Current Affairs in Short: 8 October 2020

Dinesh Kumar Khara appointed as new SBI Chairman

• Dinesh Kumar Khara has assumed charge as the new Chairman of State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender. 
• Dinesh Kumar Khara has taken over from Rajnish Kumar, who superannuated on October 7, 2020. One of his top priorities would be to maintain the quality of the loan book. He will also focus on maintaining safety of bank employees and customers. 
• Mr Khara will be required to serve at the post for a period of three years. Before this, he was serving the bank as its Managing Director (Global Banking & Subsidiaries).

Textiles Minister launches Kasturi Cotton brand and logo

• Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani launched the first-ever brand for India’s premium cotton on the occasion of Second World Cotton Day on October 7, 2020 through video conferencing. The brand logo was also announced on the occasion. 
• The Indian cotton will now be known to the world by the name ‘Kasturi Cotton’. The brand represents the Indianness, Whiteness, Brightness, Softness, Purity, Luster and Uniqueness of the product. 
• While announcing the same, the Minister recounted the importance of cotton in the Indian economy saying that cotton is one of the principal commercial crops of the country and it provides livelihood to about six million cotton farmers. 
• She also revealed that India is the second-largest cotton producer and the largest consumer of cotton in the world. India produces around six million tonnes of cotton each year, which constitutes almost 23 percent of the world's cotton. 

IMD to launch dynamic, impact-based cyclone warning system

• The Director-General of India Meteorological Department, Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra announced that the IMD will be launching a dynamic, impact-based cyclone warning system.
• The cyclone warning system aims to minimize economic losses and damage caused to property due to the cyclones.
Dr. Mohapatra informed the same while speaking on ‘Chasing the Cyclones’, organised as part of World Space Week celebrations by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. 
• Dr. Mohapatra pointed out that with growing years, the damage caused to infrastructure by cyclones has been increasing across the world. 

Bangladesh government to only accept COVID-19 vaccine recognised by WHO

• Bangladesh has stated that it will accept only the WHO recognised COVID 19 vaccines for use in the country. This was announced by Bangladesh Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam during a media briefing on October 7, 2020. 
• The cabinet secretary said that the nation has been in touch with all the countries and organisations that are trying to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. 
• He further expressed hope that Bangladesh will get the COVID 19 vaccine on a priority basis. The government has set aside Tk 600 crore for the same. 
• Bangladesh is also eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when its ready under the Global Vaccine Alliance.

Around 86% of COVID-19 cases in UK had no symptoms

• Almost 86 percent of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 during the lockdown in the United Kingdom did not have any known coronavirus symptoms such as fever, cough, loss of smell and taste. This was revealed by a new study, conducted by University College London (UCL) authors. The study was published in ‘Clinical Epidemiology'.
• The study concludes that more widespread testing is required to detect silent transmission. The researchers came to this conclusion using the data from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey pilot study. 
• The data shows that 115, almost 0.32 percent people out of the total 36,061 people included in the pilot study showed a positive test result and among those, only 16 or 13.9 percent reported symptoms, while 99 or 86.1 percent of the people did not report any specific symptoms. 

EU Parliament votes in favour of 60% greenhouse gas emissions cut

• The European Parliament voted recently in favour of legally binding target for the European Union to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2030, against 1990 levels.
• The EU’s current 2030 goal is to cut emissions by 40 percent. The EU legislative assembly has now approved the 60 percent target with a 26-vote majority.