Engineers Day - Remembering Sir MV, An Engineer and Statesman Par Excellence

 Engineers Day - Remembering Sir MV, An Engineer and Statesman Par Excellence on His Birthday

Images - Courtesy Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai

Every year, India celebrates 15th September as Engineers day as a befitting tribute and in reverence to once in a century engineer and a nation builder par excellence, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (Sir MV), who was born on this date in 1861 as per the official records as entered in his passport, while most scholars say that he was born on 15^th September, 1860.  

 

In the annals of human history very few people have had the honour of celebrating their own birth centenary; from amongst those few who have, there are no parallels to the veritable and a nation building life that Sir M Visvesvaraya lived for all of 102 years (died on 14^th April 1962) during which his achievements, both as an engineer and as an administrator, were truly incredible. Sir M Visvesvaraya, popularly referred to as Sir MV, was an engineer par excellence, statesman, visionary, a staunch votary for industrialization, proponent of education and women empowerment, a visionary who started the Mysore Bank which later became the State Bank of India, the man who improved transportation, and the father of planned economy etc. Sir MV has made enduring contributions, not just as a civil engineer with the British Government -  two plus decades in the Maharashtra province - but also for the development of the state of Mysore, where he worked as the Chief Engineer and the Diwan of Mysore and for his many other contributions in regions of the sub-continent including Karachi and Hyderabad, which are now in Pakistan and also in Aden, which is now in Syria. Sir MVs works as a great nation builder remain eternally etched in the annals of Indian history. There, are very few fields of thoughts and constructive endeavours, of technical advancement and nation building, in which Sir MV has not made a significant contribution in his nearly eight decades long service to the nation. It is therefore no wonder that Sir MV was bestowed with the highest national honours the Bharat Ratna in the year 1955, which he shared with Pandit Nehru and Bhagwan Das.

 

The year 1960 marked the centenary of Sir MV. The then government of Mysore (now Karnataka from 1^st November 1973) befittingly decided to felicitate Sir MV, publicly, on his attaining 100 years on 15^th September 1960, for his invaluable contributions to the state of Mysore. They planned to organise this event as a mega event at Lal Bagh, Bangalore. Pandit Nehru, the PM of India, had given his consent to personally felicitate the centenarian MV at Lal Bagh on 15^th September 1860. Unfortunately, Feroze Gandhi the son-in-law of Nehru – husband of Mrs Indira Gandhi – died on 8^th September 1960, just a week before MV attained his centenary. This created some doubt whether Pandit Nehru would attend the felicitation function of Sir MV in Bangalore given the personal tragedy in his family. Nehru, who had greatest of respect and regard for MV, decided to overlook his personal tragedy to be with the centenarian MV on this historic day. Nehru flew down to Bangalore and paid befitting tribute to Sir MV at the Lal Bagh where public function was organised by the Mysore State to honour MV. Nehru, in his felicitation address said: “You. Sir, have been …  always young in mind, young in outlook, and looking as young people should, to the future. You have not lost yourself in the past ……..you have always looked to the future and you have always built for that future and you have reminded us always of this modern world of science and industry and technology ……. And, so many of us …. feel old when we look at your young self…..We in India have an unfortunate reputation for talking a great deal and not living up to what we say. You Sir, have been a great exception to that rule for you have thought, talked little, and done much...” This in nut shell summarises the admiration that Pandit Nehru, the Prime Minister of India had for Sir MV, notwithstanding some of the difference of opinions that they both had when it comes to development and industrialisation.

Considering the admiration that Pandit Nehru had for the centenarian, it was no wonder that he chose the occasion of the centenary celebration of Sir MV to announce at Lal Bagh, on 15^th September, 1960, setting up of a museum in honour of Sir MV in the city of Bangalore. The outcome was the establishment of The Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) Bangalore, which came up under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Sir MV passed away on 14^th April, 1962 at the age of 102 years and just three months later, on July 14, 1962, Nehru came to Bangalore to inaugurate the VITM. Addressing the audience, Nehru recalled the undying belief that MV had in science and technology. He said “Without science you perish, without spirituality you perish also…. We see in Dr Visvesvaraya a man of vision, a man of creative activity, a man looking ahead and a man who built around himself, and around others, a tradition of looking to science and technology, which was very, very necessary for India. Others were working to that end, but he was pre-eminent in it”

 

The extraordinary interest that Nehru had for personally opening the VITM, as a befitting tribute to Sir MV, is seen from a letter that Nehru wrote to Nijalingappa. Earlier, Nehru had written to the then CM of Mysore, Mr S R Kanthi, expressing his desire to visit Bangalore to open the Visvesvaraya Museum, some time in middle of July, 1962. But then things changed and Kanthi was soon to make way for Mr Nijalingappa to be the CM. Nehru was so emotionally attached with Sir MV that he did not want any delay in the opening of the VITM, which was to be a national tribute to MV.  Nehru wrote to Nijalingappa “I see from the newspapers that you have been elected Leader of the party, and consequently you will become the Chief Minister of Mysore. My congratulations and good wishes. I had written to Kanthi about my visiting Bangalore in the middle of July principally for the Visvesvaraya Museum …….”. With this letter to Nijalingappa, Pandit Nehru, reminded of his desire to be present for the opening of the VITM. Accordingly, Nijalingappa made all arrangements for the opening of the VITM, and Pandit Nehru opened the first phase of VITM on …. July, 1962. However, the second phase and the expanded VITM was opened by his daughter in the year 1965.  

