{"id":371881,"date":"2026-09-16T15:59:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=371881"},"modified":"2026-09-16T15:59:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:29:55","slug":"sir-m-visvesvaraya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sir-m-visvesvaraya\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir M. Visvesvaraya"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>\u00a0 On 15 September 2026, PM Shri Narendra Modi greeted engineers on Engineers\u2019 Day and\u00a0also paid tribute to Sir M. Visvesvaraya for his engineering excellence and vision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Sir M. Visvesvaraya<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 344px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.assettype.com\/deccanherald%2Fimport%2Fsites%2Fdh%2Ffiles%2Farticleimages%2F2020%2F09%2F14%2Ffile79zjaa36fw91fahs63vv-887634-1600105121.jpg?resize=344%2C332&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Sir M Visvesvaraya\" width=\"344\" height=\"332\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Deccan Herald<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Sir M. Visvesvaraya\u00a0was a<strong> civil engineer, statesman and the 19th\u202fDiwan of Mysore.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Birth:<\/strong> He was <strong>born on September 15, 1861<\/strong> in the <strong>Muddenahalli village of Karnataka.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Early Life:<\/strong> He <strong>completed his school education<\/strong> in his hometown and later on went to study<strong> Bachelor of Arts at the University of Madras.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He then<strong> pursued a diploma in civil engineering<\/strong> at the <strong>College of Science in\u00a0Pune.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>After completing his <strong>engineering at Poona College of Science<\/strong>, Visvesvaraya joined the <strong>Public Works Department (PWD) of the Government of Bombay as an Assistant Engineer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Later life: In 1909,<\/strong> he joined the <strong>Mysore service as Chief Engineer,<\/strong> ultimately assuming the position of the <strong>19th Dewan of Mysore.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He <strong>took voluntary retirement in 1918<\/strong> because he did not agree with the proposal<strong> to set aside state jobs for the \u201cnon-brahmin\u201d community. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>After his retirement,<strong> he presided as chairman or became a member of various committees<\/strong> including the<strong> Bombay Technical and Industrial Education Committee, Bombay University Committee for Promoting Chemical Industries and the Cauvery Canal Committee.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significant Works:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Irrigation:<\/strong> He introduced the <strong>Block System of Irrigation<\/strong> in the Deccan canals in <strong>1899<\/strong>. Its aim was <strong>to spread irrigation benefits<\/strong> to more villages and use suitable soil areas effectively.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sukkur Water Problem:<\/strong> He solved the problem of <strong>muddy and discoloured water<\/strong> in Sukkur on the Indus River.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Automatic Water Gates:<\/strong> He invented <strong>automatic gates<\/strong> to control water flow in reservoirs. These were patented and were first installed at the <strong>Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam<\/strong> in Karnataka in the <strong>1920s<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Learning from Abroad:<\/strong> He visited countries such as <strong>Italy and Japan<\/strong> to study irrigation, drainage, soil erosion and economic development.\n<ul>\n<li>His visits made him realise the importance of <strong>scientific knowledge, discipline and hard work<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Economic Planning Advocate (Visvesvaraya Plan):<\/strong> He is<strong> widely recognized as an early advocate<\/strong> and<strong> practitioner of Economic Planning in India<\/strong>, called the<strong> Visvesvaraya Plan,<\/strong> which he presented in a book titled <strong>\u201cPlanned Economy in India\u201d.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Contribution to Education:<\/strong> His visit to <strong>Japan in 1898<\/strong> convinced him that <strong>education, especially education of girls, is essential for economic development<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>University of Mysore:<\/strong> As Dewan of Mysore, he played an important role in establishing the <strong>University of Mysore in 1916<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1917, he founded the Government Engineering College in Bengaluru<\/strong> which was<strong> later renamed as University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering<\/strong> in his honour.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Technical Education:<\/strong> After retiring in <strong>1918<\/strong>, he continued working for industrial development, including the <strong>Mysore Iron and Steel Works<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Technical Institute:<\/strong> He established the <strong>Sir Jayachamarajendra Occupational Institute, Bangalore, in 1943<\/strong>, later renamed <strong>Sir Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic<\/strong>, to train technicians for India&#8217;s growing industries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Principles:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Modernisation:<\/strong> He strongly believed that India must adopt <strong>science, technology, scientific thinking and modern methods<\/strong> for economic progress.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Self-Examination:<\/strong> He urged India to study its own conditions and <strong>compare them with other countries<\/strong> to identify areas for improvement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Literary work: Books:<\/strong> He wrote <strong><em>Reconstructing India<\/em> (1920)<\/strong> and <strong><em>Planned Economy of India<\/em> (1934)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recognition:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Awards:<\/strong> He has been honoured with<strong> Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1911, Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in 1915. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>He was also <strong>awarded with Bharat Ratna in 1955<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorary Memberships and Fellowships:<\/strong> He received an<strong> honorary membership from the Institution of Civil Engineers<\/strong>, London; a <strong>fellowship from the Indian Institute of Science<\/strong>, Bangalore, and <strong>several honorary degrees<\/strong>, including D.Sc., LL.D., and D.Litt., from eight universities in India.<\/li>\n<li>He also <strong>presided over the Indian Science Congress in 1923.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Engineers&#8217; Day<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 170px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQsS1T7HSNSmvKVM08C-K5tp6vXEtQZXCVCfIOpKuPL88oVUcPCuk3DnUqx&amp;s=10\" alt=\"National Engineers' Day 2026 \" width=\"170\" height=\"213\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: News On Air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Engineers\u2019 Day is celebrated in India every year on September 15.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It commemorates the <strong>birth anniversary of Sir M. Visvesvaraya<\/strong> and honours his remarkable contributions to <strong>engineering and nation-building<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News:\u00a0 On 15 September 2026, PM Shri Narendra Modi greeted engineers on Engineers\u2019 Day and\u00a0also paid tribute to Sir M. Visvesvaraya for his engineering excellence and vision. About Sir M. Visvesvaraya Sir M. Visvesvaraya\u00a0was a civil engineer, statesman and the 19th\u202fDiwan of Mysore. Birth: He was born on September 15, 1861 in the Muddenahalli village&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sir-m-visvesvaraya\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sir M. Visvesvaraya<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11212,12039,11210],"tags":[11872,3590],"class_list":["post-371881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-history-and-art-culture-in-news","category-knolls","category-personalities-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-pib","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}