The Left Front government in Kerala plans to depend heavily on Shari’ah-based fund from Islamic countries for developing the road network in the state. The budget for 2011-12, presented by Finance Minister Thomas Issac in the Assembly on February 11, unveiled road development project of Rs 40,000 crore for the next 10 years. The state government has set aside Rs 1,000 crore for the scheme. In a state where the idea of BOT roads is yet to go down well with the political parties and agita...

Following the exposing of the deal between Antrix Corporation – the Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO]’s commercial wing – and the Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia, the debate on whether the Israeli satellite, TecSar, which was launched by ISRO in January 2008 under a commercial contract with Antrix, was for purely peaceful purposes or meant to enable Israel to spy on Iran has come to the fore again. Urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come out with a clarificatio...

The Supreme Court’s observations last week that there was a “lack of secular commitment” for reforms in the personal laws of minority communities have come in for disapproval by eminent jurist and Law Commission member Tahir Mahmood, who has termed the remarks “uncalled for and irrelevant” to the public interest case on a uniform marriageable age before the Court. Dr. Mahmood, who was in Udaipur to attend the 14th All-World Dawoodi Bohra Conference, said over the...