Context
Every year on September 15, India along with Sri Lanka and Tanzania celebrate National Engineer’s day to recognise and honour the achievements of the great engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.
- September 15, 2021, marks his 160th birth anniversary.
Who is M Visvesvaraya?
- Born on: September 15, 1861,
- Location: Muddenahalli village of Karnataka.
- M Visvesvaraya, more commonly known as Sir MV, is considered one of the foremost nation-builders, creating marvels upon which modern India was built.
- He was referred to as the ‘precursor of economic planning in India’, according to the Institution of Engineers India (IEI).
- He received a degree in civil engineering from Pune College of Engineering.
- His expertise was in the fields of irrigation and flood disaster management.
- He rose to fame with his groundbreaking works in these fields with modern irrigation techniques as well as flood control and mitigation.
Major contribution
- He designed the ‘automatic barrier water floodgates’ which were installed in Pune in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir.
- He was the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Krishna Raja Sagar dam in the Mandya district of Karnataka.
- He was the chief engineer of the flood protection system for Hyderabad.
- He also established the famous Government Engineering College, now known as University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in 1917.
