Bhubaneswar: For Kirttan Behera (85), giving back to Odisha means more than writing cheques. The San Francisco-based Odia philantrophist has spent $100,000 on different projects in Odisha. Among these are providing an AI-powered app to help visually-impaired (VI) children learn, provide tablets to them, dig 60 wells in tribal elementary schools in Keonjhar district and provide scholarships to students.“I have provided 12 blind schools with 5 to 10 tablets each and funded training of 96 teachers on use of tablets since Feb 2026. So far, 271 students have been covered and will be covering more children by the year-end,” said Behera.Currently, the focus is on teaching VI students practical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their daily lives. He has developed an app specially designed for the students to write and speak in English; send messages through WhatsApp and email; ask any basic questions they need answers for in their daily life either in Odia or English. The app uses Google Gemini interface to access AI.He has dug 60 wells for drinking water in the tribal elementary schools of Keonjhar districts. Besides, he funded library halls, provided furniture and other equipment to DN High School, Keonjhar, and a library hall at Baxi Barigaon Middle School. He has sponsored education of five orphans at PUSS India, Bhubaneswar, and that of a nursing student for two years in Sambalpur.His parents inspired him to take up philanthropy. “I observed they have special talents though they are deprived of vision. That’s when the idea of teaching them through the tablets came,” said Behera.He has set up a $100,000 distress fund at Orissa Society of the Americas to support Odia families in US, four annual Best All-Round Awards and a Ram temple in Baxi Barigaon.Behera feels, “Philanthropy to me is not charity but a social responsibility for giving back to the community and the world that gave me so many opportunities to grow.”
