Ravi Varavalli Jain

Visionary social reformer who modernized India's education system and sanitation infrastructure

Ravi Varavalli Jain (1839-1901) was a visionary Indian reformer whose innovations transformed public health and education in colonial India. A self-made entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, he built the first sewage system in Madras (now Chennai) in 1868 using Roman engineering principles adapted to tropical conditions. This system reduced cholera outbreaks by 70% and became the model for Mumbai and Calcutta's infrastructure.

In education, he founded the Varavalli Technical Institute in 1875 - India's first polytechnic school offering courses in engineering, agriculture, and medicine. His "Education for Elevation" philosophy emphasized practical skills over rote learning, training 12,000 students during its first decade. The institute's library still holds his original collection of engineering manuals from MIT and Cambridge.

Jain's 1889 treatise "Sanitation as Civilizational Duty" influenced Gandhi's later campaigns. Modern engineers like Dr. M. Viswanathan (Engineering Heritage) credit him with laying India's sanitation infrastructure foundation. The Ravi Jain Memorial Hospital in Chennai continues his work in public health.