Rupee falls 5 paise to 90.23 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 5 paise to 90.23 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, driven by rising crude oil prices and an unabated outflow of foreign funds.
According to forex traders, a volatile geopolitical situation and concerns over further US tariffs on Indian exports fueled the selling of Indian stocks by foreign institutional investors, even as traders awaited cues from macroeconomic data to be released this week.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.23 and stayed weaker by 5 paise from its previous closing level.
On Friday, the rupee fell 28 paise to close at 90.18 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.14 per cent lower at 98.75.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at USD 63.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 356.49 points or 0.43 per cent to 83,219.75, while the Nifty dipped 94.90 points or 0.37 per cent to 25,588.40.
Analysts said several factors like the development related to Venezuela, Iran and US President Donald Trump's possible move towards Greenland are influencing the sentiment worldwide.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,769.31 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed India's forex reserves dropped by USD 9.809 billion to USD 686.801 billion in the week to January 2. In the previous reporting week, the forex reserves had jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