 I was privileged to have had the honour to be posted as the Director of the VITM Bangalore in January 2011, which incidentally happened to be the 150^th official birth centenary of Sir MV. Being a native of Karnataka, I grew up listening to the legendary tales of Sir M Visvesvaraya, from my school days, and I also vividly remember a Kannada film “Bangarada Manushya” – a block buster film - where another legend of Kannada film industry, late Dr Raj Kumar, eulogises Sir MV for his extraordinary contributions in building the Krishna Raj Sagar Dam (Kannambadi) in a song, which became very popular ad continues to be so even today. The year of my posting in Visvesvaraya Museum was quite providential since it was also the official sesquicentennial birth anniversary of Sir MV. It provided me an opportunity to conceive developing an exhibition on the life and works of the legend, under the title “Sir MV – The Legendary Nation Builder”. This exhibition based on research and drawing on a range of historical sources and images, archival materials, documentary, visual and audio – highlighted the extraordinary nation building contributions of Sir MV and helped in illuminating the contributions of Sir MV to the nation. Painstaking curatorial efforts were made to collect the materials from across the country. The exhibition was opened at VITM on 15^th September 2011, on his 150^th official birth anniversary, in the presence of the family members of Sir MV - Satish Mokshagundam the great grandson of Sir MV, his wife and his mother. This well researched exhibition with a wide ranging archival materials, and a host of original objects and memorabilia - sourced from the collections of Satish Mokshagundam and his Museum in Muddenhalli (very close to the Bangalore airport) and several other sources and archives -  became a roaring success. The exhibition was majorly covered by all the media and it was all over the news. The wide publicity and appreciation for the exhibition in the media helped the museum with an unprecedented increase in visitor foot fall to VITM.  In fact, this exhibition helped VITM to cross that magical visitor foot fall of one million visitors in a year for the very first time since its opening in July 1962. We created a special period room in the exhibition where all the original belongings of Sir MV, which included among other objects HIS Bharat Ratna Medallion, his dress etc., were displayed and this period room became the corner stone of the exhibition. The exhibition also had a large number of other rare archival material and information including a wide range of writings and correspondence of Sir MV with people like Nehru, Gandhi and who’s who of the makers of India.

The range of archival material, content and information that we had researched and collected from across the country - from various state and national archives and other sources - was mind boggling for Satish Mokshagundam, the great grandson of Sir MV, the custodian of the Sir MV Museum in Muddenhalli, the very house where Sir MV was born. Satish Mokshagundam, legal inheritor of all the belongings of Sir MV including the house, which was home to Sir MV at the time of his demise on 14^th April, 1962, openly mentioned in his inaugural address that although he is the owner and custodian of Sir MV and his belongings, he had never seen so much of archival information and content on the life and works of Sir MV all his life. Similar sentiments were expressed by a host of distinguished dignitaries who visited this exhibition.

 

Sir MV began his engineering service with the British Government in the Bombay province in 1884 and his first posting was in Nashik and subsequently he spent major part of his service in Pune and Bombay (now Mumbai), where he made unprecedented contributions in diverse fields of engineering including his greatest of innovations in building the collectors well, and introducing his patent winning sluice gates in Pune. His engineering contributions spread a vast area from Aden to Pune, Sukkur, Nashik, Hyderabad, Mysore, and several other cities and projects across India, particularly in the state of Maharashtra. Sir MV's civil engineering contributions are seen all over India, His engineering service was also used in building the Hirakud Dam, in Odisha, a Railway Bridge across Ganga in Patna, for combating floods in Hyderabad, constructing the Himayatsagar and the Osmansagar reservoirs across the rivers Musi and Easi, and in the reconstruction of Hyderabad city and preparation of the drainage scheme for the city. Sir MV was also a member of the engineering committee that was involved in construction of several buildings in Lutyens Delhi.

 

Sir MV, the man with an impeccable integrity too utopian for any of us to imagine, was known for his foresight and prophetic vision for industrial development, which he advocated was essential for alleviating poverty. He was a master in irrigation designs and was very passionate about effective utilization of scarce water resource for drinking and irrigation purpose. Block System of Irrigation, Automatic Sluice gates and Collector Well are some important innovations of Sir MV. Automatic Sluice gates, used in Pune and in KRS, Mysore enable storage of water well above the crest of the weir of the Dam. He designed the Block system of Irrigation to optimize, control and evenly distribute water supply to parched agricultural lands across number of villages. The supply was rotated within “blocks” in each village to curtail misuse and water logging. This system, devised in 1899, continues to be used even today in Deccan Canals. The collector wells can provide moderate to large quantities of naturally filtered water from the river beds.

 

Sir MV was a firm believer that development alone can bring about prosperity for people. He also believed that India could be benefited from harvesting the knowledge and experience of the prosperous nations. Visvesvaraya toured many developed countries of the world to study, understand and evaluate the success of their prosperity and for replicating the same in India. During his six foreign travels, he visited Japan, America, Canada and many European countries. An outcome of his learning from foreign visits is embodied in the establishment of several industries and educational institutes in the state of Karnataka. He also started the All India Manufacturers Association in 1941 and was its founding president. After serving for 23 years in the Bombay Province and on realising that the highest position that an Indian Engineer could reach in the British administration is Superintendent Engineer and that he will not be able to become a Chief Engineer, Sir MV submitted his voluntary retirement from service in 1907 and decided to go back to his home state of Mysore. However, his service were sought by the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1908 for combating the flood in Hyderabad.

 

Visvesvaraya served his mother state Mysore (now Karnataka) in different capacities, first as the Chief Engineer to the government in 1909 and next as the Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. He firmly believed that education is fundamental to the progress of the nation. His regime as the Dewan of Mysore witnessed unprecedented growth in the establishment of a number of primary schools. In just six years of his tenure as the Diwan Sir MV added an additional 6,500 new schools in Mysore. He pronounced a revolutionary legislation making primary education compulsory for every child, including the girl child. He also believed in social empowerment of the depressed communities and backward classes and laid special emphasis on education of girls. He was instrumental in establishing educational institutes, industries, banks, Mysore University and Agriculture Science College. He also used his personal money to help establish a vocational college (Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic College). HAL the premier aircraft manufacturing company in Bangalore, the steel, sugar and soap factories in Karnataka owe their existence to Sir MV. The Premier Automobile Company in Pune, which was the first automobile company in India, owes its genesis to Sir MV. He improved the Railway infrastructure of Mysore and established clubs and association for improvement of the state. He was associated with the premier Indian Institute of Science and promoted linkage of industries with scientific institutes. The two term sex year tenure (2012-2018) of Sir MV as the Diwan of Mysore produced outstanding results for the state the fruits of which are continuing to harvested by Karnataka even today.

