Decades come and go but what remain are the impression and great acts of the social reformers. Odisha is privileged to have a great soul and a social reformer like Shri Achyuta Samanta (www.achyutasamanta.com), who through his life and work has brought in reforms to the whole higher education scenario and the education for the tribal population in the state of Odisha.

The radical changes that have been brought about by Shri Samanta have no parallel in the world history so far. He has undertaken the reforms and taken up the challenges of breaking the lethargy and deteriorating standards of education and the jinx bugging the life and destiny of the deprived sections of the society.

The contributions, made by this simple man who came up in life through great challenges of abject poverty to become an eminent soul making extraordinary contributions towards humanity. His life, activities and thoughts has given a new dimension to education as a social development tool and will definitely guide the future human generations.

Shri Achyuta Samanta started KIIT (www.kiit.ac.in) with a meager amount of Rs. 5000 (100 USD) and transformed the same into a world class University within 17 - 18 years of time which in itself is an incredible accomplishment. The journey of KIIT has set many benchmarks for higher education in India and at the same time established the social responsibility of modern universities and for that matter any organization.

The University’s commitment to social work which has been one of its essential nature inspired by its founder, has led to the growth of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (www.kiss.ac.in) as world’s largest tribal educational institute and harbinger of social change and reform of the tribal society.