Engineering Innovation for a More Resilient World
Engineers play an important role in the development of a nation with the theories of Mathematics and science. They have produced many innovative works which led to the development of the world. In order to honor their achievements,
ENGINEER’S DAY is celebrated in different Nations. National Engineers Day is celebrated on 15th September in India, in order to pay tribute to our Indian engineer and
Bharat Ratna, Sir Mokshagundam Viswesvaraya on his birthday.
Sir M. Viswesvaraya mostly contributed to the field of engineering and education. In India, Sir M. Viswesvaraya is considered the greatest engineer of the nation who played an important role in the construction of dams, reservoirs, and hydropower projects. He helped in the construction of some architectural marvels including the Krishna Raja Sagar dam in Karnataka.
Engineers Day in India: History
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In 1903, Sir M. Viswesvaraya designed the automatic water floodgates which were first installed at the Khadakwasla reservoir in Pune.
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He received the Bharat Ratna in the year of 1955 and he was appointed as a Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918.
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In 1915, He was glorified by the British Indian Empire as a “Knight Commander” for his contributions to the field of engineering to the public.
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In 1917, he established the Government Engineering College in Bengaluru. It was the first Government College of Engineering in Karnataka. Now it is known as the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering.
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Sir M. Visvesvaraya passed away in the year 1962.
Theme of Engineers Day
Every year a theme for National and International Engineers Day is declared based on the recent trends & challenges. This year, 2023 theme is “Engineering innovation for a more resilient world".
Resilience is the ability to anticipate, resist, absorb, recover, and adapt to shocks and stresses in the system with agility, to enable continuity of delivery of critical needs such as safety, food, energy, and healthcare as defined by Royal Academy of Engineering.
In simple form ‘resilience’ means an ability to quickly overcome difficult situation, find out immediate solution for critical problems, pre-empt challenges before they arise and ensure that we are prepared to mitigate their impacts.
Covid-19 tested the resilience of the global community. Many countries, handled the situation very efficiently by following some protocols and procedures suggested by medical fraternity. India is one of the countries that not only developed the vaccine for COVID 19 but also helped other nations to mitigate the problem.
We have created a NEW NORMAL to mitigate the interruption or loss of services, to nullify the impacts brought by the pandemic. The theme this year clearly indicates that we should keep on innovating the product to mitigate and resolve any problem(s), be it natural or man- made.
We are living in a world where the probability of global shocks and disruptions, be they natural, man-made, environmental, economic, or pandemic, has increased. In the light of this, every nation is concerned about national infrastructure security, crisis management, and resilience arrangements. Engineers have vital role to play for the secured solutions through innovation. Cyber Crimes are emerging as biggest threat to this generation so engineers should innovate to resilience.
It is well said by the world for the Engineers: