Bharata Ratna Mokshagundam Visveswaraya

BHARATA RATNA MOKSHAGUNDAM VISVESVARAYA

J. Hanumath Sastry

“Your hundred years have done some thing to bring about the dreams of the future not merely the achievements of the past. So we greet you and in greeting you, if we are true to ourselves, we should take a pledge to do whatever in our capacity to live up to your dreams and tread the way you have shown us, only then do we really honour and respect you”, said Jawaharlal Nehru, who specially came down to Bangalore to participate in the celebration of the hundredth birthday of Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.

Mokshagundam Visvesyaraya was born in Muddenahalli a village in Kolar district of erstwhile Mysore state on 15th September, 1861. Mokshagundam is a village in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh from where his ancestors moved to Mysore state about 300 years ago.

He had his early education in Chickballapur. After passing the matriculation Examination, he joined Central College at Bangalore. He was first among the successful candidates. Mysore government awarded a scholarship to him and sent him to Poona to study Engineering. He topped the list of successful candidates in 1883. As a consequence, he was appointed as an Assistant Engineer, when he was hardly twenty three years old.

Young Visvesvaraya, as an Executive Engineer introduced for the first time a unique system of irrigation called the ‘Block system’. The development of this system was due entirely to the genius of Visvesvaraya. The success of this system made the government introduce it in other parts of India as well.

Another major contribution of Visvesvaraya to the Engineering technology was the design of automatic sluice gates for the Khadakvasla Reservoir at Poona to improve the storage capacity of Lake fife. This increased the reservoir capacity by 25 per cent, without raising the height of the dam. Visvesvaraya had obtained a patent for this ingenious design but he refused to accept any royalty from Government for the use of his design. This is certainly a rare gesture of his honesty and integrity in Government service. He successfully implemented the drainage and water supply systems at Aden and Kolhapur and won laurels. After about 23 years of distinguished service with the Government of Bombay, he resigned from service as Superintending Engineer.

Visvesvaraya had gone on a tour of America. While on tour he got a special message from India office, London, that the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted his services urgently. There were appalling floods in the river Musi that runs through the city. His proposals for the construction of reservoirs on Musi and Easi rivers were taken up after about three years and since then the city of Hyderabad has been permanently saved from the flood havoc.

Visvesvaraya joined as Chief Engineer of the then Mysore state in November 1909 on the request of the Maharaja of Mysore. The outstanding work taken up by Visvesvaraya on joining the state, was the construction of the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam and reservoir on the Cauvery River. The masonary dam, 125 feet high was designed to store about 48000 million cubic feet of water which could be utilised to bring around 1,50,000 acres of land under irrigation and generate power of about 80,000 h.p. After getting over many hurdles the Krishna Raja Sagar project was completed by the end of June 1915. Till 1925 it was the largest reservoir in India and later of course the Mettur-dam and reservoir was built which has a larger capacity than Krishnaraja Sagar. It was the first multipurpose scheme taken up in India on the lines of Tennessee Valley Authority of the United States of America.

After about three years of his service as Chief Engineer, the Maharaja of Mysore called upon him to accept the office of the Dewan of the State of Mysore. He was the first professional Engineer to be honoured to hold the topmost administrative office of a state.

For his invaluable service as the Chairman of the Board of Management for the Cauvery Reservoir and the Bhadravati Iron and Steel works Visvesvaraya was offered a sum of Rs.1,50,000/-. He refused to accept the amount and requested the government to establish an Occupational Institute at Bangalore. His administration as Dewan has resulted in far reaching developments in Education, Irrigation Works, Railway communication, Power production and Industries. Mysore state had the privilege of being permitted to set up a university while no other state had a university of its own. This was solely due to the untiring efforts of Visvesvaraya and in the first convocation address the Maharaja publicly acknowledged the patriotism and enthusiasm of Visvesvaraya in the creation of this great temple of learning. He was mainly responsible for the establishment of the Hindustan Aircraft factory at Bangalore.

He implemented many schemes for the development of village handicrafts. He was rightly called the village reformer. The Mysore Chamber of Commerce, the State Bank of Mysore, the Bangalore Press, the Karnataka Sahitya Parishat owe their existence to Visvesvaraya. The prosperity of India was a life-long obsession with Visvesvaraya. “Financial planning” was a word virtually invented by him.

Visvesvaraya was a mine of ideals. There was admirable self-discipline in his life. “India is a land of villages arid hence their upliftment should receive top priority over all other activities”, was his firm conviction. He practised what he preached.

He had realised the importance of family planning even seven decades ago. He wished that the government and the people should work together for the development of villages. People should contribute by way of ‘Shramadan’. During the period of his Dewanship in the Mysore State 6726 villages agreed to do half a day’s shramadan every week. Adult Literacy centres were opened in many villages. Casteism in Visvesvaraya’s opinion was one of the greatest obstacles to India’s progress.

He was the recipient of numerous awards and honorary doctorates in India and in foreign countries also. The highest honour came from the Government of India in 1955. He was awarded the most exalted title of ‘Bharata Ratna’. As one of his biographers, Mr. Dildar Hussain says “M. Visvesvaraya was an object of study in elegance, integrity, austerity and discipline”. He was noted for his motto “courage, conviction and confidence”.

Visvesvaraya had great regard towards Mahatma Gandhi. It was Visvesvaraya who made Gandhiji aware of the necessity for India’s rural progress. He was a distinguished author also. His “Reconstructing India” “Planned Economy for India” are classic examples of his works. “The architect of many housing schemes, he had no house of his own. He had been living until his death with his nephew Prof. Krishna Murthi and his wife Shakuntala and two grand children who were the source of his delight and amusement”.

Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, the Karma Yogi, breathed his last peacefully on 14-4-1962.