News in Short

• Indian Overseas Bank reduced its interest rate on loans linked to MCLR by 30 basis points (bps) in overnight tenor and by 20 bps in one month to one -year tenors. Hence, loans linked to MCLR will become cheaper.
• The bank has also reduced its interest rate on loans linked to repo Linked Lending rate (RLLR) from 7.25 percent to 6.85 percent per annum.
• Retail loans (Housing, Education, Vehicle etc.), loans to Micro and Small enterprises and Medium enterprises, which are linked to RLLR will now be available at cheaper rates.

• Poet, lyricist, and writer Javed Akhtar has become the first Indian to receive the prestigious Richard Dawkins Award for 2020 for critical thinking, holding religious dogma up to scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values.
• The citation states that recipient will be a distinguished individual from the worlds of science, scholarship, education or entertainment, who publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead.
• Previous recipients include American TV host, comedian, and political commentator Bill Maher and English-American intellectual, philosopher, social critic, and writer Christopher Hitchens.

• Popular Kannada actor Chiranjeevi Sarja passed away at the age of 39 years in Bengaluru. The actor died after suffering from cardiac arrest.
• Chiranjeevi Sarja made his acting debut from the movie ‘Vayuputra’ in 2009. He went on to act in more than 20 movies. He is also the nephew of South Indian star Arjun Sarja, and brother of action prince Dhruva Sarja.
• Chiranjeevi Sarja starred in many movies like ‘Chirru’, ‘Chandralekha’, ‘Aatagara’, ‘Bharjari’, ‘Seizer’, ‘Amma I Love You’, ‘Sinnga’, and other movies. He was last featured in the film titled ‘Shivarjuna’.

• India’s first solar-powered ferry, Aditya, is among 12 such ferries that have been shortlisted for the Gustave Trouvé Award. It is the sole entrant from Asia.
• There are three award categories: one for electric boats up to 8m in length, electric boats more than 8 m long and electric ferry boats (passenger boats), the category in which Aditya is in the fray.
• Gussies Electric Boat Awards were instituted in memory of GustaveTrouvé, a French electrical engineer and pioneer in electric cars and boats.

• Reliance Industries said it sold 1.16 percent stake in its digital unit to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for ? 5,683.50 crores, taking the cumulative fundraising to ? 97,885.65 crores.
• This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of ? 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of ? 5.16 lakh crore. ADIA's investment will translate into a 1.16 percent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis.
• With these investment, Reliance has sold all of the targeted 21 percent equity in Jio Platforms ahead of a potential IPO. Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, is a next-generation technology company.