Current Affairs in Short: 13 October 2020

Cristiano Ronaldo tests positive for COVID-19

• Star footballer, Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for COVID-19. The information was shared by Portugal's Football Federation in a statement on October 13, 2020.
• The 35-year-old striker will miss the UEFA Nations League game on October 14 against Sweden. He is though said to be well and has no symptoms. He is currently under home isolation. 
• Following the footballer’s test result, the entire Portugal squad underwent tests but they all tested negative and would be available for the Sweden match.

Centres permits 20 States to raise additional amount of over Rs 68,000 cr through open market borrowings

• The Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance granted permission to 20 States on October 13,2020 to raise additional amount worth Rs 68,825 crore rupees through open market borrowings.
• The additional borrowing permission has been granted at 0.50 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to those States who chose Option- 1 of centre’s two borrowing options to meet the GST shortfall. 
• Twenty states opted for centre’s option 1 for borrowing and these include Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,Bihar, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. 
• Eight States are yet to chose any option, as they are demanding that the centre should borrow on their behalf. 

India, China agree to not to turn differences into disputes

• The seventh round of Senior Commanders meeting of India and China was held in Chushul on October 12, 2020. 
• During the meeting, both India and China held sincere, in-depth and constructive exchange of views on disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control.
• In a joint press release, both sides were of the view that the discussions were positive, constructive and have enhanced understanding of each other’s positions.
• Both India and China agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through military and diplomatic channels and come at a mutually acceptable solution for disengagement as soon as possible.
• They also agreed to earnestly implement the important understandings reached by the leaders of the two countries and not to turn differences into disputes, jointly safeguarding peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

RBI reallocates portfolios of deputy governors

• The Reserve Bank of India has reallocated portfolios of deputy governors, with the department of regulation entrusted to the newly-appointed RBI deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao. Rao was previously serving as the executive director of the Reserve Bank. He took charge as the RBI deputy governor last week. 
• Rao will now also look after the departments of communication, enforcement legalities among others. He was appointed to fill the post left vacant by NS Vishwanathan, who stepped down three months ahead of his extended tenure citing health reasons. 
• RBI also announced portfolios of the four deputy governors effective from October 12. 

Centre has sufficient financial resources to procure 400-500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine

• The Central Government has sufficient financial resources available to procure at least 400-500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. This was confirmed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on October 13, 2020. 
• The Secretary also nformed that various countries in the world have explored different options for extending financial support, first one being advanced market commitments by different countries and second one being providing financial help to vaccine manufacturers in terms of conducting their Research & Development (R&D). 
• This financial support may not come directly from the government but from financial institutions. These are some of the international models.