Wishing all of a very Happy Engineers Day.
EDITORIAL
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Remembering M Visvesvaraya
R M Das
India has produced many persons of eminence in the fields of religion,
philosophy, politics and poetry but the number is limited in the field of
science and industry. In fact persons of eminence in these fields can be
counted on ones fingers. Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya belongs to
the small band of eminent Indians of our times whose ideas and achievements
have been among the truly creative and formative forces in modern India.
Mokshagundam is a village of Kamool district in Andhra Pradesh from where the
ancestors of Visvesvaraya immigrated to Mysore more than three centuries ago.
Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on September 15, 1861, in Muddenhalli
village in the Kolar district of Mysore Mokshagundam Srinivasa Shastry., father
of Visvesvaraya, was a Brahmin, well-versed in ancient scriptures and lore. He
also practiced Ayurveda. His wife was Venkatalaxmamma or Venkachamma, as she
was popularly known.
Visvesvaraya lost his father when he was just fifteen. The stern yet kindly
Ramaiah, his maternal uncle, took him to Bangalore in 1875 and got him admitted
to the Wesleyan Mission High school. Later, he joined the Central College,
where Charles Waters was the Principal. It was this association, which, in
course of time, gave shape and direction to the scientific and mathematical
studies of Visvesvaraya. He took the BA degree of the Madras University in 1880
with distinction. Waters, in his letter of introduction, referred to
Visvesvaraya as a capital mathematician and a very good English scholar.
Visvesvaraya joined the College of Science in Poona to study engineering in
1881. In 1883 he topped the list of candidates in engineering of the Bombay
University in and 1884 was appointed as an assistant engineer in the Bombay
Public Works Department. Thus began a life of devotion and service to the
country.
With a start of supervisory and administrative duties of general nature
involving irrigation, channels, repair of anicuts and distributaries, he was
entrusted with the direct execution of a pipe system across a channel, which
carried water from the Panjra River, 35 miles west of Dhulia in Khandesh
district. The result was the design of a water supply scheme in Dhulia, and
later in Poona. He was later transferred from irrigation and water supply to
building and roads. In February 1894, he was called upon to undertake the
execution of the water supply and drainage of Sukkur in Sind. Visvesvaraya
introduced an extremely intricate system of irrigation in Deccan, area, which
had been completely systematised and perfected.
Visvesvaraya designed and patented a system of automatic waste weir floodgates.
These were installed for the first time in 1903 on the Khadakvasla reservoir at
Poona. The object of these gates was to raise the flood level of the storage in
the reservoir to the highest, level likely to be attained by the flood, without
causing any danger to the dam. The success of these gates was so remarkable
that the same pattern was subsequently adopted in the Tigra Dam surplus weir of
Gwalior and the Krishnarajasagar Dam of Mysore.
Government servants get their promotions and increase in their salaries as per
rules. Promotions normally depend on seniority and not entirely on merit,
honesty, integrity and other such qualities. Even the undeserving sometimes get
promoted because they have put in many years of service. However, for his
exceptional qualities Visvesvaraya found early recognition and was promoted so
fast that he became the object of envy for those whom he superseded. At one
time he superseded 18 seniors including many Europeans. Even though
Visvesvaraya got up the ladder faster than others there was little chance of
his being appointed as the Chief Engineer of Bombay, the only position he had
to get as that was the sole preserve of the White man. Consequently he decided
to resign.
The work, which gave Visvesvaraya all-India prominence, was the appalling flood
in the city of Hyderabad of river Musi that flew through the capital. It was at
this time that Visvesvaraya had to cut short his well-earned rest on a tour in
Europe. At the invitation on behalf of the Nizam to protect the city from
future ravages of menacing floods. Visvesvaraya gave his consent to act as
Special Consulting Engineer from April 15, 1909. After investigating the
engineering aspects of the problems, he started working on his scheme for the
reconstruction of the city, and a flood protection programme to assure immunity
to the city from floods, as well as a modern sewerage system.
Visvesvaraya was then appointed Chief Engineer of Mysore on the condition that
his advice on matters of economic improvement and initiation of new works and
progressive development would be acceded to. He held this office till November
1912, when he was appointed the Dewan of Mysore.
During his three-year office as the Chief Engineer of Mysore, Visvesvaraya also
was the Secretary to the Government for Railways. The works that he did during
this short period earned him eternal fame. His entry into the services of the
state marked the beginning of a new era in the annals of Mysore. He worked for
the benefit of the people of Mysore.
A special feature of Visvesvaraya educational programme was the donation of a
sum of Rs 2 lakh and an annual recurring grant of Rs 12,000 to the Bananas
Hindu University of which the Maharaja of Mysore was the Chancellor. The
greatest achievement of Visvesvaraya in the field of education, however, was
the inauguration of the University of Mysore in 1916. By this action Mysore
earned the unique distinction of being the first Indian State to establish a
University of its own.
Perhaps no man in modern India has done so much to raise the status of
untouchables and socially backward classes in India as Mahatma Gandhi. Long
before Gandhi became the Mahatma there was one little frail engineer,
Visvesvaraya, who in his own silent way tried to remove these inequalities by
persuading the state to give equal opportunities in education and other
important fields.
There are very few persons in India who have not heard of Krishnarajasagar Dam
and the Mysore Iron and Steel Works at Bhadravati in Mysore. These are
monumental creations of Visvesvaraya. While visiting the Brindavan Gardens, the
Krishnarajasagar Dam with myriads of colourful fountains, brilliantly lit
during nights, with innumerable colourful lights, one always remembers
Visvesvaraya.
Visvesvaraya was the director of the Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd., from
1927 to 1955. The Indian Institute of Science, built by the Tatas, was
developed under the care and guidance of Visvesvaraya. It was the only
Institution of its kind in India before independence.
Honours came to him in succession. He received the title of CIE at the Delhi
Durbar in 1911, KCIE in 1915, and Bharat Ratna in 1955, along with Pundit
Jawaharlal Nehru. Eight Indian universities conferred Honoris Causa degree on
him.
Visvesvaraya was a man of cultivated manners. He was abstemious in eating, but
fastidious in tastes. He was a strict vegetarian and a teetotoler.
Visvesvaraya, an outstanding engineer, a celebrated planner, a statesman and
above all, an apostle of honesty and integrity breathed his last on April 14,
1962.
(Published on the occasion of Engineers Day)
The Assam Tribune,15.09.2007
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