Current Affairs Quiz 22nd, 23rd and 24th February 2025 Quiz

Exp. Shaktikanta Das Appointed Principal Secretary II to Prime Minister

Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das has been appointed Principal Secretary II to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr. Das served as the Governor of the RBI from 2018-2023, a crucial period for the Indian economy along with the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

His appointment is being seen as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) bolstering its financial management expertise in the uncertain geo-economic situation prevailing currently.

A Tamil Nadu cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1980 batch, Mr. Das will work alongside current Principal Secretary I, P.K. Mishra, who will continue in his post.

Changes in the PMO at this level have been rare under Modi, with former Principal Secretary I, Nripendra Misra, retiring from that post only after he had served a whole term from 2014-2019.

Mr. P.K. Mishra has been serving as Additional Principal Secretary between 2014-19, and after Mr. Nripendra Misra’s superannuation, as Principal Secretary I.

Other Important Secretaries

• Revenue Secretary – Tuhin Kanta Pandey
• Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary – Arunish Chawla
• Finance Secretary – Tuhin Kanta Pandey
• Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary – Deepti Gaur Mukherjee
• Foreign Secretary – Vikram Misri
• Home Secretary – Govind Mohan
• Cabinet Secretary – T V Somanathan
• Secretary of DPIIT – Amardeep Singh Bhatia
• Expenditure Secretary – Manoj Govil
• Defence Secretary – Rajesh Kumar Singh
• Economic Affairs Secretary – Ajay Seth
• MoSPI Secretary – Dr. G. P. Samanta

Exp. Indian student wins memory championship by recalling 80 digits in 13.50 seconds

A 20-year-old Indian student has made headlines by winning the Memory League World Championship, an intense online competition where participants compete in rapid memorisation challenges.

Vishvaa Rajakumar, a student at Manakula Vinayagar Institute of Technology in Puducherry, stunned competitors by memorising 80 random digits in just 13.50 seconds. This is an incredible speed of nearly six digits per second.

WHAT IS THIS MEMORY CHALLENGE?

• Memory League World Championship tests participants in various recall tasks, including numbers, words, and images. One of the toughest challenges involves memorising and recalling 80 random numbers displayed on a screen as quickly as possible.

Exp. Sunil Bharti Mittal receives Honorary Knighthood by British High Commission

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has received the insignia of the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).

This honor follows the announcement in 2024 that His Majesty The King had graciously conferred the Honorary Knighthoodupon Mittal for his significant contributions to UK-India business relations, as stated by the British High Commission in New Delhi.

The KBE is one of the highest honors awarded to foreign nationals in recognition of exceptional contributions to various fields, and Mittal’s leadership has undoubtedly had a profound impact on India-UK relations.

Recent Award

• Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) – Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chairman of Tata Group)
• Forward Faster Sustainability Award 2025 in the Water Resilience category – NTPC Ltd
• NETPAC Award 2025 – Bad Girl (Tamil film)
• Honorary doctorate by University of Sussex – Noel Tata
• Sahitya Akademi Award 2024 – Late Chaman Arora (for Ik Hor Ashwthama in Dogri).
• BCCI’s Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 – Sachin Tendulkar (31st)

Exp. RBI imposes penalty on Citibank, Asirvad Micro Finance, JM Fin Home Loans

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed monetary penalties on Citibank, Asirvad Micro Finance, and JM Financial Home Loans for violating regulatory norms.

The central bank fined Citibank Rs 39 lakh for reporting breaches in ‘Large Exposures’ limits with delay and not uploading rectified data in certain segments within seven days of receiving rejection reports from Credit Information Companies (CICs).

Meanwhile, Asirvad Micro Finance failed to report the household income of certain borrowers to CICs. It also failed to provide factsheets to certain gold loan customers and did not establish a system of auto-escalation for all complaints that were partly or wholly rejected by its internal grievance redress mechanism to the internal ombudsman for a final decision. These deficiencies led to the RBI imposing a penalty of Rs 6.20 lakh on the company.

The action was based on supervisory findings following a statutory inspection of the companies for their financial position as of March 31, 2023.

In the case of JM Financial Home Loans, RBI levied a Rs 1.50 lakh penalty based on an assessment by the National Housing Bank of its financial position for March 31, 2022, and March 31, 2023.

