Top Best Current Affairs 13 August 2020

The 8 year long (2011 - 2019) field work research conducted in the Matheran an eco-sensitive zone near Mumbai, Maharashtra an area of 214.73 Square Kilometer, identified around 140 rare species of butterflies including 77 new species. Scientists Mandar Sawant, Dr. Nikhil Modak and Sagar Sarang from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Somaiya Vidya Vihar University published their research paper 'Finding the forgotten gems: Revisiting the butterflies of Matheran after 125 years' in the community peer-reviewed Biodiversity Data Journal.

IC-IMPACTS (the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability) 2020 Research Conference held Virtually on Aug 6-7, 2020 to discuss the ways to elevate the inter-country cooperation to the next Level by strengthening existing international connections, sharing best practices in multiple areas, and initiating new collaborations in government and institutions. The Conference was organised by IC-IMPACTS.

NTPC Limited (formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)) has achieved 100 Billion Units (BU) of cumulative power generation in the ongoing fiscal year. Based on the PLF performance, NTPC Sipat in Chhattisgarh (2980 MW), NTPC Rihand (3000 MW) and NTPC Vindhyachal (4760 MW) in Uttar Pradesh, NTPC Talcher Kaniha (3000 MW) and NTPC Talcher Thermal (460 MW) in Odisha have been featured in the top ten performing power plants in the country.

BSE, formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Akola Sarafa Association and Akola Sarafa Va Suvarnakar Yuva Sangh of Akola, Maharashtra based bullion trade and industry associations for deepening the commodity derivatives market in India and benefit the trading and hedging of all the market participants in Indian bullion derivatives market.

South Indian Bank(SIB) has obtained in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to set up a wholly owned non- financial subsidiary for undertaking activities permitted by RBI. After SIB completes the relevant formalities and receives final approval from the regulators the subsidiary will commence its operations.

Paytm has launched India's 1st Pocket Android POS(Point of Sale) Device, 'Paytm All-in-One Portable Android Smart POS' for contactless ordering and payments in India. It is an effort to digitise and empower a large number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It is integrated with the 'Paytm for Business' app to generate GST compliant bills and to manage all transactions & settlements.

On August 10, 2020 Hassan Diab, Lebanon(Republic of Lebanon) Prime Minister(PM) and his government resigned due to public outrage and the pressure from within his own Cabinet as his government was blamed for the August 4 explosion in Beirut's port which killed at least 160 people and injured about 6,000 others.

World Lion Day is observed across the world on August 10 every year. World Lion Day 2020 is being observed virtually this year due to the pandemic. The main purpose of this day is to raise awareness about lions and educate people about issues concerning their protection and conservation.