Er. Samir Sharma
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. 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 a real Karmayogi.
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.
Sir Visvesvaraya, an eminent Indian engineer and statesman was born on September 15, 1860 to Srinivasa Sastry and Venkachamma in a remote village of Karnataka, the State that is incidentally now the Hi-tech State of the country. 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.
Sir Visvesvaraya passed his matriculation in 1876 when he was just 15 years old, did graduation in 1880 and later studied civil engineering at the College of Science, Pune, now known as the College of Engineering, Pune. Sir M. Visvesvaraya led a very simple life. He was a strict vegetarian and a teetotaler. 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. During his tenure in Bombay, his services were often requisitioned for organizations of irrigation, sanitary and water works in all parts of the Presidency. 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. While the works at Sukkar and Sindh and Eden earned him great name outside the country and those at Khadakvasla dam to control the flood water won him recognition and gratitude inside the country. 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. Before accepting the position of Dewan of Mysore, he invited all his relatives for dinner. He told them very clearly that he would accept the prestigious office on the condition that none of them would approach him for favours. Such things are unheard of these days.
He was an architect of the Krishnarajasagara dam – or KRS 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 scheme he had visited during one of his visits to USA.
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/Local Centres to educate the engineering fraternity in general and the society in particular. This year the National Council of the Institution has selected the theme as ” Digital Transformation: A New Industrial Revolution “.
Globally industries are facing the challenges due to technological, economic, societal and environmental developments. The concept of Internet of Things, Cyber Physical Systems or Cloud based Manufacturing has led to the fourth stage of industrial revolution. Increased digitization is the need of the hour. The first industrial revolution utilised water and steam power for mechanizing production. During second industrial revolution, application of power was more with the objective to obtain mass production. During third industrial revolution, industrial automation was introduced, which involved vast application of Electronics and Information Technology.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, termed as Industry 4.0 is being driven by a staggering range of new technologies that are blurring the boundaries between people, the internet and the physical world. It’s a convergence of the digital, physical and biological spheres. It’s a transformation in the way we live, work and relate to one another in the coming years, affecting entire industries and economies, and even challenging our notion of what it means to be human. From intelligent robots and self-driving cars & drones to gene editing and 3D printing, dramatic technological change is happening at lightning speed all around us. In general, there are nine key technological components that progressively make up the foundation of Industry 4.0: Autonomous robots, big data, augmented reality (AR), additive manufacturing, cloud computing, cyber security, IoT, system integration, and simulation.
On a digital platform, Industry 4.0 is applied with three mutually interconnected factors, namely Digitization and integration of any simple to complex technical commercial relation, Digitization of products and service offers and New market models. All these human activities are interconnected through State of-the-Art communication system, which include Internet of Things, Internet of Services and Internet of People.
According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), Government of India has set an ambitious target of increasing the contribution of manufacturing output from 16% to 25% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2025. IoT, being one of the most important aspects of Industry 4.0 for India, is expected to capture close to 20% share in global IoT market in the next five years. According to IBEF forecast, the IoT market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 28% during 2015-2020.
Lets us today resolve to be the part of this Digital Transformation which will usher in a new Industrial Revolution.
(The author is a former Honorary Secretary, IEI, Jammu and working as Assistant Executive Engineer in PDD, J&K Govt.)
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