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Current Affairs - 22 January 2022
1.19-year-old Zara Rutherford becomes youngest woman to fly solo around world
- 19-year-old pilot Zara Rutherford nears the end of her record-breaking,
around-the-world odyssey, she is not sure she would attempt the feat again.
- The British-Belgian teenager landed in the German village of Egelsbach on Wednesday, one stop short of completing a journey that will make her the youngest woman ever to fly solo around the globe.
- Flying conditions on the pit-stop to Egelsbach were a reminder of the challenges. Strong headwinds, turbulence and rain made it a longer flight than she had hoped.
2. FDI flows to India falls by 26% in 2021: UNCTAD report
- The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows to India fell by 26 percent in
2021, compared to 2020, as per the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Investment Trends Monitor published on January 19, 2022.
- In 2020, FDI to India was recorded at USD 64 billion. This was 27 percent more compared to USD 51 billion FDI in 2019.
- UNCTAD said that low FDI in India was mainly because large cross-border mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deals recorded in 2020 were not repeated.
- The global FDI flows increased by 77 percent to an estimated USD 1.65 trillion in 2021, from USD 929 billion in 2020.
Foot Notes:
About UNCTAD:
Headquarters location: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: 30 December 1964
3. PM Modi to unveil 216-foot statue of saint Ramanujacharya in Hyderabad
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a 216-foot statue of
Ramanujacharya in a sitting position in Hyderabadon February 5, 2022, to celebrate the 1,000th birth anniversary of the saint.
- Ramanujacharya was a 11th century saint and a revolutionary social reformer.
- The statue will be called as the ‘Statue of Equality’.
- It is located in a 45-acre complex at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad in Telangana.
- The project is built at a cost ofRs. 1,000-crore, which was funded entirely by donations from devotees globally.
- President Ram Nath Kovind will unveil the inner chamber of the statue of Ramanujacharya on February 13, 2022.
- The Statue of Equality is the world’s second-tallest statue in a sitting position. The Buddha statue in Thailandi s considered as the world’s tallest statue in a sitting pose.
Foot Notes:
About Saint Ramanujacharya:
Ramanuja or Ramanujacharya was an Indian philosopher, Hindu theologian, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.
Born: 1017, Sriperumbudur
Died: 1137, Srirangam
4. Haryana and Himachal inks MoU to revive Saraswati river through construction of Adi Badri dam
- The state governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) to revive the Saraswati river.
- The MoU was signed in the presence of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur in Panchkula on January 21, 2022.
- Under the MoU, the Haryana Government will construct a dam and a reservoir inAdi Badri area near Yamunanagar district,which is situated on the border of Himachal Pradesh.
- The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 215.33 crore and will be borne entirely by Haryana government..
- Adi-Badri is considered as the origin of the Saraswati river.
- It is planned that the dam will be delivered 224 hectare metre water from Som river, which starts from Himachal Pradesh and falls into the Yamuna river in Yamunanagar.
- Out of the 224 hectare metre water, 62 hectare metre water will be given to Himachal Pradesh and the remaining 162 hectare metre water will be used for the Saraswati river in Haryana throughout the year.
Foot Notes:
About Himachal Pradesh:
Chief Minister: Jai Ram Thakur
Official bird: Western tragopan
Capitals: Shimla (Summer), Dharamshala (Winter)
5. Tripura celebrated 44th Kokborok Day on 19th January
- Kokborok Day, also known as the Tripuri Language Day is annually
celebrated across the Indian State of Tripura on 19th January with an aim to develop the Kokborok Language. The day commemorates the initial recognition of Kokborok as the official language in 1979. 19th January 2022 marks the observance of the 44th Kokborok Day. The Kokborok language, the official language of Tripura, is also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok. In 1979, Kokborok, along with Bengali and English, was declared an official language of the state of Tripura, India by the state government.
