Daily Current Affairs, 22nd February 2020

1) Bangladesh observes language movement martyrs’ day “Shaheed Dibash”

•Bangladesh has observed the “Shaheed Dibash” which is also known as ‘Amar Ekushey‘. The day is observed annually to commemorate and to pay tribute to the martyrs of language movement.

•President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh commemorated the day by paying tribute to martyrs who lost their lives during Pakistani police firing on 21st of February 1952 in Dhaka.

Bangladesh’s Language Movement:

•The Bangladesh’s Language Movement started in 1948 and it reached to its peak when eight people laid down their lives on February 21, 1952. The movement concluded with the adoption of Bangla as the official language of the then East Pakistan. As a result of the movement, 21st February is observed every year to commemorate the martyrs of the Bangladesh’s Language Movement. UNESCO has also adopted a resolution to celebrate 21 February as International Mother Language Day. The resolution and the marking of the day is an honour bestowed by the international community on the Language Movement of Bangladesh.

2) Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar resigns

•Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar has resigned. Mr. Varadkar staying on as interim leader while the country’s three main parties battle out deadlocked coalition talks after an inconclusive election. Mr. Varadkar has conveyed to the president his resignation from the office. “In accordance with the constitution, the (Prime Minister) and the government will continue to carry on their duties until successors have been appointed.

3) ‘Historical Gastronomica-The Indus Dining Experience’ held at National Museum

•The ‘Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience’ exhibition was held at the National Museum in New Delhi. This is a unique exhibition based on India’s ancient food history that goes back to over 5000 years ago.

•The ‘Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience’ exhibition was jointly organized by the National Museum along with One Station Million Stories (OSMS). The evolution of food habits, food processing techniques and related architecture of the Harappans were demonstrated at the ‘Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience’ exhibition.

4) Telecommunications Department launches 5G Hackathon

•The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched the ‘5G Hackathon’ in association with the government of India, academia and industry stakeholders. The aim of 5G Hackathon is shortlisting India’s focused cutting edge ideas that can be converted into workable 5G products and solutions.

•The Hackathon will be spread across three phases. The event will culminate in a grand felicitation ceremony at India Mobile Congress on 16 October 2020. Winners of the various phases of the 5G Hackathon will share a total prize pool of Rs. 2.5 crore.

•The 5G technology provides quantum leap over 4G in terms of speed, peak data rate, latency, spectrum efficiency, and connection density. The Hackathon will convert innovating ideas into products and solutions in different verticals and develop India specific use cases around 5G.

•The 5G Hackathon is open to developers, students, start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions and registered companies in India and Non-resident Indians (NRIs). All Stakeholders can participate as individuals or as a team to present use cases for the 5G network in the Indian context.

5) Amarjeet Sinha & Bhaskar Khulbe appointed as Advisers to PM

•The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Amarjeet Sinha and Bhaskar Khulbe as the Advisers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The appointments of the retired administrative officers has been made on contractual basis. Both the officers are from the 1983 batch, Bhaskar Khulbe from the West Bengal Cadre while Amarjeet Sinha from the Bihar Cadre.

6) Ross Taylor becomes world’s first cricketer to play 100 matches in all 3 formats

•Ross Taylor has become the first player in the cricketing world to play 100 matches in all the three formats of the game. He reached the landmark feat during the first international cricket match of India and New Zealand bilateral test series started at Basin Reserve in Wellington. Former New Zealand wicket-keeper Ian Smith presented Ross Taylor with 100th Test cap before the match. With this, he has represented New Zealand in 100 or more times in all the three formats of cricket at international level.

•Ross Taylor has represented New Zealand in 231 One Day International matches, 100 T20 International matches and 100 Test matches.