Sir M Vishweshwaraiah

Sir M Vishweshwaraiah, popularly known as Sir MV, was a man who excelled at many different fields. He is remembered today as an engineer par excellence, a highly respected statesman and a visionary thinker.
His Early Life and Beginnings
Sir MV was born in Muddenahalli, a village in Karnataka, on 15th September 1860 to Srinavasa Sastry and Venkachamma. He completed his high school education from Wesley Mission High School and his graduation from Central College – both in Bangalore. He was a very bright student.
He went on to pursue a course in civil engineering in Pune, having received a scholarship for the same. While there, he was awarded the James Berkley Gold Medal for outstanding performance.
Lifestyle of Sir MV
He led a very simple life. He was a strict vegetarian and a teetotaler. He would go to sleep by 10 P.M. and wake up at 6 A.M. His diet included a very light breakfast, two slices of bread or chappatis, vegetables without spices, rasam, curds, Nanjangud bananas for lunch.
Engineering Feats and Achievements
Sir MV’s first job was as an Assistant Engineer at the Public Works Department under the government of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency. He had a long and eventful career in the field of engineering, during which he also served as the Chief Engineer of the erstwhile State of Mysore.
Sir MV was the driving force behind the construction of many major dams and water supply schemes across the country. The famous Krishna Raja Sagar dam in Mysore is one of these.
The use of automatic sluice gates, an engineering innovation applied in many dams across the country, was Sir MV’s idea. He became the Dewan of the State of Mysore in 1912 and during his tenure; he took immense interest in shaping new developments in education and other fields.
He was instrumental in the formation of Mysore University as well as two other well-known educational institutions of Bangalore – University Vishweshwaraiah College of Engineering and University of Agricultural Sciences.
He also played an integral role in setting up the Mysore Iron and Steel Works, Bhadravathi, and the Bank of Mysore (now State Bank of Mysore). It is important to bear in mind, however, that these are just a few of his many achievements.
His book, Planned Economy for India, published in 1936 was the first attempt at nation building. He would work only on one project at a time. He would carry various engineering plans in his car.
Job Positions Held By Sir MV
Sir MV was the first-ever technocrat India saw.
Some of the job positions he held were
1.Assistant Engineer, Bombay Government Service [in 1884]
2.Chief Engineer, Hyderabad State [he served only for 7 months starting April 15, 1909]
3.Chief Engineer in Mysore State [Nov 15, 1909]. He was also Secretary to the Railways.
4.President of Education and Industrial Development committees in Mysore State
5.Dewan of Mysore. [for six years starting 1912]
6.Chairman, Bhadravati Iron Works
7.Member of the Governing Council of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
8.Member of the Governing Council of Tata Iron and Steel Company [TISCO]
9.Member of Back Bay enquiry committee, London
10.Member of a committee constituted in 1917 to make recommendations regarding the future of Indian States.
Sir M.V. retired in 1908 and Sri Krishnarajendra Wodeyar, Maharaja of Mysore, was eager to secure the services of Visvesvaraya to serve Mysore.  He joined as Chief Engineer in Mysore because he wanted challenging opportunities. Sir M.V. had earned a reputation for his honesty, integrity, ability and intelligence. He had introduced compulsory education in the State which later was embodied as a fundamental right in the Constitution of independent India.
To name few of the many things he was responsible for:
1.Architect of the Krishnarajasagara dam – or KRS or Brindavan gardens.  One of the biggest dams in India which irrigates a hundred and twenty thousand acres of land. This was built at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. It changed a barren Mandya district into rice granary, provides drinking water to Mysore and Bangalore.
2.Bhadravati Iron and Steel Works – as its Chairman he rescued it from becoming extinct.
3.Mysore Sandal Oil Factory and the Mysore soap factory
4.Mysore University – Sir M.V.’s question was “If Australia and Canada could have universities of their own for less than a million population, cannot Mysore with a population of not less that 60 lakhs have a University of its own?”
5.State Bank of Mysore (it was first named The Bank of Mysore)
6.Public libraries in Mysore and Bangalore
7.Encouraging girls to attend school.
8.Mysore Chamber of Commerce
9.Kannada Sahitya Parishad or the Kannada Literary Academy
10.Sri Jayachamarajendra Occupational Institute, Bangalore – funded by the ENTIRE money [Rs 2 lacs] he earned from rescuing Bhadravati Iron Works.
11.In 1912 he set up Hebbal Agricultural School, now University of Agricultural Sciences.
12.In 1903 he designed automatic, weir water floodgates, installed at Khadakvasla reservoir.
13.He implemented irrigation system in Karnataka.
Sir M.V. was never interested in fame or publicity. But they came to him on their own. Every university in India sought him out to confer honoris causa. The univs of Allahabad, Andhra, Bombay, Calcutta, Jadhavpur, Mysore, Patna and Varanasi