New Delhi–The Indian rupee fell for the second straight day Tuesday, slumping to 58.98 against a dollar on continuing worries over current account deficit and increased demand for the US currency from importers.

The partially convertible rupee weakened by 80 paise to hit a new low of 58.95 against a dollar at the inter-bank foreign exchange market, Mumbai.

It recovered during in the late afternoon session and closed at 58.40 against a dollar, down 0.4 percent from its previous day close at 58.16, on suspected interventions from the Reserve Bank of India.

Comments from senior government officials regarding possible intervention helped the recovery in the currency markets.

Chief economic advisor in the finance ministry Raghuram Rajan said the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India would take “warranted” action to control the rupee slide.

“SEBI, RBI and the government are keenly following what is happening and everybody will act when the time comes,” Rajan said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.

Rajan said the factors that were responsible for rupee slide were reversing and the currency would stabilise in a few days.

The Indian currency registered its biggest fall in almost two years Monday. It slumped by 1.9 percent to close at 58.16 against a dollar.

The value of rupee has depreciated by more than eight percent in the past one and a half months. It has dropped in 16 out of the last 18 trading sessions.

The rupee is under pressure due to worries over widening current account deficit and firming of the dollar against major global currencies, including the Euro and the Japanese Yen.

Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram also said the rupee would stabilise in three-four days.

“In next three-four days, we will see a mid-course correction…Rupee is going to stabilise and we are going to see a positive movement,” Mayaram told reporters. —IANS

PCB forms inquiry committee to probe allegations leveled by women cricketers from Multan region claiming that some officials, including a coach, had demanded sexual favours for selecting and promoting them.

In a scandal that is likely to rock the roots of Pakistan women’s cricket, several players from the Multan region have complained of sexual harassment and misbehaviour by their superiors and officials.

As soon as the complaints were made by some five women players of the Multan region on a television channel yesterday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) formed a three-member inquiry committee to probe into the matter.

According to women cricketers, some officials, including a coach, had demanded sexual favours for selecting and promoting them.

The players who have made the accusations include Hina Ghafoor, Kiran Khan, Seema Javed, Noor Fatima and Maleeha Shafiq.

They claimed that MCC President Begum Shami Sultan and other club officials were the main culprits in the whole shameful affair and used to demand money from players.

“I had impressive domestic performances and I was confident I would be selected for the national team. But such shameful acts were demanded of me that I decided to quit the game,” accused Kiran.

Maleeha said the MCC would “destroy a girl’s career” if she refused favours. One of the girls even provoked the official, who was taken on beeper by the channel, to answer the allegations against him.

“Tell the truth, just tell everyone why your wife came down to the ground and slapped you in front of everyone,” she said.

The PCB has asked all the five players to appear on June 12 at its regional head office in Lahore.

The committee head and the long serving manager of the national women’s team, Ayesha Ashar said the matter would be probed into thoroughly as it was a “serious” issue.

“The committee will meet each player individually and also examine their career records to see whether any injustice was done to them in selection. It’s a serious matter,” she said.

A two-month-long investigation by an Indian newspaper has exposed how cattle are injected with a hormone called oxytocin every day, in violation of a government ban. While the drug forces the cattle to expel a few extra litres of milk, drinking it may severely harm young children

If you’re a stickler for dietary discipline and insist on that warm glass of milk every morning, here’s news that could make you look at the glass half empty. Prolonged investigations conducted by MiD-DAY have revealed that a banned drug called oxytocin is being administered to buffalos in many tabelas across the city. Oxytocin, while it helps cattle produce more milk, has severely harmful effects on not just the health of the animals it is injected into, but humans who consume milk that comes from them.

Doctors have confirmed that the drug decreases the reproductive ability of cows over time, eventually making them barren. It also reduces the lifespan of cattle. Studies have linked the consumption of milk contaminated with oxytocin to the early onset of puberty in children, which is on an alarming rise these days. Despite a ban on artificially injecting the hormone into cattle, this drug is being supplied secretly to different tabelas, as we discovered in the course of our two-month-long investigations.

Dr V L Deopurkar, director of research, Veterinary University, Nagpur explained, “Oxytocin or Pitocin is an injection used on pregnant women to induce labour. Commercial tabelas are using oxytocin injections almost twice a day on cattle. Upon injecting the drug, the milk, which is otherwise stored in the udder of the cattle for its calves, is also released, giving a few additional litres of milk.”

MUMBAI — Part of a four-story building in India’s financial capital collapsed in heavy monsoon rains, killing 10 people including five members of one family, authorities said.

Rescuers used sensors and life detectors but couldn’t recover anyone alive from the debris of the building in the Sion area of Mumbai, the local Municipal Corporation said.

The dead included five members of a local businessman’s family and three from the family of a lawyer, it said in a statement.

Six other people were injured when the structure collapsed Monday night, said Vijayendra Dahiya, an official at the National Disaster Management Authority.

Dahiya said the cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

Police cordoned off the building fearing more of it could cave in.

Building collapses are common in India as builders try to cut corners by using substandard materials, and as multistory structures are built with inadequate supervision.

In April, 74 people were killed when an eight-story building being constructed illegally in the Mumbai suburb of Thane caved in. It was the worst building collapse in the country in decades.

The massive demand for housing around India’s cities and pervasive corruption often result in builders adding unauthorized floors or putting up illegal buildings.

Black ‘Murrah’ buffalo with short and tightly curled horns for Rs 80,000 and herd of 10 ‘Holstein Friesians’ cows at Rs 6 lakh on the click of the mouse the Indian online classifieds are moving beyond usual items such as mobiles, cars and real estate with increasing internet penetration in smaller towns.

Online classifieds players Quikr and OLX are finding good traction for their business from semi urban and rural areas in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

“While the main metros continue to be top contributors to our site, the rapidly increasing internet usage in tier 2 and 3 towns has also boosted our growth tremendously. Today Tier 2 and 3 cities account for over 50% of our traffic,” Quikr CEO Pranay Chulet told PTI.

OLX, which has a majority of users mainly from metros, is also finding that small town traffic on its site is growing.

“We do notice positive trends from Tier 2 cities as well. These include cities like Jaipur, Surat, Cochin,” OLX CEO Amarjit Batra said.

With these sites offering platform to users to buy and sell a wide range of products, it is not surprising that enterprising farmers are using them to sell their pets and animals as well.

“People are now witnessing responses to ads even for pets and animals like cows and buffaloes, which have been listed for sale on OLX from rural or semi urban areas,” Batra said, adding such trends were prevalent globally.

Buying and selling of such dairy animals is already a practice in rural India and the availability of this platform has further catalysed the trading of dairy farming animals ensuring better reach and responses compared to other traditional platforms, he added.