 

Sir MV after laying down the office of Diwan of Mysore spent time in writing, which was aimed at development for India. He wrote two books---Reconstructing India in 1920 and A Planned Economy for India in 1934, Both these books had a profound impact on Nehru and other leaders including Mahatma Gandhi. The Mahatma, pained by the loss of lives due to floods in Orissa in 1937, requested Sir MV to find some solution to Orissa floods. Visvesvaraya, who differed with Gandhi on many counts, particularly when it came to developing industries, had great respect for the Mahatma and at his instance MV, in the year 1937, surveyed the flood affected areas of the state and collected a lot of data from the flood affected area in Orissa (now Odisha). After careful analysis of the data collected from the flood affected area, designed engineering solution to combat flood. The very next year he visited Orissa and submitted a detailed report and for the construction of a dam in the upper regions of Mahanadi river which was the cause for the floods. The task for the building of a large dam across the river Mahanadi was taken up for execution post our independence in 1948. This giant Hirakud Dam was inaugurated by Pandit Nehru in January 1957.

 

The ideas expressed by Sir MV in his book Reconstructing India served as a source for the publishing of a Hindi Pamphlet by the United Provinces, which was titled ‘The Poverty of India and its Cure’, which finds a mention of reference to Sir MV book. Sir MVs services were also sought by the Indian National Congress. In the year 1938, Sir MV was tipped to be the Chairman of a National Planning Committee of the INC, at the instance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. However, on the advice of Meghnad Saha, the noted scientist, Netaji changed his mind and appointed Nehru to be the Chairman of the committee and with Visvesvaraya as one of the prominent members. Saha himself was a member of this committee with many other distinguished economists on this committee. The subsequent First Five Years Plan introduced in India, post-independence, is majorly influenced by this committee report. Sir MV. As expected Mahatma Gandhi was not in favour of the committee and its report and therefore the progress of the committee was at snail pace. Sir MV was frustrated with the tardy progress of the committee and he decided to put in paper from the membership of the committee. However, Nehru, vide his letter dated December 26, 1939, tried to explain the reasons for the slow progress, which Sir MV accepted and did not insist for acceptance of his resignation.

 

Sir MV was a staunch supporter of industries and he knew from his experience of his six foreign visits and his studies in Japan, Europe, USA, USSR etc. and so also his works in the state of Mysore that industrialisation and applications of technology is a sure shot solution to improving the lives of the people. He was also a votary of an organised industry. He founded the All India Manufacturers Organisation. Sir MV served as the president of this organisation and he used his reputation to invite the best of leaders for the annual sessions. In the year, 1947 just before our independence he invited Pandit Nehru to address the seventh annual session of the AIMO in New Delhi. True to his reputation of plain speaking, Sir M.V. as the President of the AIMO spoke straight and mixed no words to criticise the industrial policy of the Indian Government, which was headed by Pandit Nehru. It is said that Nehru was not pleased with the criticism leading to tense moments. Although Pandit Nehru tried his best to address all the concerns expressed by Sir MV, he remained unconvinced and went to the extent of disrupting Nehru from speaking and addressing him as Motilal Nehru. When the Prime Minister retorted that he was addressing him wrongly, Sir M.V. remained unperturbed and said that he belonged to the generation of his father, who was well known to him and therefore Motilal Nehru’s name comes to him naturally. This eased the tense moment in the audience since Pandit Nehru himself was the first to give a lofty laugh for the retort of Sir MV who he admired greatly.

 

Sir MV was instrumental in establishment of the Government Engineering College in Bangalore in the year 1917. This was one of the first engineering colleges in India. This college was later befittingly named after the legend himself and is now called the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering UVCE, which has produced some of the best engineers that India has produced. He was also the founder of the State Bank of Mysore, which later gave rise to the State Bank of India and the State Bank of Mysore, the mother Bank, later got merged with SBI

 

In recognition of the extraordinary engineering services rendered by Visvesvaraya to the British Empire he was conferred with the knighthood from the British Empire. Post the Independence the government of India conferred on Sir MV the highest national award the Bharat Ratna in the year 1955. Incidentally he shared the Bharat Ratna Award with Pandit Nehru and Bhagwan Das. After actively serving the nation for more than 100 years Sir MV breathed his last on 14th April, 1962 at Bangalore.

 

India Science Congress is one of the most premier annual science event organised every year in the month of January every year since 1913. The India Science Congress attracts the best of scientists from across India and several foreign scientists including Nobel laureates.  An exhibition accompanies the India Science Congress exhibition. A tradition was introduced in the India Science Congress to commemorate great scientists through an exhibition which was to find a prime space in the Hall of Pride stall of the India Science Congress. It was such a great honour that Sir MV, although is not a Scientist speaking figuratively, was chosen to be featured as the scientist to be given a tribute in the Hall of Fame in the India Science Congress Exhibition for the year 2015. The fame of the Sir MV exhibition, which we had opened at Nehru Science Centre on 15^th September 2014 had spread wide and fast. Therefore 102^nd India Science Congress, which was held in Mumbai from Jan 3-7, 2015 chose the Sir MV exhibition to be featured in the India Science Congress in Mumbai. Incidentally Dr Anil Kakodkar, who was the Chairman of a committee to decide on the theme for the Hall of Pride pavilion, had actually opened the Sir MV exhibition at the Nehru Science Centre, in the august presence of Mr Sajjan Jindal and Mrs Sangita Jindal, who had funded the exhibition and the printing of the catalogue. Therefore, it was no surprise that we were tasked with the responsibility to present the Sir MV exhibition at the India Science Congress. Our pavilion was visited by more than 1 lac visitors and was highly appreciated by all.  Sir MV exhibition was befittingly honoured as the best pavilion of the 102^nd India Science Congress and I had the honour to receive this award during the concluding ceremony.

