Representatives from 50 countries will be gathering in New Delhi on March 19-20 for an informal World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting. “The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. It will look at the issues both at the negotiating table and also in other areas.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who is rallying support for establishment of a non-BJP and non-Congress alternative, will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Monday in Kolkata. Rao had recently said a non-Congress and non-BJP front should be formed in the country, as he called for a “qualitative change” in politics and had also announced that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading a political front.
The special CBI court in Ranchi will pronounce judgment in the fourth fodder scam case against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on March 19. The court was to pronounce the verdict in the Dumka fodder scam case on Saturday but has now deferred it to Monday. Hearing in the case was wrapped up on March 5 but the judgment has been repeatedly delayed due to filing of fresh pleas by Lalu. The fourth fodder scam case is related to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka treasury (now in Jharkhand) when Lalu was the chief minister of Bihar
Drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola have announced to go on an indefinite strike from Monday. The strike would affect operations in major metro cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad among others.
"Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 5-7 lakh, and were expecting to make Rs 1.5 lakh a month but are unable to even make half of this, owing to the mismanagement by these companies," Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena, who is organising the strike, told PTI.
Holding the BJP-led Goa government responsible for the closure of mining leases in the State, mining industry stakeholders have planned a protest in Panaji on March 19.Various stakeholders of the mining industry, including truck owners and ship operators, will take part in the stir that is aimed at putting pressure on the state and the central governments for resumption of the mining activity. The five-decade-old mining industry in the State came to a grinding halt from March 16 with the Supreme Court order of a ban on iron ore extraction.