German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ongoing India visit for the India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations will see bilateral ties reaching a new level. This follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Germany in April for the Hannover Messe Fair. Last month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Berlin and she met her German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
This is Merkel's third visit to India. Germany is the only country with which India conducts these biannual joint Cabinet meetings. This will be the third round of consultations. The last one took place in 2013 in Berlin. During Merkel's visit, India and Germany will discuss issues pertaining to vocational training, green energy, river cleaning, infra modernisation and smart cities. Germany is India's largest trading partner in the European Union and the second most important partner in technological collaborations. New Delhi and Berlin have had a strategic partnership since 2001, with several dialogue mechanisms to discuss bilateral and global issues of interest.
There are around 1,700 German companies operating in India providing jobs to 400,000 Indians. The visit is not about what Germany can do for India. It is equally about what India's talent pool can do for Germany. This could be one reason Bengaluru is part of Merkel's itinerary. Germany is seeking students and professionals from India and is proud of the fact that language is no longer a barrier. English-speaking Indians can manage quite easily in Germany.
As a huge business delegation is coming with Merkal, it remains to be seen if during the trip the Volkswagen emissions scandal will set off any reverberations.
Rahul to slug it out in Bihar for party's success
The Congress has been given only 40 seats to contest in Bihar, but President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi are leaving no stone unturned while campaigning. Rahul Gandhi's public meetings in Bihar this week are scheduled in Begusarai, Sheikhpura and Kaimur near Sasaram on October 7. Sonia Gandhi will be in Bihar for two days this week. A gruelling schedule of public meetings and rallies is expected to follow.
What is the politics of the Congress in Bihar? The party is concentrating on the national failures of the Modi government, highlighting the differences between what the government promised and what it has been able to deliver; what the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) did for the people of Bihar: through funding pro-poor policies, social sector schemes and the Rs 2 lakh crore financing that Bihar got, including to build roads: the great success story of the Nitish Kumar administration. The Congress slogan is: Nitish ka nettritva, Lalu ka saath, Congress ka haath (Nitish's leaders, Lalu's support, and the hand (symbol) of the Congress). The point to note, of course, if the order in which the Congress is positing the leaders - Nitish, followed by Lalu. Watch to see which meetings are attended by the two leaders. On the earlier occasion, neither Nitish nor Lalu could find the time to attend Rahul Gandhi's rally.
SC to hear Haryana panchayat poll plea
The Supreme Court will hear later this week, whether Haryana can proceed to hold panchayat elections that were to have been held on October 4 but had to be cancelled because a petition that argued that conditionalities imposed by the Khattar government were illegal.
According to the law passed on September 7 by the state assembly, general candidates needed to have passed class 10 examinations while women and dalit candidates were required to have cleared class 8 to contest the polls.
There were other conditions: Candidates should not have had any criminal conviction, no pending electricity bills or loan payments and a working toilet in their house, the law had said.
A petition filed by the All India Democratic Women's Association against the law in the Supreme Court said this law made most of the candidates in the state ineligible to contest. Moreover, such a law was against the constitution.
The Haryana state election commission told the court that it cannot hold polls till the validity of the law was decided. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court that unless a stay on the law was vacated, polls that were to start on October 4 will have to be cancelled. The Supreme Court said elections could be held only after it had heard the petition.
That hearing will be this week. This could be a landmark ruling.
