Mr. Sambhaji Kadupatil – New head of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute

Mr. Sambhaji Kadupatil (IAS Retd.) is the Director General of Vasantdada Sugar Institute. He takes over from Shri. Shivajirao Deshmukh has retired following a long service.

Mr. Sambhaji Kadupatil

Mr. Kadupatil was born into a family of agriculturists in a small village in Maharashtra State of India. He studied English literature at the postgraduate level at Fergusson College, Pune. Subsequently he graduated in Law and Business Administration.

He joined government service as a ‘Deputy Collector’ in June 1985 and was nominated into Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1998, considered the premier civil service of India. He attended various short-term courses relating to Governance and public administration in India and abroad, especially in the USA, Canada, and UK.

Mr. Kadupatil has a distinguished and varied career as a public servant spanning more than 37 years, in which he held important positions, including –

1. Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad, Satara and Latur districts
2. Collector and District Magistrate, Satara in Maharashtra State,
3. Special Commissioner, Sales Tax, Maharashtra State
4. Secretary, Human Right Commission, Maharashtra State
5. Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records, Maharashtra State
6. Commissioner of Sugar, Maharashtra State

After his retirement from Government service on 30th November 2018, he has been associated with various organizations. He joined Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune (VSI) in June 2021 as an ‘Officer on Special Duty (OSD)’. On 01st October 2022, he was appointed the ‘Director General’ of VSI.

His core competence areas are:

1. Land laws and land records.
2. Public administration.
3. Disaster Management.
4. Conduct of elections,
5. Rural development,
6. Sugarcane and sugar industry.

The overall development of the Sugar industry in India is the main objective of VSI, and to achieve it, the Institute strives through three main channels, namely, Research and Development (R&D), Extension Services and Human Resource Development (HRD), aiming at assessing and meeting the current as well as future needs of the Sugar Industry in the context of prevailing socio-economic conditions of the country. The Institute’s current interests include the development of elite sugarcane varieties through biotechnology, mechanization of sugarcane farming, eco-friendly methods of crop production and crop protection, reduction in sugar loss in mills, co-generation of power, water conservation techniques and applications of drones, software systems in the Sugar Industry. VSI offers Master’s Degrees as well as Post-Graduate Diploma and Certificate courses in areas of sugar technology, industrial fermentation and alcohol technology/ wine technology, sugar engineering, environmental sciences and instrumentation. Several need-based, short-term programs aimed to enhance the competence of sugar industry personnel and sugarcane farmers are also offered. Special customized need-based courses are also designed if requested by clients.

The Director General, VSI, as an Executive Head of the organization, is a member of various International Organizations –

1. International Consortium for Sugarcane Biotechnology (ICSB), Hawaii, USA;

2. International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT), Mauritius;

3. Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ASSCT), Australia,

4. Sugar Industry Technologists Inc., USA and

5. World Association of Beet & Cane Growers (WABCG).

The Director General of VSI is also associated with various National Committees and Research Organizations related to the Sugar Industry.