• 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.
  

Source : The Hindu

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.
  

Global scenario:

• The largest deposits of vanadium of the world are in China, followed by Russia and South Africa.
  
• China, which produces 57% of the world’s vanadium, consumed 44% of the metal in 2017.
  

Indian scenario:

• India is a significant consumer of vanadium, but is not a primary producer of the strategic metal.
  
• According to data provided by the GSI, India consumed 4% of about 84,000 tonnes of vanadium produced across the globe in 2017.
  

Important Info :

Exploration in Arunachal Pradesh:

• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) found promising concentrations of vanadium in the palaeo-proterozoic carbonaceous phyllite rocks in the Depo and Tamang areas of Papum Pare district in Arunachal Pradesh.
• This was the first report of a primary deposit of vanadium in India, with an average grade of 0.76% V2O5 [vanadium pentoxide].
• Vanadium mineralisation in Arunachal Pradesh is geologically similar to the “stone coal” vanadium deposits of China hosted in carbonaceous shale. This high vanadium content is associated with graphite, with a fixed carbon content of up to 16%.

Source : The Hindu

With the start of LiDAR (Aerial Ground) Survey, High Speed Rail work gathered momentum for Delhi – Varanasi High Speed Rail Corridor

• 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.
  

Important Info :

Lidar?

• Lidar, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
• These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
• A lidar instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.

Source : PIB

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) 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.
  
• IDP would be couriered to the citizen at his/her address abroad by the respective RTOs.
  
• This notification also removes the conditions of a Medical Certificate and a valid visa at the time of making the request for the IDP in India.
  

Important Info :

• Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has set up a central depository called Vahan to store data relating to all vehicles.
• Vahan’ is the National vehicle registry, which intends to collate all the information available with road transport authorities for easy access by both citizens and regulators.

Source : DD News

RBI has issued Risk Based Internal Audit (RBIA) Framework for Strengthening Governance arrangements of banks

To bring uniformity in approach followed by the banks, as also to align the expectations on Internal Audit Function with the best practices, banks are advised as under:

• Authority, Stature and Independence: The Head of Internal Audit (HIA) shall be a senior executive of the bank who shall have the ability to exercise independent judgement.
  
• Tenor for appointment of HIA: The HIA shall be appointed for a reasonably long period, preferably for a minimum of three years.
  
• Reporting Line: The HIA shall directly report to either the Audit Committee of the Board (ACB) / MD & CEO or Whole Time Director (WTD).
  
• Staff Rotation: Except for the entities where the internal audit function is a specialised function and managed by career internal auditors, the Board should prescribe a minimum period of service for staff in the Internal Audit function.
  
• The internal audit function shall not be outsourced. However, where required, experts, including former employees, could be hired on contractual basis subject to the ACB being assured that such expertise does not exist within the audit function of the bank.
  

Source : RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the operationalisation of the payment infrastructure development fund (PIDF) scheme

• The scheme is intended to subsidise deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, with a special focus on the north-eastern states of the country.
  
• An advisory council (AC) under the chairmanship of RBI deputy governor BP Kanungo has been constituted for managing the PIDF.
  
• The fund will be operational for three years effective from January 1, 2021 and may be extended for two more years.
  
• The implementation of targets shall be monitored by the RBI with assistance from card networks, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the Payments Council of India (PCI).
  

Important Info :

Contribution to the fund:

• The PIDF presently has a corpus of Rs 345 crore, with Rs 250 crore contributed by the RBI and Rs 95 crore by the major authorised card networks in the country.
• The authorised card networks shall contribute in all Rs 100 crore.
• The card issuing banks shall also contribute to the corpus based on the card issuance volume — covering both debit and credit cards — at the rate of `1 and `3 per debit and credit card issued by them, respectively.
• Besides, the PIDF shall also receive annual contributions from card networks and card issuing banks.

Source : The Hindu

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up an academic advisory council with former deputy governor N S Vishwanathan as the chairperson to advise the full-time director of the central bank’s College of Supervisors (CoS)

• As part of the measures to further strengthen Supervision over regulated entities, Reserve Bank had set up a College of Supervisors (CoS) to augment and reinforce supervisory skills among its regulatory and supervisory staff both at entry level and on a continuous basis.
  
• While the CoS was functioning in a limited way in virtual mode since May 2020, it is now being fully operationalised. This will further contribute to effective oversight of the regulated entities by augmenting and ensuring a consistent quality of supervisory resources pool.
  
• The CoS will have a full-time Director supported by an Academic Advisory Council (AAC).
  
• The AAC will identify areas where skill building/up-skilling are required, plan and develop curricula of all programmes, benchmark the programmes with international standards/best practices, develop appropriate teaching methods, etc.
  
• S. Viswanathan, Former Deputy Governor, RBI has been appointed as the Chairperson of AAC.
  
• Rabi Narayan Mishra, former Executive Director, RBI has been appointed as the Director of CoS.
  

Source : Business Standard

The Reserve Bank of India introduced the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for Large Value Transactions in Centralised Payment Systems

• The LEI is a 20-digit number used to uniquely identify parties to financial transactions worldwide.
  
• It was conceived as a key measure to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data systems for better risk management post the Global Financial Crisis.
  
• The RBI has now decided to introduce the LEI system for all payment transactions of value Rs.50 crore and above undertaken by entities (non-individuals) using RBI-run Centralised Payment Systems viz. Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT).
  
• The LEI has been introduced by the RBI in a phased manner for participants in the over the counter (OTC) derivative and non-derivative markets as also for large corporate borrowers.
  
• The RBI as the preparation for the wider introduction of LEI across all payment transactions, issued directions to the member banks.
  
• In India, LEI can be obtained from Legal Entity Identifier India Ltd. (LEIL), which is also recognised as an issuer of LEI by the Reserve Bank under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
  

Source : The Hindu

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.
  
• The facility is set up keeping in mind the women living in small houses, who do not have a separate bathing section. Many times they find it difficult to change during periods. This facility will be a boon for such women and go a long way in promoting good hygiene.
  
• Claimed to be the first-of-its-kind initiative, the much-needed facility has been set up by the Thane Municipal Corporation in collaboration with an NGO, at a slum in Shanti Nagar locality of Wagle Estate area in Thane.
  
• The 45,000 rupees low-cost facility will be replicated in all 120 community toilets in the city.
  

Source : All India Radio

World Hindi Day was observed on 10th January

• The day is commemorated every year with the objective to promote use of Hindi language abroad.
  
• On this day in 2006, the First World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur with the aim to promote the language worldwide.
  
• Since then, every year 10th January is being observed as the World Hindi Day.
  

Source : All India Radio

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