Rare political consensus: UPA in poll mode

There's been lots of debate on the economic merits of Friday's Budget, but everyone agrees on the political logic behind it.

It's a typical election year Budget that puts money into lots of voters' pockets. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his happiness on the Budget.

''This is an outstanding budget which lives to the reputation that this government works for common man. It's an aam admi's Budget, farmer's Budget and middle class Budget,'' said Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister.

A beaming UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi termed the Budget as revolutionary.

''The move to waive off farm loans is revolutionary. It's a historic day,'' said Sonia Gandhi, Congress president.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad hailed the Budget in his own inimitable style.

''I give full marks to the Budget and it's not just Chidambaram alone who is responsible. Even we have made our suggestions to make it a people-friendly Budget,'' said Lalu Prasad, Railway Minister.

BJP criticises

However, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha played down the hype around the Budget.

''Whatever they announced in the Budget, they have done so in the last year of their government,'' said Yashwant Sinha, Spokesperson, BJP.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said: ''I feel that after this massive relief, the farmers will be able to get back into the credit cycle. Now, farmers will be able to acquire money for next year's crop. A big burden has been taken off the farmers. This is a progressive move.''

CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta described the Budget as an ''election stunt''. ''The finance minister has announced everything except the date of elections,'' he said.

Shiv Sena's Anant Geete sought to concur with the BJP's stand, saying that the government has woken up rather late in the day.

He also claimed that the loan waiver would not in any way ameliorate the plight of farmers in Vidarbha who are in deep debt.

BJD's Tathagat Satpathy disapproved of the loan waiver saying that the government should not encourage ''bad habits'' but invest in agriculture heavily to make it more viable.

Election oriented Budget

Almost all parties felt that it was a totally election oriented Budget.

CPI leader D Raja described the budget as a ''positive step'' but added that Finance Minister P Chidambaram could have ''gone further and done something more for the farmers.

''There has been no change in the corporate tax structure. The Budget has only increased the disparity between rich and poor,'' Raja added.

He said that the loan waiver announced in the Budget is based on the current prices, however, for countering future prices a National Rural Debt Relief Commission should be set up.

The CPI leader expressed disappointment over the ''small increase'' in the allocation for National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

''This Budget has reflected the tone tenor and content of a Budget before a general elections,'' said Sitaram Yechury, Leader, CPI(M).

For some time, there has been speculation that the government will present a populist Budget, and then perhaps, give the go-ahead to the contentious nuclear deal and face early elections.

Step one has been taken, will the government take the next two steps. (With PTI inputs)

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India riding a wave, says Rohit

India have put aside the unpleasant happenings off-the-field and are firmly focussed on the finals, which they are confident of winning, middle order batsman Rohit Sharma declared.

"Everyone is geared up for the final, we are looking forward to it. The off-field controversies are behind us and we are only looking ahead to playing cricket," he said on Friday.

"Australia have won two matches against us (in the league stage) but that is in the past. The finals will be a different ball game," the youngster added.

Sharma said India’s last game against Australia in Sydney was ample evidence of the Blues’ fighting qualities. "We played the last game in Sydney really well, from being 51/4 to scoring almost 300 was a magnificent effort," he said.

Sharma was especially pleased with his own form. "So far it’s been very good and I wish to continue what I have been doing. I am confident enough ahead of the finals. It would be good if we can start very well," he said of the best-of-three title clash. The Mumbai batsman, who will turn out for Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League in April, felt the Australian tour was a tough test.

"Australia is a place where performance is noticed. It serves as a platform for your career. I feel all the youngsters doing well here have great careers ahead of them," he said, adding "I think I have made the most of the opportunities. But there are some things which I would like to improve upon."

Vital among the lessons he has learnt on the tour is building partnerships. "The knock I played against Australia in Melbourne, was a pointer to the importance of building partnerships in the middle. Even though we were chasing about 160, we had lost quick wickets and were under pressure," he said about his match-winning unbeaten 39 after India had slumped to 102/5.

Consistency is another aspect Sharma is striving for. "It’s a disappointment that I am doing well in patches. I need to convert the good starts into big scores," he confessed. Sharma said he was not intimidated by the big names in world cricket.

"When I started my career, in the gullie, I never backed out to the fearsome fast bowlers. So now, I never think about a Brett Lee or a Shoaib Akhtar bowling to me. I just play the ball on merit," he said.

Speaking about the Adelaide incident when he was slow off the blocks to be run out while running for an injured captain Dhoni, Sharma said it was the umpire who had held him back. "He told me not to take a start," he said, adding "but Dhoni came up to me and said ‘that’s fine.’ He also told me that I would have to run for him again should the need arise."

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More curls and cuts for Team India

Curls and cuts in the Indian cricket team were visible on Friday during a practice session when talk of hair was in the air. Paceman Munaf Patel has shed his locks for looks of a studious schoolboy while seamer Sreesanth has straightened out his curly hair. It was not clear whether the move was linked to superstition ahead of the best-of-three finals against Australia. Will there be a twist in the tail at the SCG on Sunday?

***

Out of favour Virender Sehwag was seen bowling medium-pacers during India’s net practice at the SCG on Friday. Complimented about his deliveries which were rising sharply, Viru quipped: "Will have to do this too in this old age."

***

The Indians have chosen to have their practice session in the morning on Saturday as the streets of Sydney would be swarming and traffic restrictions imposed in the evening because of Mardi Gras, a gay parade. One official said a couple of guys from the Indian team would be welcome in the procession. Don’t know who he was referring to.

***

The India under-19 team was also the point of discussion while their illustrious seniors practiced at the SCG nets on Friday. As they walked back to the dressing room, television reporters requested them to share their wishes with the audiences. "We wish them the best of luck. Let’s hope they will come back with the World Cup," Sachin Tendulkar said. "Last time we played the Under-19s final we had lost it. If they can win it on Sunday it will be great for our country," Rohit Sharma opined.

"The key is to feel good on the morning of the match," was Yuvraj Singh’s advice.

However, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan avoided the cameras. The former said he would speak to the players via the team manager directly.

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Diana would be proud: Harry

Prince Harry, who the British defence ministry confirmed is fighting on the front line against the Taliban in Afghanistan, reckons his late mother princess Diana would have approved.

“Hopefully she would be proud," he told reporters in Afghanistan last month.

His comments were to have been withheld until his return from the volatile southern province of Helmand until news of his deployment was leaked.

“She would be looking down having a giggle about the stupid things that I have been doing, like going left when I should have gone right, finding myself in an awkward position earlier today.”

The 23-year-old royal, who was just 12 when his mother died in a Paris car crash in August 1997, said he had received a letter from his elder brother Prince William saying his mother would have been proud.

But he admitted he does not spend too much time thinking about it amid attacks by what he and colleagues call “Terry Taliban”.

“You know, at the end of the day I am an officer and you’re supposed to be able to look after everybody and that’s the way it is — you come last,” he said.

“So I have not really had a chance to sit down and think about it much.”

Harry, who had been set to be posted to Iraq last year before an about-turn by Britain’s top military brass over security fears, also admitted that he could be a “top target” for extremists now he has fought in Afghanistan.

The royal, one of Britain's 7,700-strong force in southern Afghanistan also said that once news of his deployment was made public, “every single person that supports them will be trying to slot me”.

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Finally Kareena gets Aamir Khan!

Bebo just added another feather in her plum hat and this time it’s something big. The news has it that after much anticipation, Kareena Kapoor has finally bagged the elusive opportunity of working with her dream actor Aamir Khan.

And the film is Rajkumar Hirani’s forthcoming film. The news is a big one for Kareena, as she has managed to steal the ever so elusive and perfectionist Aamir Khan from actresses like Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta and Vidya Balan.

There was some confusion in between, but last night she finally got her contract letter from Hirani’s office. And she’s obviously delighted, because her last film with Aamir Khan which Mani Ratnam had planned did not work out,” says our source. For more, keep watching this space.

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New immigration system comes into effect in UK

Employers knowingly engaging illegal migrants in the UK will face tougher penalties, including a fine up to 10,000 pounds per worker or jail up to two years under a new points-based immigration system which became effective on Friday.

The penalty could be raised to an unlimited fine or jail, an official said.

The British government has earlier put up a fine of 5,000 pounds for firms hiring illegal immigrants in the country.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith described the new laws for people from outside the European Union as ''the biggest changes to British immigration policy in a generation, which includes a new deal for those migrants seeking citizenship, a new UK border agency to strengthen controls at the borders and the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals''.

According to the new regulations, highly skilled migrants who wish to extend their stay in the Britain will have to have suitable employment.

The points-based system will be tested for highly skilled migrants from India applying to work in the UK from April and would be extended to the rest of the world by the summer.

The new system will then be extended to other categories, including skilled workers with a job offer, the low-skilled, students and temporary workers.

Indians and Bangladeshis running hotels and food chains in Britain will find it difficult to get low-skilled workers from the sub-continent under the new law and they will have to hire migrants from Eastern Europe. There are over 10,000 Indian restaurants in the UK.

Meanwhile, the British Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne said that the new regime of laws was based on a point-based system that had worked extremely well in Australia.

''I think that people want to know that only those who we need to come to Britain should be allowed to come,'' Byrne was quoted as saying in the Guardian.

The new regime, however, puts in question the scheme under which Commonwealth citizens with a British grandparent are allowed to settle in this country.

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‘Weed’ was way over the top, says Hayden

Australian opener Matthew Hayden has admitted being "insensitive" in making the ‘obnoxious little weed’ remark against Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh but said it was not against the spirit of cricket and did not warrant a reprimand.

"I can see that my comments were insensitive but they were not intended to be denigrating and especially not contrary to the spirit of cricket," Hayden said.

"The cricket environment I have grown up with is probably a little bit different from today," the 37-year-old cricketer was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Hayden expressed anguish at being reprimanded by Cricket Australia for his behaviour.

"It saddens me that my employer has to discipline me for my behaviour," Hayden said.

Hayden, in an interview to Brisbane radio, had called Harbhajan an "obnoxious little weed" and also invited young paceman Ishant Sharma "into a ring" for a boxing bout.

Cricket Australia’s rules do not allow its contracted players to make comments against opponent players or the Board and hence charged Hayden with breach of its code of behaviour, although let off with only a reprimand

Austrlaian skipper Ricky Ponting also felt Hayden’s remark about Harbhajan was "pretty flippant" to cause such a furore.

"It was a pretty flippant remark but you have to understand what you can and can’t do. I know that Haydos, when he said that, he wouldn’t have thought in his wildest dreams that it could have escalated into what it has," he said.(PTI)

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It’s excellent and outstanding: Manmohan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the agricultural loan waiver was a “very unorthodox response” to raise the depressed “animal spirits” of farmers, the “biggest businessmen” of the country.

Describing the United Progressive Alliance government’s fifth budget as “excellent and outstanding,” he said Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had “lived up to his reputation.”

“Considering the amount of depression that prevails in the agriculture sector, this is the response mechanism [farm loan waiver] that is fully justified.”

The general feeling was that agriculture was not doing well and farmers were not becoming active partners in the process of accelerated economic growth. “There is a growing farming distress.”

“We keep talking about the animal spirits of businessmen. But I think the farmers are the biggest businessmen of our country. They produce essential commodities required by us. If their animal spirits are depressed, it is not good for the country.”

Dr. Singh said his government was “very generous” in its response to address the problems faced by the farm sector. “It is a very unorthodox response.”

Mr. Chidambaram had kept the fiscal and revenue deficit under control and ensured that if “some adverse wind blows from outside the country it does not impinge on our growth process.” — PTI

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Miracle baby feeds on mother's milk

The miracle baby's life is slowly but gradually getting on the track. The tiny bundle who is a fighter, having survived the dangerous fall from her mother's womb on to the rocky railway track when she slipped through the toilet bowl as her mother delivered her in the train toilet, took small sips of her mother's milk.

This is the first time she was introduced to food since her adventurous birth on Tuesday night. "Milk expressed from her mother's breasts was fed to her through tubes. This is the first day she was fed her mother's milk since her birth," said attending paediatrician Dr Raj Kumar.

Doctors have put the baby girl on an elaborate antibiotic cover to protect her from any infections she may have got exposed due to her umbilical cord being yanked off and she getting abandoned on the tracks for some hours.

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For healthcare, its a Historical Budget

Mr PChidambaram was expected to present a cautious Budget since this is the last year of this government in the current term and also in view of the reigning political environment.

The Finance Minister has announced small significant benefits to various sections of the society, which are certainly beneficial in the medium term. I feel the Finance Minister deserves to be thanked for announcing income-tax concessions to the middle class. His offer to remove the banking tax and rationalize dividend distribution tax should also please many investors as also rationalizing some aspects of the FBT.

