* Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (77) has been sworn in as the 39th president of Brazil.

* He has defeated Jair Bolsonaro in October 2022 to win an unprecedented third presidential term.

* In election, he has secured 50.83% of the votes, whereas his opponent, Bolsonaro got 49.17% votes.

* He was served as the president of Brazil for two terms from 2003 to 2006 and then 2007 to 2011.

* He is the first Brazilian president to have been elected to a third term in office.

* Ajay Kumar Srivastava has been appointed as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) with effect from January 1, 2023.

* Presently, he is serving as the executive director of IOB.

* He started his banking career as a probationary officer in 1991 with Allahabad Bank.

* After the successful completion of about 27 years in Allahabad Bank he was elevated as Executive Director of IOB in October 2017

* He was appointed as Director on the Board of India Infrastructure Finance Company

The government of India has collected Rs 1,49,507 crore gross GST revenue during December 2022.

Out of which, CGST is Rs 26,711 crore, SGST is Rs 33,357 crore, IGST is Rs 78,434 crore and Cess is Rs 11,005 crore.

The revenues for December 2022 are 15% higher than the GST revenues in December 2021.

The total revenue of Centre and the States after regular settlements in the month of December 2022 is Rs 63,380 crore for CGST and Rs 64,451 crore for the SGST.

* The first woman chief secretary of Gujarat, Dr Manjula Subramaniam has been passed away at the age of 74 due to health complications at a hospital in Vadodara.

* She was appointed as the first woman chief secretary of Gujarat in 2007.

* PM Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat then.

* After retirement, she was appointed as chief vigilance commissioner of Gujarat.

* She was also part of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation.

* Tata group veteran R Krishnakumar has been passed away at the age of 84.

* He started working for Tata Administrative Services in 1963 and joined Tata Global Beverages (erstwhile Tata Finlay) in 1965.

* He had also worked through Tata Global Beverages’ transformation into Tata Tea and became VP of South India Plantations in 1982.

* He was honoured with the India’s fourth highest civilian honour, Padma Shri in 2009 for contributions to the country’s trade and business.

* The Ministry of Rural Development under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission has launched the Prajjwala Challenge

* Aim: To invite ideas, solutions and actions that can transform rural economy

* The broad contours fall into following categories: Focus on Women and Marginalized section of community; Localised Models; Sustainability; Cost Effective solutions; Multi sectoral ideas and solutions

* Top 5 ideas will be rewarded with Rs. 2 Lakh each

* The Union government has given an additional charge of Border Security Force (BSF) DG to senior Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer and CRPF Director General (DG), Sujoy Lal Thaosen.

* He replaced Pankaj Kumar Singh, who retired on December 31, 2022.

* About BSF:

* It was raised in 1965, after the India-Pakistan war.

* It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces.

* Other Central Armed Police Forces are: Assam Rifles (AR), ITBP, CISF, CRPF, NSG and SSB.

* Indian Space and Research Organization, National Centre for Earth Sciences (NCES), and the Andhra University (AU) have researched and concluded that constant rip current zones at Rushikonda beach and RK Beach have become a danger to the beach visitors.

* They have set up equipment to identify Rip currents to warn marines and local police.

* Rip currents are common at all beaches across the globe.

* People can enter the waters in rip current zones up to knee-deep levels.

* RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das has launched Utkarsh 2.0, the second phase of RBI's medium-term strategy for strengthening regulatory and supervisory mechanism.

* The first strategy framework (Utkarsh 2022) covering the period 2019-2022 was launched in July 2019.

* The Vision in Utkarsh 2.0 that will guide RBI over the period 2023-25 are:

* Excellence in performance of its functions

* Strengthened trust of citizens and Institutions in the RBI

* Enhanced relevance and significance in national and global roles

* Transparent, accountable and ethics-driven internal governance

* Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 108th Indian Science Congress through video conferencing on 3rd January, 2023.

* Theme 2023: Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women Empowerment

* The inaugural ceremony will be hosted by Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) at its Amravati Road Campus.

* The technical sessions of the 108th Indian Science Congress have been divided into 14 sections.