Er. Samir Sharma
Engineers’ day
September 15 is celebrated every year in the country as “Engineers’ Day” to commemorate the birthday of one of the greatest sons of India, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, who was engineer by profession, a genius, philanthropist, a fearless patriot, a soul of great conviction and an architect of many a mighty and magnificent creations.
Sir Visvesvaraya, was an eminent Indian engineer and statesman who was born on September 15, 1860 in a remote village of Karnataka. In recognition of his monumental services towards national development and for the cause of engineering, Sir Visvesvaraya was honoured by the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in the year 1955. He was also knighted by the British for his myriad contributions to the public good. Today perhaps many people know Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya as one of the ablest engineers of India and creator of Vrindavan Gardens but very few really know his role as one of the builders of modern India, his role in industrializing India, his views on education and planning and so on.
He was also called the precursor of economic planning in India. His learned discourse on economic planning in India, Planned Economy for India and Reconstructing India, was the first available document on the planning effort of the country and it is still held as the parent source matter for economic planners.
He lived for 101 years, 6 months and 12 days and left an indelible mark to be emulated and followed by all, particularly the engineering fraternity. He was known for his honesty, integrity, austerity and discipline.
He secured a guaranteed appointment as an Assistant Engineer in Public Works Department in Bombay Presidency in 1884. He earned quick promotions by the virtue of his merit and dent of hard work and rose to the highest position occupied by any Indian during the British Rule. He was deputed to the port of Eden for helping the authorities for laying an effective underground drainage system. In addition, he was called upon to advice on the matter of flood relief, strengthening of embankments and construction of water works in Kolapur and Sukkur in Sindh Province. He laid down his office in Bombay in 1908 only after 24 years of Service.
Immediately after his retirement, his services were requisitioned by the Nizam of Hyderabad as the city was reeling under floods. He was asked to advice and assist the government in the reconstruction of Hyderabad city, to frame proposals for future protection of city from floods and to prepare a complete scheme for drainage for Hyderabad city and Chandraghat. He served the state of Hyderabad first as a Chief Engineer and then as an Administrator. He completed his assignment within a short period and then left Hyderabad as he wanted to lead a quiet retired life. But it was not to be so. Immediately thereafter on great insistence from the Dewan of Mysore, he joined Mysore State in Nov 1909 as a Chief Engineer and Secretary Railways. Three years later in 1912, he was appointed Dewan of Mysore State by the then Maharaja of Mysore.
He was an architect of the Krishnarajasagara dam – or Vrindavan gardens , one of the biggest dams in India which irrigates a hundred and twenty thousand acres of land which has amazed and enchanted thousands of people from all countries of the world. He also implemented the Jog Fall, hydroelectric scheme in Karnataka on the pattern of Niagara Falls Hydroelectric Power Project which he had visited during one of his visits to USA.
Sir M.Visvesvaraya was never interested in fame or publicity. But they came to him on their own. Many universities in India sought him out to confer honoris causa.
A theme of national importance is chosen every year by the National Council of the Institution of Engineers (India) and deliberated at its various State and Local Centres in India and abroad to educate the engineering fraternity in general and the society in particular. This year the selected theme is: “Frugal Engineering – Achieving More with Fewer Resources.”
The natural resources are depleting with population explosion, wastage and over consumption. Frugal Engineering is one of the approaches for retaining the world in sustainable form.
Frugal Engineering is the science of breaking up complex engineering processes into its basic components and then re-building each component in the most economical manner. The end result is a simpler, more robust and easier to handle final process. It also results in a much cheaper final product which does the same job qualitatively and quantitatively as a more expensive complexly engineered product.
Frugal engineering is not simply low-cost engineering. Instead, frugal engineering is an overarching philosophy that enables a true “clean sheet” approach to product development. Cost discipline is an intrinsic part of the process, but rather than simply cutting existing costs, frugal engineering seeks to avoid needless costs in the first place. A cell phone that makes phone calls and does little else; a portable refrigerator of the size of a small cooler; a car that sells for about US$2,200 (100,000 rupees) are some of the examples of frugal engineering, a powerful and ultimately essential approach to developing products and services in emerging markets.
Frugal Engineering will be of great relevance to developing countries. It is generally believed that Indians and other South Asians are the most adept in frugal engineering, because resources and capital are scarce in this region.
A lot of awareness programmes need to be organized nationwide so that the engineers can equip themselves with the knowledge and educate the common masses in the society about the same to have better quality of life. Let discussion attempts enlighten the engineering community in the area of Frugal Engineering and come up with innovative solutions on 46th Engineers’ Day today.
(The author is a former Honorary Secretary, The Institution of Engineers (India), Jammu Local Centre and working in PDD, J&K Govt.)
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