Answer:
On September 6, 1915, a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per hour.As farmers and authorities debate on how best to rebuild the damaged shutters of the Upper Anicut flood regulator at Mukkombu, the farming community in the Cauvery delta has been gratefully recalling the services of British military engineer Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton (1803-1899), who spearheaded the massive exercise in water management in the 19th century.
In fact, for many in Thanjavur district, the Mukkombu incident marks the end of an era in public works engineering.
Born in 1803 in Woodcote, Oxfordshire, England, Cotton joined the Scientific Corps of Royal Engineers at the age of 16, and arrived in Madras in September 1821. After serving in the Anglo-Burmese war (1824-26), he began his irrigation projects in 1828.
