Viktorikoa at 06:43, 25 March 2026

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{{short description|Indian economist and institution builder (1901–1971)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil
| image = Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil 2008 stamp of India.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1901|04|10}}
| birth_place = [[Nasik]], Maharashtra, British India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1971|05|03|1901|04|10}}
| death_place = India
| restingplace =
| othername = D. R. Gadgil
| occupation = Economist<br>institution builder
| yearsactive =
| known for = [[Gadgil formula]]<br>[[Cooperative movement in India|Indian Cooperative Movement]]<br>[[Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics]]
| spouse = Pramila
| domesticpartner =
| children = 3 sons and 1 daughter
| parents = Ramchandra Bhargav
| website =
| awards =
}}
'''Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil''' (10 April 1901 – 3 May 1971), also known as '''D. R. Gadgil''', was an Indian economist,<ref name="Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971)">{{cite web | url=http://dgicmnagpur.com/about_dr_gadgil.php | title=Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971) | publisher=DGICM | year=2015 | accessdate=10 October 2015 | archive-date=9 October 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009073814/http://dgicmnagpur.com/about_dr_gadgil.php | url-status=dead }}</ref> institution builder<ref name="Gadgil on Indian economics">{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/gadgil-on-indian-economics/article2004494.ece | title=Gadgil on Indian economics | newspaper=The Hindu | date=9 May 2011 | accessdate=11 October 2015| last1=Pani | first1=Narendar }}</ref> and the vice-chairman of the [[Planning Commission of India]].<ref name="How Much Should a Person Consume?">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQxSxT_yWwYC&pg=PA190| title=How Much Should a Person Consume? | publisher=University of California Press | author=Ramachandra Guha | year=2006 | pages=262 | isbn=9780520248038}}</ref> He was the founder Director of the [[Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics]], Pune<ref name="How Much Should a Person Consume?" /> and the author of the [[Gadgil formula]], which served as the base for the allocation of central assistance to states during the [[Fourth five-year plan of India|Fourth]] and [[Five-year plans of India#Fifth Plan (1974–1978)|Fifth Five Year Plans of India]].<ref name="Planning Commission">{{cite web | url=http://www.pbplanning.gov.in/pdf/gadgil.pdf | title=Planning Commission | publisher=Planning Commission |year=1997 | accessdate=10 October 2015}}</ref> He is credited with contributions towards the development of Farmers' Cooperative movement in Maharashtra.<ref name="How Much Should a Person Consume?" /> The Government of India recognised his services by issuing a commemorative postage stamp in his honour in 2008.<ref name="Commemorative stamps">{{cite web | url=http://indiapost.gov.in/Pdf/Indian_Postage_Stamp_Catalogue_1947-2011.pdf | title=Commemorative stamps | publisher=Posts and Telegraph, Government of India | year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117224026/http://indiapost.gov.in/Pdf/Indian_Postage_Stamp_Catalogue_1947-2011.pdf | archive-date=17 January 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early years ===
Gadgil was born on 10 April 1901 in [[Nasik]] in the western Indian state of [[Maharashtra]]<ref name="Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971)" /> as the son of Ramchandra Bhargav,<ref name="Rajya Sabha profile">{{cite web | url=http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/pre_member/1952_2003/g.pdf | title=Rajya Sabha, Members biographical sketches (1952–2003) | publisher=Rajya Sabha |year=2015 | accessdate=10 October 2015}}</ref> in [[Brahmin]] family which had migrated from the [[Konkan]] region.<ref name="Shri. Dhananjayrao Gadgil">{{cite web | url=http://sahakarbharati.jagojantajago.org/DhananjayraoGadgil.aspx | title=Shri. Dhananjayrao Gadgil | publisher=Sahakar Bharati | year=2015 | accessdate=10 October 2015 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000856/http://sahakarbharati.jagojantajago.org/DhananjayraoGadgil.aspx | url-status=dead }}</ref> His early education was at his ancestral city of [[Nagpur]] after which he graduated from [[Mumbai University]] and proceeded to [[Cambridge University]] from where he secured Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Literature (MLitt) degrees.<ref name="Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971)" /> It is reported that the dissertation he submitted for his MLitt degree became a classic<ref name="How Much Should a Person Consume?" /> and was published by [[Oxford University Press]]<ref name="Stamps of India">{{cite web | url=http://www.stampsofindia.com/newssite/download/328.pdf | title=Stamps of India | publisher=Stamps of India |year=2015 | accessdate=10 October 2015}}</ref> as a book, ''The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times'' in 1924.<ref name="The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times">{{cite book | title=The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times | publisher=Furnas Press | author=D. R. Gadgil | year=2007 | location=first published in 1924 | pages=340 | isbn=978-1406713480}}</ref> He stayed at Cambridge and returned to India after obtaining a DLitt (Honoris Causa).<ref name="Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971)" />

