Achyuta Samanta

Calcutta, April 19: He passionately believes in the potent of the term — Art of Giving — which helps him, as he says, withstand the vagaries of circumstances to rise tall, not by material richness but by ethical values of life.

Achyuta Samanta, founder-director of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) and Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), was in the city yesterday to launch Art of Giving, the philosophy he institutionalised on May 17 last year.

Speaking to journalists at a city hotel, Samanta said: “Retention, integration, perfection and continuation — these are my trump cards to success at KISS and KIIT.”

“I come from a humble background and have fended for myself all my life. I have attained success only because I have followed this one philosophy — Art of Giving. There was a time when my family couldn’t manage one square meal in two days. I don’t want that to happen to other children. At KISS, we provide free residential education to tribal children right from kindergarten to the postgraduation level. Funds come in from the profit we make at KIIT and donations from various organisations,” said Samanta, who was dressed in white.

He said the purpose of spreading word about the philosophy was to make people sensitive to their spiritual side and thereby lead a peaceful and content personal life.

“You must give back something to the society. Social work and community services are becoming increasingly important in an economy like ours. I have set up KISS-New Delhi with former chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s help and plan to set up 20 more KISS centres across Odisha. I’ve also met Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and discussed the setting up of a centre in the state. At present, she is busy with the Lok Sabha elections. Hopefully, she will act on the matter after the elections are over,” he said.

Samantha began KISS with 125 tribal children in 1992-93. Today, the institute educates 20,000 children. KISS provides them not only free residential education, but also vocational training to help them find a job once their education is over.

“Half education is worse than no education. My children need to make a living, which is why we help them get trained in various fields. We also reserve 5 per cent seats in KIIT for meritorious children, who perform extremely well in Plus Two examinations,” Samanta said.