Current Affairs 29th October 2018

Current Affairs 29th October 2018 - Important Points

• Who has  sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka ? - Mahinda Rajapaksha
• India wins CAPAM International Innovations Awards 2018 on - 23rd October 2018
• India Building World’s Highest Railway Line between Delhi - Ladakh
• Former Delhi CM Madan Lal Khurana passed away on - 27th October 2018
• North East Festival and Experiencing the North East held  on - 28th October 2018
• Researchers develop web-based tool to monitor fake news on -  Social media

Current Affairs 29th October 2018 - Details

Who has  sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka ? - Mahinda Rajapaksha

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe, obligatory PM of Sri Lanka and designated earlier President Mahinda Rajapaksha as new PM.
In fresh times, the politics of Sri Lanka is in turmoil due to the tension among President Sirisena and P.M.Vikramasinghe. In an unexpected move, the United People’s Freedom Alliance, the Political Front of President Mittipala Sirisena, removed support from the coalition government with Ranil Vikramasinghe’s United National Party. This coalition government was fashioned in 2015, when Sirisena became President by the support of Ranil Vikramasinghe.
This unexpected move also specifies a constitutional crisis prowling in Sri Lanka. As per to the 19th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, Vikramasinghe could not be detached from the position without the majority.
More about Mahinda Rajapaksa

• Mahinda Rajapaksa was born on November 18th, 1949 in the southern province of British Sri Lanka.
• He was the 18th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from April 6th, 2004 to November 19th, 2005. After that, he was the 6th President of Sri Lanka from November 19th, 2005 to January 9th, 2015.

India wins CAPAM International Innovations Awards 2018 on - 23rd October 2018

India on October 23rd, 2018 secured the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management Award- CAPAM 2018 for a creativity that envisages quality education for all. The initiative authorized Unnayan Banka- Reinventing Education Using Technology of Banka District’,
state of Bihar has been bestowed under the category ‘Innovation Incubation’.
Unnayan Banka Initiative
It is a resourcefulness that envisions ‘quality education for all’ especially for those at the bottom of the pyramid, using the latest technologies.
It is a holistic model focused at making sure the complete development of youngsters starting from
education to employability.
Besides this, another resourcefulness known as “Unified Agriculture Markets” of Co-operation Department of Government of Karnataka was nominated under the group of ‘Innovation in Public Service Management’.  The initiative has also been awarded the inclusive Gold Award at Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management Awards, 2018.
More about CAPAM

• The Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management is a non-profit connotation representing an international network of more than 1100 senior public servants, Leaders of Government, leading academics and scientists situated in more than 50 different nations across the Commonwealth.  
• The connotation is directed by international leaders who believe in the value of networking, knowledge exchange and the promotion of good supremacy for the betterment of inhabitants in the Commonwealth nations. 
• It has been proclaiming its International Innovations Awards Program bi-annually, since 1998. 

India Building World’s Highest Railway Line between Delhi - Ladakh

India railways proclaimed its plan to link New Delhi and Ladakh by railway line that will operate along the India-China Border. The planned ‘Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Line’ would be the world’s highest railway line once initiated.
Key Points

• The projected cost to build the 465 kilometres line will be Rupees 83,360 crores.
• The railway line will be the world’s highest at 5,360m above mean sea level which is analogous to China’s Quinghai-Tibet Railway Line at 2,000m.
• The project comprises of 74 tunnels, 124 major bridges, 396 minor bridges and 30 stations.
• Keylong station on the route will be build inside a tunnel at the height of 3000m which will be the first if its kind in India.
  Notably, above half the train route would be sheltered via tunnels, the longest of which is 27 kilometres.
• Whole length of the tunnels would be 244 kilometres.
• The route will connect key locations between Bilaspur and Leh including Sundernagar, Mandi, Manali, Keylong, Koksar, Darcha, Upshi and Karu and various other towns of Himachal Pradesh and J&K.
• After the accomplishment, the rail line will halve the time taken to cover the distance between Delhi and Leh from the present 40 hours to 20 hours.
• In addition to delivering quick all-weather access to the armed forces, the railway line will also augment tourism in the Ladakh region which currently is linked by road and air.
• The Ladakh-Himachal Pradesh areas encounters heavy snowfall and the road and air connectivity.

