I can take a wager that most of you reading this article would have never heard of Achyuta Samanta. Or, for that matter, about KISS and KIIT (both in Odhisha). You would have heard of Odhisha, I am sure, but that too, only peripherally, if at all. But then, this is not Samanta’s problem. It is ours. As a collective whole, which includes our hysterical media. Samanta has not yet been given a Padma award, though to my mind he deserves the Bharat Ratna more than Rajiv Gandhi did or, for that matter, V V Giri.KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) is a temple of education where over 50,000 students, mostly from the remotest tribal areas, come to get an education that is free: from kindergarten to postgraduate studies. But that is not the whole story. In addition to the free education, KISS provides free meals and lodging to each of these 50,000 children in the belief that real education is the only tool of empowerment. What gladdened my heart was that the ratio of the students favours girls. Sixty per cent of the students at KISS are girls - something that the nation keeps talking about but does precious little over. It is thus, not surprising that KISS spends Rs 50 lakhs each day - yes, you read right, each day - on food and lodging. This includes 7,000 kg of rice per day; 1,700 kg of vegetables and so on. Even 10,000 litres of mineral water that they produce themselves. And Samanta started all this in 1993 with just Rs 5,000 and 12 students. Today, 50,000 of the poorest of poor benefit from his vision and his commitment. So, while KISS is free, the money to fund KISS which also has 50,000 students, comes from KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) a multi-disciplinary University. It boasts of the largest library for law, has a fully functional hospital and a medical school and a business school. Four hundred acres of an education city which very few have heard of, or even care to learn about.The reason I am writing this is because there are very few Samantas in India and even fewer who get their share of recognition. We somehow have the habit of awarding people like us, not that a person like Samanta would ever be bothered about such awards. Which is where the role of media needs wider debate.We have to become a country which flags off the good and the remarkable with as much vigour and at times, venom, that we do the bad. We cannot be a country that chooses to gloat over the infinite goodness that exists within selfless people like Samanta. Ironic as it may seem, many international governments have collaborated with Samanta - not with money (he has never taken a penny from any one or any government) - but in terms of knowledge and processes. I was amazed to see the simplicity with which Samanta lives. He is apolitical and devoted to the cause of these children.The real India is, in effect, made up of real people like Samanta. You will never see them at award shows or on television. They will not be the same tired faces receiving one award after the other from tired media houses or chambers of commerce. They will never sit on boards or committees but will be rooted to the ground and seeped in their cause. It is time India celebrates the Samanta spirit which is essence is one of selflessness.The time for India to produce more Samantas has never been more acute. The Samantas give the India of today, great hope. They care not for caste or creed. Or for gain or publicity but just for what they have set out to do. That is actually the cornerstone of enduring inspiration. That is why India which doesn’t know an Achyuta Samanta needs to know many like him. If they exist that is.