 Recent Penalties imposed on Banks by RBI

• Nainital Bank Ltd (₹40 lakh ) – for non-compliance with certain directions on ‘Interest Rate on Advances’ and ‘Customer Service in Banks.
• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (₹70 lakh) – for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and Other Restrictions.’
• Shriram Finance (₹80 lakh) – for non-compliance with certain provisions, including Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and directions on ‘Data Format for Furnishing of Credit Information to Credit Information Companies.’
• Equitas Small Finance Bank (Rs 65 lakh) – for deficiencies in regulatory compliances
• India Post Payments Bank (26.70 lakh) – for deficiencies in regulatory compliances.

Exp. Conservationist Purnima Devi Barman Named in TIME’s Women of the Year List

Purnima Devi Barman, a renowned biologist and wildlife conservationist, has been named among Time Magazine’s Women of the Year 2025. Barman was featured as a conservationist for saving one of the world’s most endangered storks.

The 45-year-old conservationist is the only Indian woman to feature on this year’s list that honours ‘extraordinary leaders’ working toward a better, more equal world, alongside 12 other global honorees.

Hailing from Assam’s Kamrup region, Barman attended Gauhati University, where she earned her master’s degree in Zoology with a concentration in Ecology and Wildlife Biology.

She has also served as a senior wildlife biologist at Aaranyak, where she oversaw the greater adjutant conservation project. Barman is also the Director of Women in Nature Network (WiNN) India and a member of the IUCN Stork, Ibis and Spoonbill Specialist Group.

In 2017, she received the highest civilian award for Indian women, ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’, from former President Ram Nath Kovind. She also received the Whitley Award, often known as the Green Oscar, in the same year from Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom.

Exp. PM Modi to be guest of honour at Mauritius National Day celebrations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the guest of honour at Mauritius’ National Day celebrations, his Mauritian counterpart Navin Ramgoolam has announced, calling it a testimony of the close bilateral ties.

Mauritius commemorates its National Day on March 12th every year. The day marks the anniversary of Mauritius’s independence from British rule in 1968.

Addressing the National Assembly, Mauritian Prime Minister Ramgoolam said it is indeed a singular privilege for our country to host such a distinguished personality despite his very tight schedule.

President Droupadi Murmu attended Mauritius’ National Day celebrations last year 2024 as the chief guest

Exp. NSDL, CDSL launch Unified Investor App

National Securities Depository (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (CDSL), in collaboration with capital market regulator Sebi, have launched the Unified Investor App (UIP), integrating MyEasi by CDSL and SPEED-e by NSDL.

This platform provides investors with a consolidated view of their financial statements, shareholdings, and investments, and financial statements.

A key benefit of this initiative is the ability to access a consolidated view of demat securities across both NSDL and CDSL accounts. Investors no longer need to juggle between different platforms to monitor their holdings. This not only simplifies portfolio management but also ensures greater transparency by providing a unified dashboard for all securities.

The platform also tackles major challenges by eliminating fraudulent intermediaries through direct data sourcing from exchanges, depositories, and clearing corporations.

This ensures that investors receive information from the most reliable sources, significantly reducing the risk of fraud and unauthorised intervention– longstanding concerns in the investment landscape.

Exp. MobiKwik to acquire 3.39% in B2B infra platform Blostem for Rs 1.49 crore

Fintech firm MobiKwik will acquire a 3.39 per cent stake in business-to-business (B2B) banking infrastructure platform Blostem for ₹1.49 crore.

The aggregate shareholding of the Gurugram-based listed firm in the platform is expected to grow to 6.79 per cent after the deal.

MobiKwik had entered into a share subscription and shareholders’ agreement with Blostem in March. It agreed to invest ₹3 crore in two tranches as part of its investment to acquire equity in the B2B platform.

The first tranche of ₹1.5 crore was paid in March for 3.4 per cent of the fully diluted paid-up capital of Blostem.

Founded in 2021, Blostem specialises in fixed deposit (FD) aggregation as its core offering. The company has built partnerships with multiple banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). For the year-ended March 2024, the company posted a revenue of Rs. 30.76 lakh.

Exp. Shami joins elite list of bowlers with 200 ODI wickets

India’s ace pacer, Md Shami, added a historic milestone to his name as he took three wickets in India’s first match against Bangladesh in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai on, completing 200 wickets in ODI cricket.

Shami is the eighth Indian player to reach this milestone. Ravindra Jadeja, with 224 wickets under his belt, is the only active Indian cricketer ahead of him on the list.

