New Technology

The second Academy Award nomination for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', his relationship with partner Angelina Jolie, the birth of the twin babies - if this could not keep Brad Pitt in the limelight, what else could? But the fact remains that like Jolie, he tries to divert media attention for all the humanitarian work he does.

Outsourcing company Satyam Computer Services Ltd said on Sunday it would rebrand itself as "Mahindra Satyam," its latest step in efforts to recover from India's worst corporate fraud scandal.

Satyam, once ranked as India's No. 4 outsourcer, shocked investors in January with the revelation that it had overstated profits for years.

Tech Mahindra, a unit of tractor and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra and 31 percent-owned by Britain's BT Group, won an auction in April for a controlling stake in Satyam.

"We are optimistic that this new brand will re-energize the organization and will be well received by all our stakeholders," Vineet Nayyar, executive vice chairman of Satyam's board, said in a statement.

Tusshar Kapoor, My father is the kind of person who is a simple, hard working and honest person. He's always bringing positive energy in my life and I know that he will never change.

Adam Bedi, My father is the most charming personality that I know. He's taught me everything that I need to know about life. The best part is that apart from sharing the traditional father and son bond, we share a friendship too.

Uday Chopra, My father is my greatest friend. I can talk to him about anything. He has achieved everything that he's wanted to and now his life revolves around my brother and me. This makes us both feel very special.

Shazahn Padamsee, I cannot begin to tell you the things that I love about my father. What I'm most thankful to him is that he gave me the gift of freedom. He never forced me to get into acting, nor did he try to discourage me.

He let me make my own decisions and supported them.

Dino Morea, What I love about my dad is his sense of humour. He is such a funny guy and he's always around to ease the atmosphere. What I really thank him for is to encourage us three brothers into playing a lot of sport.

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is expecting her first child with American footballer Tom Brady.

'Gisele will be an excellent mother as she's always wanted kids,' imdb.com quoted a source as saying.

The 28-year-old model dismissed speculation that she was expecting after she and Brady were last month spotted leaving an obstetrician's office, just three months after they married in Santa Monica, California.

But the reports refused to go away and claim that Bunchen is due early next year.

President Barack Obama said on Saturday he is "ready to fight" for a tough new agency to protect consumers from risky loans and other financial products and lashed out at groups that might stand in the way.

"These interests argue against reform even as millions of people are facing the consequences of this crisis in their own lives," Obama said in a weekly radio address.

"These interests defend business-as-usual even though we know that it was business-as-usual that allowed this crisis to take place."

Obama said opponents were already "mobilizing" against his proposal earlier this week to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency as part of the most sweeping set of financial regulatory reforms since the 1930s.

The new agency, which Congress would have to approve, would have the power to write rules and design or ban financial products. It could also examine firms and impose fines and other penalties on almost any institution that offers products such as home loans or credit cards.

Critics argue that the new agency would stifle financial product innovation, boost the cost of regulatory compliance and cause prices for consumers to rise.

"It's going to create exactly the type of duplication, second-guessing and layering that we feared," David Hirschman, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Capital Markets, said earlier this week.

Obama said the proposed agency was badly needed to help consumers make sense of complex financial instruments and to keep loan companies honest.

"Today, folks signing up for a mortgage, student loan, or credit card face a bewildering array of incomprehensible options. Companies compete not by offering better products, but more complicated ones -- with more fine print and hidden terms," Obama said.

"The American people sent me to Washington to stand up for their interests. And while I'm not spoiling for a fight, I'm ready for one."

Senior lawmakers have said they expect to pass financial reform regulation by the end of the year.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, at a Senate hearing on Thursday, faced the most opposition to Obama's proposal to give the Federal Reserve new powers to police broad risks in the economy.

Some lawmakers believe the central bank failed to halt practices that led to the global financial crisis.

Giving the Federal Reserve more authority "is like a parent giving his son a bigger, faster car right after he crashed the family station wagon," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should look at eventually reversing the expansionary policy pursued in the wake of the global economic crisis, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Saturday.

"All of you would agree around the world also there is concern, there is attention being paid to reverse these expansionary policies," Subbarao told students at a banking institute. "In the Reserve Bank of India, we will be looking at reversing the expansionary policy at an appropriate time."

Subbarao did not say how or when the policy will be reversed but said he will not do it right now or in the near future.

In its efforts to stimulate the economy, the RBI has cut its key lending rate by 425 basis points to 4.75 percent since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. The rate at which it absorbs surplus cash from the banking system has been cut by 275 basis points to 3.25 percent.

As well, it has cut the ratio of cash that banks must deposit with the central bank to 5 percent from 9 percent in the middle of last year.

Subbarao said the stimulus measures of both the government and the central bank have worked to some extent. "Certainly we are seeing our own versions of green shoots in certain sectors like cement, steel and coal," he said.

He also said growth in vehicle sales as well as a pick up in rail freight traffic were encouraging. "But as I said, this is not a complete picture and there are a number of sectors of the economy which have to see a significant revival," he said.

