KIIT and KISS founder Dr Achutya Samanta has been awarded with the BusinessLine Changemaker Awards 2019 instituted by The Hindu BusinessLine daily. Dr Samanta was awarded and felicitated by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at a function in New Delhi on Friday.

The winners, across six categories of awards were also felicitated and awarded. Among others, Arun Jetly, Finance Minister for GST, and Bezwada Wilson, founder, National convenor of Safai Karmachari Andolan for eradication of inhuman and in dignified practice of Manual scavenging.

Dr Samanta won the award as change maker for social transformation because of relentless efforts in improving the condition of the society and the indigenous community and his years of dedication in reducing the number of people living in hunger, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. Among 600 nominations, he made it to the award through selection by an eminent independent jury after an elaborate process that began with the seeking of nominations, rigorous process of scrutinizing and short listing them based on select parameters, and finally, jury selection.

Dr Samanta said, “I accept this honour with a profound sense of gratitude on behalf of all our stakeholders. This recognition has further enthused us to rededicate ourselves in the service of children, the torchbearers of tomorrow. It first started with transformation of my own life and surroundings followed by transforming lives of the deprived, downtrodden and destitute.