=== Career ===
Once in his home country, Gadgil joined the [[Maharashtra government]] service but gave it up in 1925 to serve as the principal at the Maganlal
Thakordas Balmukunddas Arts College, [[Surat]].<ref name="Stamps of India" /> Later, he associated himself with the [[Servants of India Society]] of [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]] and when the [[Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics]] (GIPE) was established in [[Pune]] in 1930, he became its founder director.<ref name="How Much Should a Person Consume?" /> His tenure at the institute lasted till 1933 during which time he undertook several projects related to development of rural economy.<ref name="Shri. Dhananjayrao Gadgil" /> He was also a member of the Indian Economic Association and served as its president for the year 1940.<ref name="Past presidents">{{cite web | url=http://www.indianeconomicassociation.com/pastpresident-venues.html | title=Past presidents | publisher=Indian Economic Association |year=2015 | accessdate=10 October 2015}}</ref> In 1946, the Government of Maharashtra entrusted him and [[A. D. Gorwala]], an [[Indian civil servant|Indian Civil Service]] officer, with the responsibility of devising a plan for the distribution of food in times of scarcity, and they recommended the introduction of fair price shops and rationing system, reportedly against the suggestions of [[Mahatma Gandhi]].<ref name="How Much Should a Person Consume?" /> He was also involved with the [[Samyukta Maharashtra Movement]] and the cooperative sector and is known to have drawn up a plan for the development of [[Mumbai]] and [[Pune]].<ref name="Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971)" />

Meanwhile, Gadgil's involvement with the cooperative movement in Maharashtra grew as he got associated with the likes of [[Vithalrao Vikhe Patil]], [[Vaikunthbhai Mehta]], Shankarrao Dhumal and others, who were the pioneers of Indian cooperative movement. He became a director of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank<ref name="PDCC Profile">{{cite web | url=http://pdccbank.com/about_us.aspx | title=PDCC Profile | publisher=Pune District Central Cooperative Bank |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> in 1930, served as the chairman of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank<ref name="Brief History">{{cite web | url=https://www.mscbank.com/history.aspx | title=Brief History | publisher=Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> and held the chair of the National Federation of Cooperative Banks.<ref name="Stamps of India" /> His association with the cooperative pioneers is said to have resulted in the founding of '' Pravara Cooperative Sugar Factory'', the first industrial venture in the Asian cooperative sector, in 1949.<ref name="Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences">{{cite web | url=https://www.pravara.com/philosophy.html | title=Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences | publisher=Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> The venture, which later came to be known as the ''Pravara Model of Integrated Rural Development'', is reported to have gained national recognition.<ref name="Pravara Model of Integrated Rural Development">{{cite web | url=http://hyderabad2008.acu.ac.uk/presentations/Dr_Ashok_Patil.pdf | title=Pravara Model of Integrated Rural Development | publisher=Hyderabad University | year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604192535/http://hyderabad2008.acu.ac.uk/presentations/Dr_Ashok_Patil.pdf | archive-date=4 June 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He also served as the president of the National Cooperative Union of India, the apex organisation of the [[cooperative movement in India]].<ref name="Dr. Dhananjayrao Ramchandra Gadgil (10 April 1901 – 24 May 1971)" />

