“Sir M. Visvesvaraya has been and continues to be a source of inspiration not only to engineers but to anyone in public life. He was a perfect model of intellectual integrity and financial probity, both values which are in danger today,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said here on Sunday.

He was speaking at the founder’s day ceremony in memory and contribution of M. Visvesvaraya, organised here by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

In his speech, taking the audience to the developments in the early part of the 20th century, Mr. Ramesh spoke extensively about the relationship between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and M. Visvesvaraya. He recalled the days of Indian National Congress’s planning committee in 1938, when Visvesvaraya was one of the prominent members who contributed to 27 reports, which laid foundation to the establishment of the Planning Commission in 1950.