Member of international institute of education New York, Executive member of Indian Red- cross, executive member of AICTE, Commission member of UGC India, Member of forest right act committee Govt .of India, Chairman of advisory committee of padmashree Dr D.Y Patil University , youngest chancellor of any university in India (limca bok of records 2007), ‘glory of India’ award 2007 by Indian International friendship society London & last but not the least, founder of KIIT; one of the best universities of India& founder of KISS; the paradise for 12000 tribal students....
Believe me; I have typed only a fraction of his achievements...He is the great Dr Achyuta Samant. I watched one of his interviews yesterday in a news channel & I just can’t stop myself to write about him even though I have only 11 days for 3rd prof MBBS exam. It doesn’t matter how much I write about him because at end of the day the quantity will be compared to amount of dresses that a porn star wears. But I’ll try my best at least to provide a salwar!!!
He was born in 1965 in a very poor family in Orissa & later dragged into extreme corner of poverty after death of his father. At that point of time he was only 4 years old accompanied 6 other family members. He didn’t have any significant paternal property as his father was a worker in a steel plant. His family used to sell seasonal vegetables in the backyard of their semi-thatched house. But the poverty couldn’t chop his desire for his education. Intense desire & extreme poverty paved his way towards a rosy career, though the road was not really rosy. He used to walk 30 km per day to complete his high schooling & his sheer brilliance impressed many of his school teachers. After that he entered a college in Puri for higher education & later did his Msc in Chemistry from the glorious Utkal University(UU) in Bhubaneswar. During the college days he used to tuition school children as the amount of money he used to receive from his poor family was negligible for higher studies. He joined a college in Bhubaneswar as a chemistry lecturer after he passé out from UU & the rest was history. The amount of his sufferings from poverty I’ve mentioned here is not at all proportionate to his original ones, so don’t misjudge & tell that it is a traditional Indian story of poverty.
The great entrepreneur under his skin never satisfied him during his job as a lecturer. So he decided to start a ITI(named as KIIT; Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) in Bhubaneswar & that too with a capital of $100only!! Gradually he groomed his institution into one of the best engineering colleges of Orissa. Later he added more wings in the form of KIIT law school, KIMS (Kalinga Instituite of Medical Sciences), KIIT international school, KIIT school of Business to the bird known as KIIT. Later it got the deemed university status. Now it is Ranked-16 in the top Indian university list!! But the small bird was transformed into ostrich when he established KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social science). I think KISS needs some special introduction, so let’s move to the next paragraph!!
KISS, the brainchild of Dr Samant is the largest free Residential Institute exclusively for Tribal Children in Asia. Here 12000 tribal students are provided with education from kindergarten to post graduation ( K.G to P.G). Food, accommodation, healthcare and all the basic amenities of life are absolutely free, besides a job on completion of study and provision for higher studies. 20 more branches in as many districts and 5 branches in as many states are in the pipeline. Currently he is receiving more than 50000 applications per annum only for KISS!! In his interview he said that he selects students on the degree of poverty. He never chooses meritorious students, rather he creates!! Truth reflects from his words as the passing rate of KISS students in state board examinations is 100%( the state passing rate is 54% only). While the former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who visited KISS twice described it as a wonder, Noble Winner Prof. Richard Ernst lauded Samanta as his role model. Padmavibhusan Magsaysay award winner and social activist Mahasweta Devi has gone on records to describe KISS as ‘Bapu’s dream realized’, a ‘Second Santiniketan’ and ‘Bharat Tirtha’, envisioned by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. As Prof. Yaspal rightly remarks, ‘Samanta perhaps represents the most convincing argument that India will make it as India and not as a so-called developed country of someone else’s concept’. KISS has now added many feathers to its cap. It has been selected to receive the Micro Scholarship programme by the US Government and enlisted by UNFPA as a life skill centre. The world bodies like ‘Give India’, ‘UNICEF’ have reposed faith on KISS and its founder Samanta. Is it not a strange coincidence that Samanta was short-listed for the India Business Award – 2009 for his Social Responsibility along with the company where, his father once worked as a small time worker? Samanta has also been short listed for the coveted Qatar Foundation Prize for his innovation called KISS. Limca Book of Records has entered KISS in its pages.
After reading this you must be thinking that Dr Samant is a very rich man. But believe me; he stays in a rented house, he doesn’t have his own bank account & you won’t find nothing more than 10 chairs in his rented house. When he was asked in the interview that why he is still a bachelor, he told that, who’ll give their daughter to a poor man like me? He says that he has only one dream in life now & that is all about the development KISS & the eradication of poverty.
Dr Samant, we the people of Orissa salute you from the core of our heart.you are really one of the greatest sons orissa has ever produced. You have been a tremendous source of inspiration for all the Indians. We pray for the success of your extra-ordinary target. May KISS kiss all the success.