From a healthcare perspective, this is a Historical Budget. This is the first budget that has given some focus and incentive to the private health sector. I expect this Budget to give an impetus to private sector investments in the healthcare space. We are quite aware that despite the huge size of the Indian healthcare sector – estimated to be around $34.2 billion, we rank at a poor 112 as per WHO country rankings and are far behind in terms of infrastructure: beds, doctors and nurses. In fact, according to some estimates, we will need an additional investment of US$ 88 billion for basic healthcare.

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Hold your nerve, get the Cup: Venkatesh Prasad

The last time the India under-19 team was fighting for the World Cup in the final in Sri Lanka two years ago, then-coach Venkatesh Prasad had returned a disappointed man. Now the bowling coach of the senior team, he naturally wants the colts in Kuala Lumpur to go one step ahead: "It was a narrow miss the last time round but now I want these boys to do what we couldn't. All our best wishes are with the boys."

"They are a fine combine and have been playing some very good cricket, they just need to hold their nerve and win the final. We all hope that they return home triumphant," said Prasad soon after the Indian team's nets at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar too wished the colts the very best. "Go out there and enjoy the atmosphere of the final. All our good wishes are with them. All the very best to them and we hope they come home with the Cup," he said.

Even Harbhajan Singh said he had no doubts the under-19 team would win the final on Sunday. "It's a double header and I am sure that both teams will emerge victors," said Bhajji, adding: "The U-19 boys have shown a lot of maturity in their method of play and I see no reason why they can't win the final."

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Maruti cuts prices of small cars by Rs 6,500 to Rs 18,030

Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Friday said it has reduced prices of its small car from Rs 6,500 for Maruti 800 to Rs 18,030 for Swift Diesel (ex-showroom Delhi) after government cut excise duty on small cars from 16 per cent to 12 per cent.

The company has announced price reduction in all the six models that qualify for the lower excise benefit: Maruti 800, Omni, Zen, Wagon R, Swift Diesel and Alto - India 's largest selling car.

Company Managing Director and CEO S Nakanishi said in a statement that in the short term, the reduction in excise duty will make small cars more attractive for customers and offset the negative impact of higher interest rates.

''This is an encouragement for companies like us, which are making major investments in capacity, research and exports,'' Nakanishi said.

The company has the Maruti 800, Alto, Wagon R, Zen Estilo and Maruti Swift in the small car category eligible for the 12 per cent excise rate.

Overall, the Budget has some benefits for all sections of people while keeping the government's finances healthy, he added.

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Budget 2008: Farmers all over are loving it

The entire village of Garhar in UP's Jalaun district is overjoyed. Now farmers here won't have to go to jail, thanks to P Chidambaram.

But what's that got to do with the Budget? For years, farmers in this parched swathe of farmland haven't been able to repay loans. As a result, they've had to spend as much time in courtrooms and even prisons as they do in their fields. Now, the loan waiver has set them free.

Up north in Lakhnour village near Mohali in Punjab, Jarnail Singh hadn't smiled for two years since he sold two acres of his 5-acre farm to pay off part of his loan of Rs 2 lakh.

"If you are being truthful, all I can say is that this man (PC) has been heaven-sent. Our prayers have been answered," Jarnail Singh told a TOI reporter who sought reactions after giving him the news.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from studies between 1997-2005 reveals that - and this is a conservative estimate - 1.5 lakh farmers committed suicide all over India with countless farmers abandoning agriculture.

It's, therefore, understandable that the loan waiver for marginal and small farmers has been received with much relief in large parts of the country.

While farmers in Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and to an extent, even Karnataka, are delighted with the proposal, the reactions are more than just muted in Vidarbha, the region of Maharashtra that has witnessed a rash of farmer suicides.

One of the problems in Vidarbha is that nearly 50% of farmers have taken loans from private moneylenders because they are not entertained by scheduled banks. And it is mostly farmers in the grips of the village sahukar who have been driven to suicide.

Ravikant Patil, a farmer living 35 km from Nagpur, says: "Unless one has sifarish (recommendation), one isn't entertained by regular banks. We have no option but to turn to private moneylenders."

There is another problem, too - the two-hectare ceiling on land holding for loan waiver. Nearly all farmers TOI contacted in Vidarbha said the Budget had nothing for them since their average land-holding is seven hectares and their problem is low rates from farm produce which has made agriculture loss-making.

Farmer leader Kishor Tiwari welcomed the waiver but demanded that the land holding limit of two hectares should be relaxed for Vidarbha. "Unless the limit is relaxed, only 40% of Vidarbha farmers would benefit as against 90% in western Maharashtra."

