Title Daily Current Affairs Capsule 11th January 2021

Daily CurrentTitle
              Affairs Capsule
             Title 2021
      11th January

Indonesian plane carrying over 50 passengers on board crashed

A passenger plane of Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air carrying more than 50 people on board crashed into waters off
Jakarta.

      The aircraft crashed near the Thousand Islands.
      The Thousand Islands (officially Kepulauan Seribu) are a chain of islands to the north of Jakarta's coast.
      It forms the only regency of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.
      It consists of a string of 342 islands stretching 45 km (28 mi) north into the Java Sea at West Jakarta Bay
       and in fact north of Banten Province.

Indian sailors stuck in China owing to Covid-19 set to return soon

23 Indian sailors onboard Indian ship M. V. Jag Anand, which has been stuck at Chinese port of Jingtang since
June 2020, has finally got respite as the ship is all set to sail to Chiba, Japan for a crew change.

      This was announced by Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
      Indian bulk cargo vessel MV Jag Anand has been on anchorage near Jingtang port in Hebei province of
       China since June 13 and it has 23 Indian sailors.
      Another vessel, MV Anastasia, with 16 Indian nationals as its crew is on anchorage near Caofeidian port
       in China since September 20.
      Both these vessels have been waiting for discharge of their cargo and there is a growing stress on the crew
       members on account of the long delay.

National Youth Festival to be organized from January 12

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is organizing a week long National Youth Festival in the country
commencing from the 12th of this month.

      Every year, the festival is being held to commemorate the birth anniversary of youth icon Swami
       Vivekananda.
      This year the festival has been organised in virtual mode and talent from every state has been included.
      The objective of National Youth Parliament Festival is to hear the voice of youth between 18 and less than
       25 years of age, who will join various careers in coming years, including public services.

India to get UN tag of international disaster response force for NDRF

India could soon be a part of the United Nations (UN) mandated international disaster rescue operations as its
country's federal contingency force, NDRF, is expected to obtain a globally recognised standardisation later this
year.

      The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search
       and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the
       UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues.
      An INSARAG committee, comprising Australian and Singaporean experts, has conducted preliminary
       review of NDRF teams in September, 2019, but the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic put the process on a
       back burner for a while.

   The National Disaster Response Force was raised in 2006 to undertake specific tasks of relief and rescue
       during natural and manmade disasters or life threatening situations.

WHO’s India map ‘separates’ J&K and Ladakh with different colours

A map of India on the website of the World Health Organization, depicting the Union territories of Jammu and
Kashmir and Ladakh in a totally different colour, has evoked angry reactions from the Indian diaspora in Britain.

      WHO, however, held that it follows UN guidelines and practice regarding maps.
      The map is on WHO’s Covid-19 situation dashboard that shows the latest pandemic numbers by country.
      Whilst the rest of India is coloured navy blue, J&K and Ladakh have been marked in grey as if they are a
       separate country.
      The disputed border area of Aksai Chin is demarcated with grey with blue stripes, the same shade as that
       of China.
      WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
      Founded: 7 April 1948
      Director-General: Tedros Adhanom

LiDAR (Aerial Ground) survey starts on Delhi - Varanasi bullet train project

The proposed Delhi Varanasi High-Speed Rail (DVHSR) corridor with a length of about 800 km gained
momentum.

      The LiDAR survey for Delhi-Varanasi High Speed Rail Corridor started from Greater Noida where a
       Helicopter fitted with state of art Aerial LiDAR and Imagery sensors took the first flight and captured the
       data related to ground survey.
      National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited is adopting Light Detection and Ranging Survey (LiDAR)
       technology which provides all the ground details and data in 3-4 months wherein this process normally
       takes 10-12 months.

   The ground survey is a crucial activity for any linear infrastructure project as the survey provides accurate
       details of areas around the alignment.

Suriname's Indian-origin President to be Chief Guest at Republic Day 2021

Chandrikapersad Santokhi, Indian-origin President of Suriname, will be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day
Parade on January 26, 2021.

      The news comes after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to India.
      The Suriname President was earlier the Chief Guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention.
      Chandrikapersad Santokhi was sworn in as the 9th President of the Republic of Suriname in July 2020
       after his party- Progressive Reform Party won the 2020 General Elections by claiming 20 out of the total
       51 seats.

MoRTH notifies rules for facilitating renewal of International driving licence while travelling abroad

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification to facilitate the issuance of International
Driving Permit (IDP) for Indian citizens whose IDP has expired while they are abroad.

      There was no mechanism for its renewal while citizens were abroad and their IDP had expired.
      Now, with this amendment, it is proposed that Indian citizens can apply for renewal through the Indian
       Embassies / Missions abroad, from where these applications would move to the VAHAN portal in India,
       to be considered by the respective RTOs.

"Period Room" set up for women at a public toilet in Maharashtra

In a bid to help the women, residing in congested slums, during their menstruation days, a ‘period room’ has been
set up at a public toilet in Maharashtra's Thane city.

      Equipped with several basic facilities, the period room aims to facilitate menstrual hygiene among women
       dwelling in slums.
      Claimed to be the first-of-its-kind initiative, the ‘period room’ set up at a public toilet in a slum in Thane,
       was opened recently for women.
      The 45,000 rupees low-cost facility will be replicated in all 120 community toilets in the city.

Arunachal Pradesh likely to become India’s prime producer of vanadium

Arunachal Pradesh is likely to become India’s prime producer of vanadium.

      Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey,
       malleable transition metal.
      The elemental metal is rarely found in nature. It is recovered as a by-product from the slag collected from
       the processing of vanadiferous magnetite ores (iron ore).
      Vanadium is a high-value metal used in strengthening steel and titanium.
      The largest deposits of vanadium in the world are in China, followed by Russia and South Africa.