Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated September 15, 1960: Dr. Visvesvaraya

(From an editorial)

The ancient writer who exhorted his contemporaries to praise famous men was not thinking merely of assessing or rewarding greatness. He was more intent on drawing inspiration from men who were the salt of the earth and who leavened the society around them with their superb gifts. Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, whom the country rejoices to honour as he enters on his hundredth year, will figure high on any list of great Indians which one can draw up. Scholar and scientist, statesman and administrator, Dr. Visvesvaraya has brought to his life-long service to Mysore and to India the quality of practical idealism that has been never more needed than to-day. Belonging to the band of engineers, Indian and foreign, that included the Englishman, Arthur Cotton, the German, de Morgan, and numerous talented Indians, he deliberately set himself to the work of transforming the face of the country and enabling her to intensify her agricultural production and develop her industrial potential. To him Mysore owes the origin of so many enterprises that are flourishing to-day: the Bhadravati Iron and Steel Works, the Krishnaraja Sagar Project, to name but two. Primarily they have brought renown and prosperity to Mysore and will ensure a place for Dr. Visvesvaraya, along with Sir K. Seshadri Aiyar, Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar and Sir Mirza Ismail, as one of the makers of modern Mysore. They have also stimulated similar enterprises in (former British) India.

Directly, too, Dr. Visvesvaraya has been connected with developmental work outside Mysore and the benefits of his sage and sound counsel have been acknowledged in all quarters. And to this engineer-statesman must go the credit for the popularisation of the very idea of national planning which is now the bedrock of our economy and enterprise. He has said, “The idea of planning for the public good is inherent in public administration.” The integration of agriculture with small-scale as well as large-scale industry has been continually urged by Dr. Visvesvaraya. Many of the ideas animating our successive Five-Year Plans were first put forward by him.

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