May 6 : A leader does not set out to be a leader but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.

On this day, 06 May...

1529 - Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra.

1840 - The adhesive postage stamp was first sold in Great Britain.

1851 - A U.S. patent was issued to John Gorrie for his invention of an “Improved Process for the Artificial Production of Ice”. This was the first U.S. patent issued for a mechanical refrigerator. His British patent was granted earlier on 22 Aug 1850.

1857 - The British East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose Sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British and is considered to be the First Martyr in the War of Indian Independence.

1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.

1891 - U.S. President Benjamin Harrison had the first electric lights installed in the White House. Irwin H. “Ike”, the electrician who came to do the work, was retained as the White House electrician to operate the lights because the President's family was afraid of getting shocked.   The large lanterns on the great white pillars of the front portico remained unchanged, lit by gas. Each night, a man used a ladder to light each lamp. The society page of the 13 Dec 1891 New York Times declared “Long may it be before the vandal march of progress reaches these quaint old lanterns to destroy their picturesqueness by the introduction of electricity.”

1896 - The Aerodrome No. 5  made the first successful flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven, heavier-than-air craft of substantial size.  Its first flight travelled 3,300-ft.

1916 - The first U.S. radio telephone ship-to-shore conversation was made.  The Secretary of the Navy gave orders for the next day's movement to the captain of the battleship.  These orders were the first occasion that a ship of the Navy was ever operated direct from the department by wireless telephone. The result of these tests was so satisfactory that the department arranged for continuous direct long-distance service by telephone and telegraph circuits between the department and the principal navy yards. 

1948 - India rejected the Security Council's plan for UN supervision over plebiscite in Kashmir.

1953 - A heart-lung machine designed by Dr. John Heysham Gibbon was used to successfully complete the first open-heart surgery, on patient Cecelia Bavolek, demonstrating that an artificial device can temporarily mimic the functions of the heart. 

1967 - Zakir Hussain elected 1st Moslem president of India.

2015 - In response to terrorist dangers such as the January shootings at French satire magazine 'Charlie Hebdo', the French National Assembly passes a law to expand the government's surveillance powers; critics warn that the act will violate civil liberties.

Born

1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian father of psychoanalysis.

1861 - Motilal Gangadhar Nehru, lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress.

1861- Rabindranath Tagore, poet/mystic/composer, Nobel 1913.

1983 – Gagan Narang, sportsperson (shooting).

RIP

1589 - Mian Tansen, the famous singer of Akbar's court.

1922 - Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu, great revolutionary, freedom fighter and social reformer of Kolhapur.

1952 - Maria Montessori, the pioneer in modern education, who spent almost 10 years in India, died in Noordwijk a Zee. The principles and techniques advocated by her are also applied to the education of handicapped children and adult education.

You may have known...

Pakistan military thus displays more of an indirect exploitation through the retired personnel. They act as primary conduits for the covert use of the country's resources.