One of the disappointments that has been weighing down the Indian collective psyche was the failure of Chandrayaan 2 that crash landed on the moon on 6th September 2019. The country’s PM returning dejected from the space station with the scientific community in despair were not a remarkable sight. When Chandrayaan 3 landed on the moon in a picture-perfect fashion and on time, the country collectively heaved a sigh of relief – and then celebrated. On 23rd August 23 India became the fourth nation to do so and that too from the ‘third world’ to go to the moon for a picnic. In the final few minutes before touchdown, the lander executed a complex manoeuvre, slowing down from 3,730 miles an hour to nearly zero and turning from a horizontal to a vertical position. The right tilt and thrust at this moment were vital. If too much force was applied, the lander would have toppled. Too little force and it might have hit the lunar surface at the wrong place. It was this end manoeuvre that went wrong in the final few minutes of India’s last moon mission in 2019, when the lander failed to change position and hurtled towards the surface during the final braking phase. The tensions were palpable especially since only a few days back the mighty Russians failed in their attempt with their landing attempt on the moon. When Chandrayaan 3 landed on the moon, I like every other Indian was over the moon!
There are some questions that have no definitive answers, the chief among them is the rhetorical question of what came first – the chicken or the egg. Even if an answer can be found, it would be too convoluted to defend or explain. A situation came up recently when the social media was awash with the news that Anand Mahindra, the industrialist was upset with an alleged statement believed to have been made by a BBC anchor who questioned the wisdom of India in pursuing an ambition of space plan that saw landing of Chandrayaan 3 on moon when a third world country like India did not have enough toilets for its people. The alleged comments, despite it being in bad taste, has been subsequently proved to be an old one and not one in response to India’s latest adventure to the moon. There are such dilemmas in the life of a developing nation while deciding the priorities of national development. Though the issue was of recycling an old post, the issue of finding an answer to this eternal question is a real, albeit a relevant one. The country needs both – toilets and the moon, even a toilet in the moon! How to set these priorities will be decided by the leadership of the country. The truth is that India needs funds for the scientific adventures like the moon mission even as it has to provide for enough funds to provide for the teeming millions in the country. In life it is all about choosing priorities and providing for alternatives and not having to choose among the alternatives. Our mission to the moon will inspire the nation to achieve just that.
Under Section 54 of the Income Tax Act, an individual or HUF selling a residential property can claim exemption from long term capital gains if he/it invests the proceeds in the acquisition, i.e., purchase or construction, of another residential property. However, this acquisition should be done either one year before the sale of the property or two years after the sale of the house property or construct one within three years of the date of sale of that property that generated the capital gains. Despite this being a beneficial provision in the Income Tax Act the exemption from capital gains are available only if the acquisition happens strictly within one year before the sale transaction of the assessee. However, the Delhi Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has ruled in a recent case that the seller of a residential property can avail of capital gains tax exemption even if he or she entered into an agreement to buy a new house much earlier than the sale of the impugned property. This has come in as a welcome relief to assessees since possession of a house property gets delayed for reasons well known and unknown to all of us. This beneficial provision has now truly become beneficial!
One of the precious privileges that a judge and that too of a higher court in India sacrifices is his own identity being glorified in the public domain. In that sense judges are heard; but seldom seen for good reason. I was, therefore, surprised to see the “adventures” of one such judge being ‘visible’ a lot more often than others. His name was not known to me till I came across his life sketch etched for prosperity in the India Today magazine. His is Justice Anand Venkaesh, an honourable Judge of the Madras High Court. On further investigation I could find a lot more details about this one-man crusader from the judiciary who is fast becoming a legend. To quote the magazine “Justice Venkatesh has seemingly taken it upon himself to expose the rot in the judicial corridors of the State”. On August 10 the judge took sou moto cognisance of the acquittal of Tamil Nadu’s Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy, exposing how within four days, the Principal District Judge, Vellore marshalled the evidence of 172 prosecution witnesses and 381 documents and managed (or rather stage managed) to deliver a 226-page judgement acquitting all the accused”. He followed it up with cases against two other ministers stating that “something is very rotten in the Special Court for MP/MLA cases” According to India Today Justice Venkatesh’s formula for success during his time as a lawyer was quite simple – hard work and passion. He was appointed to the Madras High Court in 2018. One of his controversial views was that “the court cannot continue to be a mute spectator watching with dismay the increase in criminal offences committed under the influence of alcohol.” So scathing were his words in this order that the state government was compelled to move the Supreme Court, not to oppose the bail granted to the to men but against some scathing paragraphs in Justice Venkatesh’s order. The Supreme Court felt that the judge “had exceeded his jurisdiction,” a fact that Justice Venkatesh had himself noted though what he was doing was in the exclusive domain of the government, he could not allow the court to be mute spectator. In another case he took a firm stand against corporal punishment in schools holding it be “abusive and violates the child’s rights and dignity.” Another significant judgement of Justice Venkatesh is his strong stance against “hyper nationalism.” Just last month Justice Venkatesh made it to the headlines in a scathing order where he said that if temple festivals were being to perpetuate violence it is better to close down such temples. Refusing to order police protection to a temple festival in the state, the judge noted “Till the man drops his ego and goes to temple seeking the blessings of God, the whole purpose of having a temple is of no use.” One more crucial decision that the Judge has taken should be mentioned here. In 2021 an interim Order of Justice Venkatesh went viral on the internet as he wrote that before passing a judgment on a plea by a same-sex couple seeking protection he needed to break his own “preconceived notions” and undergo a session with a counsellor to better understand the issue pertaining to the LGBQTI community. It was refreshing for people across the legal fraternity to see a judge willing to evolve with the times and ensure that his preconceived notions about society do not impact the rights of two citizens who had come to his court. “Ignorance is no justification for normalising any form of discrimination.” Justice Venkatesh noted in an outstanding Order. Yes, Your Honour. You have a lot of followers and admirers. More power to your pen.
