The Centre for Rural Development was established in 1989 and it acts as a Nodal Agency in coordinating developmental activities to ensure overall Rural Development in the rural neighborhood of the University with the active involvement of the rural communities. The Centre also promotes research programmes in micro level planning, waste land development, employment generation, women and child development, health and family planning etc. The Centre is devoted to training young men and women to take up Rural Development as a mission.
         The Centre for Rural Development plays a vital role in nation building, and it offers four post-graduate programs in addition to M.Phil. and Ph.D. research programs. The centre has conducted two U.G.C national seminars, one workshop, and one refresher course. The Farmers Club is a unique concept to extend professional assistance to agriculturalists, and the department has fifty nine clubs. It is a nascent centre of learning, and it has produced 9 Ph.D and 15 M.Phil. The department has undertaken 4 research projects of worth 11 lakhs and published 7 research papers. The department has also organized two national seminars and workshops, and five rural training programmes. In or order to serve the cause of the society, the department has organized 43 Meet with Expert programmes. Also 70 training programmes and a village camp have been organized by the department. With the co-operation of banks, the department has adopted 55 villages.
Highlights of the Programmes

• Functioning as a Rural Technology Centre to promote technical knowhow and skills
• Organization of periodical field visits and outreach programmes
• Achievement of total literacy in the rural community, with computer literacy
• Creation of Rural Industries through industrial cooperatives
• Functioning as a central nodal agency in promoting integrated Rural Development

Thrust Areas of Research

• Rural Livelihood
• Rural Energy
• Rural Health
• Environment & Water Resources
• Sanitation & ICT
• Rural Industries
• National Resource Management
• Women Empowerment
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Appropriate Technology Micro-Finance Institutions
• NGOs Management & Sustainable Rural Development

Job Opportunities

• Government Institutions: Colleges, Universities, Welfare Ministry, NIRD, NABARD, CSWB, SIRD, etc.
• NGO’s: SEWA, RATAN, PRADAN-Child Line foundation - CINI
• Industry : BHEL, SAIL, GAIL, ONGC, Coal India, Indian Oil Corporation
• Corporate Bodies: Aditya, Birla, ITC, Satyam, Wipro, Jindal
• International Organization: UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, World Bank, CARE, CRY, USID, Oxfam, WHO, SEEDS, UNIFEM, Water Aid, Action Aid. The Centre for Rural Development has completed five Major Projects, sponsored by UGC, ICSSR, TNSPL and ICSSR. With the financial assistance of NABARD, the Centre conducts Skill Development Training Programme and employment generation programme such as computer MS Word, Mushroom Cultivation, Tailoring, Plumbing, Electrical works etc,. Further, the Centre has two Farmers Club (VVV Scheme) in various finance by NABARD for the benefit of the Farmers in all aspects. Now, the Centre joins with IIT, New Delhi to promote Bharath Unnath Abhiyan, introduced by GOI