The untimely demise of his father when he was only four years old plunged the whole family comprising of seven siblings and widowed mother into the mire of abject poverty and deprivation.
With a lot of hardships and by doing menial jobs, he managed to complete his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programme.Moved by his own experience of poverty, hunger and hardships, he dedicated himself to eradicate poverty and ignorance through the tool of education.
Even for the general people education took a back seat, forget about the education of the tribal people.Odisha is well-known for its indigenous communities, which constitutes 22.5% of the state's population.
Worse, it had become a tinder box of violence, as the young tribal boys and girls were potential cadres for Naxalism and Left Wing Extremism.
The terror of the Naxalites had gained momentum and reached its peak in the year 1991-92.
Without fearing for his life despite several threats, he brought the tribals out from the shackles of the Naxalites.