Engineers’ Day 2021: Celebrating the Builder of India
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Work performed with higher knowledge or skill, capacity or ambition, usually brings a correspondingly higher reward.
– Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya
It always starts with a dream. A dream to make a meaningful impact in the society. A dream to be the light- sparking and igniting thousand other dreams. A dream that one sees but many lives.
An Engineers sees that dream. From civil to mechanical, they are the backbone of infrastructure. The computer we use to the buildings we live in- everything has the trace of an engineer. September 15is celebrated as National Engineers’ Day in India. The day is a tribute to commemorate one of India’s finest engineers, Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Due to his various contributions to the field and being a pioneer of education, he is also called as “VM Sir”.
In a small village called Muddenahalli in Karnataka, Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on September 15, 1861 to two Sanskrit Scholars. Famously known as VM, he moved to Bangalore for higher studies after his primary education in the village. VM always knew he was an innovator.
VM received his degree in Civil Engineering from Pune College of Engineering. His prowess was in the fields of irrigation and flood disaster management. His revolutionary works in this very field with modern irrigation techniques as well as flood control and mitigation, rose him to prominence. He shaped the ‘automatic barrier water floodgates’ which was established in Pune in 1903 at Khadakvasla reservoir. He would later become the architect behind Krishanasagar dam, the largest dam in India.
After serving as an engineer for four decades, he settled the fifth engineering college in India in 1917- the famous Government Engineering College, now known as University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering. VMC Sir was an engineer and educator, but he was also industrious. He was a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Subsequently, he became a member of Tata Iron and Steel governing board. He also instituted Mysore soap factory. He has authored two books- Reconstructing India and Planned Economy of India.
In his successive stages, he served as the Diwan of Mysore during the period of 1912- 1918, where he was also knighted in 1915. In 1955, he was awarded Bharat Ratna. The legend parted from the world in 1962, but his contribution to the country’s machinery is still a source of inspiration for millions across the nation.