While Shami has completed his 200 ODI wickets at a good pace, he is still 43rd on the list of players with the most ODI wickets overall.

Sri Lankan legend M Muralidaran leads the list with 534 wickets, while Anil Kumble, with 334 wickets, is the highest-ranked Indian player.

Exp. Tata Power partners with Amazon Web Services for smart energy transition.

Tata Power has entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services to initiate a data-driven transformation to speed up India’s energy transition.

Tata Power has already established a sturdy digital foundation as it has migrated 23 mission-critical applications to AWS using Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).

This transition improves security, scalability, and real-time operational efficiency across major areas such as power generation, grid management, renewables, sales, and finance.

 Additionally, the company has transitioned towards server-less architecture with AWS Step Functions, optimizing energy transactions and grid operations to cater to fluctuating demand patterns.

Exp. Microsoft unveils quantum chip ‘Majorana 1’- powered by new state of matter

Microsoft has introduced its first quantum chip. The chip, called Majorana 1, is powered by a new Topological Core architecture.

Microsoft developed topological superconducting nanowires using indium arsenide (semiconductor) and aluminum (superconductor), forming MZMs, which are essential building blocks for quantum bits (qubits).

Microsoft aims to scale up to one million qubits on a single chip while claiming that its design is less prone to errors than competing quantum chips.

Majorana 1 represents Microsoft’s second quantum milestone, with the company envisioning a future where quantum computing enables breakthroughs in self-healing materials, sustainable agriculture, and chemical discovery.

Exp. Brazil Joins OPEC+ Forum to Balance Oil Production and Energy Transition Goals

Brazil has joined the OPEC+ Forum as an observer, signaling a calculated move to balance its role as a major oil producer with its energy transition ambitions.

The decision by the National Council for Energy Policy, allows Brazil to participate in discussions without committing to policies like production cuts or price controls.

As the world’s seventh-largest oil producer, Brazil pumps 4.3 million barrels of crude daily, contributing 4% of global output. In 2024, crude oil became the country’s top export, accounting for 13.3% of total sales and surpassing soybeans.

OPEC+, which includes 23 countries producing nearly 40% of the world’s crude oil, coordinates production policies to stabilize markets.

OPEC members comprise Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. OPEC+ members include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan. OPEC and OPEC+ members accounted for 53% of global crude oil production in 2023, compared to 60% in 2016. Brazil’s crude oil output represented 4% of global oil production in 2023.

Exp. India, Bangladesh agree to launch new ‘hotline’ between border forces

India and Bangladesh have decided to establish a new communication link between the deputy commanders of their respective border-guarding forces and identified about 99 fresh patches for erecting a fence along their shared border.

The decisions were finalised during the biannual director general-level talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that concluded here.

This was the first time that a high-level meeting between the two forces took place after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh on August 5 last year.

About Bangladesh

• Capital- Dhaka
• Currency – Taka
• President – Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu
• Head of Interim Government – Muhammad Yunus

Exp. Kotak Mahindra Prime appoints Shahrukh Todiwala as new MD & CEO

Kotak Mahindra Prime, a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), has appointed Shahrukh Todiwala as the new MD, CEO of the company.

Todiwala succeeds Vyomesh Kapasi, who will now take over as the head of product-consumer bank vertical at KMB.

Recent Appointment in Banking & Insurance Sector

• MD & CEO of SBI Cards – Salila Pande (replace Abhijit Chakravorty); effect from 1 April 2025
• CEO of Standard Chartered India – Prabdev (PD) Singh (replace Zarin Daruwala); effect from 1 April 2025
• CEO of Navi Technologies – Rajiv Naresh
• CEO of Navi Finserv – Abhishek Dwivedi
• Head of Citibank India – K Balasubramanian (replace Ashu Khulla)

Exp. NITI Aayog CEO Subrahmanyam’s tenure extended by one year

The Centre has extended the tenure of NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) B V R Subrahmanyam by one year.

Subrahmanyam, a 1987-batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, was in February 2023 appointed to the post for a period of two years.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved extension in Subrahmanyam’s tenure as NITI Aayog CEO for a period of one year beyond February 24, 2025.

NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)

• Founded – 1st January 2015
• Preceding – Planning Commission (15th March 1950)
• Headquarters – New Delhi
• Chairperson – Narendra Modi
• Vice Chairperson – Suman K Bery
• CEO – BVR Subrahmanyam
• NITI Aayog comes under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry