June 23: The ultimate measure of a leader is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

On this day, 23 Jun...

930 - World's oldest parliament, the Icelandic Parliament, was established. 

1661 - Princess Catherine of Portugal wed King Charles II of England. Portugal gave island of Mumbai to England as present. The British got Bombay as dowry from Portugal.

1757 - Robert Clive defeats Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, at Plassey, wins control of Bengal. (Plassey is an anglicised name for Palashi, a village on the Bhagirathi river).

1775 - The first American-made book was advertised in Philadelphia. Titled Impenetrable Secret, the book was printed and sold by Story and Humphreys. Sadly, no copy of the book has survived.  

1784 - In Baltimore,  America's first balloonist, was a teenager,13-year-old Edward Warren, who soloed in a 35-foot diameter hot-air balloon held in place from the ground with a tether.

1868 - Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule of Milwaukee, US, received a patent for an invention he called a “Type-Writer”. It only had capital letters and fit in a box about 2 feet square and 6" high. The typists didn't know if they were making errors because the paper could not be seen as it was being typed; it was inside the machine.

1964 - Arthur Melin obtained a patent for the hula-hoop. An Australian visiting California told Melin that in his country, children twirled bamboo hoops around theirs waists in gym class.

1894 - The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

1927 - All India radio broadcasting service started by a private transmitting station in Bombay and Calcutta.

1930 - The Simon Commission recommends a federal India and separation of Burma.

1946 - In South Africa, a group of white men attack and assault Indian Passive Resisters.

1961 - The Antarctic Treaty, ensuring that Antarctica is used for peaceful purposes; for international cooperation in scientific research; and does not become the scene or object of international discord, comes into force.

1961 - An X-15 jet airplane set a speed record, travelling over 3,000 mph at Edwards Air Force Base, California. 

1985 - Bomb destroys Air India Boeing 747 'Kanishka' in air near Ireland. A total of 329 people were killed, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens and 24 Indian citizens. Canadian law enforcement determined that the main suspects in the bombing were members of the Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa. The subsequent investigation and prosecution lasted almost twenty years. This was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearly C$130 million. The report concluded a "cascading series of errors" by various Canadian security agencies.  

1992 - "Teen Bigha Day" protest in India of corridor opening to Bangladesh.

The Teen Bigha Corridor  is a strip of land belonging to India on the West Bengal–Bangladesh border which, in September 2011, was leased to Bangladesh so that it can access its Dahagram–Angarpota enclaves. (According to the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Mujibur Rahman treaty of 16 May, 1974, India and Bangladesh were to hand over the sovereignty of the Teen Bigha Corridor  and South Berubari to each other. Bangladesh did hand over the sovereignty of the smaller South Berubari to India instantly in 1974. India, however, could not transfer the Tin Bigha Corridor to Bangladesh as it required constitutional amendment which could not be done due to political reasons. After much Bangladesh government protest, India, instead of handing over sovereignty in 2011, proposed to lease the Teen Bigha Corridor to Bangladesh for a certain time. South Berubari, meanwhile, would remain in the possession of India).

Born

1921 - Rehman, actor.

1952  - Raj Babbar, actor, politician

RIP

1953 - Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, great social reformer, politician and national leader, founder of Jan Sangh Party.

1975 - General Prannath Thapar, former Army Chief.

1980 - Sanjay Gandhi, politician and General Secretary AICC (I).

Titbits

1928 - In Germany, a rocket-powered auto built by Opel was wrecked in a test after reaching a speed of 156 mph.   

You may have known...

A classic violin contains about 70 different pieces of wood.

Business News

• The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has directed the SEBI to conduct a fresh probe into the acquisition of Network18 Media & Investments by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)

• A year into implementation,  GST has not delivered on the promised formalisation of the economy as yet, while the glitches in the one-nation-one-tax regime has increased the demand for cash, says a foreign brokerage report.

• The income-tax (I-T) department has proposed clear-cut timelines by which excess amount assessed by transfer pricing officials  over what was declared by associated enterprises of  MNCs has to be brought in India. These timelines relate to advance pricing agreements (APAs) and mutual agreement procedures (MAPs). 

• Alarmed over the number of card-skimming cases at ATMs, the RBI has asked banks to install anti-skimming devices and ‘white-listing’ solutions in the cash machines by March 2019.

• The Indian Banks’ Association  has suggested setting up of an independent committee and to include a RBI official as a part of the panel to scrutinise charges against bankers.