Trials and Tribulations of Dr. Achyuta Samanta – Making of the World’s Largest Institute for Indigenous Children

The life story of Dr. Achyuta Samanta is unique and exceptional if one considers the trials and tribulations he has faced and overcome throughout his journey of life. His childhood was the most difficult, grief-stricken and struggle-full. The untimely demise of his father when he was only four years old plunged the whole family comprising of seven siblings and widowed mother into the mire of abject poverty and deprivation. At such a tender age, because of a stroke of misfortune, he began to experience and understand the pains of poverty that the family had to face. He did not have the bliss of careful nurture. The family struggled to make both ends meet and lived a drab life.

 Dr. Samanta neither had the exposure of professional education, nor had he seen any big institution. He was raised in a remote village in Odisha called Kalarabanka. He did not have a single hand of solace and consolation to guide, advise and motivate. Nevertheless, such helplessness did not deter him to help his mother in the menial work and augment the family income. He got his primary education from the village school by the mercy of the local headmaster. Coincidently, the headmaster named him Achyuta. There he realized the importance of education and banes of illiteracy. With a lot of hardships and by doing menial jobs, he managed to complete his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programme.

Moved by his own experience of poverty, hunger and hardships, he dedicated himself to eradicate poverty and ignorance through the tool of education.  He was guided by the belief that education empowers and has the power to transform his and others' lives. Barely had he begun his career as an academic, when he was dismayed to realise how Odisha lacked access to quality education. Odisha, despite its rich culture and heritage, suffered from poverty, ignorance and natural disasters. Even for the general people education took a back seat, forget about the education of the tribal people.

Odisha is well-known for its indigenous communities, which constitutes 22.5% of the state's population. These communities remain one of the most deprived in the modern Indian society. Poverty, illiteracy, hardships, superstition, alienation and malnutrition plagued the community. Worse, it had become a tinder box of violence, as the young tribal boys and girls were potential cadres for Naxalism and Left Wing Extremism. Dr. Samanta realised the difficulty faced by tribal communities and dared to take steps that nobody could even imagine. He dreamt of enabling the indigenous communities to join the mainstream society and founded an institution, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) in 1993 for this. People considered him mad and ambitious, entering into the arena where even decades of Government intervention were ineffective. He took up a herculean task to seamlessly assimilate the tribal with the mainstream society.

Back in the day, some regions of Odisha were hotbeds of Naxal activity. The terror of the Naxalites had gained momentum and reached its peak in the year 1991-92. The tribals were misled and even forced to join Naxal cadres and hold arms. During this critical juncture, Dr. Samanta thought of their plight and stepped forward to help. He took them out from the darkness of the forests to the bright world of education. Without fearing for his life despite several threats, he brought the tribals out from the shackles of the Naxalites. Today, Naxalism has been waning in Odisha and the aggressive policies of Naxalites have given way to peace through education.                                                                                           

The institute, which started with only 125 tribal students in a rented house, has become the world's largest and only institute providing free education from Kindergarten to Post-Graduation with vocational and extracurricular training, free lodging and boarding, state-of-the-art pedagogy and facilities exclusively to more than 60,000 tribal children (including 30,000 students in KISS, Bhubaneswar, 20,000 well-placed alumni, and 10,000 students in various satellite centres). KISS has done marvelously in terms of academics and extracurricular activities. At the social level, it has curbed child marriage and Naxalism. At the psychological level, it has given confidence and capacity to the tribals to aspire. At the economic level, the students have got livelihood and a decent lifestyle. At a structural level, the women have got the decision-making power of their families and they have been empowered.

It's difficult to even imagine that a poor boy who struggled for food, education and survival would one day accomplish such mighty tasks. The same person, who once lived a life of struggle and miseries just to make ends meet, has now been receiving profound appreciation for unique initiatives and transforming lives for betterment. His sheer dedication and hard work to reduce the number of people living in hunger, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment have paid off with its recognition on a global scale. With this, his dreams to serve the poor and fight for their cause finally got wings.

Despite all the achievements and the struggle, he leads a simple life of a bachelor, working for the cause and the community, with a smile on his face to spread smiles among millions.