Many great men have contributed in building modern India. Amongst them, Mokhyagundam Visveswaraya is one, who has enough contribution in building the nation. ‘Mokhyagundam Visveswaraya’ is the name not only famous in India, but in the whole world. It was known since his infancy that he would become a great man in life. He was born on 15th September 1861 in the village called Muddenhali in the district of Kolar in Mysore (Karnataka) in a poor Brahmin family. He had his primary education in his village school. Then he had his secondary education at Chikabalpur, a semi-urban place. After successfully completing his secondary education, he admitted himself into Central College in Bangalore for science studies in the year 1876. For his un-parallel knowledge, intelligence and interest in learning new things, principal of the college Mr. Charles Waters loved him very much and gave him much encouragement. He was able to solve the complex problems in a very simple way. Delighted with this, the principal asked Visveswaraya to teach the difficult things to his classmates. This gave Visveswaraya a lot of self-confidence. The Waters’ couple were very much pleased with Visveswaraya. They remained in constant touch with Visveswaraya and kept every detail about him. Even after returning back to England, they never forgot to wish him on his success.                                                                                                                                                    In 1880, Visveswaraya passed B.Sc. with distinction. He then studied Civil Engineering in Pune and achieved the first position in Bombay University in 1883. In 1884, he joined the Works department of Government of Bombay as Assistant Engineer. His first posting was at Nasik, where he undertook the responsibility of small irrigation projects. The floods in Panjara River used to cause heavy damage in low-lying areas. He built a huge water storage, which used to draw water from the river. This minimized the flood effect and brought huge relief to the people in the low-lying areas. He was highly praised by the government and was promoted to the post of Senior Engineer for completing this project within a very short period.

The city of Sukar in Sindh Province (Presently in Pakistan) was facing an acute water supply problem. Visveswaraya was given the responsibility to solve the crisis, which was a challenge for him. He made a detailed plan to purify the muddy water of Indus and make it useful for drinking purpose. He spent many sleepless nights and read a lot of books to correctly implement his plans. At last, a water purification-cum-storage plant was built near the river in only 18 months duration, which provided pure drinking water to the city of Sukar. Visveswaraya was again highly praised by both the Government of Bombay and the then Governor Lord Sandhorsed. He was promoted to the post of superintending engineer and was sent to Surat. Because the climate at Surat did not suit him, he was transferred to Pune.

When he joined at Pune, he observed that the existing irrigation system was having many problems and causing huge water loss. As a result, the local sugar cane farmers suffered huge losses. To help these farmers, Visveswaraya planned to modify the irrigation system. But the farmers opposed it and revolted against it under the leadership of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Later when Lokmanya understood the benefits of this project, he published many articles in ‘Keshri’ in support of the project. Finally the farmers too understood the benefits of the project and the project took place and the farmers were highly benefited. Later he undertook the project of supplying drinking water to the residents of Pune, which too he completed successfully.

He prepared a report for providing irrigation facility to every village of Maharastra, which was accepted by the government. But some rich farmers opposed it. In 1908, Bombay Legislative Assembly reviewed the project and described it as a successful one. The implementation of this project brought a huge change in the economy of the state. Therefore, the government highly praised Visveswaraya in a special Gazette.

The call for Indian independence movement by nationalist leaders inspired Visveswaraya very much although he was a government servant. Visveswaraya undertook a project to for good sewerage system in the English colonies and barracks on the shore of Arabian Sea. When he completed the project, the jealous English people bowed before him and praised his uncommon ability.

He had idea to construct a new type of gate to automise the flow of water and stopping it in canals. That is well known as Visveswaraya gate. For the first time he implemented the idea to use the gate in Khadakbhasla irrigation project, which was a grand success. Afterwards he implemented it in Krishnarajsagar project and Tigra project in Gwalior. Even after accomplishing such challenging tasks, he got disappointed when he was not promoted to the post of chief engineer and quit the job. Then, he went to Europe to learn and experience modem technology. While in Italy, he was invited by Nizam of Hyderabad to join as chief engineer of Hyderabad. In April 1909, he accepted the invitation and returned back. During that time, there were frequent flood in the rivers Musi and Iyasi, which caused heavy loss of life and property in Hyderabad. He made a project of building two reservoirs on Musi and Iyasi, which would save the twin city of Hyderabad and Secunderabad from Hooding problems. Accordingly water reservoirs and dam were built over there. He also made arrangements for sewerage and drinking water supply in Hyderabad. Although he stayed for only eight months in Hyderabad, he successfully completed many developmental works. On the request of the Maharaja of Mysore Knshnaraj Adiyar, he joined as chief engineer of Mysore in November 1909. It was during this time that he built the Krishnarajsagar dam over river Kaveri. He had to face a lot of hindrances for it. He himself used to camp on the     water reservoir and a 1.9 Km. long tunnel were built for irrigation purpose. This provided irrigation facility for a large area. Many companies around Kolar used the produced electricity. Today also people are benefited from this project. After successfully carrying out his responsibilities for three years, he was made the Dewan of the state by Maharaja of Mysore. After taking over the charge, he tried of his best for the development in education, industry, commerce, agriculture and transport etc. In 1913, he established Mysore Bank. In 1916, he established an engineering college at Bangalore and Mysore University also, which was the sixth university in the country then. In 1918, he implemented the Yog Hydro-electric project. He also established the Bhadrabati Steel Plant in the same year. Besides, he also established many small industries like sandal, paper, soap etc.

On request of Gandhiji, he visited Orissa for flood protection in river Mahanadi and gave proposal for construction of Hirakud Dam over river Mahanadi. On its completion, Orissa got multiple benefits like flood protection, irrigation, generation of electricity etc.

Many universities including the Bombay University honoured him with Doctoral degree. He was made the president of the Indian Science Congress held at Lucknow in 1912. British Government honoured him with the title ‘Sir’ for his outstanding contribution in the field of engineering and technology. Lastly, he was awarded with the highest civilian honour of the country ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1955. He left the earth in 1962 but will remain with us forever for his contribution to the nation.