Jammu & Kashmir got its special status from Article 370 of the Constitution. This Article was part of the ‘temporary, transitional and special provisions’ for the State. The Supreme Court is now hearing the legality of this provision in the ongoing hearing before its 5-judge Constitution Bench. Students of our Constitution have enough lessons to learn from the ongoing case around this Article and more. Appearing on behalf of the Central Government Mr Tushar Mehta has brought up the argument that Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu & Kashmir was “self-extinguishing” and therefore by implication a temporary provision. That was an ingenious argument put forward to the Bench. Mehta further posits that “mistakes of the past should not befall upon the future generations.” He further argues that ‘the Constitution of India stands on a higher platform than that of J&K Constitution which stands now repealed.” In his opinion Article 370 was used in a ‘floating way’ and any word in Article 370 which became otiose was replaced by its successor. Watch this space.
Winstone Churchill once famously said way back in 1939 that Russia is a ‘riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’. Was Churchill prescient or precocious? Either way, he was a clairvoyant if you watch what is happening in Russia today. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the billionaire oligarch seemed to defy logic and Putin’s dispensation of justice when he seemed to survive virtually unscathed after his show of defiance against Putin himself, no less. Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary outfit was killed when the plane in which he was travelling was brought down exactly two months to the day when the former dared to lead a mutiny against Putin and was on the road to Moscow in broad daylight. It is only natural to assume, especially for Prigozhin that would be the kind of tribal justice that he would meet with in Putin’s Russia. Putin was famously quoted as saying that the one thing that is impossible for him to forgive is ‘betrayal.’ No one seems to have been surprised that Prigozhin died the way he did. But people, however, are surprised that Putin took all of two months to get Prigozhin bumped off. In the end, it was tribal justice, Russian style.
In Hindi there is this famous saying “aa bail mujhe maar.” In the absence of an equivalent saying in English known to me, let me add here my own interpretation of this popular saying. Roughly translated, it says “Hey Bull, come and hit me.” This idiomatic expression is used when you end up creating a dangerous situation for yourself. Simply put, it is a way of inviting trouble for yourself. The INDIA opposition recently ended up in that kind of a situation in Parliament when they decided to introduce a No Confidence motion against the government on the issue of Manipur. Even after moving heaven and earth and in spite of yeomen efforts to get Narendra Modi to speak on Manipur Modi continued to steadfastly refuse to do so for reasons best known to himself. INDIA finally decided to move a no confidence motion against the government. The Opposition calculation was that this would ensure Modi as its head to come to Parliament and defend his government. INDIA did not realise the dangers involved in letting Modi to use the platform of Parliament to attack the Opposition with impunity. Or perhaps they decided to ignore the potential dangers involved in such a move in order to score brownie points against Narendra Modi. In the process the PM came to the Parliament, spoke to the members and in more than one sense, decimated the Opposition comprehensively. The motion against the government was for all its intents and purposes, was to embarrass the government on the issue of Manipur. For the PM it was an unmissable opportune moment to use the august body to make an eloquent election speech with the entire nation in attendance. Modi is not one to let the opportunity go to waste. If Manipur were the issue, it would be in the speech but only towards the fag end of a long speech by which time it would be reasonable to assume that the Opposition would stage a walkout in the absence of any other option. That is exactly what they did. Modi used the occasion to put the genesis of the problem squarely on the Congress who had ruled the country all these years. It was an excellent opportunity for Modi to criticise and castigate the Congress for the problems that you see in Manipur today. This situation could have been anticipated by INDIA knowing full well that Modi as a great orator and also as an ace politician was not likely to let go of the invitation extended by the Opposition. As if that was not enough, Modi succeeded in putting all the blame for Manipur to the mismanagement of the country by Prime Ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Modi’s speech was an object lesson in political savvy and oratory – both combined. Now I am sure you know what it means when someone says, “aa bail mujhe maar.”
I started this piece with the news of our scientists sending Chandrayaan to the moon. Let me end it with an athlete who threw his Javelin over the moon! Neeraj Chopra, our very own champion has now conquered them all with his Javelin! The champion who had all the major titles in Javelin to his credit has now claimed the one that was waiting to be conquered. From the Olympic Games to the World Championships Chopra has collected gold in every major athletic event. If he threw his Javelin over a distance of 87.58 meters in the last Olympic finals, that distance became 88.17 meters in the recently concluded World Championship in Budapest, Hungary! With this throw Neeraj Chopra should be aiming at the moon now with his fellow Indians behind him applauding him all the way. Well done, Neeraj. You have given one more reason for fellow Indians to celebrate and cheer!
Thank you.
Venkat R Venkiachalam
