Engineer’s Day: Building a competitive India

It is 15th September, Engineers Day- a day that is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Sir Mokhagumdam Visvesvaraya, India’s most noted engineer. A visionary par excellence, Visvesvaraya was knighted by the British Empire for his effective contributions to the public good.

In today’s time engineering Course is considered to be the most powerful and influential tool which can contribute in glorifying India’s future. But, it was no other than Visvesvaraya who initially took upon the responsibility to show this glorious dream to millions. He was the one who took upon himself to take the initiative to the next level.

Known for his hydel power innovations, Visvesvaraya is best known for harnessing water resources, accomplishment of successful designs, construction of several dams, bridges and implementation of irrigation and drinking water schemes across India. A man of honest principles and a dedicated engineer, he served as the Dewan of Mysore and helped in the overall development and growth of Karnataka.

His amazing works include construction of KR Sagar dam and its neighboring Brindavan Gardens, setting up of the Mysore Sandalwood Oil Factory and the founding of the Bank of Mysore. His detailed report on ‘Planned Economy for India and Reconstructing India’ is still considered to be the best research material by several economic planners.

Today, India produces the maximum number of engineers in the world who have done wonders in the field of technology and have played a major role in the development and growth of our nation. In fact, several of them are working all over the world in various disciplines and leaving an impact. Leading multi-national companies have set up their R&D departments in India to make the most of this talent-pool.

Whether we talk of new age cars, nano technology or renewable energy for the future, everything requires vision and engineers of the future will be doing much more than they are doing today. It is therefore important that the future engineers concentrate on their communication skills, problem solving aptitude and willingness to learn new things in order to be better prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.