Datta is currently Development Evangelist, well known for his work inthe field on livelihood support, as a part of institutions like PRADAN and BASIX. He was a Professor and Head in the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, and leading the Livelihood Initiative of the University as well as a Member of the Faculty of Institute of Rural Management, Anand and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. Having started his journey as a Spearhead Team Leader organizing soyabean farmers in central parts of India, he continued working with small rural producers as part of the founding teams of BASIX/ Indian Grameen Services along with Vijay Mahajan, Deep Joshi, and PRADAN, two notable livelihood promotion and support institutions of India before joining the University. He was also the member of faculty of Institute of Rural Management Anand, as well as policy forums such as Working Group of the Planning Commission for the 12thFive-Year Plan. Datta is known in India's development domain for his work in the area of Livelihoods.
Datta's early school education was done at Patha Bhavana, Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan, an institution founded by Rabindranath Tagore. He completed his post-graduation in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management Anand, after completing his graduation in Agriculture from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, and did his Ph.D on Factors Affecting Performance of Village Level Organisations in the area of Economics from Sardar Patel University. Thereafter he pursued higher studies in Agribusiness management from the Cornell University.
Professional career
As an academic
Datta is presently Professor, leading the Livelihood Initiatives.
He was earlier the Dean of set up by BASIX, undertaking research and training in the promotion of livelihoods, especially of the poor households of the country;
Datta has been closely associated with promotion of Rural Livelihoods as a Practitioner.
He was in-charge of operations while setting up the BASIX group of Companies, a new generation livelihood support institution
He had initiated and headed the first livelihood project of , a major livelihood support NGO of India
He was Team-Leader of the Spearhead Team responsible for promotion of soybean in MP and organizing the network of producer co-operatives
Other professional engagements
Served on the Board of several institutions including Indian Grameen Services, Village Financial Services Ltd, IndusTree Crafts Ltd. Purbanchal Maitree Development Society.
Member of the Advisory Committee of Centre for Management in Agriculture of the IIM-Ahmedabad
Member of the Livelihood Advisory Group of the Sustainable Livelihoods India Initiative organized by ACCESS Development Services.
Member of the Planning Commission Working Group for the 12th Five-Year Plan on MGNREGA.
Publications
Apart from presenting various papers on the livelihood challenges faced by the poor in various national and international forums he has published several books. One of his frequently used publications is the , co-authored with Vijay Mahajan and Gitali Thakur. He has also been involved in designing and editing the first five years of the State of India's Livelihood Report.
Expertise
Rural Development in General and livelihood promotion & support in specific.
