through Dynamic Education. It has a deep concern for the all sided development of rural people. The main task which it has undertaken is to create developmental orientation among the rural people and to provide facilities and guidance to them in bringing about self-development. It propagates among the farmers through its institutions, improved methods of agriculture, and knowledge of recent technology and better methods of cultivation.

Dr. Kadam has established "The Foundation for Rural Development" which runs a rural development centre at Kadegaon. There it has its own spacious building. This Centre has become a venue for the cultivators to come together, to exchange their ideas and experiences with each other, as well as, for training and other purposes. The Foundation has started a programme for integrated rural development. The main object of this programme is to bring about all round development of the rural community in general.

A regional development project has been undertaken by the Foundation in Chinchani-Wangi village. This programme covers economic, health care, educational aspects of rural life.

For Spread of Education in Rural Areas

Bharati Vidyapeeth has a firm conviction that it is through the spread of education in rural areas that the real social, cultural, economic transformation of rural people can be brought about. So the rural people and rural regions have always been at the focus of programmes and activities of Bharati Vidyapeeth. As in urban areas, Bharati Vidyapeeth has also started pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, in rural areas of Maharashtra. Some of them are situated in very remote, inaccessible areas. All these schools have their own buildings and ample other infrastructure I facilities. All of them have very good academic track record. Bharati Vidyapeeth has taken education to the doorsteps of rural people in the real sense of terms.

Adult Education

The Vidyapeeth has also started Adult Education Programme at 30 centres in the slum areas of western Pune and neighbouring villages. N.S.S and N.C.C Units of various colleges of Bharati Vidyapeeth undertake various welfare programmes particularly in rural areas. A large number of members of these units did commendable disaster management work during the floods in Sangli and Kolhapur district in 2005.

Agricultural Training

Recently, Bharati Vidyapeeth has started a College of Agriculture at Sonsal-Hingangaon and with that one more faculty is added to Bharati Vidyapeeth. This College is designed to be not only a centre of Agriculture Education for the students, but also as a Centre of activities for the farmers and with the farmers in that area.

The College provides guidance and encouragement to the farmers for undertaking innovative agricultural development programmes. It advises them in such matters as adopting new patterns of crops, introducing new varieties of seeds etc.

Orphanage at Panchgani

The programmes and projects of Bharati Vidyapeeth reflect the social concern it has. Bharati Vidyapeeth extends its arms to people in difficulty and distress., especially for those who don’t have anybody to care for them viz. orphans and old people.

Bharati Vidyapeeth runs an orphanage at Panchagani (Dist. Satara). It has taken it over from a local Charitable Trust which had established it. The orphanage has accommodation for about 30 inmates. Bharati Vidyapeeth takes care of them in every respect including their free education in the institutions of Bharati Vidyapeeth.

Student Adoption Scheme

Under this scheme, a few poor and deserving students, particularly belonging to the deprived sections of population are adopted by Bharati Vidyapeeth every year. They are given free education and free hostel and mess facilities. Scores of students who graduated under the scheme have established themselves as successful medical practitioners, engineers, dentists, pharmacists, administrators, corporate manager etc.

Upliftment for tribals

Upliftment of deprived sections of population has always been given a top priority by Bharati Vidyapeeth. It has established schools and colleges in urban areas, as well as, in rural areas. However, the tribal areas have not been lost sight of by Bharati Vidyapeeth. With a view to provide quality education and equal opportunities to children in tribal areas, Bharati Vidyapeeth has established Primary and Secondary Schools for tribal children at Jawhar and Vikramgadh in the tribal belt in Thane district. All amenities including good school buildings and good mess and hostel facilities are made available to these children.

Schools in the tribal area of Thane District for the tribal children
One of the proclaimed missions of Bharati Vidyapeeth is to provide excellent education at affordable costs to the students of deprived sections of population. The Founder of Bharati Vidyapeeth Dr. Patangrao Kadm insists that the tribal children must get the same quality education, as children in urban areas.Keeping this objective in view, Bharati Vidyapeeth has established and runs the following schools in Jawahar and Vikramgadh, in the tribal belt of Thane district:

At Jawhar (Dist. Thane)

• Bharati Vidyapeeth's Prashala & Jr. College
• Bharati Vidyapeeth's Prashala
• Bharati Vidyapeeth's High School (English Medium)
• Bharati Vidyapeeth's Primary School (English Medium)
• Bharati Vidyapeeth's Prathmik Ashramshala

At Vikramgadh (Dist. Thane)

• Bharati Vidyapeeth's Primary School (English Medium)
• Bharati Vidyapeeth's Pre-Primary School (English Medium)

These schools are housed in spacious buildings of their own and are provided with hostel facilities. In some of them, the medium of instruction is English. It is gratifying to note that a large number of tribal children are taking advantage of the educational facilities, provided by Bharati Vidyapeeth.

