Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
‘Humid heat’ refers to conditions that are either hot and dry or hot and humid enough to cause decreases in labor productivity.
As per a recent study, India lost around 259 billion hours of labour annually between 2001 and 2020 due to the impacts of humid heat. The loss of these productive hours cost India USD 624 billion (Rs 46 lakh crore). Globally, humid heat caused 677 billion hours of lost labour each year, worth USD 2.1 trillion (Rs 156 lakh crore).

Notes:
The National Voters’ Day is celebrated every year on January 25 to encourage the country’s voters to participate in the electoral process.
The theme for this year’s National Voters’ Day (12th edition) is ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’. New voters completing 18 years  would be enrolled and be given the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on January 25 every year.

Notes:
Himachal Pradesh is the northernmost state of India and shares borders with the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to the north.
The state is celebrating its 52nd full statehood day on 25 January, as it was formed as the 18^th Indian state on the same day in 1971, with Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar as its first Chief Minister. In 1950, Himachal became a Part ‘C’ state then became a union territory in 1956.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund’s board urged El Salvador to drop Bitcoin from its status as legal currency.
El Salvador last year sought a $1.3 billion IMF loan. IMF has urged the country to strip the legal tender status of Bitcoin due to its large risks. This is also said to be a major obstacle for the country’s efforts to get a loan from IMF.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia and Thailand have ended a 30-year dispute over a scandal involving stolen jewels and a series of murders. Saudi Arabian Airlines has announced to restart direct flights to Thailand.
The resumption of full diplomatic ties came during a visit to Riyadh by Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha. Gems stolen from Saudi had a rare 50 carat blue diamond, which was never recovered. The dispute has cost a huge dip in trade and led to job losses for Thai Migrant workers.

Notes:
James Webb Space Telescope reached its final destination, at around 15 lakh km from Earth. The telescope will orbit in an area of space known as a Lagrange point, where the gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth will be balanced by the centrifugal force of the rotating system.
The points were first theorized by Italian French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Webb will go around it in a halo at a distance similar to that between the Earth and Moon

Notes:
UNESCO has added ‘Clinker Boats’ to its list of traditions that represent the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden jointly sought the UNESCO designation. It is a Nordic Tradition and for thousands of years, wooden sailboats enabled the peoples of Northern Europe to undertake trade.

Notes:
The Kerala Bird Atlas released recently is said to be Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling efforts, and species coverage.
It is also the first-of-its-kind state-level bird atlas in India, and was conducted as a citizen-driven exercise with the participation of over 1000 volunteers. The Atlas has provided data about the distribution of various bird species across major habitats.

Notes:
Ministry of Culture released the pictorial book titled ‘India’s Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle’. This is launched as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
The Ministry will release three pictorial books on 75 unsung heroes of the freedom struggle in partnership with Amar Chitra Katha. The first among them which was released, depicts 20 women leaders whose contributions remain unknown.

Notes:
Objects that turn on and off in the Universe are called as transients. Slow transients like supernovae appear over few days and disappear after a few months. Fast transients like neutron star (pulsar) flash on and off within milliseconds or seconds.
Recently, Astronomers using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope have discovered a spinning object that pulses every 18.18 minutes. They suggest that it could be an ‘Ultra-long-period magnetar’. It is located at just an ultra-long-period magnetar from the Earth.