 

For those of you who may be interested in reading the exhibition catalogue book you may please down load it from the Nehru Science Centre website under the New Publications section, where you will find all the publications of Nehru Science Centre, which are free for download.

 

Wishing you all a very happy engineers day.

 India Wins the Test at Oval  - A Repeat of the historic 1971 Victory.

On the auspicious occasion of our 75th Independence Day - 15th August 2021 - which the nation celebrated with great fervour that is befittingly described as आज़ादी का अमृत महोत्सव by the Government of India, the Indian Test Cricket team, under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, has repeated that extraordinary moment, which their cricketing brothers of the historic 1971 series had achieved at the very Oval ground in August 1971, fifty years later at the very Oval ground. Ajit Wadekar and his team had won a historic test series by defeating the English team in England for the very first time to win 1971 test series. That moment had come on the occasion of the 25th year of our Independence and yesterday’s moment, which was as euphoric as the 1971 test victory, has coincidentally and fortuitously come coinciding with the auspicious occasion of the 75th year of our Independence. What a befitting way to continue the Independence Day celebrations as we head towards the 75th anniversary of Indian independence - 15th August 2022. With this victory India now leads 2-1 in this exciting 5 match series, which has witnessed some of the best test cricketing moments in history and it is this excitement and unpredictability of the nature of the test cricket that makes this game so very exciting. The excitement of the test cricket was evidenced on the Oval grounds yesterday where a large number of test cricket enthusiasts had assembled, even while the COVID 19 pandemic is continuing to play spoilsport, to watch India repeat that great moment at Oval yesterday 7th September, 2021, fifty years after that 1971 test victory.

Ever since India’s debut in the test cricket at the Lord's, England, on 25 June 1932, for nearly forty years, India continued to be a weak team in comparison with other Test cricket teams, such as Australia and England. The year 1971 was a watershed year that remains etched in the annals of cricket history in India. It was in that year, under the new captain – Ajit Wadekar – India registered her first ever away-series victories in the West Indies and England to inject a refreshing self-belief in the Indian cricket, hitherto unseen. The 1971 Wadekar team backed up the two back to back series victories over seas with a series win against England in India a year later (1972) thus achieving a remarkable three series wins on the trot. Will the Indian team under Virat Kohli follow suit and win or draw the last test match - scheduled at the Manchester cricket grounds between 10-14 September - to repeat that historic moment of the 1971 series victory,  is something which all cricket enthusiasts will wait to watch. 

For us Indians, game of cricket is something which appeals to most of us and therefore I am certain that with yesterday’s test victory everyone will have updated themselves with what has unfolded in this test series between India and England. While the first test ended as a draw, courtesy the rain Gods, Indians won the second test at Lords, comprehensively. England came back hard at Indians to give us an innings defeat at the Leeds to level the series 1-1. The victory at the Oval has given India a 2-1 lead and hope we win or draw the Manchester test to win the series on the 14th September. 

Yesterday’s test win at the Oval grounds will definitely have made most of my generation people go nostalgic to recall that historic 1971 England series. It was the time when we did not have live telecast and we had to depend on the radio commentary to catch up with the cricket news on BBC. Since the year 1971 was an year of great reckoning for India, I am writing this blog to recall that historic England series of 1971 and the Oval test victory. 

The Indian Cricket team under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, went to England - to play a 3 match Test series - just two months after their historic tour to the West Indies, which they won 1-0,  in the same year, 1971. The Test series in England was played during the period July-August, 1971. This is a period when the pitches in England tend to wear and support spin. The Indian team included four of their best spinners - the famous spin quartet Bishen Singh Bedi, Bhagawat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna, and Venkataraghavan. Like the Indians, who were in high spirits after their 1-0 test series victory against the mighty West Indians, the England team too was in high spirits for they had just won the 7 Test Ashes series 2-0 against their arch rivals Australia. The England team, led by a thorough professional, Ray Illingworth, was clear favourites to win the series against India. The England team also included BL D’Oliveria, a central figure in the ante apartheid and boycott of South Africa from International cricket - that is however a separate story.

The Indians opened their England tour with the tour match against Middlesex at the Lords (23-25 June, 1971) which they won by 2 wickets. They however lost the next match to the Essex. They played 6 other tour matches four of which were won by the Indians and two were draw. The Indians went into the First Test, at the Lords (July 22-27) with great confidence. India dominated the first Test of the series, which unfortunately ended in a draw with rain affecting the last stage of the match. England, helped by some rare guard action by John Snow, who came in at 183 for 7 to score 73 runs, ended their first innings at a respectable 304 runs. Aided by three scores of fifty plus by Captain Ajit Wadekar, the stylist Gundappa Vishwanath and Eknath Solkar the Indians were able to score 9 runs more than the England in the first innings. England was bundled out for 194 in the second innings. The Indians were given a modest target to score 183 in the fourth innings to win the test. The English bowlers came hard at Indians and India ended the last day with a score of 145 for 8, when rain came pouring to end the first test in a draw.  This test also witnessed an untowardly incident. Sunil Gavaskar and Snow were involved in this incident when the mightily looking Snow collided with Sunny while Sunny was taking a quick single. Sunny went tumbling down due to the massive impact. Snow, even after a spectacular show with both bat and bowl, was unfortunately dropped for the next Test due to this untoward incident. 

The second Test was played at the Old Trafford, Manchester. England chose to bat first after winning the toss. Aided by captain’s century knock, England scored an imposing 386 runs. The Indians were bundled out for 212. Gavaskar and Solkar scored half centuries for the touring team. England declared their second innings at 245 for 3 with the opener Luckhurst continuing his form to score a century. The Indians, set to score a massive 420 runs for the win or bat out the remaining time for a draw, were aided by the rain and the match was called off when Indians were 65 for 3.  With the series level at 0-0, both teams then met at the Oval in the final match. 