School at Bandarkatha

Similar to these schools, is our School at Bandarkatha, (Dist. Raigad). This School was originally started by a local organization. It is situated in a remote and not so easily accessible part of the Konkan region. On the request of the original management of the School, Bharati Vidyapeeth took over the School under its umbrella and within a period of two years or so, it has given it not only stability, but generated in it all the potential to become a good school. Soon after the take over, Bharati Vidyapeeth has constructed a spacious building for this School.

Promotion of Sports

Adequate facilities for sports training have been provided in all the institutions of Bharati Vidyapeeth. Additionally, a Trust namely Bharati Krida Pratishthan was established by Dr. Kadam to promote sports, sports medicine and research. Its main objective is to promote national and international sports and train the youth in the urban and rural areas to be competent sports persons. It also organizes sports meets, training camps and workshops on sports.

In addition, facilities for fitness, health check-ups and consultation to the players through Health Clubs are also provided. Various research projects on sports medicine with a view to bring about improvement in fitness and quality of players have been undertaken.

Bharati Vidyapeeth runs a College of Physical Education also. In the recent years "Abhijit Kadam Memorial Foundation" which is a sister trust of Bharati Vidyapeeth has made concerted efforts to give a boost to Foot ball.

Bharati Vidyapeeth has contributed its share for the promotion of applied arts, painting and sculpture through its colleges of these disciplines. "Kala Academy" which Dr. Kadam has established conducts various types of activities for the promotion of performing arts and literature. It also organizes various cultural events and also sponsors them.

Rural Health

Bharati Vidyapeeth is keen to have interactions with different sections of population and tries to reduce the rural-urban divide. Its Colleges of health related disciplines namely of Medicine, Dentistry, Ayurved, Nursing and Homeopathy organize diagnostic and other health camps in villages on a regular basis, wherein poor and needy patients are provided with medical treatment and assistance.

They also identify certain villages as centres outside Pune and elsewhere in western Maharashtra wherein periodical health check-up camps are held. They occasionally conduct refresher courses for the practitioners in the surrounding areas of Pune. These courses help the practitioners to keep their knowledge abreast. Bharati Vidyapeeth also runs a Rural Health Centre in a village adjacent to Pune. Besides these institutional activities, the students of Bharati Vidyapeeth organize events such as blood donation camps, street plays and other consciousness generating activities about health related issues.

Bharati Vidyapeeth Parivar

Bharati Vidyapeeth is a large organization having more than 7,000 employees both teaching and non-teaching on its roll. This number goes beyond ten thousand, if the employees in the sister concerns of Bharati Vidyapeeth are included in it.
Although these employees belong to different religions, castes and creeds, they together form a unified community with a strong sense of belonging to a family. The relationship between the organization and the employee is thus a familiar one. Bharati Vidyapeeth is operating various welfare schemes for its employees, prominent among them are:

Staff Welfare Fund

This fund is created with a view to provide financial assistance to the employees in emergency situations. The Management's share is equal to the amount collected from the employees for this fund every year. So far more than Rs.75 lakhs have been given as financial assistance to about 2200 employees from this fund.

Staff Health Scheme

Under this scheme, health related services are provided to the employees free of cost in all the Hospitals, run under the auspices of Bharati Vidyapeeth. They include investigations, hospitalization, surgery and the like.

Cooperative Housing Societies

Under the guidance and with the help of Dr. Patangrao Kadam many employees have formed their cooperative housing societies and built houses for themselves. He provided immense help to them to get land for housing. He has also given financial assistance to some of them for this purpose.

Concessions in Fees

Bharati Vidyapeeth generously gives concession in fees and financial assistance in other forms to the wards of its employees. Hundreds of them have been the beneficiaries of these concessions.

Amenities for Students:

The approximate total number of students taking education in various schools and colleges of Bharati Vidyapeeth is over 5 lakhs. All the castes and communities, as well as, different States in India are represented in them. The component of international students in its student population is also sizable. The students of more than 27 countries are enrolled with different institutions of Bharati Vidyapeeth. Bharati Vidyapeeth provides various amenities and facilities to its students, some of which are :

Student Hostels

Quite a few of the constituent units of Bharati Vidyapeeth, run Boys' and Ladies' Hostels for their students. In Pune alone hostel facility is provided to more than 1,800 girl students and 600 boys. The hostel facilities of some of the schools are excellent. The Hostels in the residential public school at Panchgani are equipped with all the modern amenities and facilities. Bharati Vidyapeeth also runs a hostel for 300 rural girls at Kadegaon (Dist. Sangli) The hostel facility is provided to 150 girl students in our Delhi Campus. Mess and Canteen facilities are provided in various institutions.

Health Check-up Scheme

This scheme is being operated in various schools and colleges. Under this scheme, students are medically examined and record of the same is maintained. The needy students are given financial assistance for medical treatment. The students of institutions in Pune are given free treatment in Bharati Vidyapeeth's Hospitals.

Concession in Fees

A large number of poor and deserving students are given annually sizable concessions in fees. The amount of fee concessions given to the students annually comes to be over Rs. 2.5 crores. The examination fees of some of the students are reimbursed. Dr. Patangrao Kadam insists that no deserving student should be required to leave education halfway simply on account of his financial difficulties.