Remembering Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

Ranjan Kumar Padmapati

(The writer can be reached at rkpadmapati@yahoo.co.in)

Engineers' Day is celebrated throughout India on September 15 every year to remember the contributions of the great civil engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya on his birthday. He is popularly known as Sir MV. He was born at Muddenahali in the Chikkaballapur district on 15th September, 1861. His father's name was Moskhagundam Srinivasa Shastry, a schoolteacher by profession and a noted Sanskrit scholar. His mother was Venkatalakshamma, a pious lady. Sir MV's father died when Sir MV was 15 years of age.

Sir MV completed his primary education in Chikballapur and then moved to Bangalore. He passed the matriculation examination topping the list from the Wesleyan Missionary School. He entered the Central College for Intermediate and in 1881 he obtained the Bachelor's Degree in Arts from the same college. As he was a meritorious student, the Dewan of Mysore, Rangacharlu arranged a scholarship for him for further studies in Pune. He studied civil engineering at the College of Engineering ,Pune and passed the LCE (Licentiate in Civil Engineering) examination ranking first, completing the course in two-and-a-half years instead of the normal duration of three years. He won the prestigious James Berkeley award in 1883. As a student he was poverty-stricken after his father's death and met his educational expenses by tutoring young students.

Sir MV became the India's most prolific civil engineer, a dam builder, economist, statesman and a foremost nation builder. Sir MV left behind a few examples of extraordinary honesty that are worth mentioning. When he resigned from the post of Dewan of Mysore in 1918, he went in a government vehicle but returned in his private car as he never used a government vehicle for private purpose. He never even used official stationeries of low-value items like candles or paper that were supplied by the government. On another occasion, when he kept a personal friend in a government guest house, he paid the room rent of Rs 250.00 per month from his pocket for the duration of his friend's stay. These are surely endangered virtues of public service that we rarely see now.

Sir MV was a great planner and visionary. In 1934, he authored a book titled 'A Planned Economy for India'. That was the first ground work towards setting up a Planning Commission in India. His motto was 'Industrialize or perish'. After touring Europe, Canada and America, he wanted to set up automobile and aircraft factories in India and discussed it with Henry Ford and Lord Austin, but was eventually turned down by the British. During World War-II, the British government felt the need of an aircraft factory in India and discussed with Sir MV regarding his old proposal. He invited Seth Walchan Hirachand Doshi to Bengaluru from Bombay and after detailed discussions the industrialist gave his consent. Sir MV persuaded the King of Mysore who agreed to become a stakeholder and donated 1,000 acres of land free of cost. Because of the relentless efforts and interest shown by Sir MV, Walchand Hirachand agreed to establish the factory at Bengaluru instead of Mumbai and the HAL was incorporated on 23rd December, 1940 and the license was obtained from the Intercontinental Aircraft Corporation, USA. In 1951, the Government of India took over the HAL, now known for manufacturing helicopters, different fighting and transport aircrafts. At the age of 75, Sir MV toured European countries for the fifth time and visited the FIAT factory at Turin, Italy. Walchand Hirachand in1939, under the stewardship of Sir MV, established the FIAT car factory at Pune. He was the architect of the Bhatkal Harbour. Sir MV knew well that communication and infrastructure developments are the prime requirements for industrialization. During his tenure as Dewan he extended railway tract from 411miles to 616 miles, further added 46 miles after retirement, established the Chief Railway Engineer's Office and trained Indian engineers. He was an able administrator. When the Bhadravati Iron Factory was set up in 1918 it suffered heavy losses. After two decades, the king of Mysore requested Sir MV to set it right and within six years time the factory was revived. He started industrializing the state of Mysore and established the Mysore Economic Conference. In 1911 three committees were formed for agriculture, industries and commerce. He set up a modern sandalwood factory 1916, government soap factory in 1917, government porcelain factory in collaboration with Japan, the Mysore Lamp Works in 1936, the Mysore Vegetable Oil Products in 1938, the Mysore Bank in 1913 (now merged with the SBI), and the Mysore Chamber of Commerce in 1916.

He authored the following books: 'Planned Economy for India' (1934), 'Memories of My Working Life' (1954), 'Unemployment in India, its Causes and Cure' (1932), 'Prosperity Through Industry' (1943), 'Post War Reconstruction in India' (1943), National Building, a Five-year Plan for the Provinces' (1937), 'District Development Scheme Economic Progress by Forced Marches' (1940) , A Brief Memoir of My Complete Working Life' (1960). The book penned by Sir MV titled 'A Planned Economy for India' had made an in-depth impression on our freedom fighters. A booklet was published in Hindi authored by Jawaharlal Nehru titled 'Poverty of India and its Cure', giving references to Sir MV's above-mentioned book. In 1938, when the Congress set up the National Planning Committee under the chairmanship of Nehru, Sir MV was made a member. The first Five Year Plan in 1950 focused much more on irrigation and power projects as suggested by Sir MV.

The great institution builder Sir MV was a votary of spreading science and women's education. During his first six years as Dewan, he added 6,500 primary schools. He made primary education compulsory. He established the Maharani College and Girls' Hostel in 1917, the Mysore University 1916, Shri Jayachamarajendra Occupational Institute, Hebbal, University of Agricultural Science Bangalore and Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, to name just a few. He served as Chairman of the court of IISc from 1938 to 1946. Sir MV established the Kannada Sahitya Parishad to promote the Kannada language.

Sir MV started his carrier in March, 1884 as an Assistant Engineer with the PWD. And later he joined the Indian irrigation commission. He designed an innovative system of automatic weir water flood gate installed in 1903 at Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune. Later, he implemented it at other dams. The system was used even abroad at the Panama canal. He was sent to Aden to design and construct a water supply system and successfully completed the project. Sir MV designed the Hirakud dam from inception stage to completion. At the invitation of the Nizam of Hyderabad, he saved the city of Hyderabad from flooding by constructing a dam across the river Musi. He also saved Vizag city from sea erosion. These are only a few examples of his success stories. Sir MV was the chief architect of the Krishnarajasagar dam over the river Cauvery in Mysore in 1911, applied home-grown technology using locally available SURKHI instead of imported cement. The British government bestowed on him the Kaiser-i-Hind and Knight Commander (KCIE). The Government of India conferred on him the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. Sir MV died at the ripe old age of 102 years on 14th April, 1962.