In the third and final match that was played at the Oval, England won the toss and elected to bat first. They ended their innings with a respectable score of 355. In reply, India made 284 runs as the hosts took a 71-run lead in the first innings. Chandrasekhar then spun magic with the ball picking up a match-winning 6-wicket haul to bundle out England for a paltry 101 in the second innings. Chandra finished with match figures of 8 for 114 in the match. India chased down the target of 173 with four wickets in hand to record the historic series win at the Oval on 24th August, 1971. The scene of this historic victory at the Oval in London was ecstatic with scores of Indian fans thronging to the ground, where Ajit Wadekar’s team had beaten England by four wickets to end the hosts' run of 26 Test matches without defeat. Each member of India's XI was a hero during and after this magnificent win, but the one who really stood out was the legendary leg spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who had helped the team to the historic win.

The three Indian spinners along with Prasanna took 197 of the 244 wickets to fall in the entire series thus dominating the bowling and paving the way for an era of spin that was to follow in India. The England team came to the subcontinent the following year (1972) and found the spin trio too hot to handle once again on the spin-friendly tracks in India. The visitors were handed a 2-1 defeat in the subsequent five-match series at home with Wadekar registering his third successive series win as captain of the Indian team.

The year 1971 and the three successive series victories, including two overseas, had helped the Indian team to come off ages and ever since the Indian team has continued to move up in the ranking, both in Test cricket and One-day Internationals. India now stands second in the test ranking ( New Zealand occupying the top spot). The historic victory at the Oval test, which Kohli and his men achieved yesterday after fifty years of that epic 1971 test victory is a befitting tribute to the nation on the occasion of the Azadi Ka Amrut Mohatsav.

Jai Hind. May India continue to scale newer heights in every area from sports to economic growth to the well being of it’s citizens and may the platinum jubilee anniversary of our Independence bring in another tryst with destiny moment for all of us. 

 

Images courtesy Getty.

 Launch of AKF (14th August 2021, 6PM ) – Maiden Speech "My Life, My Experiments" by Captain G R Gopinath. 

 Tomorrow we will be celebrating our 75th Independence day and this historic occasion - befittingly described as Azadi ki Amrut Mahotsav, will span a period of two years, from 15th August 2021 to 15th August 2023. As we gear ourselves to join our fellow countrymen in this joyful celebration, to commemorate the beginning of the Platinum Jubilee of our Independence Day, which began with our ‘Tryst with Destiny” on the 15th of August 1947, it is time to remember and pay our respect and reverence to all those nation builders who have helped us reach this stage, building this nation brick by brick from that precarious position of our ship to mouth existence, which we were left with when the Colonial Rulers – The British, were forced to leave our country.

 Our founding fathers and their successors have built educational and scientific institutions ,public sector companies, dams etc. – the temples of modern India – a phrase used by Pandit Nehru, with an aspiration for the country to come out of the rust that we were left with when the British left us. One such institution (rather a series of such institutions now), which has helped produce meaningful contributors to the nation building is the Sainik School Bijapur – SSBJ, which was established on 16th September, 1963.

 The primary aim of the SSBJ is to prepare boys academically, physically and mentally for entry into the NDA and also to be the leaders in other walks of life. SSBJ has been able to produce the best of leaders in Military many of who have served as Generals, Admirals and Air Marshals. The school has also produced some of the most outstanding civil service officers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, academicians, who have contributed incrementally, yet monumentally to our nation building. Until now there have been some attempts to organize the alumni of SSBJ – the AJEETS, under a common platform. One such platform is the AAA – Ajeets Alumni Association. AAA, the beneficiaries of the education in SSBJ, are now attempting a major reform in the structure and functioning of the AAA with an objective to make it more impactful not just to the Ajeets but also to the Indian society at large.

On the occasion of our 75th year of our Independence, some of the stalwart Ajeets, including Captain Gopinath, Gopal Hosur, General Mirji, Ashok Dalwai and many others including some of the most promising young Ajeets, have taken it upon themselves to majorly reform the AAA so that the Ajeets, spread across the length and breadth of the country and across, can come together under one platform to not only help the fraternity but also the nation. Ajeets are a heterogeneous group of people with expertise in diverse areas and their diversity is as rich and vibrant as the diversity of our beloved country.

One such new forum which will function under the auspices of AAA is the Ajeets Knowledge Forum – AKF, which will be launched today – 14th August, 2021, at 6 PM. Knowledge is humanity’s greatest asset. It defines our nature, and it will shape our future. The body of knowledge is assembled over centuries. Yet a single mind can extend it immensely. Einstein reimagined space and time. Darwin distilled the chaos of life to a single idea. Raman looked at light differently and Turing figured out what it means to think. Bhabha and Sarabhai, students of Raman applied their knowledge to build institutions like DAE and ISRO. Knowledge and information have significant impact on people’s lives. Their association, particularly through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), has the power to transform economies and societies and therefore the leaders of AAA have rightfully realized the importance of knowledge and have come together to launch this new forum -AKF.

Today we live in the world of Knowledge Society, which describe societies that are economically and culturally characterized by a high degree of dependency on their potentials to create a broad spectrum of creative, scientific and technological knowledge. Therefore, in such a situation, how can the Ajeets, who are known for their indefatigable character symbolised by our motto Ajeet Hain Abheet Hain be left behind.

The formal launch of the AKF will be followed by an outstanding inaugural lecture by one of the preeminent Ajeets – Captain G R Gopinath, who has made a monumental contribution to the nation in opening up the skies for the common people of the country. It is therefore no wonder that the film industry has befittingly chosen to make a film - Soorarai Pottru, on the life of Captain Gopinath. Soorarai Pottru had its world premiere on Amazon Prime and has been a roaring success. Captain Gopinath will be speaking on “My Life, My Experiments” under the auspices of the AKF.

 On behalf of the AAA and AKF it gives me immense pleasure to invite you all to join us on You Tube for this inaugural lecture by Captain Gopinath.

