Jayanta Sthanapati and Shakunt Pandey

India celebrates Engineers’ Day on 15 September, marking the birthday of eminent civil engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (1861-1962). In 1958, just a few years before Visvesvaraya’s birth centenary, the Visvesvaraya Industrial Museum Society of Bengaluru initiated establishing “Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya Industrial Museum” in the city. The then Chief Minister of Mysore State made the museum’s land available in the verdant expanse of Cubbon Park. Funds were mobilised through the All-India Manufacturers’ Organisation, and the museum’s foundation stone was laid that same year. The construction of the museum building was completed, exhibits were installed, and it was opened to the public by the then Prime Minister of India on 14 July 1962. The museum then featured temporary exhibits, mostly industrial products collected from various establishments such as Bharat Electronics Limited, Indian Telephone Industries, Hindustan Machine Tools, and other similar industries. However, after a few months, the lenders reclaimed the exhibits, and the museum became inoperative…read more on NOPR