Digital Book :
Reconstructing India
By Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya
Published by P.S. King & Son, London - 1920

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, KCIE (other spellings include Visvesvaraya, Visweswaraiah, Vishweshwaraiah; 15 September 1860 - 14 April 1962) was a notable Indian engineer, scholar, and statesman born at Muddenahalli, near Kanivenarayanapura, in present day Chikballapur District of Karnataka State. He is a recipient of the Indian Republic's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was also knighted as a Commander of the Indian Empire by King George V for his myriad contributions to the public good. Every year, 15 September is celebrated as the Engineer's Day in India in his memory. He is held in high regard as the first and pre-eminent Engineer of India.

Upon graduating as an engineer, Visvesvaraya took up a job with the Public Works Department (PWD) of Bombay now known as Mumbai, and was later invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission. He implemented an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan area. He also designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates which 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 its flood without causing any damage to the dam. Based on the success of these gates, the same system was installed at the Tigra dam in Gwalior and the Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam in Mandya.Visvesvaraya achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system to protect the city of Hyderabad from floods. He was also instrumental in developing a system to protect Vishakapatnam port from sea erosion.Sir M. V. supervised the construction of the KRS dam across the Cauvery River from concept to inauguration. This dam created the biggest reservoir in Asia at the time it was builtSept 2009[citation needed]. Sir MV 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 founding of, under the aegis of that government, the Mysore Soap Factory, the Parasitoide laboratory, the Bhadravati Iron & Steel Works, 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 also encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Diwan of Mysore. He was known for sincerity, time management and dedication to a cause. He was also instrumental in charting out the plan for road construction between Tirumala and Tirupati.

After opting for voluntary retirement in 1908, Visvesvaraya was appointed Diwan or First Minister of the princely state of Mysore, one of the largest and most important in India. With the support of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, Maharaja of Mysore, Visvesvaraya made an arguably unprecedented contribution as Diwan to the all-round development of the state. Not only the Krishnaraja Sagara dam and reservoir, the steel mills at Bhadravathi, the Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute at Bangalore, the University of Mysore, Karnataka Soaps & Detergents Limited (KSDL) - Govt Soap Factory [1916] and 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 Bangalore in 1917, one of the first engineering institutes in India. This institution was later named the "University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering" (UVCE) after its founder. It remains one of the most reputed institutes of engineering in Karnataka.

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