The Launch Ceremony of AKF will also be streamed Live On YouTube

https://youtu.be/GZaRlJgD714

 

 Shradhanjali to the Supermom - Sushma Swaraj, on her second Punyatithi.

The 6th of August is internationally known for the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and the subsequent peace that dawned and brought to close the deadly WWII, in 1945. Two years ago, on this very day - 6August 2019, India witnessed a historic moment - the passing of the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha.  Ms Sushma Swaraj, tweeted a congratulatory message to the PM of India, hailing this for this historic moment. Her 6PM tweet on read ‘ प्रधान मंत्री जी  आपका हार्दिक अभिनन्दन। मैं अपने जीवन में इस दिन कोदेख़ने की प्रतीक्षा कर रही थी. ‪@narendramodi‬ ji’. Sushma Swaraj, had made a fiery speech in the Parliament, as an opposition leader in 1996,strongly advocating abolition of the article 370. In less than four hours of her tweeting her message and hailing the passing of this bill, Sushma Swaraj, who was ailing for some time, bid adieu to this world for her permanent residence in the heavenly abode.

Hundreds of thousands of admirers of Sushma ji - the people’s leader - including the who’s who of the country; the Honourable President, the Prime Minister, the Vice President and most of the cabinet colleagues, opposition leaders - cutting across party lines - and innumerable other leaders and ordinary men and women had thronged to the BJP headquarters in Delhi, where her mortal remains were taken, to pay their last respect to Sushma ji. Unending number of people poured out their emotion, love, affection, admiration and reverence of unprecedented proportions to the departed leader. What a leader she was, the whole nation joined in admiring her contributions, while paying their extraordinary tributes to Sushma ji,  the par excellence people’s politician, who epitomised what public service means for the empowerment of the people they are elected to govern. 

The passing away of Sushma ji on the very day, 6th August, 2019, of the passing of the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019, in the parliament, in a way came as a great blessing in disguise to the nation. News of the demise of Sushma Swaraj diverted the attention of the people from Kashmir issue and the news of her death occupied the precious front page and prime time space in all media, which would otherwise have been filled with politicking news on the J&K bill, and may have caused unrest in the  country, particularly in the Kashmir valley. Sushma ji served her country even in her death. She was one of those few committed political leaders who remained a compulsive public servant and an extraordinary nationalist for whom public good and service to the nation and its citizens was paramount. Sushma Swaraj has carved a special place not just in the heart and minds of her party - where she was known for effective presentation of her party’s views both inside and outside Parliament - but also among the rest of the countrymen. 

Sushma ji was an archetypal Indian women sporting that trademark big red bindi, कुमकुम on her forehead, wore the trade mark wide bordered saris and that inimitable smile, which were all an embodiment of revered Indian womanhood, which Indians worship as maa Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati. A motherly outlook that she embodied all through her Ministership, particularly as the External Affairs Minister in the Modi 1.0 Government, rightly found a mention in the Washington Post article, which headlined her as ‘Supermom’. Notwithstanding the vilification she was meted out as a saviour of Reddy Brothers, she continued to remain tall in her stature and firmly grounded with people, the evidence of which could be seen from the fact that she was one of those tall leaders, who received unprecedented appreciation from the Prime Minister for her contributions not just to the party but to the whole of India. She learnt Kannada - my mother tongue - while contesting in a loosing cause against Sonia Gandhi from Bellary. One may agree or disagree, she made a forceful point by pledging to shave her head, don a white saree and eat groundnuts (symbollically mourning) if Sonia, ‘the Italian-born Congress leader’, became Prime Minister, in 2004, when UPA surprised NDA to snatch a victory in the parliamentary elections. 

Born in 1952, she was elected as a Janata Party MLA in Devi Lal's government and became the youngest (25 - 26 years) Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment (1977-1979) in Haryana. She joined the BJP in 1980. Under a combined Lok Dal-BJP government led by Devi Lal, she was the Cabinet Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies (1987-1990). She was judged Best Speaker of Haryana State Assembly for three consecutive years. She was the first official women spokesperson of BJP - a first for of all the political parties in India. She was a gifted orator, and her oratory skills matched those of stalwarts like Atal ji, Advani ji, and our PM Modi. Sushma ji was appointed as the the union cabinet minister for Information and Broadcasting in the Vajpayee government in 1996, which survived for a mere thirteen days. It was during this period that she took a revolutionary step of live telecasting of Lok Sabha debates, which have now become a norm. She served as a member of parliament for six terms during which she has held very important positions including serving as the leader of opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. She was also elected as an MLA from Delhi in 1998 and in the same year - in October 1998 - she became the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. She was that illusory अजतशत्र in the world of politics the evidence of which was played out in the outpouring of emotions and tributes by political leaders cutting across parties. Her political career graph is a manifestation of her role in Indian politics.

It was during her tenure as the External Affairs Minister that she transformed the hitherto known ministry for the higher echelons of society into a people’s Ministry by providing a human face to the External Affairs Ministry, for the first time ever. She was one compulsive troubleshooter for any Indian stuck anywhere in the world, and this act of hers is now a folklore story which played out extensively on the twitter post the news of her death. Sushma ji took personal interest in resolving minor issues which included apparently mundane issuance of visa to the needy, including those from Pakistan, and getting the much needed relief to Indians in distress across the globe. She helped in building an extraordinary image for her party among the expats and the response was an outpouring of support for the Modi government from the non-resident Indian community. 

Sushma ji, due to her ailments, had announced her retirement from electoral politics and did not contest the 2019 parliamentary elections. It was hoped that this much needed break and rest would nurse her back to better health but then destiny had a different role for her and she was untimely snatched from all of us at a very young age of just 67, by the almighty in to the abode that she now dwells. Sushma ji, you will ever be remembered for your extraordinary service to the nation. On the occasion of her second punyatithi I take this opportunity to pray for the Supermom to Rest in Peace.

Image Credits - Wikipedia and PTI.

Om Shanti.

