Educationist, Philanthropist, founder of KISS and KIIT Dr. Achyuta Samanta has recently been featured in the prestigious Forbes India magazine. In an article titled ‘A LIFE DEDICATED TO WELFARE’ Dr. Samanta’s works and achievements have been narrated.
The article has the inspiring narrative of how Dr. Samanta founded The Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), Asia’s largest NGO with the aim of tribal upliftment and inclusive education with just Rs 5,000 (USD 100).
In 1993, Dr. Samanta founded KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) with the aim to provide qualitative education in the eastern part of the country. Both the institutes were found at a time when Odisha lacked awareness on tribal education.
Dr Samanta was born in 1965 to Late Neelima Rani Samanta and Late Shri Anadi Charan Samanta in Kalarabanka, a village in the Cuttack District of Odisha. He has seven siblings.
Dr Samanta worked as a teacher at age 22 after completion of his Master’s Degree in Chemistry in 1987 from Utkal University and Doctorate Degree in Social Sciences. He has been the recipient of 4 national and international fellowships: ISTE, CSI, ICA & APACH.
Currently, Dr. Samanta is a Member of Parliament, elected to the Lok Sabha as a member of the Biju Janta Dal (BJD). As MP of Kandhamal, a tribal-dominated district in Odisha, Prof Samanta started a 500-bed hospital and ambulance service to improve health care services in the region.
Dr Samanta has been conferred with 44 Honors Causa Doctorate from prestigious universities in India and abroad.
Prof Samanta has dedicated his life to improving the lives of the impoverished and in service of humanity. Apart from academics and education, his contributions have permeated to woman empowerment, low-cost health care facilities, art and literature and spiritualism.
Today, both Kalinga Institue of Industrial Technology & Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) have grown into promising educational avenues; they have been chronicled in the Limca Book of Records on 4 counts and created 4 Guinness World Records.
Ms Kalinga