Former Delhi CM Madan Lal Khurana passed away on - 27th October 2018

Former Delhi CM, Madan Lal Khurana, deceased on October 27th, 2018 after a continued illness. He was 82.
The veteran Bhartiya Janta Party leader was suffering from a chest infection and fever since the last some days. He had ached with a brain haemorrhage around 5 years ago and was ailing since then. He is survived by his wife, a son and 2 daughters. His another son, had died last month. 
His last rites would be organised on October 29th. Delhi government on October 28th announced a 2 days state mourning as a mark of respect.
More about Madan Lal Khurana

• Madan Lal Khurana was born on October 15th, 1936 in Lyallpur, Punjab Province of then British India, which now is called as Faisalabad in Pakistan.
• Khurana was hardly 12 years old, when his family was pushed to migrate to Delhi after Partition and
  started to piece its life together again at a refugee colony Kirti Nagar, New Delhi.
• He completed his degree of bachelor's from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. As a youth, Khurana became a teacher at PGDAV College evening department earlier deciding to join politics.
• Afterwards he along with Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Kedar Nath Sahani and Kanwar Lal Gupta started the Delhi chapter of the Jan Sangh, which in 1980 altered into Bhartiya Janta Party and kept the party afloat in New Delhi for above 4 decades from 1960-2000.
• Khurana was the Jan Sangh's general secretary from 1965-1967.
• He subjugated 1st Municipal Corporation politics and then the Metropolitan Council where he was the Chief Whip, Executive Councillor and Leader of the Opposition by shots.
• Bhartiya Janta Party suffered badly in 1984 general elections, which were organised after the death of Indira Gandhi. Khurana is attributed with reviving the party in the New Delhi. He served tirelessly and his efforts earned him the title of Dilli Ka Sher.
• He worked as the CM of Delhi from 1993-1996, after which he resigned within controversy.
• He also performed as the Union Minister of Parliamentary affairs and Tourism in the late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, before resigning in January 1999, due to a fallout with the senior leadership of the party.
• He also performed as the Governor of Rajasthan from January 2004-October 2004, after which he resigned to enter into politics again in Delhi after nearly half a dozen Members of Legislative Assembly from Delhi went up to him in Jaipur Raj Bhawan demanding him to return to active politics.

North East Festival and Experiencing the North East held  on - 28th October 2018

The 6th edition of North East festival was held till October 28th, 2018 in New Delhi and the 15th edition of Indian International Centre festival is also planned to organise from 27th-31st October 2018.
Important feature of North East Festival

• Cultural presentations involving Bagrumba dance, Hozagir dance of Tripura, Bihu dance of Assam, Garo Wangla dance and Manipuri martial arts acts called Thang Ta.
• There was a fashion shows with traditional patterns and textiles.
• There was a presentation about organic food and vegetables cultivated in the region along with
  agriculture, horticulture and food processing stalls.
• About 150 craft stalls showcasing exotic handloom and handicrafts items of North-East region.
  There were special performances by Nise Meruno, who is classical pianist and vocalist.
• The festival is a part of Destination North East Series being planned by North Eastern Council, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
• The festival was planned by Indian International Centre as 15th anniversary of its annual festivals. The theme for present year is ‘Experiencing the North East’.
• To display the richness of cultural heritage of North-East region, there was emphasis on presenting
  dance, music, theatre, exhibitions, and special cuisines to the invitees and visitors.
• There was an exhibition specially engrossed on Bamboo items.
• A literary programme known as ‘These hills we come from’…Voices from North East also occurred
  concentrating on literature of the region.
• Some Films of the North-East region were also displayed in the festival.

Researchers develop web-based tool to monitor fake news on -  Social media

Academics from the University of Michigan in the United States have established a web-based tool to monitor fake news on social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook.
The tool utilises a Platform Health Metric known as the “Iffy Quotient”, which draws information from 2 external entities consisting NewsWhip and Media Bias/Fact Checker. 
Important Highlights

• The NewsWhip is a social media engagement tracking organisation, which gathers URLs from number of sites every day and then collets information on, which of these sites have engagements on Facebook and Twitter. 
• The Iffy Quotient queries NewsWhip for the leading 5000 most popular URLs on the 2 social media platforms. 
• Then the tool checks to see if those domain names have been flagged by Media Bias/Fact Check, which is an autonomous site that categorizes various sources based on their reliability and bias. 
• The tool splits the URLs into 3 categories based on the media bias and fact checklists including-
  1. Iffy: If the site is on the Questionable Sources/Conspiracy lists
  2. OK: If the site is on any other list, such as Left-Bias, Right-Bias or Satire
  3. Unknown: If it is not on any list.