India on Tuesday is commemorating the birth anniversary of M Visvesvaraya, one of India’s greatest engineers, as Engineer’s Day. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, popularly called ‘Sir MV’ was born on this day in 1869 in a Telugu family at Chikkaballapur, Karnataka. 

Both his parents were Sanskrit scholars. He lost his father at an early age.

After getting a primary education in his home-town, he went to Bangalore for his higher education. He completed his undergraduate degree in Arts. Visvesvaraya soon changed his stream and completed a degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering in Pune.

He specialised in flood disaster management and irrigation techniques. He designed the ‘automatic barrier water floodgates’, that was installed for the first time at the Khadakvasla Reservoir near Pune in 1903.

He was also the architect of the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam, one of the biggest dams in India.

Other than being one of the finest engineers, M Visvesvaraya was a statesman. He worked as the Diwan of Mysore from 1912, for seven years. During his tenure, he founded the Mysore Soap Factory, Bangalore Agricultural University, State Bank of Mysore and Mysore Iron and Steel Works. 

In 1917, he founded the Government Engineering College at Bangalore. It has been renamed as University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering.

M Visvesvaraya also served as a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He was also a member of the Governing Council of Tata Iron and Steel Company.

He was part of a committee constituted in 1917 to advise on the future of Indian States.

For his contribution, M Visvesvaraya was awarded Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour in 1955.