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Banks’ loan growth drops for sixth month in December as tighter lending curbs weigh

MUMBAI, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Banks’loan growth moderated for a sixth straight month in December, the RBI data showed on Friday, as the impact of the Reserve Bank of India’s tighter lending norms for unsecured loans continued to ripple through the system. The data showed that banks’ credit increased by 12.4% year-on-year last month, slower than the 15.6% rise in December 2023, excluding the impact of HDFC Bank’s merger with its parent Housing Development Finance Corp. Including the impact of the merger, banks’ loans grew 11.2% last month, compared with 20% in the year-ago period. The loan growth rate had

Election rules row: Supreme Court orders EC to preserve video clips of polling

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Election Commission of India to preserve video clips of the polling during the pendency of the pleas against the decision to increase the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,200 to 1,500. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar passed the order the counsel for the Election Commission of India (ECI) sought time to respond to the PIL filed by one Indu Prakash Singh. Singh has challenged the panel’s communications in August 2024 for increasing the number of voters per polling stations

Sacred strokes of color on foreheads are a major display of Hinduism at India’s Maha Kumbh festival

PRAYAGRAJ, India, January 31, 2025 (AP) — The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward the spot where they take holy baths, drawn by the hope that the bathing would bring them salvation. But when they leave — believing their sins have been cleansed by the redemptive bath — they leave with one thing in common: their foreheads display a sacred stroke of color. This sacred stroke, called tilak, is ubiquitous to the millions of Hindu pilgrims attending the Maha Kumbh festival in India’s northern Prayagraj city, where faithful gather at the

While you sleep, these insects are working hard on the night shift to keep our environment healthy

Sydney, Jan 31 (The Conversation) As night falls over Australia’s forests, grasslands and backyards, the hidden world of nocturnal insects stirs to life. In many ecosystems, overall insect activity actually peaks at night, especially in warmer regions of the world. These nighttime creatures play essential roles in ecosystems, providing services such as pollination, waste decomposition, and pest control. Here are some of the remarkable insects that come out after dark – and why they matter. Moths: the stars of the night shift While their flashier daytime relatives, the butterflies, often steal the spotlight, moths are the hidden stars of the

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