Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
Veteran Indian journalist Yusuf Jameel, was chosen for and awarded the ‘2019-2020 PEN-Gauri Lankesh Award for Democratic Idealism’. The award was presented to him, for his revolutionary journalism in Jammu and Kashmir, during the insurgency period.
PEN International is a global association of writers, which was founded in 1921. PEN South India and PEN Delhi have instituted the annual award to cherish and honour the assassinated journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh. The award is offered to an individual or organisation, whose work demonstrates courageous and democratic journalism, on birth anniversary of Gauri Lankesh.

Notes:
The IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number is a 15-digit unique serial number of mobile devices. It is allocated by a global industry body GSMA and its authorised organisations. In India, Mobile Standards Alliance of India (MSAI) is the official reporting body of GSMA.
Recently, the Department of Telecom has taken over the process of issuing and allocating the IMEI numbers for mobile phones in India from the private body MSAI. The new ‘Indian Counterfeited Device Restriction (ICDR) system’, which has been developed by the R&D unit of DoT is being tested on pilot basis on the web portal of Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR).

Notes:
As per the 2019 ‘Global Go To Think Tank Index Report’, Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) has been placed among the top 30 think tanks globally, at rank 27.
The report is released by the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. The list was topped by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace of the United States. Last year, ORF was placed at 118th position, more than 90 ranks below the current rank. The Raisina Dialogue, jointly organised by ORF is also ranked 7th best conference globally.

Notes:
As a part of the USD 10 million commitment of Google to media literacy, the tech-major recently announced a $1 million grant for a non-profit news literacy organisation called Internews. The fund has been launched by Google News Initiative (GNI), to counter fake news and misinformation in India by building a strong network of senior reporters and journalists. The initiative aims to conduct workshops and camps in Indian cities to inculcate news literacy and avoid fake online information.

Notes:
Indian ace Basketball player and Captain, P Mathew Satya Babu recently passed away at 79 years in Chennai. He had represented India in the three Asian Basketball Championships conducted in Seoul, Bangkok and Manila from 1967 to 1970. He also served as the captain of the Indian team during the 6th Bangkok Asian Games.
Mathew Satya Babu was a qualified basketball coach and a referee. He had coached the state basketball team of Tamil Nadu and the men and women teams of Indian Railways.

Notes:
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has appointed Indian-American Arvind Krishna as its new Chairman. The 57-year-old leader is currently serving as the head of the ‘Cloud and Cognitive software unit’ of IBM.
He is known for playing an instrumental role in the acquisition of Red Hat by IBM, undertaken last year. He has also led the development of several advanced technologies by IBM including cloud and quantum computing. He replaces the long-time female CEO of IBM, Virginia Rometty, who will continue to serve as the company’s executive Chairman.

Notes:
The 21-year-old American tennis star Sofia Kenin won her maiden Grand slam title, as she won the women’s singles title in the Australian Open tournament.
She defeated the other finalist Garbine Muguruza 4-6 6-2 6-2 and became the youngest winner of the tournament, after Maria Sharapova clinched the trophy before 12 years. The mixed doubles title of the event was won by the duo -Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic and Croatia’s Nikola Mektic. While Krejcikova retained her mixed doubles crown, Nikola won his maiden trophy.

Notes:
Leading Private lender of India, ICICI Bank recently launched a unique self-service delivery facility called ‘iBox’. Using this facility, the customers of the bank can avail various banking services including- collecting their debit card, credit card, cheque from a nearby branch.
The ‘iBox’ terminals are to be placed outside the premises of the branches, which can be accessed even after office hours. The customer will get an SMS about the status of the package through a completely automated process. These products can be collected by the customers at the time of their choice, on all days including holidays.

Notes:
Maldives officially re-joined the Commonwealth on February 1, 2020 and became the 54th member of the Commonwealth Union.
The President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had applied for re-joining the bloc in December 2018. The country has been admitted after the official assessment and consultations made by the organisation. The country is set be a part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda, to be held in June 2020. Maldives joined the Commonwealth in 1982 and withdrew its membership in the year 2016.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to conduct the second session of its Young Scientist Programme for school children called Yuva Vigyani Karyakram (YUVIKA).
The programme which was first launched in 2019 by ISRO, aims to inculcate the school children about space theories and technologies. This initiative is expected to promote awareness among the children in space related activities. The online registration for this year’s programme has recently begun, as per the announcement from ISRO.