Jai Hind

Kargil Vijay Diwas – Remembering Col. M B Ravindranath

Kargil Vijay Diwas – Remembering Col. M B Ravindranath and the Indian Army (all forces included) specially those who made the supreme sacrifice in service of our nation during the Kargil War in 1999.

This day, 26th July, 1999, will ever be etched in the annals of the bravery of the Indian Armed forces, and befittingly the entire nation will join the Indian Army in commemorating this momentous occasion of Kargil विजय दिवस every year on this very day. On the occasion of the 21^st anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas, it is a great honour and privilege for me to share this post as a mark of my reverence to all the armed forces, particularly the martyrs, who won this victory for us from the jaws of the death which they faced while battling at the Kargil peaks, which the enemy had occupied. The valour of our armed forces in this dreadful war, in which the enemy were majorly at an advantageous position by virtue of their deceitfully occupying the peaks of mountain tops in Kargil, can best be exemplified by its comparison with the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who, in his famous poem, portrays  the bravery of the 600 men of the Light Brigade, who marched into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell, to safeguard the safety and integrity of the nation even to their own peril. True to the traditions of the Indian Armed forces, more than 500 (527 to be precise) sons of India made their supreme sacrifice fighting the enemy, who were trenched advantageously on the vantage point on top of the Kargil hills, while protecting our motherland to win the dreadful war, which was as treacherous a valley of death as the one faced by Lord Tennyson’s Light Brigade.

One of the major turning points in the victory of the Kargil War was shaped by the battle of Tololing, which the Indian army won under the command of Col MB Ravindranath - a fellow alumni of Sainik School Bijapur. Most tragically, we lost many precious lives in this battle. Tololing peak is a dominant position, which overlooks the strategic Srinagar-Leh highway. The Pakistani Regular Army and the Pakistani Mujahedeen, had infiltrated into India and had occupied this peak. The enemy was comfortably perched on top of the Tololing peak, which gave them a major advantage. Reclaiming the Tololing peak from the enemy was strategically of great importance, which was however one of the toughest challenges for the Indian Army due to rugged terrain of the hills and so also the vantage position, which the enemy had occupied on top of the peaks.

Three attempts were made for capturing this peak and the last successful attempt was led by our Sainik School alumni – Colonel MB Ravindranath under whose command the Tololing peak was captured. It was in the very early hours of 13^th June, 1999 - at 4.10 a.m., that Colonel M.B. Ravindranath, commanding officer of the 2 Rajputana Rifles, sent a radio communication to the commander of the 8 Mountain Division - Major-General Mohinder Puri, who was camping some 20 km away, that his troupe had successfully captured the Tololing peak.  Colonel Ravindranath’s message was a simple but profound one which said "Sir, I am on Tololing Top." The significance of this Tololing victory can best be understood from the fact that the Army Chief, Gen. V. P. Malik, in a departure from traditions and protocols, personally called the commanding officer of the unit, Colonel Ravindranath, and said "well-done" and complemented Ravindranth and his men for their valour in successfully winning back the Tololing Peak from the control of the enemy. The importance of the capture of the Tololing peak is best understood in hindsight. Once the Tololing was captured from the enemy, it took just six more days for the Indian troops to notch up a string of back to back successes in evicting well-entrenched Pakistani army and their handlers from the four nearby outposts. These outposts subsequently became a house hold names, courtesy the media - Point 4590, Rocky Knob, Hump and Point 5140. The Tololing capture in a way also led to the recapture of another strategically important hill peak the Tiger Hill, which too is now a house hold name in India.

In the hard fought battle of Tololing, India lost Major Rajesh Adhikari who was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second highest military honour. The company of Grenadiers led by Major Adhikari had attempted a dare devilish assault to try and capture Tololing. Unfortunately, they were stopped just 15 m short of the ridge. It was at this point that Major Adhikari and two of his men made their supreme sacrifice in the hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The incessant firing from the enemy and the loss of Major Adhikari and men, pushed the Grenadiers back, compelling Captain Sachin Nimbalkar, aged just 23 years, and his men to push back and perch behind a large rock on a cliff for three days, at a height of 15,000 ft. up.

It was at this point that the Indian army decided to use their artillery firepower – Bofors Howitzers and medium-sized guns. For those of us who have witnessed the heavy firing of these guns during this battle, their image and the fire power of the Bofors guns will remain etched in our memory. It was during this period of heavy artillery shelling on the enemy post by the Indian army that they also planned for fresh assault and organised the required logistics for the renewed attack, which was worked out thoughtfully. The 18 Grenadiers, who had shown exemplary valour in taking on the enemy from a weak position, were asked to hold on to the three positions on different ridge lines, which they were compelled to retreat in the face of the relentless firing from the heavily equipped enemy who held the strategic height advantage for inflicting heavy casualty on the Indian forces. The Grenadiers were ordered to provide a fire base to soldiers of a battalion of the relatively fresh 2nd Rajputana Rifles (2RR) regiment, who were now assigned the task of capturing the Tololing Top. 2RR assault, under the command of Col Ravindranath was to be launched from the firm foothold that the Grenadiers had established on slopes of three ridges, which was about 300 metres below the enemy's positions.

