March 17 : Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration.

On this day, 17 Mar....

1768 - William Cookworthy obtained a British patent for his process to take local china clay and manufacture fine white porcelain. This was significant because he could produce hard paste porcelain to compete in quality as finished goods imported from China. This eliminated the need to import the china clay, previously obtained from either China or America. His years of experimenting to improve the manufacturing process from the clay to the finished product established the porcelain industry in Britain.

1769 - To establish the English Mill's Cloth companies, East Indian Company imposed various restrictions on weavers of Bengal to destroy textile industry in Bengal , which was meant to destroy the Indian cloth and 'malmal' industry.

1782 - Salby (Salbai) Treaty was signed between East India Company and Marathas. The Company acquired guarantees that the Marathas would defeat Hyder Ali of Mysore and retake territories in the Carnatic. The Marathas also guaranteed that the French would be prohibited from establishing settlements on their territories. In return, the British agreed to pension off their protégé, Raghunath Rao, and acknowledge Madhavrao II as peshwa of the Maratha Empire.

1845 - Stephen Perry, owner of Messrs Perry and Co,. patented the use of India rubber for use as springs in bands, belts, etc., and also the manufacture of elastic bands by slicing suitable sizes of vulcanised India rubber tube. (In the early 19th century, sailors brought home items made by Central and South American natives from the sap of rubber trees).

1898 - The first practical submarine was demonstrated by John Holland off Staten Island in New York for 100 minutes. Holland's sub was not the first underwater boat, but is credited as the first practical one.

1901 - A showing of seventy-one Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.

1955 - Indian Standard's Institute started working to control the quality of Indian products and the ISI mark was issued to quality products.

1959 - Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India.

Born

1962 - Kalpana Chawla, scientist.

1979 - Sharman Joshi, actor.

1990 - Saina Nehwal, badminton star.

RIP

1527 - Rana Sangram Singh, King of Mewad, fought Babur near Kanwa at Agra and lost the battle and died thereafter. He had vowed not to enter Chittogarh without a victory.

1989 - Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, president of Lok Dal (B) and former Union Minister.

You may have known....

90 percent of wastewater in developing countries is discharged into rivers and streams without any treatment.