Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Astronomers have detected the warped shape of one of the exoplanets also called as hot Jupiters. This is not like the usual spherical planets, as they are similar to a rugby ball.
The exoplanet is called WASP-103b, orbiting a star called WASP-103 over 1,800 light-years away. It was observed using a CHEOPS space telescope. They orbit very closely to their host stars, with orbital periods of less than 10 days, and this is the reason of the hot structure.

Notes:
A team of scientists recently discovered the world’s largest fish breeding area near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea.
They photographed and filmed several nests of icefish of the species Neopagetopsis, using OFOBS, the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System. It is a camera system built to explore the seafloor of extreme environments like ice-covered seas.

Notes:
Mullaperiyar dam is located on the Periyar River in the state of Kerala, near the border of Tamil Nadu.
Colonel John Pennycuick was a British engineer who built the Mullaperiyar dam in 1895 in Kerala’s Idukki which provides water to 5 districts of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu government will install a statue of Colonel John Pennycuick in the United Kingdom. In Theni district, Pennycuick’s birthday is celebrated along with Pongal on January 15.

Notes:
The Oxfam report titled “Inequality Kills’’, released ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda.
As per the report, the income of 84 per cent of households in the country declined in 2021, but the number of Indian billionaires grew from 102 to 142. In 2021, the collective wealth of India’s 100 richest people rose to Rs 57.3 lakh crore. In the same year, the share of the bottom 50 per cent of the population in national wealth was at 6 per cent.

Notes:
World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) is the flagship publication of United Nations. Recently the 2022 edition was launched.
As per the report, the global output is projected to grow by only 4 per cent in 2022 and 3.5 per cent in 2023. It also highlighted the robust recovery of 5.5 per cent in 2021.

Notes:
The Oltet river valley in Romania is a famous place for fossil deposits. Recently, a fossilised right arm bone has been found in the valley.
The fossil was studied using new scanning techniques and the results revealed that it was a new species of the Smutsia genus. It was named Smutsia olteniensis after the Oltet river valley. The species is said to have lived during the Pleistocene period about 1.9 and 2.2 million years ago.

Notes:
A Census in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has found that the National Park has at least 868 swamp deer, down from 907 counted in 2018 due to the two floods.
In the census of wetland birds, a total of 66,776 numbers of birds of 126 species were enumerated, out of which 42,205 birds were counted in the Kaziranga National Park area while 24,571 numbers of birds were counted in Laokhowa and Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuaries of Assam.

Notes:
Arunachal Pradesh government will establish ‘Arunachal Pradesh Infrastructure Financing Authority’, to fast track infrastructure development.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu commemorated the launch of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Arunachal Pradesh as an independent identity. The Cabinet also decided to formulate District Level Good Governance Index.

Notes:
The United Nations Development Programme-India announced Content creator and actor Prajakta Koli as their first UNDP India Youth Climate Champion.
The UNDP recognised her contribution towards mental health, women’s rights and girl child education through various global social campaigns. As UNDP India Youth Climate Champion, Koli will be responsible for interacting with young minds to create awareness on climate issues.

Notes:
The Union Government has given the final approval for setting up a plastic park at Ganjimutt in Mangaluru, Karnataka.
The park will be set up on 104 acres at an estimated cost of ₹62.77 crore, out of which 50% of the project cost will be borne by the Union Government and the rest by  Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB).