Current Affairs - August 13, 2020 Current Affairs

On 8th August 2020, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) and Road Transport & Highways addressed the "India@75 Summit - Mission 2022" organised by the confederation of Indian Industries(CII) which was focused on 'reinventing technology in India'. He stated that to achieve self-reliant India, the MSME Ministry and Industries should be made import substitutes, cost-effective, pollution-free and indigenous.

On 11th August 2020, Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Environment Forest &Climate Change(MoEFCC) launched the booklet on "Best practices of Human-Elephant Conflict Management in India" to strengthen coexistence of the human-elephant, along with the Beta Version of "Surakhsya" during the event on the eve of World Elephant Day. The booklet was aimed to reduce the Human Elephant conflicts and avoid the loss of lives of both humans and elephants.

On 7th August 2020, Mozammel Haque, Bangladesh War Liberation Minister announced the decision to construct a standalone monument for the Indian Soldiers who were killed by Pakistan in 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.

On August 10, 2020, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, launched Rs 1,800 crore scheme "Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana" by replacing "Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)", for FY20-21 only, for the state's 56 lakh farmers facing crop losses due to drought, excess rain or unseasonal rain. In this regard the state government will launch a dedicated portal so that farmers can apply online.

Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama is set to release his new book "Our Only Home: A climate Appeal to the world" on Climate change co-written by German environmental Journalist Franz Alt in November.

On August 10, 2020, as a part of the Atma Nirbhar Week celebration (Atmanirbharta Saptah) between August 7-14, 2020 of the Ministry of Defence and to boost Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (self-reliant India movement), the Union Defence Minister (Raksha Mantri) Rajnath Singh virtually launched the initiatives for modernisation and upgradation of facilities at defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

On August 11, 2020 Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting released an e-version of the book 'Connecting, Communicating, Changing', a chronicle of Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu's third year in office. In addition to this Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of Defence also released the print coffee table version of the e-book. The event was organized at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas in New Delhi. This is the 3rd edition of the book on his efforts and outcomes as the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

On August 10, 2020, India and Maldives signed a contract for the development of five eco-tourism zones in Addu atoll of Maldives during an online signing ceremony held from Addu City. The virtual ceremony was attended by High Commissioner of India to the Maldives Sunjay Sudir and Maldives Foreign Secretary Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed.

On August 10, 2020, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated an information repository, in the form of an online dashboard, for all projects identified under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) through video conferencing from New Delhi. The dashboard hosted on the India Investment Grid (IIG) website "www.indiainvestmentgrid.gov.in" will be a one stop solution providing information on infrastructure projects in New India to all stakeholders.

India's leading Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC), Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) has signed a Memorandum of Association(MoA) with District Administration of Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh(UP) to construct 2 Modular Operation Theatre Rooms in the District Hospital, Siddharthnagar.

Himachal Pradesh has received Investment Clearance from the Union Government for six multipurpose and flood control projects involving expenditure of Rs 7,922.69 crore for six schemes on 7th August, 2020 at New Delhi.

On August 10, 2020 Assam Council of Ministers approved "Assam Non-Government Education Institutions (Regulation of Fees) Rules 2020". It seeks to regulate the fees structure of the private educational institutes in the State of Assam.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.