Mega event to honour Sir MV's memory
150th birth anniversary
For Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya, his 150th birthday on September 15 will be a special one: His birth place Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapur district is getting a facelift, his old house has turned into a well-equipped museum and, more importantly, his dream of making use of modern technology for rural development is being fulfilled.
Technical education institutes, industry bodies, banks and both Central and State governments have joined hands to pay a fitting tribute to the genius engineer (1860 to 1962), who laid the foundation for modern Karnataka, on his birthday.
The State Bank of Mysore accounts book of Sir Visvesvaraya, his civil engineering degree certificate, the certificate from Patna University conferring a doctorate on him, a 1923 typewriter and a dictionary that was a memento in 1881 from the then principal of Central College Charles Watters are all treasured in the museum, the entry for which is free.
The horticulture department is now developing a garden around to add aesthetics to the place.
The Union government, along with non-governmental organisations, is organising the birth anniversary of Sir MV, as he was popularly known, at Muddenahalli on September 15 in a grand and meaningful manner.
Various projects have been chalked out to spruce up the entire town for the occasion.
A number of programmes will be launched: a national skill development programme, an entrepreneurship development programme, a rural development & self-employment training institute (Rudiset), micro and medium enterprises awareness programmes as well as a rural BPO.
Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily disclosed this to the media on Saturday after holding a meeting with representatives of KASSIA, CII, Nasscom, the Indo Jappan Association, VTU, University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) and Chikkaballapur district authorities.
He said the Union Planning Commission has already approved the national skill development programme, which envisages coaching for master trainers.
The first national skill development centre will be established at Muddenahalli. It will be extended later to all parts of the country.
Five engineering institutes have agreed to take up the programme in Karnataka. A commemorative postal cover will be released on the occasion.
Moily, who represents Chikkaballapur in Parliament, said the place would get one of the IITs when the Centre takes a final decision to establish 14 “innovative” universities.
“His (Visvesvaraya’s) vision was for application of modern technology for rural and economic development. And we are making an attempt in this regard,” he said.
