He is hailed as a “god” by children of poor tribals of Odisha, a man who sought to overcome the deprivation of his childhood to build an impressive institution that is now one of the State’s pride and a beacon hope for thousands of tribal families.
Achyut Samanta, who lived his childhood in dire poverty after he lost his father at the age of four, has been bringing out tribal children from their homes and educating them to ensure they stand on their own feet. About 23 percent of Odisha’s 42 million population are tribals and they are considered among the poorest of the poor with high illiteracy rate.
Industrial trainingSamanta started Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) as a small industrial training institute in 1993 with Rs.5000 — the sum total of his savings — in a rented shed. A year later, he launched the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), its social arm. Today, KIIT University has 28 schools offering more than 100 programmes.
Kindergarten to post-graduationKISS, spread over 80 acres with all modern facilities, is providing residential kindergarten to post-graduate level educational and vocational training for free to over 20,000 tribal children from 62 tribes, 13 of them primitive, under one roof.
KISS’ monthly recurring expenditure works out to be over Rs.6 crore and since its inception it has been running on voluntary financial contributions from staff, students, managements and well-wishers of KIIT University.
Modern townshipThe more than 25 sq km complex which houses most of the institutions founded by Samanta here has been transformed into a modern township, just on the edge of Bhubaneswar, providing livelihood to millions.
He does not own any land or building in his name or posses a bank account.
Tribal children often suffer from extreme discrimination. Left-wing extremists also lure them to swell their cadres. “If we don’t provide them education many of them will end up as Maoists,” Samanta said.
AchieversSeventeen-year-old Hadi Dhangada Majhi came to KISS when he was just eight. Today he passed the Class 10 examination and has the distinction of being one of India’s best rugby players.
Sixteen-year-old Madhusudan Badnayak, was forced to work in the fields to supplement his family’s income after dropping out of school in Class 2 before coming here. Last year he secured 70 percent marks in the Class 10 board examination and became the first boy of his tribe to achieve such a feat.
Majhi and Badnayak belong to the highly-endangered Bonda tribe that lives mostly in the mountains of the worst Maoist-hit Malkangiri district.
Samanta’s model has a long list of admirers. Many universities in India and abroad have awarded him honorary doctorates. He also received several national and international honours for his social enterprising and philanthropic activities.
