Spouse(s) Sonja Datta Children Soumya Sankar | Name Sankar Datta | |
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Born February 17, 1958 (age 66) ( 1958-02-17 ) Jamshedpur, Bihar, India Occupation Development Professional, Academic, Professor Known for PRADAN, BASIX (India), The Livelihood School, Microfinance, Livelihood Books Savings of the Poor: How They Do It- | ||
Dr. Sankar Datta (born February 17, 1958), is an Indian academic & professional development worker. He has been engaged in rural livelihood promotion / support activities for more than three decades since the early 1980s. Most of his field work has been in the undulating terrains of central India, from Chhota Udaipur in the west to Jharkhand in the east inhabited by various tribal groups.
Contents
- Background
- Early life
- Academic background
- As an academic
- As a practitioner and development professional
- Other professional engagements
- Publications
- Expertise
- References
Datta is a management Graduate from the very first batch of Institute of Rural Management Anand,Gujarat, with graduation in Agriculture from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and Ph.D in Economics from Sardar Patel University.
Background
Datta is currently Development Evangelist, well known for his work in the 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 Favculty of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). 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 premier Institutions of India such as Institute of Rural Management Anand, as well as policy forums such as Working Group of the Planning Commission (India) for the 12th Five-Year Plan (India).
Datta is known in India’s development domain for his work in the area of Livelihoods.
Early life
Sankar Datta was (born February 17, 1958) in Jamshedpur, Bihar, India. He spent his early childhood in Bihar. He did his schooling from Patha Bhavana, Santiniketan.
Academic background
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 (B Sc Ag & AH) 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.
As an academic
As a practitioner and development professional
Datta has been closely associated with promotion of Rural Livelihoods as a Practitioner.
Other professional engagements
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 Resource Book for Livelihood Promotion[22] , 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.