Maithripala Sirisena : Sworn-in as 7th President of Sri Lanka

Maithripala Sirisena has sworn-in as 7th President of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Judge K. Sri Pawan administered the oath of office to Maithiripala Sirisena at a oath taking function held at the Independence Square in Colombo.

While, United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn-in as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister.
Election verdict: Maithiripala Sirisena was declared elected in Presidential elections after he had defeated incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa by more than 4 and a half lakh votes. In this election he had secured 51.28 % of total votes casted.

Summary on Sri Lanka’s 2015 Presidential Election:

• After the result was declared, incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa had conceded defeat. It should be noted that for the first time in Sri Lanka, an incumbent President was defeated.

• Mahinda Rajapaksa was President for one decade and had played important role to end LTTE militancy in 2009.

• He also played important in huge development projects in the island nation, but failed to address the political aspirations of the minority Tamil community, protect the Muslims from Buddhist hardliners and secure a better economic deal for the poor.

• Maithiripala Sirisena was Health Minister Rajapaksa’s government. But after Presidential were declared in November 2014 he opposed Mahinda Rajapaksa by contesting the elections.

• In this Presidential election, Maithiripala Sirisena got huge support of rainbow coalition of several parties and minority communities as he had promised constitutional, electoral and administrative reforms within a hundred days of coming to power.

• He also had promised to abolish Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka and hand over political power to the Prime Minister and the Parliament.

Maithripala Sirisena:

• He was born on 3 September 1951 and is son of a World War II veteran.

• Political career: He had joined mainstream politics in 1989 through the Sri Lankan Freedom Party. He was first elected to Sri Lankan Parliament in 1989. He has held several ministries in Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga government. He was Minister of Agriculture in the first Rajapakas government elected in 2005. He was reelected in 2010 and appointed Minister of Health.

• In 1971, he was arrested on suspicion of leading a revolt against the government and was in jail for almost two years.

"World Hindi Day" is being observed on 10 January every year

• Every year 10 January is being observed World Hindi Day. Objective of this day is to promote use of Hindi language abroad.

• To mark the occasion, special functions are being organized. It is usually, observed by Union Ministry of External Affairs (MoEF) and Indian Missions abroad.

Background of World Hindi Day :

• On this day in 1975, the First World Hindi Conference was organized in Nagpur by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was held from 10 to 12 January 1975.

• In first conference, then Prime Minister of Mauritius Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was Chief Guest. This conference was attended by 122 delegates from 30 countries.

• Since then every year 10th January is being observed as the World Hindi Day.

Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 : All you need to know about 7th Vibrant Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.
Key facts :

• Inaugural ceremony was attended by United Nations General Secretary and US State Secretary John Kerry.

• Apart from them, several ministers from Europe, Japan,Australia and Canada and over 50 CEOs of top Indian as well as international companies attended it.

• Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Ben Patel earlier had welcomed all head of states dignitaries, diplomats and deligates to the summit.

• This edition will be 3 day event, starting from 11 January and conclude on 13 January 2015.

• For the first time, eight countries Canada, Japan, China, Australia, the Netherlands,Singapore, South Africa and U.S. have become partner for the summit with State.

• This event is expected to bring in record investments to Gujarat. State government expects to sign over 20,000 Expression of Interest during the summit.

About Vibrant Gujarat Summit:

• This mega business event is brainchild of PM Narendra Modi and had started it when he was Chief Minister of State.

• It is biennial event and started in 2003.

• The summit is advertised as a platform to understand and explore business opportunities in the State of Gujarat.

• It aims to provide single window platform to bring together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers.

• In previous six Vibrant Gujarat Summits, state government had signed MoUs worth Rs. 48 lakh crore.