Daily GK Update: 25th March 2023

National & International Appointments

The board of the New Development Bank (NDB) has appointed former Brazilian President, Dilma Vana Rousseff as the new President of the Bank, with immediate effect.
She has replaced Marcus Troyjo.
She served as the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil between January 2011 to August 2016.
She was elected the President of Brazil for two consecutive terms.
NDB is a multilateral financial institution set up by the five BRICS countries.

Banking & Finance

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Karur Vysya Bank for violating rules.
Reason: For non-compliance with certain provisions of directions issued by RBI on 'Reserve Bank of India (Frauds - Classification and reporting by commercial banks and select FIs) directions 2016'
The penalty was imposed in the exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of Section 47 A(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Important Dates

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is observed every year on March 25 to raise awareness of the history of the transatlantic slave trade, its impact on the modern world, and its legacies, including racism and prejudice.
2023 theme: Fighting Slavery's Legacy of Racism Through Transformative Education
It was established in 2007 with the adoption of General Assembly resolution 62/122.

Sports

Indian Woman boxer, Nitu Ghanghas has clinched Gold in the 48-kg category of the IBA Women's World Boxing Championship 2023 held at the K.D. Jadhav Hall IG Stadium New Delhi.
She defeated Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan from Mongolia by 5-0.
She became the only sixth Indian boxer (male or female) to win a World championship.
In the semifinals, she defeated Kazakh Alua Balkibekova.
International Boxing Association (IBA) Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland

Obituaries

Intel co-founder and creator of Moore's Law, Gordon Moore passed away at the age of 94 in Hawaii.
He was the driving force behind the development of modern computing devices.
He started working on semiconductors in the 1950s and co-founded the Intel Corporation in 1968.
He was best known for coining Moore's law which predicted the speed of advances in computer chips that came to explain the exponential improvement in technology of all kinds.

International Affairs

The UAE Food Bank launched an initiative to distribute three million meals and food parcels to disadvantaged individuals and families during Ramadan.
Aim: To raise public awareness regarding the crucial goal of achieving zero food waste
For this initiative, the organization has partnered with Ne’ma -the national initiative to reduce food loss and wastage, to enhance community awareness, education, and empowerment in making better decisions regarding food consumption.

Banking & Finance

The central government has increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) by 4%, taking the total to 42% of the Basic Pay for central government employees and pensioners.
The Union Cabinet has given its approval to release an additional installment of DA to Central Governments employees and Dearness Relief to Pensioners with effect from 1st January 2023.
The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and Dearness Relief will be over 12,815 crore rupees per annum.

National Affairs

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has extended the subsidy of 200 rupees per LPG cylinder for a period of one year, under the PM Ujjwala Yojana.
It will be provided to the Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for up to 12 refills per year.
The total expenditure on it in 2022-23 will be 6,100 crore rupees and in 2023-24 will be 7,680 crore rupees.
The government launched PM Ujjwala Yojana in May 2016 to provide deposit-free LPG connections to women of poor households.

State Affairs

The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in New Delhi has imposed a penalty of ₹10 crore on the Kerala government for its failure to check the indiscriminate pollution of the Vembanad and Ashtamudi lakes (listed as Ramsar sites).
The Bench was led by its chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel.
The penalty of ₹10 crore had to be utilized for conservation/restoration measures by preparing an action plan to be preferably executed within six months.

Honours & Awards

Luis Caffarelli (74) was honored with the 2023 Abel Prize for his seminal contributions to regularity theory for nonlinear partial differential equations including free-boundary problems and the Monge-Ampère equation.
The prize includes a monetary award of 7.5 million kroner and a glass plaque (designed by Norwegian artist Henrik Haugan).
It is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, on behalf of the Ministry of Education.