Ram India

Retail loans in India witnessed a 16 per cent rise between the financial year 2013 and 2017, a duration when total loan growth stood at nine per cent. Of the total retail loans, nearly half were housing loans, followed by auto and education loans. Two states that made the highest contribution to the rising number of retail loans were Maharashtra and Gujarat, owing to growing income levels.

From its previous ranking of 143 on The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom in 2017, India is placed at the 130th spot this year, a jump of 13 positions. However, reforms undertaken by the government to improve the state of affairs have yet to make the desired impact. Unclear land titles are one of the major challenges India faces today, the report indicates.

To fight the rising air pollution levels across the country, ahead of the Earth Day on April 22, the Centre has launched the National Clean Air Programme. Under the project, state-level committees will be formed that would include scientists and trained professionals who would collect authentic data, form action plan and implement it. All of this will be monitored by an apex committee formed under the environment ministry.

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport is now among the top 20 busiest airports in the world with a yearly traffic of 63 million. To keep up with the growing footfall and serve the flyers better Delhi International Airport Ltd is planning to expand the existing terminals. Also, the Delhi Metro will be expanding its services to the Terminal 1 through the Magenta Line which would be fully operational by the end of April.

India has provided more than 300 million people with access to clean water in past 15 years, data show. But, it is little reason to cheer as the progress made by India in providing clean water to its citizens notwithstanding, it is still among the nations where it is hard to get water that is fit to consume. Here are some of the recent reports that show the deepening crisis of water in the country.