The [[Reserve Bank of India]] included him as a member of the Survey Panel for the rural credit and, later, in 1952, he became a director of the apex bank in India, holding the post for a decade, till 1962.<ref name="Shri. Dhananjayrao Gadgil" /> In 1966, he took up the post of the vice-chancellor of the [[Savitribai Phule Pune University]] but stayed at the post only for one year<ref name="Vice-Chancellors List">{{cite web | url=https://www.unipune.ac.in/university_files/vice_chancellorsList.htm | title=Vice-Chancellors List | publisher=Savitribai Phule Pune University |year=2015 | accessdate=10 October 2015}}</ref> to move to [[Government of India|Union Government]] as the [[Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission|Deputy chairman]] of the now defunct [[Planning Commission of India]], the highest bureaucratic position in the Indian economic sector<ref name="Shri. Dhananjayrao Gadgil" /> which holds the rank of a cabinet minister.<ref name="What does the Planning Commission do?">{{cite web | url=https://www.rediff.com/money/2004/jul/19bspec1.htm | title=What does the Planning Commission do? | publisher=ReDiff | date=19 July 2004 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> He also served as a nominated member of [[Rajya Sabha]], the upper house of the [[Indian parliament]], from 3 April 1966 to 31 August 1967.<ref name="Rajya Sabha profile" /><ref name="Stamps of India" />

===Gadgil formula ===
{{Main|Gadgil formula}}
After his appointment as a member of the [[Planning Commission of India]], Gadgil conducted studies on the pattern of allocation of central assistance to the states in the [[Five-Year Plans of India]].<ref name="Goodbye to Gadgil’s formula on state funding?">{{cite web | url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/T6bvO7SgDv4V71GDUncmWO/Goodbye-to-Gadgils-formula.html | title=Goodbye to Gadgil's formula on state funding? | publisher=Live Mint | date=29 September 2013 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> In 1969, he evolved a set of guidelines for the purpose, popularly known as the [[Gadgil formula]], which formed the base of central assistance to states in the [[Fourth five-year plan of India|Fourth]] and the [[Five-Year Plans of India|Fifth Five-Year Plans of India]].<ref name="Gadgil-Mukherjee Formula: Explanation and Use">{{cite web | url=http://www.simplydecoded.com/2013/05/06/3108/ | title=Gadgil-Mukherjee Formula: Explanation and Use | publisher=Simply Decoded |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> The proposals were based on the parameters such as Population (60%), Per Capita Income (10%), Tax Effort (10%), On-going Irrigation and Power Projects (10%) and Special Problems (10%).<ref name="Gadgil-Mukherjee Formula: Explanation and Use" /> Later, on insistence from the state governments, the formula was revised (''modified Gardgil formula'') as Population (55%), PCI (25% – calculated by deviation and distance methods), Fiscal Management (5%) and Special Development Problems (15%).<ref name="Gadgil-Mukherjee Formula: Explanation and Use" /> In 1990, the standards were again modified, when [[Pranab Mukherjee]], the former [[President of India]], held the post of the deputy chairmanship of the Planning Commission, and the new set of rules came to be known as Gadgil-Mukherjee formula.<ref name="REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON STATE’S FINANCIAL RESOURCES">{{cite web | url=http://planningcommission.gov.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/wg_state_finan0106.pdf | title=REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON STATE'S FINANCIAL RESOURCES | publisher=Planning Commission |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref>