Col Ravindranth – the commanding officer of 2RR, had analysed and learnt from the previous attacks that were carried out by the Grenadiers.  He had accordingly prepared his men to face any eventuality.  The date for the final assault was chosen and Col Ravindranth prepared his men for that final assault on June 12. His men were given all necessary training and preparation for nearly a week by conducting mock operations on a nearby ridge, which had similar features as that of the Tololing, which they were tasked to capture. Ravindranth prepared a model of the final assault and the strategies for the assault was worked out on this sand and stone model, which was prepared based on the information gathered from the reconnaissance of the Tololing heights from different directions. He also ordered his men to test fire all their weapons and ammunition, so that it ruled out any aberrations of a defective ammunition. His men carried heavy ammunitions physically up the slopes below Tololing and his men included among others the washer men, cobblers and even barbers of the battalion. The situation was such that it needed four people to support one soldier in this battlefield. One of the men who was handpicked by Col Ravindranth for the mission was a young officer Lt Parveen Tomar, 23, who was commissioned just five months in to their regiment. He was aptly called the baby of the battalion. The team chosen by Col. Ravindranth consisted of 90 determined volunteers, which included among others Lt Tomar and even sportsmen, mostly athletes who had told Ravindranath that they want to prove that they are not good just in peace time but also in war. A day before the chosen date for the main assault, June 11, Col Ravindranth asked his officers and men to write letters to their family and these letters were left behind with friends to post in case some of them didn't return. On the day of the assault by around 8 PM, on June 12, The 2 RR assault team was ready for the task and were perched behind big boulders just about 300 m short of their main target – Tololing peak. Shortly before the charge, their commanding officer, Col. Ravindranath gave a final pep talk to his men. "I have given you what you wanted. Now, you have to give me what I want." It was a charged atmosphere and the men were waiting for this opportunity to prove their mettle. They were so charged up that it is said that a JCO, Bhanwer Singh with confidence oozing all across the battalion said to his CO – Col Ravindranath, "Sir, come to the Tololing Top in the morning. We will meet you there." Such was the confidence of 2 RR men who were ready to capture the Tololing Peak for their mother land at all costs.

Having faced earlier setbacks and so also loosing men, a well measured decision was taken that frontal attack was the only option to evict the enemy and capture the peak. However, unlike earlier attempts, this attack was well prepared and lessons of the past were learnt. Before the battalion could go on a frontal attack, as many as 120 artillery guns pounded the Tololing ridges incessantly, firing at least 10,000 shells. The resulting damage inflicted on the hills was so severe that one of the ridge line near Tololing Top, which was at the receiving end of the artillery fire got the name "Barbaad Bunker" by the troops. Col Ravindranth men were getting ready for the frontal final assault. Three characters from the Epic Mahabharata - Abhimanyu", "Bhim" and "Arjun" were among the soldiers who were climbing up the peaks getting ready for the assault. One of the officers - Lt. Vijayant, of 2RR was playing patriotic songs from the Hindi Movie Border on his Walkman to pep up his platoon. The momentous occasion came for the battalion to go for the assault when the artillery fire died down. The assault team of 2 RR Battalion, charged quickly. They had planned their move with one team heading straight up and another went around a lower ridge to cut off the enemy's retreat. A platoon of Grenadiers had in the meanwhile positioned itself to provide covering fire and prevent intruders on nearby ridges from coming to the aid of the enemy.  They used craters made by the shelling for cover as they inched up the slopes one at a time climbing the steep ridges by digging in bayonets for leverage and resorting to intermittent firing as they inched closer to the peak. The battalion moved slowly and by midnight, they were still progressing at very low pace since they were constantly under the fire of the Pakistani machine gunfire, which was fired incessantly by the enemy, who were positioned at the advantageous position on top of the hill. Around this time a reserve platoon, led by Major Gupta, attacked the enemy from the rear side and closed in on the Top. In the ensuing bitter hand to-hand combat with the enemy intruders, Gupta and six of his men were killed. Bhanwer Singh, the JCO who had extended the invitation to Colonel Ravindranath, was one among those who were martyred. But then in their ultimate sacrifice they had ensured that the Tololing Top belonged once again to India.

Once Tololing fell, the enemy's resistance on other nearby ridges faded. By June 13 morning, the Rajputana Rifles had recaptured "Barbaad Bunker" about 100 m south west of Tololing and Point 4590. By June 14, the Hump was taken by the Grenadiers. In the next three days, all points in nearby ridges were back in Indian hands. When the outcome unfolded at the top of these peaks it was seen that the war zone was littered with bodies of Regular Pakistan army from the Northern Light Infantry. Colonel Ravindranath, our school buddy who was one year senior to me in Sainik School, was awarded the Vir Chakra for his role in this battle. Even when the 2RR was celebrating their unimaginable victory in the face of certain death, the soldiers remained sombre having lost their comrades, who had made their supreme sacrifice in service of their motherland. Press reports have suggested that later that day, Col. Ravindranath, who is known for his exemplary leadership and for his calm and composed nature could not hold his emotions and wept in his tent as he counted the casualties that his men faced in this victory.  Such was the significance of this victory that once the heights above Drass valley became free from intruders a critical section of the 510-km long Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway became very safe. "Tololing being bang on the road, it choked our throats," is what a field commander stated and added. "that pressure is now off."

 

This victory helped the Indian Army to the final Kargil victory and a cease fire was announced with the Indian Victory on 26^th July 1999. The Tololing victory news was all over the print and electronic media and one such coverage in the Times of India, Delhi edition, was an erroneous news of the death of Col MB Ravindranath, who was declared dead while capturing the Tololing. Through our school friends, I managed to get a confirmation that the news was grossly wrong and he was alive and had exemplarily led his men to the Tololing Capture.  There is a belief that if someone is declared dead while he is still alive, he will go on to lead a long life, so I thought about our dear Ravindranath, but the almighty felt he could not live without him by his side and snatched him from us. Col Ravindranath died of a massive heart attack on 8^th April 2018. Today while the nation is celebrating the Kargil Vijay Diwas, our school friends in Davanagere, the native place from which Col Ravindranath hailed, gave a befitting tribute to our war hero whose images I am privileged to share.

 Today is also another day to remember. One of our classmate Col Ajit Bhandarkar, about whose valour and martyrdom I have written earlier has now been immortalised through a monumental biography book which has been painstakingly researched and published by his wife Veer Nari, Mrs Shakuntala Bhadnarkar. This book – The Saga of a Brave Heart : Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, Shaurya Chakra, was released on this occasion today - 26th July, 2021, at the National Military Memorial, Bangalore.

 Long Live Col Ravindranath, Col Ajit Bhadarkar and all the brave soldiers of the Indian Army who have made their supreme sacrifice in service of their mother land.

 

Jai Hind Jai Hind ki Sena.