Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2018

Notes:
Indra Nooyi, the PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, has been appointed to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Board as its first independent female director. She will join the Board in June 2018 to align with the term of the ICC Independent Chairman. The Independent Director will be appointed for a two-year term although she may be re-appointed for two further terms with a maximum six-year consecutive period of service.

Notes:
B.G. Banakar (91), the former speaker of Karnataka legislative assembly, has passed away in Haveri district, Karnataka on February 7, 2018. He was elected thrice to the Legislative Assembly and was Minister for Animal Husbandry in the Devaraj Urs Cabinet. He served as Speaker of the Assembly for four years from 1985 to 1989.

Notes:
Writer T.D. Ramakrishnan has been chosen for the 2nd edition of Akbar Kakkattil Award 2018 for his novel “Sugandhi Enna Andaldevanayaki”. According to a press release by the secretary of the Akbar Kakkattil Trust, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan will present the award comprising a purse of Rs 50,000, a citation and a memento to Mr. Ramakrishnan at a function to be held in Kozhikode on February 17, 2018.

Notes:
The Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) is an Indian institute of national importance, headquartered at the CSIR Campus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The institute is established for the purpose of granting doctoral and post-doctoral degrees. It is a meta-university with study centres in 37 laboratories and 6 units of CSIR, spread across 23 cities of India.

Notes:
The 2018 International Conference on Unani Medicine has inaugurated by Dr Jitendra Singh (the Union Minister of Development of North-East Region) with theme “Integration of Unani System of Medicine in Mainstream Healthcare” in New Delhi on November 10, 2018. The purpose of the 2-day conference is to promote integration of Unani Medicine in mainstream healthcare across the globe. This year is special for Unani fraternity as it is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Hakim Ajmal Khan. To mark this day, the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), under the Ministry of AYUSH is organizing the conference as part of Unani Day Celebration. Besides national delegates, countries like South Africa, UK, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, USA, Portugal, UAE, Slovenia, Israel, Hungary, Bahrain, Tajikistan, etc is also participating in the conference. The conference will cover issues related to globalization, research, standardization, quality control, safety assessment, and industry perspective.

Notes:
R.K Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, has launched a web-based monitoring System and a Fly Ash mobile application “ASH TRACK” in New Delhi on February 8, 2018. These platforms will enable better management of the ash produced by thermal power plants by providing an interface between fly ash producers (Thermal Power Plants) and potential ash users such as – road contractors, cement plants etc. The app will show coal based power plants situated within the radius of 100 km and 300 km from the user’s location. Therefore, any app user can select power station from where he wants to take fly ash. Ash availability, distance from user’s location, details of contact person will be displayed in the app.

Notes:
Biswamohan Mahapatra has been appointed as non-executive chairman of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for a period of two years, with effect from February 8, 2018. He succeeded B Sambamurthy, who was the interim chairman of the NPCI board. Apart from him, Dilip Asbe is the Managing Director & CEO of the organisation.

Notes:
Hardayal Prasad has been appointed as the new Managing Director & CEO of the SBI Card with effect from February 1, 2018. He succeeded Vijay Jasuja, who retired on January 31, 2018. SBI Card has a customer base of over 5.7 million and a market share of 16%.

Notes:
Rohan More, the Pune-based Indian long-distance swimmer, has become the first Asian and the youngest person in the world to swim across the Ocean Seven. Despite sudden drop in water temperature, he covered the distance in 8 hours and 37 minutes. The Ocean’s Seven marathon consists of seven long-distance open-water swims, which includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar. With this feat, Rohan has also become the 9th person in the world to swim across Ocean Seven.

Notes:
Defending champion Kishan Gangolli from Karnataka has won the 13th edition of the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for the blind in Mumbai on February 12, 2018. The championship was organised by All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB). With this feat, Gangolli became the champion for the fifth consecutive time with 10.5 points. Gujarat’s Ashvin Makwana stood second with 9.5 points, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of Orissa with 9 points came third, Aryan Joshi of Maharashtra with 8.5 points, came fourth and Odisha’s Subhendu Kumar Patra with 7.5 points was at fifth position in the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for blind. These top five players in the championship will form the Indian team for the forthcoming ‘World Team Championship’ for the blind to be held in Bulgaria in July 2018.