Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
The MLA of Sivasagar constituency in the state of Assam, Pranab Kumar Gogoi recently passed away. He had also served as the Speaker of the Assam state assembly.
The noted legislator was born in 1936 and was an advocate by profession. He was a veteran member of the Congress Party and was first elected to the state assembly in 2001. He was known for introducing the definition of the term “Assamese”, during the previous term of Congress government in the state.

Notes:
Veteran Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas has recently passed away at the age of 103. The legendary actor was born in Amsterdam and his original name was Issur Danielovitch Demsky.
He made his Hollywood debut in 1946 with the film “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” and Kirk Douglas became a leading box-office icon of Hollywood during 1950-60. One of his most popular movies was ‘Spartacus’, which made a universal box-office record. He was the recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a US civilian.

Notes:
The fifth edition of the India-Russia Military Industrial Conference was recently organised in the northern Indian city, Lucknow. The Conference was organised on the sidelines of the biennial Defence exhibition DefExpo 2020.
As many as 14 MoUs related to production of different defence equipment, radar systems, ASW Rocket launchers and 3D modeling were signed between the companies from India and Russia. Among several Indian companies, the prominent ones which signed the agreements were BHEL, Bharat Dynamics Limited and Vista control.

Notes:
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is observed annually on February 6, across the world. Genital Mutilation, or altering the female genitalia for non-medical reasons is prevalent in 30 countries in Africa the Middle East and other parts of the world.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly designated February 6th as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation and the UN works for the complete eradication of the practice by 2030. United Nations Population Fund, jointly with UNICEF, holds a global programme to eliminate the practice.

Notes:
The Sharang Artillery gun would be inducted into the Indian Army on February 7, 2020, as per the recent announcement of the Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane. The 155 mm-Sharang is an upgraded version of the existing 130 mm M-46 field guns.
He also announced that Sig Sauer assault rifles and Spike anti-tank missiles are being issued to the army troops, who are deployed in the forward areas. The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur upgraded the Sharang artillery gun along with the ordnance factories and technical teams of Army and DRDO.

Notes:
Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Hockey India jointly announced that High Performance Centres would be established in seven places across the country. The Centres are expected to provide world-class facilities to Junior and Sub-Junior hockey players.
The Centres, which would provide international exposure to players, will be monitored by Hockey India. Four Centres including the National Hockey Academy at Dhyan Chand National Stadium will be functional within three months. This step is taken to promote the game and groom young players for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Notes:
India’s leading defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RailTel Corporation of India for mutual co-operation in the fields of Cloud Services, IoT, e-Governance and Networks for Defence projects.
BEL also signed an agreement with a Bengaluru-based start-up, Newspace & Research Technologies Limited (NRT), for co-operation in design, testing and supply of Unmanned Systems. The PSU also partnered with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) to develop and market products for defence and non-defence applications. All the agreements were inked during the ongoing defence exhibition-DefExpo 2020, at Lucknow.

Notes:
Indian weight-lifter Pardeep Singh was seen in news recently, as he won the men’s 102kg gold medal in the National weightlifting championships, recently held in Kolkata.
He improved his performance than what he did in the Asian championships in China, last year. Another leading lifter Vikas Thakur won gold medal in the men’s 96kg category. Both the lifters are in the promising list for the upcoming Asian championships in Kazakhstan. Mirabai Chanu and Jeremy Lalrinnunga were named as ‘Best Lifters’ of the championships.

Notes:
Batterygate refers to implementation of performance controls on older models of Apple’s iPhone line in order to preserve system stability on degraded batteries.

Notes:
Thaipoosam is a festival celebrated by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai, usually coinciding with Pushya star, known as Poosam in Tamil. It is believed to be Murugan’s birthday by many.