Agrees Vijay Jawandhia: "Due to the harebrained government decision, a farmer owing Rs 2 lakh in western Maharashtra would get exemption while a farmer owing Rs 50,000 in Vidarbha would have to pay."

But in Gujarat's Memar village in Bavla, near Ahmedabad, Ghanshyam Solanki is pleased - the finance minister has wiped out Solanki's debt of Rs 22,000.

He says: "There are many others like me - some of whom could have been driven to suicide but for this waiver."

Likewise, in Andhra Pradesh, Adem Muni Reddy in Tirupati rural mandal, who has a loan of Rs 30,000 and land around 3 acres, said: "The waiver has come as a boon." But Mohan Reddy in Jyothi village isn't happy. "I took a loan from State Bank, but it won't come under the waiver scheme (he has seven acres of land) even though I am a regular repayer of loans."

In Bundelkhand's Jalaun village, suicides were becoming common. "It's too late for those of our kin who committed suicide, but the move will prevent many more from unnatural death," said Ajai Parsad in Garhar village.

But, Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha state president Maruti Manpade has the last word on the matter: "The government should have waived off all loans of all farmers."

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Chidambaram’s bonanza for middle class

In a politically-crafted budgetary exercise ahead of the general election next year, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday announced a massive Rs.60,000- crore loan waiver programme to rid four crore farmers of their financial liability.

The Minister also gave higher-than-expected exemptions to income-tax payers along with restructuring of tax slabs. He put no fresh burden on the corporate sector even as he scaled down excise duties on a number of items to stimulate demand, production and economic growth.

Striving to placate not only the aam aadmi but also all other sections, Mr. Chidambaram, while presenting the Union budget for 2008-09 — the fifth and final budget of the UPA government before the next general elections — sought to slash the excise duty to bring down the prices of drugs, small and hybrid cars, two and three-wheelers, water purification devices, breakfast cereals and a number of other products to make them more affordable.

The only consumers who will be hit are smokers of non-filter cigarette as the duty on it has been brought on a par with the filter variety.

With the objective of pepping up demand and kick-starting the manufacturing sector to its earlier high growth momentum, Mr. Chidambaram proposed an across-the-board reduction in the general Cenvat (Central value-added tax) to 14 per cent from 16 per cent, while keeping the peak rate of customs duty unchanged.

However, to prop up the petroleum sector in view of the spiralling world oil prices, unbranded petroleum products have been put under specific rates of duty in place of the current ad valorem rates.

With the government already having benefited from the Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) by way of annual information returns (AIR) for trailing black money transactions, the controversial levy is proposed to be withdrawn with effect from April 1, 2009.

However, on the lines of the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) levied on stock market deals, a new Commodities Transaction Tax is being introduced on commodity dealings.

In a bonanza for the middle class, Mr. Chidambaram raised the income-tax exemption limit to Rs. 1.50 lakh from Rs. 1.10 lakh and also restructured the tax slabs. Accordingly, taxable incomes between Rs.1,50,001 and Rs.3,00,000 would attract a tax of 10 per cent; between Rs. 3,00,001 and Rs.5,00,000 would be in the 20 per cent tax bracket, while for Rs.5,00,001 and above, the tax would be 30 per cent.

This would work out to a maximum tax saving of about Rs. 44,000 for the year. Besides, mediclaim policies for the parents of tax-payers would be deductible from the taxable income.

More pleasing is the relief accorded to women tax-payers and senior citizens above 65 years. For the two categories, the income-tax exemption limit has been raised from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh and from Rs 1.95 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh respectively. Two popular savings schemes for senior citizens have also been included for exemption from income-tax.

What should bring some more cheer to Central government employees is his announcement that the Sixth Pay Commission report would be out by March 31.

As for the corporates, even while keeping both the tax rates and surcharge unchanged, Mr. Chidambaram proposed exemption for crèche facilities, sports sponsorship and guest houses from the purview of the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT). He, however, imposed a higher tax of 15 per cent on short-term capital gains, against the existing 10 per cent.

In his bid to garner resources for funding the farm loan waiver as also a number of social sector schemes, the Minister included four more services under the tax net: the asset management service provided under the ULIP, the services provided by stock and commodity exchanges and clearing houses as also customised software. As for the budget estimates, Mr. Chidambaram pegged the Plan expenditure at Rs 2,43,386 crore, while estimating the non-Plan expenditure at Rs 5,07,498 crore.

