History of Engineer’s Day: First Engineer of India

September 15 is recognized and celebrated as Engineers day in India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania as an honor to the first engineer of India Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya who took birth on this day. He was the son of Mokshagundam Srinivasa Shastry and Venkatalakshmamma born in Muddenahalli of Mysore Kingdom and belonged to a Telugu Brahmin family.

Beginning primary education in Bangalore, he got his BSc degree from the University of Madras. Then he pursued Diploma in Civil Engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune. After this he made numerous contributions to the country and mankind through his skills and knowledge which deserves the highest gratitude.

His career began in 1885 as assistant Engineer in Bombay. He designed waterworks for Municipality of Sukkur in 1894.  Then in 1896 he was appointed as executive engineer in Surat. He became assistant superintending engineer in Pune during 1897–1899 and toured China and Japan. He also served as Sanitary Engineer to Bombay Sanitary Board in 1901. He created automatic gates at Lake Life Storage Reservoir increasing its storage capacity.

Sir MV introduced a new "Block System" of irrigation in 1903. Then he served as Consulting Engineer to Nizam State and administered engineering works to safeguard Hyderabad from floods caused by Musi river followed by his retirement from British Service in 1909. He was the Diwan of Mysore during 1912-1918 and served Public Works Department and Railway in 1913. He was also included in the board of Directors of Tata Steel.

He founded many institutions like Mysore Soap Factory, Parasitoid Laboratory, Mysore Iron & Steel Works (now known as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited) in Bhadravathi, while working with the Government of Mysore. He got addressed as the "Father of Modern Mysore State". Visvesvaraya was titled as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) by the British Government He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1955 after independence.

Around five major educational institutions, two metro stations and a museum are named after Sir Visvesvaraya to honour him. Visvesvaraya National Memorial Trust manages his memorial adjacent to his house at his birthplace. His awards, titles and personal belongings are displayed here. His several notable works includes “Reconstructing India” and “Memories of my working life” published in 1920 and 1932 respectively.