From Poverty to Powerhouse

10 APRIL 2025: The Most Inspiring Story You’ll Read Today—And It’s 100% Real
In a world where specialization is often celebrated, there comes once in a lifetime a
person who integrates everything—education, social work, tribal empowerment,,
healthcare, sports, spirituality, culture, and rural development into a singular,
seamless journey. He has brought all of them under one roof, through one vision,
and within one lifetime. Prof. Achyuta Samanta has not only worked in each of
these areas but also he has excelled in all of them. And he has done so through
the two institutions he built from scratch: KIIT and KISS. From a humble beginning,
with no family wealth, no patronage, no institutional support, not even a bank
balance to lean on, in a state that was among the most backward in the country—
he made the impossible possible.
He transformed his educational institutions as powerhouses of impact. KIIT is one
of India’s top private universities, drawing students from over 70 countries. KISS is
the world’s largest residential institution for tribal children impact over 8 million
lives by transforming the lives of those at margins. Together, they have won
national and international awards, including KISS’s UNESCO International Literacy
Prize and ECOSOC consultative status with the United Nations for both. No
wonder his work has become a model par excellence, admired and endorsed by
policymakers, thought leaders, celebrities, academics, diplomats, and jurists alike.
Through KIIT and KISS, he has created a platform that today provides direct
employment to 20,000 individuals and indirect livelihood opportunities to more
than 3 lakh people. The local economy which was once stagnant with no hope of
development is now booming.
Besides education and tribal uplift, he has made significant contributions to art,
culture, literature, media, health, rural development, women empowerment, social
campaigns, spiritualism and sports. His outreach work includes movements like
Art of Giving, Kanya Kiran, Kalinga Fellowship, New Mind New Dreams, Education
for all, Nanhi Pari, India Against Negativity, HERO – Health Empowerment of Rural
Odisha. Of all his contributions, his role in sports is stellar, creating world-class
infrastructure, promoting sportspersons and nurturing 15 of the 24 Olympians who
participated in the Paris Olympics 2024. His unique leadership style can
understood through the “One Person, Many Hats” theory. Prof. Samanta operates
across fields, each with precision, passion and personal involvement and that is
why all his initiatives are successful, applauded and emulated. KIIT and KISS are
examples of “Institutional Catalysis” as they are the institutions that serve as
engines of societal change. It is possible because it is founded not just on
systems, but on values. Through KIIT and KISS, Prof. Samanta has turned
educational spaces into catalytic zones—fuelling local economies, generating
thousands of direct and indirect jobs, curbing extremism, reducing dropout rates,
check-mating trafficking, harassment and child labour through KISS, creating
model village, founding the most popular literary Odia magazines and running it
successfully, building hundreds of spiritual centres, and even producing
Olympians. These have to be seen beyond outcomes, but as milestones on a path
walked with devotion.
And what is the secret behind all this? It is neither strategy nor sponsorship. It is
surrender. As Prof. Samanta often says, “When you surrender to God, you stop
worrying. You start working.” That deep surrender has been his foundation. Every
act of service stems from a place of devotion. That surrender has yielded
accolades, 70 honorary doctorates, global awards, and recognition and something
more rare – universal respect. Despite all recognitions and success, Prof. Samanta
lives a simple, celibate life in a rented house. His success has not changed his
humility; instead, it has deepened his resolve to spread smiles. Spiritualism has
found a real-world expression in his work—proving that seva (service) is the
highest form of sadhana (spiritual practice).