Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

  Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya popularly known as Sir MV; (15 September 1861 – 14 April 1962) was a notable Indian engineer, scholar, statesman. He was a recipient of the Indian Republic's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955.

     In India, 15 September  is celebrated as an "Engineer's Day" in honor of 'Sir MV'.

Early years

  Visvesvaraya was born in 1860, in the Kingdom of Mysore, to a family of Mokshagundam Srinivasa Sastry and Venkatalakshmamma in present day Muddenahalli village, 40 miles from Bangaluru, India. Visvesvaraya lost his father at the age of 15. He  enrolled for primary school in Chikballapur, and attended high school in Bangaluru at Central Collage. He earned his  B.A.  from Madras University in 1881.

   Seeing brightness of this young student his collage’s principal became very impress with him. He enrolled M.V. to studied civil engineering at the prestigious College of Engineering, Pune. And In 1883 he ranked first in the L.C.E. and the F.C.E. Examinations (equivalent to B.E. Examination of today).  

Career as an Engineer

  Upon graduating as an engineer, Visvesvaraya took up a job with the Public Works Department (PWD) of Nasik (Mumbai) and was later invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission.

  In 1894, He allocated Sakkar Barrage for build. During this, he went position of superintendent engineer. He completed this barrage successfully and in time. So that he was known as best engineer in country.

  He implemented an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan area. He also designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates that were first installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla Reservoir near Pune. These gates were employed to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir to the highest level likely to be attained by a flood without causing any damage to the dam. 

    Then, he went Europe, then Nizam of Hydrabad sent him message for immediately return to Hydrabad. There were many floods in Musi river in Hydrabad. So M.V. prepare proper system for controlling Musi and Isa river and completed it in time.

   Then king of Mysore-Krushnraj invited him to came Mysore. M.V. became chief engineer of that state. He posted there for 3 years. Then he became a Diwan of Mysore for 6 years(1912-1918) . Visvesvaraya supervised the construction of the KRS Dam across the Cauvery River from concept to inauguration. This dam created the biggest reservoir in Asia when it was built. He was rightly called the "Father of modern Mysore state" (now Karnataka): During his period of service with the Government of Mysore state,  he was responsible for the founding of, (under the Patronage of Mysore Government), the Mysore Soap Factory, the Parasitoide Laboratory, the Mysore Iron & Steel Works (now known as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited) in Bhadravathi, the Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute, the Bangalore Agricultural University, the State Bank of Mysore, The Century Club, Mysore Chambers of Commerce and numerous other industrial ventures. He encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Diwan of Mysore. He was instrumental in charting out the plan for road construction between Tirumala and Tirupati. He was known for sincerity, time management and dedication to a cause.

  Not only the achievements listed above, but many other industries and public works owe their inception or active nurturing to him. He was instrumental in the founding of the Government Engineering College at Bangaluru in 1917, one of the first engineering institutes in India. This institution was later named the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering after its founder. It remains one of the very most reputed institutes of engineering in Karnataka. He also commissioned several new railway lines in Mysore states.

  He was honoured with honorary membership of the international Institution of Civil Engineers (based in London) and a fellowship of the Indian Institute of Science (based in Bangaluru). He was awarded several honorary doctoral degrees like D.Sc., LL.D., D.Litt. from eight universities in India. He was president of the 1923 Session of the Indian Science Congress. Sir M.V. was awarded honorary Membership of London Institution of Civil Engineers for an unbroken 50 years. He was the most popular person from Karnataka, in a newspaper survey conducted by Praja Vani.

 

Awards and honours

The Knight Commander of The 

Indian Empire medal(1915)

The Bharat Ratna medal(1955)

Works

•  M.V. (1920), Reconstructing India, P. S. King & son, ltd,
•  M.V. (1936), Planned economy for India, Bangaluru; Bangaluru Press,
•  M.V. (1951), Memories of my working life,  Bangaluru  ,
•  M.V. (1932), Unemployment in India; its causes and cure, Bangaluru: The Bangaluru Press,
•  M.V. (1917), Speeches, Bangaluru: Government Press,
• A Brief Memoir of my complete working life, Government Press, Bangaluru, 1959