PM Modi today
greets engineers on occasion of Engineers Day
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today greeted engineers on the occasion of Engineers Day. In a
tweet, Mr Modi said, the intellect, dedication and curiosity of engineers has
led to several path-breaking innovations.
Mr Modi also
paid his tributes to Bharat Ratna M. Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary. Mr
Modi said, M Visvesvaraya is remembered and respected as a pioneering engineer.
Engineers’ Day marks the birth anniversary of M Visvesvaraya.
About Mokshagundam
Visvesvaraya:
A scholar,
statesman, educationist and perhaps the most celebrated engineer in India,
Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was the embodiment of everything a country needs to
strive for a better future.
This year will
mark the 48th Engineers Day celebrations in India, held in commemoration of
Visvesvaraya's 155th birth anniversary.
Visvesvaraya
played many parts in his life and the day is marked as a remembrance of his
achievements and spirit of progress.
Born on 15
September 1861 in the village of Muddenahalli in the Kingdom of Mysore (now in
Karnataka), Visvesvaraya lost his father, Srinivasa Sastry, when he was 15.
Following his death, Visvesvaraya moved with his mother Venkatalakshamma to
Bangalore where his maternal uncle H Ramaiah lived.
At Bengaluru,
he was admitted to the Wesleyan Mission High School in 1875. Later he joined
the Central College from where he graduated with distinction. He then moved to
Pune to join the College of Science to study engineering, where he passed his
engineering examination in 1883, standing first. He specialised in Civil
Engineering.
Visvesvaraya
took up a job with the Public Works Department (PWD) of Bombay (now Mumbai) and
was later invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission.
As part of his
usual work in the Public Works Department he was engaged in road construction,
maintenance of public buildings and laying out plans for city developments, in
many important towns.
The Block
System of Irrigation, a scheme prepared by Visvesvaraya, was a big achievement.
The scheme was prepared at the instance of the President of the Indian
Irrigation Commission, 'to make irrigation works in the Bombay Presidency more
popular and profitable and yield a reasonable return on the outlay that
Government had incurred on them.'
During his stay
in Bombay Presidency he came in close contact with men like Mahadeo Govind
Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915) and Bal Gangadhar Tilak(1856-1920).
He also
designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates which were
first installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune. These gates
were first used at Khadakvasla dam to control the flood of the Mootha Canal
flowing through Pune. The gates similar to the ones developed by Visvesvaraya
were later used in the Tagra Dam in Gwalior, Krishnasagar dam in Mysore and
other large storage dams.
Following the
success and at the invitation of Nizam's Government Visvesvaraya took up the
appointment of the Chief Engineer at Hyderabad in 1909. Here, he designed a
flood protection system to protect the city of Hyderabad from floods, and
subsequently earned a celebratory status.
Later the same
year, Visvesvaraya joined the Mysore Service as Chief Engineer. After three years
of his services as the Chief Engineer, Visvesvaraya was appointed as Diwan of
the Mysore State by its ruler, Krishnarajendra Wodeyar. Visvesvaraya served as
Dewan for six years.
Visvesvaraya
received India's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955 and was also
knighted as a Commander of the Indian Empire by King George V for his myriad
contributions to the public good.