=== Personal life and honours ===
Gadgil is known to have been an enthusiastic reader and had a personal library composed of 3000 books.<ref name="My Fundays">{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060223/asp/telekids/story_5886178.asp | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006024652/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060223/asp/telekids/story_5886178.asp | url-status=dead | archive-date=6 October 2012 | title=My Fundays | work=The Telegraph|location=Kolkota | date=23 February 2006 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> He was married to Pramila and the couple had three sons, Ajit, Purshottam and [[Madhav Gadgil|Madhav]], and one daughter, Sulabha.<ref name="Rajya Sabha profile" /> He died on 3 May 1971,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kamat |first1=A. R. |title=D R Gadgil: The Last Phase |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |date=1974 |volume=9 |issue=26 |pages=1024–1029 |jstor=4363785 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4363785 |access-date=2 May 2021 |issn=0012-9976 |quote=Professor D R Gadgil died on May 3, 1971, the day after he relinquished the deputy chairmanship of the Planning Commission....}}</ref> succumbing to a heart failure, while he was travelling from New Delhi to Pune.<ref name="Shri. Dhananjayrao Gadgil" /><ref name="Kudaisya">{{cite journal |last1=Kudaisya |first1=Medha |title=Developmental Planning in 'Retreat': Ideas, instruments, and contestations of planning in India, 1967–1971* |journal=[[Modern Asian Studies]] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=10 December 2014|volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=711–752 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X13000644 |s2cid=146152140 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/abs/developmental-planning-in-retreat-ideas-instruments-and-contestations-of-planning-in-india-19671971/CB710E9942DA1E857D10283385790CE0 |access-date=2 May 2021 |language=en |issn=0026-749X |quote=A day after he relinquished his office, on 3 May 1971, he died on the train he took home to Pune....|url-access=subscription }}</ref> His youngest son, [[Madhav Gadgil]], is a renowned ecologist, who chaired the ''Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel'' (WGEEP) of 2010, popularly known as the [[Gadgil Commission]].<ref name="FDI does not benefit any country">{{cite web | url=https://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-inter-fdi-does-not-benefit-any-country-madhav-gadgil/20120727.htm | title=FDI does not benefit any country | publisher=ReDiff Business | date=27 July 2012 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref>

=== Honours ===
A year after Gadgil's death, the [[Government of Maharashtra]] and the [[Ministry of Agriculture (India)|Ministry of Agriculture]] jointly started a training institute, ''Dhananjayrao Gadgil Institute of Co-operative Management'' (DGICM) at [[Nagpur]], in 1972, to provide training for state government and cooperative sector employees, which is run by the National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT), New Delhi.<ref name="History">{{cite web | url=http://dgicmnagpur.com/history.php | title=History | publisher=Dhananjayrao Gadgil Institute of Co-operative Management |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> On his birth centenary year, Maharashtra Economic Development Council, instituted the ''Gadgil Centenary Memorial Lecture'', which is an annual event.<ref name="Gadgil Centenary Memorial Lecture">{{cite web | url=http://www.medcindia.com/uncategorized/rbi-governor-dr-raghuram-rajan-delivered-10th-d-r-gadgil-memorial-lecture/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119151057/http://www.medcindia.com/uncategorized/rbi-governor-dr-raghuram-rajan-delivered-10th-d-r-gadgil-memorial-lecture/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=19 January 2025 | title=Gadgil Centenary Memorial Lecture | publisher=Maharashtra Economic Development Council | year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015 }}</ref> The Government of India honoured him with a commemorative postage stamp, designed by reputed stamp designer, Sankha Samanta,<ref name="The man behind Gandhi stamps">{{cite web | url=https://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/GqT5U6CqoaJ2z7aNUXNUDJ/The-man-behind-Gandhi-stamps.html | title=The man behind Gandhi stamps | publisher=Live Mint | date=30 January 2009 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> in 2008.<ref name="Commemorative stamps" /> [[Manmohan Singh]], then Prime Minister of India, unveiled a statue of Gadgil at Pravara Nagar in Maharashtra on 8 February 2008.<ref name="Statue">{{cite web | url=http://photodivision.gov.in/newwatermark.asp?imagename=4474 | title=Statue | publisher=National Informatics Centre, Government of India |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref> The central library of the [[Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics]] has been named ''Dhananjayrao Gadgil Library'', in his honour.<ref name="Dhananjayrao Gadgil Library">{{cite web | url=http://www.librarygateway.com/libraries/index.php?lib=2725 | title=Dhananjayrao Gadgil Library | publisher=Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}</ref>

