Maratha quota stir: Situation under control in Beed, 49 people arrested
Chhaptrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): Police have arrested 49 people in connection with the violence in Maharashtra's Beed district during the ongoing agitation for Maratha reservation, an official said on Tuesday.
A curfew was imposed in parts of Beed district on Monday evening after a series of incidents of violence and arson targeting properties of politicians.
The situation is currently under control, Beed Superintendent of Police Nandkumar Thakur told PTI.
"Offences for rioting and putting lives in danger have been lodged in connection with the incidents. So far, 49 agitators have been arrested. There was no untoward incident at night, and the situation is under control," he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in the district to maintain law and order, the official said.
As per the order issued by Beed Collector Deepa Mudhol Munde, the curfew has been enforced in a periphery of 5 kilometres from the collector office, head offices of talukas along with all national highways passing through the district, another official said.
On Monday morning, the residence of NCP (Ajit Pawar group) MLA Prakash Solanke at Majalgaon town in Beed district was set on fire and stones were hurled at it by a group of quota agitators, police earlier said.
The group also set ablaze a car parked at the residence of Solanke after an audio clip of the MLA, in which he purportedly spoke about the Maratha quota agitation and made a veiled comment on the fasting quota activist Manoj Jarange, went viral.
After the arson at the legislator's home, a group of Maratha reservation activists dispersed from there and later set ablaze the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building and vandalised it.
A group of Maratha quota activists barged into the residential premises and office of NCP MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar in Beed city and set them on fire on Monday evening.
In another incident, the residence of former state minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar was torched and pelted with stones in Beed city by protesters.
A mob of Maratha agitators had also gathered outside the residence of NCP (Ajit pawar faction) leader Amarsingh Pandit and police fired tear-gas shells to disperse them.
The violence and arson took place at a time when Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange is continuing his indefinite hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district since October 25 in support of the reservation demand.
Maratha community members have been staging protests in different parts of the state seeking reservation in government jobs and education under the OBC category.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
