January 2022 Current Affairs

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021:
• Transparency International has released the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021 in which India has been ranked at 85th spot (Score of 40).
• The ranking has been topped jointly by three countries- Denmark, Finland and New Zealand (Score of 88). This ranking measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be. The results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). 180 countries are ranked in it.

Artificial Moon:
• China has built an artificial moon research facility that is capable of lowering the gravity level using magnetism.
• The research facility is scheduled to officially launch later this year. This research facility is also said to be the first of its kind in the world.
• The idea is to make gravity “disappear” by using powerful magnetic fields inside a 60cm vacuum chamber.
• The mini-moon is about two feet in diameter and the artificial surface has been made with rocks and dust.
• The facility is located in the eastern city of Xuzhou, in Jiangsu province.

Egypt became fourth new member of New Development Bank:
• Egypt added as the fourth new member of BRICS New Development Bank.
• Bangladesh, UAE, and Uruguay joined BRICS New Development Bank in September 2021.
• The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) set up the bank with an aim to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging economies.
• Headquartered in Shanghai, China.
• The New Development Bank aims to mobilize resources for development projects in BRICS, emerging economies, and developing countries.

Padhe Bharat’ Campaign:
• Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched a 100-day reading campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’.
• Padhe Bharat campaign will focus on children studying in Balvatika to Grade 8. The reading campaign will be organized for 100 days (14 weeks) starting from 1st January 2022 to 10th April 2022.
• This reading campaign aims to have the participation of all stakeholders at the national and state levels including children, teachers, parents, etc.
• This campaign has also been aligned with the vision and goals of the foundational Literacy and Numeracy mission.
• Padhe Bharat is in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• The International Mother Tongue Day (21 February) has also been integrated with this campaign to encourage children to read in their mother tongue/local language.

IAF deployed the first S-400 air defence system:
• Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed the first squadron of the S-400 air defence missile system in the western Punjab sector, which will take care of aerial threats from Pakistan and China.
• The surface-to-air missile system would give India an edge in South Asian skies as they would be able to take out enemy aircraft and cruise missiles from a 400 km distance.
• The S-400 Triumf air defence system is equipped with four different missiles which can engage enemy aircraft, ballistic missiles, and AWACS planes at 400 km, 250 km, the medium-range 120 km and the short-range 40 km.

Election Commission hikes expenditure limit for candidates in polls:
• The Election Commission has increased the existing election expenditure limit for candidates in Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, due to the rise in inflation.
• The new limits will be applicable in all upcoming elections in the country.
• The previous major revision in the election expenditure limit was done in 2014. It was further increased by 10% in 2020
• Parliamentary constituencies poll expenditure ceiling:
1. Bigger states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka)- Increased to Rs 95 lakh from previous limit of Rs 70 lakh.
2. Smaller states (Goa, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and UTs) – Increased to 75 lakh from previous Rs 54 lakh.
• UT of Jammu and Kashmir has been raised to 95 lakhs.
• Assembly constituencies poll expenditure limits:
1. Bigger states: Increased to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 28 lakhs
2. Smaller states: Increased to Rs 28 lakhs from Rs 20 lakhs

Cabinet approves MoU with Nepal for construction of bridge over Mahakali river at Dharchula in Uttarakhand:
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Nepal for the construction of a bridge over Mahakali River, which forms the border between India and Nepal.
• The bridge will connect the twin town of Dharchula in Uttarakhand with Dharchula in the territory of Nepal.
• The construction of the bridge will be completed within three years.
• It will strengthen the relationship and further improve the diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has chosen Puducherry as the host for the National Youth Festival 2022. The 25th National Youth Festival has been organised from January 12 to 16, 2022.

PM Narendra Modi virtually address WEF’s Davos Agenda 2022 Summit:
• The Prime Minister addressed the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda via video conferencing.
• The WEF annual meeting in Davos (Switzerland) engages the world’s top leaders to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
• The theme of the event is “The State of the World.”
• WEF virtual meeting will be aligned with the objective of “Orienting global leaders on the imperatives of the year ahead”

UJALA completes 7 years of energy-efficient and affordable LED distribution:
• The Ministry of Power has successfully completed seven years of distributing and selling LED lights under its flagship UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) programme.
• The initiative evolved into the world’s largest zero subsidy domestic lighting programme with more than 36.78 crore LEDs have been distributed across the country under the scheme till date, which has saved 47,778 million units of electricity per annum.
• Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) scheme was launched by Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi on January 05, 2015.
• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a government company under the administrative control of the Ministry of Power, has been designated as the implementing agency for this programme.
• Every domestic household having a metered connection from their respective Electricity Distribution Company is eligible to get the LED bulbs under the Scheme.
• UJALA succeeded in bringing down the retail price of LED (Light-Emitting Diode) bulbs from INR 300-350 per bulb to INR 70-80 per bulb.
• Apart from making affordable energy accessible to all, the programme also resulted in massive energy savings.
• Further, there has been 3.86 crore tonnes of reduction in CO2 emissions.

India State of Forest Report 2021:
• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released the India State of Forest Report-2021.
• The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectares which are 24.62 per cent of the geographical area of the country.
• In the last two years, the forest and tree cover has increased by 1,540 square kilometres.
• Around 21.71% of the land area is under forest cover. In 2019, it was 21.67%.
• Tree cover has increased by 721 sq km.
• The states that have shown the highest increase in forest cover are Telangana (3.07%), Andhra Pradesh (2.22%) and Odisha (1.04%).
• Area-wise: Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.

Kochi becomes country’s first city to get water metro project
• Kochi has become India’s first city to have a water metro project, after the first in a series of battery-powered electric boats was launched in the city recently.
• The new project will be operated by the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.
• The project will have an integrated water transport system with 15 identified routes and a fleet of 78 fast, electrically propelled hybrid ferries plying to 38 jetties.

In India, the National Youth Day is celebrated on 12 January annually. The theme for National Youth Day 2022 is ‘YUVAAH – Utsah Naye Bharat Ka’ (Youth- Excitement of New India)’.

Aroma Mission:
• The Aroma Mission launched by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology through the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), has led to the well-known “Purple Revolution” in India.
• The CSIR had, to begin with introduced high-value essential oil-bearing lavender crop through its Jammu based laboratory, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines (IIIM) for cultivation.

India’s largest EV charging station inaugurated at Gurgaon
• India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station has been inaugurated in Sector 52 of Gurugram at Delhi-Jaipur National Highway, on January 28, 2022.
• The charging station has been installed and operated by tech-piloting company Alektrify.
• The new station has a capacity of 100 charging points for four-wheelers. This includes 72 units as AC slow chargers and 24 units as DC fast chargers.