== Publications ==
Gadgil's first published book was his MLitt thesis, ''The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times'', originally published by [[Oxford University Press]], in 1924 and subsequently reprinted many times.<ref name="The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times" /> His researches in the 1930s and 40s, were brought out as a book, ''The Federal problem in India'' by [[Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics]] in the [[Partition of India|Indian Independence]] year of 1947.<ref name="The Federal Problem in India">{{cite book | url=https://www.amazon.com/Federal-Problem-Institute-Politics-Economics/dp/B0007J808S | title=The Federal Problem in India | publisher=Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics | author=D. R. Gadgil | year=1947 | pages=196 | asin=B0007J808S}}</ref> The institute published another of his work, ''Economic Effects of Irrigation: report of a survey of the direct and indirect benefits of the Godavari and Pravara canals'', in 1948.<ref name="Economic effects of irrigation: report of a survey of the direct and indirect benefits of the Godavari and Pravara canals">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvEzAQAAIAAJ | title=Economic effects of irrigation: report of a survey of the direct and indirect benefits of the Godavari and Pravara canals | publisher=Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics | author=Dhananjaya Ramchandra Gadgil | year=1948 | pages=183}}</ref> His observations on the economic policy of India have been documented as a book, ''Planning and economic policy in India'', first published in 1961, prior to his joining the [[Planning Commission of India]], reprinted subsequently by Sangam Books in 1979.<ref name="Planning and economic policy in India">{{cite book | title=Planning and economic policy in India | publisher=Sangam Books | author=D. R. Gadgil | year=1979 | pages=426 | isbn=978-0861253838}}</ref> In 2011, [[Oxford University Press]], compiled his works<ref name="Gadgil on Indian economics" /> and published ''India Economy: Problems and Prospects, The: Selected Writings of D.R Gadgil'', edited by the noted economist-activist, [[Sulabha Brahme]].<ref name="India Economy: Problems and Prospects, The: Selected Writings of D.R Gadgil">{{cite book | url=http://www.newasiabooks.org/publication/india-economy-problems-and-prospects-selected-writings-dr-gadgil | title=India Economy: Problems and Prospects, The: Selected Writings of D.R Gadgil | publisher=Oxford University Press | editor=Sulabha Brahme | year=2011 | pages=503 | isbn=978-0-19-806945-4}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book | title=The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times | publisher=Furnas Press | author=D. R. Gadgil | year=2007 | location=first published in 1924 | pages=340 | isbn=978-1406713480}}
* {{cite book | title=The Federal Problem in India | publisher=Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics | author=D. R. Gadgil | year=1947 | pages=196 | asin=B0007J808S}}
* {{cite book | title=Economic effects of irrigation: report of a survey of the direct and indirect benefits of the Godavari and Pravara canals | publisher=Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics | author=Dhananjaya Ramchandra Gadgil | year=1948 | pages=183}}
* {{cite book | title=Planning and economic policy in India | publisher=Sangam Books | author=D. R. Gadgil | year=1979 | pages=426 | isbn=978-0861253838}}
* {{cite book | title=India Economy: Problems and Prospects, The: Selected Writings of D.R Gadgil | publisher=Oxford University Press | editor=Sulabha Brahme | year=2011 | pages=503 | isbn=978-0-19-806945-4}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web | url=http://www.phila-art.com/product/india-2008-dr-d-r-gadgil-stamp/ | title=India 2008 – Dr. D. R. Gadgil Stamp | publisher=Phila Art |year=2015 | accessdate=11 October 2015}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadgil, Dhananjay Ramchandra}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Savitribai Phule Pune University]]
[[Category:Cooperatives in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Indian technology writers]]
[[Category:Indian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century science writers]]

Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil - Revision history

Viktorikoa at 06:43, 25 March 2026