Foot Notes:
About Tripura:
Capital: Agartala
Chief Minister: Biplab Kumar Deb
6. Jerri hamlet declared as first ‘Milk Village’ of J&K
- In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the administration has
declared Jerri settlement in Reasi district as the first ‘Milk Village’ of the Union Territory and sanctioned 57 more dairy farms under the Integrated Dairy Development Scheme (IDDS) for the hamlet. The village, which houses 73 individual dairy units with 370 cows, will give the local farmers financial security.
- After being declared as ‘Milk Village’, a total of 57 units have been sanctioned under the IDDS for the village. Under the IDDS, dairy units of five animals are provided with a 50 per cent subsidy. The scheme also has a provision for milking machine, bulk milk cooling unit at 50 per cent subsidy (maximum Rs 5 lakh), paneer making machine, khoya making, Dahi making, cream separator, ice cream making machine, butter and ghee making machine (max subsidy Rs 3. 5 lakh), milk van (maximum subsidy Rs 2 lakh), milk ATM subsidy of Rs 5 lakh.
Foot Notes:
About J&K:
Founded: 14 May 1954
Capital: Srinagar (May–October) Jammu (November–April)
7. A book titled ‘The Legend of Birsa Munda’ authored by Tuhin A Sinha & Ankita Verma
- Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has released a book titled
‘The Legend of Birsa Munda’, authored by Tuhin A Sinha and co-authored by Ankita Verma. The Book is the story of a lesser-known tribal hero, Birsa Munda, who courageously fought against the oppressive British Raj for the rights of his tribal community.
- According to the authors, “The book based on true events is a tribute to Birsa Munda who in a very short life mobilized the tribal community, rebelled against forced conversions, envisioned a fair and just society and died fighting for it. The Legend of Birsa Munda is the story of a subaltern tribal hero whose contribution to India’s struggle for independence must never be forgotten.”
8. Indonesia names new capital Nusantara, replacing sinking Jakarta
- Indonesia will move its capital to mineral-rich East Kalimantan, an
Indonesian province on the island of Borneo. The name of the new capital will be Nusantara, which means “archipelago” in Javanese. It will be based in the regions of North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara. The new project is likely to cost around 466 trillion rupiah ($32 billion).
- The heavily populated city of Jakarta is home to 10 million people (30 million if you include the greater metropolitan area) and has been facing the growing issue with the overuse of groundwater by home drilling due to large-scale city developments. The problem is worsened when combined with rising sea levels. This shift of development is set to slow down the rate at which Jakarta sinks into the Java Sea.
Foot Notes:
About Indonesia:
Capital: Jakarta
Currency: Indonesian rupiah
President: Joko Widodo
9. Scientists name new species of rainfrog after Greta Thunberg
- A new species of rainfrog, discovered in the Panama jungle, has been
named after Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg. The species has been named as Pristimantis gretathunbergae, or popularly known as the Greta Thunberg Rainfrog. The frog was originally discovered in 2012 and was thought to be part of the already categorised Pristimantis family. However, recent DNA analysis confirmed that the frog is a new species, according to the scientific journal Zookeys.
- The new specimen of the tropical amphibian was discovered by an international team of biologists led by doctors Abel Batista, from Panama, and Konrad Mebert (Switzerland) in Cerro Chucantí, a private reserve located in the province of Darién. It was named after Greta Thunberg when conservation nonprofit The Rainforest Trust held an auction that allowed the winner to name new species. The frog was discovered at a reserve established by the conservation organization AdoptaBosque with support from Rainforest Trust.
10. Jahnavi Dangeti becomes first Indian to complete prestigious Nasa programme
- Jahnavi Dangeti, a young girl from Andhra Pradesh, has just
completed NASA’s International Air and Space Program (iasp nasa) at the Kennedy Space Centre in Alabama, US, making her the first Indian to accomplish this feat. She is part of a carefully shortlisted group of 20 students from around the world.
- She has been a campus ambassador for numerous organisations, including Star (Space Technology and Aeronautical Rocketry), an Indian private aerospace company. She is a member of the International Organization of Aspiring Astronauts (IOAA). She participated in many events and workshops of Nasa, Isro and other space agencies.
Foot Notes:
About Nasa:
Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Founded: 29 July 1958
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