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Every year, September 15 is celebrated as National Engineers’ Day in India to commemorate the birth anniversary of the legendary engineer and statesman Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. The day celebrates engineering not merely as a profession, but as a powerful instrument of nation-building.

When we recall India’s engineering pioneers, names such as Sir M. Visvesvaraya, Dr Satish Dhawan and E. Sreedharan immediately come to mind. Visvesvaraya symbolised the engineering of irrigation, water management and public infrastructure; Satish Dhawan transformed India’s space programme into a robust institution of scientific and engineering excellence; and Sreedharan demonstrated how engineering and professional project management could transform India’s transportation landscape.

But India’s engineering story has another remarkable chapter – the story of its women engineers. And that story began much earlier than many realise.

Lalitha: the woman who broke the first barrier

Before Indian women were leading missile programmes, designing satellites or guiding spacecraft towards the Moon, there was Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha, popularly known as A. Lalitha. Born in 1919 in Madras (now Chennai), Lalitha became India’s first woman engineer and one of the earliest women in the country to enter the engineering profession at a time when engineering was overwhelmingly a male domain.

National Engineers’ Day

Her achievement was extraordinary not simply because she earned an engineering degree, but because she did so at a time when social expectations placed severe restrictions on women’s education and professional careers. She studied electrical engineering at the College of Engineering, Guindy, graduating in 1943. Lalitha went on to work as an electrical engineer and participated in important engineering projects, including work associated with large power and infrastructure systems. Her career demonstrated something that would become increasingly evident in the decades that followed: women were not merely capable of studying engineering; they could excel as practising engineers.

If Visvesvaraya represented the engineering spirit of an emerging modern India, Lalitha represented another equally important transformation – the opening of the engineering profession to Indian women. From Lalitha’s electrical engineering to today’s spacecraft and missile systems, the journey has been remarkable.

From dams to sustainable infrastructure

India’s engineering challenges have changed dramatically since the time of Visvesvaraya. The country now has to build infrastructure that is not only large but also resilient, sustainable and capable of serving a rapidly growing population.

One inspiring example is Prof. Gali Madhavi Latha, Professor of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. A geotechnical engineer, her work encompasses soil and ground reinforcement, geosynthetics, liquefaction mitigation and ground improvement. Soil engineering may appear far removed from the spectacular world of rockets and satellites. In reality, it forms the invisible foundation of infrastructure. Roads, bridges, railway embankments, buildings, irrigation systems and industrial facilities all depend upon understanding and stabilising the ground beneath them. Such engineering is particularly important for rural and agricultural India, where irrigation structures, farm-to-market roads, water infrastructure and transportation networks must function under diverse soil and climatic conditions. The work of engineers such as Madhavi Latha represents the quieter but indispensable side of nation-building – making the earth itself capable of supporting development.

From telecommunications to space communication

India’s telecommunications revolution is another story of engineering. From limited telephone connectivity to mobile networks, broadband and satellite communication, engineers have created the invisible infrastructure connecting a vast country. One of the pioneers in India’s satellite communication programme was Anuradha T. K., who became the first woman satellite project director at ISRO. She worked on communication satellites including GSAT-12 and GSAT-10. Communication satellites today support telecommunications, broadcasting, weather forecasting, disaster management, navigation, education and connectivity in remote areas. Thus, the work of a woman engineer designing a satellite can ultimately influence the life of a farmer, a student in a remote village, a fisherman at sea or a disaster-response team.

Women who took Indian engineering to the Moon

Perhaps nowhere is the rise of women engineers more visible than in India’s space programme. The foundations were laid by pioneering men such as Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan, who created the institutions and engineering culture that enabled India’s space ambitions. The new generation, however, has seen women take centre stage. The Chandrayaan-2 mission was a landmark. Muthayya Vanitha served as Project Director and Ritu Karidhal Srivastava as Mission Director. Their leadership demonstrated that Indian women engineers possessed the technical competence and organisational experience to lead missions of extraordinary complexity.

The tradition continued with Kalpana Kalahasti, who served as Deputy Project Director for Chandrayaan-3. India’s successful soft landing on the Moon was the result of the collective effort of thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians, but the prominent leadership roles occupied by women became an important symbol for a new generation.

For millions of young Indian girls, the message was unmistakable: the control room of an interplanetary mission is also their workplace.

From missiles to strategic technology

Women engineers’ contributions extend beyond civilian infrastructure and space exploration.Dr Tessy Thomas, popularly known as India’s “Missile Woman”, became the first woman to head an Indian missile project. She played important roles in India’s Agni missile programme and later served in senior leadership at the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Missile engineering requires expertise in propulsion, guidance, control systems, avionics, materials, aerodynamics and systems integration. The rise of women to leadership positions in these highly sophisticated programmes demonstrates the depth of India’s engineering talent. Dr Chandrika Kaushik, a senior DRDO scientist and technology leader, represents another dimension of women’s growing contribution to India’s strategic technology ecosystem.

Beyond the Moon

India’s ambitions are no longer confined to the Moon. Nigar Shaji, Project Director of India’s Aditya-L1 solar mission, represents the new generation of women engineers leading missions into increasingly challenging domains of space. Similarly, Nandini Harinath, who has worked on numerous satellite and space missions, represents the specialised expertise required for spacecraft operations and mission management.

Women such as J. Manjula, Dr Meena Mishra and Dr V. R. Lalithambika further demonstrate the breadth of women’s participation in India’s aerospace, defence and advanced engineering programmes. Dr Lalithambika’s association with India’s human-spaceflight programme represents yet another frontier – developing the engineering capabilities required to send humans safely into space.

From Lalitha to the women of Chandrayaan

The journey from A. Lalitha’s electrical engineering in the 1940s to the women leading India’s Moon and Sun missions is more than a story of individual achievement. It is a story of social transformation.

Lalitha entered engineering when the very idea of a woman becoming an engineer challenged convention. Today, women engineers are designing launch vehicles, developing missiles, building communication systems, strengthening infrastructure, leading metro and transportation projects, researching advanced materials and sending spacecraft into deep space. The barriers have not disappeared completely. Women in engineering still face challenges to representation, leadership opportunities, workplace culture and balancing professional and personal responsibilities. But the landscape has changed fundamentally. National Engineers’ Day should therefore be more than a celebration of engineering achievements. It should also be a reminder that India’s technological future depends on opening every door of engineering to women.