Engineers' Day 2021: As India celebrates M Visvesvaraya’s 160th birthday, all you need to know about the engineer

Every year on 15 September, the country observes Engineer’s Day to remember the birth anniversary of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. He was one of the greatest nation builders who contributed to the field of engineering and education. Meanwhile, today marks the 160th birth anniversary of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, who was commonly known as Sir MV. Since 1968, India has been celebrating Engineer’s Day annually on this very day. This special day is observed to acknowledge Bharat Ratna Visvesvaraya who was regarded as the ‘Father of Modern Mysore’. Known as a man with high principles, Visvesvaraya played a vital role in constructing hydro-power projects, dams and reservoirs in India. Not just that, he also supervised the construction of various architectural sites as chief engineer including the flood protection system of Hyderabad and the Krishna Raja Sagar dam in Karnataka. Who is M Visvesvaraya? He was born in 1861, in a small village near Chikkaballapur in Karnataka. He studied Bachelor of Arts at Madras University and pursued his civil engineering course from Pune’s College of Science. With his hard work and contribution, Visvesvaraya established the Government Engineering College in the year 1917 which is currently known as Bengaluru’s University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering. Looking back at his bigger projects, Visvesvaraya designed and planned automatic barrier water floodgates in 1903. These well-designed floodgates were also called Block System. It has automated doors that can shut by themselves if the water overflows. Moreover, it was first mounted at Pune’s Khadakvasla reservoir. During the floods in 1908 when Hyderabad was badly affected, the then Nizam requested Visvesvaraya to support and help in designing a drainage system to protect the city from flooding again. He then came up with the construction of storage reservoirs for the city. Visvesvaraya also built a sewage farm outside Hyderabad to prevent pollution of the Musi river, it was well designed and appreciated by all. History of Engineer’s Day Looking at his vast contribution to the country, the Indian government in 1968 declared Visvesvaraya’s birth anniversary as Engineer’s Day. From then on, this day is observed to acknowledge and honour all engineers in the country who have contributed and are still working towards a modern and developed India.