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After the tragic death of Prakriti Lamsal, a third-year B.Tech student, in the hostel of KIIT university, its founder Achyuta Samanta is at the centre of controversy with political leaders across the party demanding action against him. However, very less people know about him.
Prof Achyuta Samanta was born and brought up in a remote village in Odisha and lost his father at the tender age of four. At the age of 22, he joined teaching, and three years later, he started KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) and KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) in two rented houses, with just Rs 5000 in his pocket. According to The Indian Express, former MP Pradyumna Bal, who is a prominent Odisha journalist, helped Samanta in establishing the KIIT. The university currently has 40,000 students and representation from 65 countries.
Samanta is seen as a ‘social reformer’ as it is claimed that he provided free residential education to over 20,000 poor tribal children from various parts of Odisha through the KISS. He has also founded Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences and Kalinga Institute of Nursing Sciences, besides an attached 2600 bedded state-of-the-art hospital, a super-specialty center and a cancer care hospital.
According to the university’s website, Samanta has 60+ Honorary Doctorates from universities across India and the globe, becoming the Indian with the most number of Honorary Doctorates. He has also been conferred with the highest civilian award from Mongolia and Bahrain. In 2018, he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from Rajya Sabha and then was a Lok Sabha MP from Kandhamal from 2019-2024.
In other news, the Mohan Charan Majhi-led Odisha government has asked the officials of KIIT University to take action against the employees involved in the mistreatment of students following the recent suicide by a Prakriti Lamsal in her hostel room, an official said, as reported by news agency PTI.
This development came a day after Nepal Foreign Minister Dr Arzu Rana Deuba spoke to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi over the phone and asked that the teachers and staff who misbehaved with Nepalese students should be removed from the college, the official said.
“We have already issued an instruction to the KIIT authorities to take prompt action to restore the confidence of Nepalese students who have not returned to the campus so far,” a senior official told PTI.
The Nepalese government expressed concern that their students may be subjected to reprisal if the ‘unruly’ teachers and staff members remain in the institute. After assurances from the state government and an apology from the institution, out of the nearly 1,000 Nepalese students of KIIT, only a few could return to the campus.
As of now, the police have arrested 10 employees of KIIT, including some director-level officials, security guards and others on charges of assaulting the students, after examining CCTV footage
On February 18, KIIT said that two security staff were terminated from service while two senior hostel officials and one senior administrative officer of the International Relations Office (IRO) were suspended pending inquiry.
ALSO READ: Nepali Students Are Returning After Protest, Have Set Up Control Room: KIIT Additional Registrar
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