Celebrating Engineers Day : Honouring the Unsung Heroes

Celebrating Engineers Day : Honouring the Unsung Heroes
Last week, we celebrated Engineers Day, a day dedicated not just to machines, bridges, and buildings, but to the brilliant minds who imagine, design, and create them. It is also the day we remember Bharat Ratna Sir M. Vishveshvaraya, one of India’s greatest engineers and the visionary Dewan of the Mysore Kingdom.
We rarely stop to think about how seamlessly engineering touches our lives. In reality, the electricity in our homes, water in our taps, the smartphones in our hands, or the Wi-Fi that connects us exist due to  engineering. From the houses we live in, the roads, aircrafts and railways we travel, to the bridges that connect cities across rivers and seas, engineering is the silent backbone of civilization.
Sir M. Vishveshvaraya’s genius was legendary. It is said he could detect faults in a railway track just by listening to the sound of passing wheels. While we occasionally hear such stories, the truth is most engineers remain unsung heroes.
In my own family, engineering runs deep. My father was an electrical engineer, and today, we proudly count five engineers in the family, with my son soon joining their ranks. Without doubt, I keep getting overwhelmed by their heavy textbooks filled with formulas and diagrams that I can never make sense of. I always wonder how does a bridge stand tall in the middle of the ocean, unshaken by waves? We admire marvels like the Atal Setu or the Samruddhi Expressway, but how many of us including me know the names of the engineers who designed them? We remember names of film stars and sports icons instantly, yet engineers, the real nation-builders are rarely recognised. That’s why celebrating Engineers Day is important. It is a reminder to pause and  acknowledge their vital role in our day to day life.
Engineering has been a part of our ancient civilizatios. The first stone tools, the discovery of fire, the invention of the wheel and the plough were all engineering breakthroughs. Over the centuries, engineers have been central to human survival and progress. Nations cannot develop without them.
Agriculture, for example, has been transformed by irrigation systems, modern machinery, and fertilizers which are products of engineering. Healthcare , with it's surgical instruments , advanced machines manufacturing life-saving medicines owes much to engineers.
Today, we rely on engineers in almost every field, and they are shaping our world through aeronautics, robotics, nanotechnology, computing, and space exploration.  Our modern lives would collapse without their innovations.
It is very encouraging  to see engineers focusing on rural India, designing technologies that bring electricity, clean water, and better infrastructure to villages. This effort is vital if India is to  narrow the urban rural divide and truly achieve our Hon’ble Prime Minister's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Development cannot be urban alone; it must touch every corner of the nation. Engineers are key to making that happen.
Sir Vishveshvaraya believed in service beyond personal gain. His words can only inspire: “To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money.” His principles of self-help, teamwork, efficiency, and supporting Indian industries remain deeply relevant today.
On Engineers Day, let us pause to recognize these silent builders of our nation. They are no less than celebrities since  their legacy is etched in every road we drive on, every bridge we cross, every building we work in, and every piece of technology we use.
As India marches toward progress, it is our engineers who will lead the way by designing, innovating, and building the future. Their work is not just about structures and machines; it is about hope, growth, and the promise of a better tomorrow.
So, here’s a salute to the engineers, the dreamers, the doers, the unsung heroes who continue to shape our world.

R.Vimala,  IAS
Resident Commissioner,  Maharashtra,
Compassionate Civil Servant
& PhD Scholar at ADCPS, IIT Bombay