‘Gaon ku Chala Aviyan’ (Move to Village Campaign) of KISS was flagged off from KIIT campus on 31 May 2017 for five days. Dr. Damodar Rout, Hon’ble Minister, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development, Public Enterprises, Govt. of Odisha; Shri Shashi Bhusan Behera, Hon’ble Minister, Finance and Excise and Shri Priyadarshi Mishra, Hon’ble MLA, Bhubaneswar (N) were present at the flag off programme.

‘Gaon ku Chala Aviyan’ of KISS is a unique initiative to impact the tribal people. As a part of the campaign, students, teachers and staff of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) covered the villages of all the 30 districts of Odisha. The members of KISS did plantation, conducted literacy drive, motivated children to join schools, cleaned villages, imparted training on various life skills and above all made the villagers happy.

Like every year, students of KISS took up many social works in their villages during summer vacations in May and June, when they visited their home. More than 2,000 faculty members and staff of KISS and over 3,000 staff of KIIT participated in the programme. They were engaged in social work along with students to guide and supervise the social activities of the students during the programme. They interacted with the parents and guardians of KISS students in their own villages and discussed about the progress of the children and made them happy. Dr. Achyuta Samanta joined the meeting of tribal people at Bhabanipatna, the headquarters of Kalahandi district. “Change begins from the villages”; he said to spearhead this unique volunteering programme.