Fiscal position

While claiming a significant improvement in the fiscal position, he said the revenue deficit for the current fiscal would be 1.4 per cent, against the estimated 1.5 per cent. The fiscal deficit would also be lower at 3.1 per cent against an estimated 3.3 per cent.

With further progress during 2008-09, the revenue deficit is estimated at one per cent of the GDP, while the fiscal deficit has been pegged at 2.5 per cent of the GDP.

Mr. Chidambaram declared that he would achieve the target of fiscal deficit under the FRBM Act and also left for himself some headroom. “In the case of revenue deficit, I will meet the target of annual reduction of 0.5 per cent. However, because of the conscious shift in expenditure in favour of health, education and the social sector, we may need one more year to eliminate the revenue deficit. In my view, this is an entirely acceptable deferment,” he said.

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Leading NRIs hail Budget as progressive

Leading NRI businessmen and industrialists in Britain on Friday described the Union Budget as "very progressive" even though there were "no incentives" for Indians living abroad.

Reacting to Friday's budget proposals by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, SP Hinduja, Chairman of the multi-billion dollar Hinduja Group, said that although there has been "no incentives provided for the NRIs", he was happy that recommendations made by the IndusInd International Federation (IIF) have been accepted "in one form or the other".

The IIF, an organisation of overseas Indians and resident corporates and individuals, had made several recommendations to the government regarding investment in social and physical infrastructure, monitoring and implementation, rationalisation of indirect taxes, reduction in personal taxation, trading in carbon credits and activating the corporate bond market.

Hinduja said it was a "very progressive budget" showing concern for the common man and which is expected to bring in "all-inclusive growth".

The focus has been on social sector (health, education, women and child welfare, insurance for poor people, social security to organised sector) physical infrastructure and controlling inflation, he said.

"The crucial challenge will be monitoring and implementation of the schemes, where large sums of money are being pumped in. The central and state governments must work in close coordination to implement the schemes."

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Harry 'doesn't like England,' lashes British media

Prince Harry may be returning from the Afghan frontline to a hero's welcome, but he seems far from happy with England, notably life on the media frontline, according to remarks released on Friday.

The Ministry of Defence said the 23-year-old was being pulled out of Afghanistan "immediately" after a US website breached a media blackout on his presence in the violence-scarred southern province of Helmand.

Officials have praised the British media for strictly adhering to the embargo on reporting Harry's deployment, which came after he was unable to go to Iraq last year due to concerns for his security.

But Harry, third in line to the British crown, didn't seem overly happy with his homeland's press, who have given generous coverage in recent years to his partying escapades in the nightclubs of London and elsewhere.

"I don't want to sit around in Windsor," he said, referring to his barracks near a royal residence outside London in a pooled interview in Afghanistan last week, released after the blackout on his whereabouts was broken.

"But I generally don't like England that much and, you know, it's nice to be away from all the press and the papers and all the general shite that they write."

Harry's media image will certainly benefit from his adventures in Afghanistan.

Top-selling daily The Sun described him as "a man of outstanding courage who has risked having his head blown off by the Taliban so he can serve his country with his mates."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described him as an "exemplary soldier (who) is serving with dedication in the finest tradition of our armed forces."

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Big B's office attacked

A beer bottle was allegedly thrown in the direction of a bungalow owned by superstar Amitabh Bachchan in suburban Juhu late on Friday evening.

"We have received a call that a bottle was thrown at the Janak bungalow and police officers have been sent to the spot to verify the facts," DCP Vinay Choubey said.

Janak houses a gymnasium and some offices of the Bachchans, he said, adding none of the family members stays in the house.

The incident came in the wake of reports about a similar episode at the Bachchans' residence Pratikhsa during the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena-led campaign against north Indian migrants early this month.

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Call centre employee murdered in Bangalore

A call centre employee was stabbed to death after a group of people picked up a fight with him over a "trivial" issue outside a tea shop in Bangalore, police said on Friday.

A member of the group stabbed 27-year-old Shashidhar, who was returning home after duty, near Bannerghatta road at around 1.30 am on Thursday night, police said.

Shashidhar hails from Andhra Pradesh's Hindupur. The issue over which tempers ran high was not known immediately though police said it was trivial.

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