It was in December 2010 that the ambitious e-District project was launched in Kerala in Kannur District. The project was launched in Palakkad District within four months. As of now there are 23 different digital certificates which are being issued through the e-district application mostly through the Akshaya Citizen Service Centres (CSCs). On an average, there are two Akshaya CSCs in every Panchayat. One of the most important certificates is the Possession Certificate. It is on record that we have issued over 9 lakhs digital certificates so far in Kerala.

By Sherry Samuel Oommen & Ajith R

Background: The question as to the classification of an item of expense as revenue or capital in nature for income-tax purpose has long been a contentious issue before the courts. The same has been settled by the courts on a case-to-case basis, also setting-forth the general principles relevant for determining the deductibility of an expense as revenue expenditure under section 37(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’). The said issue attains greater significance in the case of tax deductibility of payments made towards purchase of software for the purpose of business, considering the fact that said payments would constitute a major item of expenditure not only for major business houses but also for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

By Korath V Mathew

The Unique Identification project, named ‘Aadhaar’, initiated by the Prime Minister under the chairmanship of renowned Nandan Nilekani has caught the imagination of the nation like never before. While the UID in itself is harmless and purely optional, the far reaching impact on empowerment of the citizens and prevention of impersonation has evoked much of the debate on the topic. Recently there have been many articles in the media against launch of UID in India.

By Naseem Javed

On June 20 2011, ICANN the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, created a global shockwave with their announcement to a packed meeting in Singapore. A thousand delegates witnessed, a long awaited gTLD programme released, creating new types of domain names with unlimited potential. The application fee per name starts at $185,000, and can cost up to $500,000 to integrate.

By CA Sherry Samuel Oommen & CA Balakrishnan K

The first draft of the Kerala IT Policy 2011 reminded me of a very famous quote by Bill Gates who said “Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” The past few years have witnessed the Kerala Governments taking certain strong initiatives to promote IT and IT enabled services.

In the recent past there have been several incidences where the security of Kerala based websites has been compromised. Implementing the right security model is a vital part of any Online Portal and in this guest article we hope to cover some important points related to the same.