In April, the RBI said it expected Asia's third largest economy to expand by about 6 percent in the fiscal year 2009/10 ending in March, below last fiscal year's 6.7 percent.

Many private sector economists forecast growth of between 5.8 to 7.2 percent. The head of prime minister's economic advisory council predicted on Saturday that growth would match at least last year's level.

Subbarao said although the wholesale price index fell in the first week of June, food and primary articles inflation was significant. Consumer price index inflation was 9 percent, he said.

The governor said the central bank looked at a number of variables of inflation including an assessment of inflationary expectations to formulate its policy.

India's wholesale price index fell 1.61 percent in the 12 months to June 6, compared with the previous week's annual rise of 0.13 percent, government data showed on Thursday. The fall was the first in at least three decades.

"There are definite trends coming through although the headline index is negative ... Oil prices are firming up and commodity prices are increasing around the world. Food production is below the trend level," Subbarao said.

Subbarao declined to comment on whether he expected the government to increase the borrowing programme at its final budget to be unveiled on July 6.

The government has stepped up the pace of its borrowing in recent weeks. It is scheduled to borrow 150 billion rupees via bonds next week compared with 120 billion indicated in the auction calendar. This will be the sixth straight week where the government will be borrowing 25 percent more than originally scheduled.

Security forces today entered Lalgarh to reclaim it from Maoist-backed tribals and were closing in on the police station there. The personnel of paramilitary forces and the state police were just two km away from the Lalgarh police station, which is under Maoist control, a senior police officer said.

The securitymen from CRPF, BSF, State Armed Police, Eastern Frontier Rifles and the Kolkata Police entered the besieged area after crossing a five-km stretch of the Jhitka forest, a Maoist stronghold, he said. They were moving in armoured vehicles fitted with anti-landmine devices and mortars and were carrying mine-detecting units.

Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Friday said that Taliban was a threat to the world peace. Antony said that India has been trying to impress upon Pakistan to take more proactive actions to ban the Taliban.

Elaborating more on India's ongoing process based on the security scenario, he also assured about the implementation of all kinds of required measures.

In a move that will give relief to thousands of tenants residing in centuries-old wadas in the city, the Urban Development Department of the State Government has allowed tenants to carry out the wada repair work at their expense without having to submit a no-objection certificate from the wada owner or any architectural plan of the wada, which had been the pre-requisites till now.

Wada tenants can now forward an application to the ward office of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) before the repair work and the permission will be given within 48 hours. However, the tenants are not allowed to make structural changes to the wada.

The decision, that was taken at a meeting here on Saturday, is likely to be implemented on Monday, said BJP MLA Girish Bapat who briefed the reporters on the development. Urban Development Department Principal Secretary T C Benjamin, Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band, civic commissioner Mahesh Zagade, city engineer Prashant Waghmare, Congress MLA Chandrakant Chhajed and Bapat attended the meeting, besides Town Planning officials.

Bapat said, "There are 17 Peth localities in the city, including Kasba Peth, Somwar Peth, Raviwar Peth, Nana Peth and Navi Peth. These Peth areas house about 10,000 wadas. The PMC has carried out a survey of only 1,600 wadas till now and have issued notices to around 750 wada owners about pulling down the dilapidated structures."

He said it was decided at the meeting that if the tenants and occupants of these wadas submit an application to carry out repair work of their place at their own expense, they will be given permission within 48 hours by the civic officials, without having to submit any extra documents. "Less submission of documents will speed up work and save them from turning homeless."

He said the tenants will not be allowed to make any structural changes to the wada or increase the carpet area under this pretext. "This permission will be applicable only for repairs like plastering or raising support to the structures."

The widely condemned brutal attack on Ludhiana (Central) Tehsildar Major (Retired) Gurjinder Singh Benipal by alleged supporters of SAD councillor Kanwaljit Singh Karwal saw a major development with Karwal's surrender on Sunday.

Karwal surrendered here before the Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg following the articulation of deep anguish against the incident across all sections of society.

Terming the attack on Benipal as extremely unfortunate, various represenatives said there was no place for such incidents in civilised society. In a meeting of the Democratic Employees' Front held under the chairmanship of its president Ramanjit Singh Sandhu, the employees demanded stern action against the accused who mercilessly beat up the Tehsildar.

The Universal Human Rights Organisation (UHRO) also convened a meeting condemning the incident. Expressing his concern, UHRO president Satnam Singh Dhaliwal said the incident confirms the possible fate of a common man in face of the government's failure to provide security to its officials.

S S Channa, president of the Federation of Pollution and Park Management Committees, strongly condemning the incident stated, "In fact the councillor should have set an example for other people by coming to the Tehsildar's office in queue that too on his terms.

Being an elected representative of the people, councillor should lead the people by example than throwing his weight on the government officials and pressurising officers to do their work out of turn."

The Colonisers and Property Dealers' Association President Kultar Singh Jogi and General Secretary Jatinder Pal Singh Saluja, though condemned the alleged attack but stated the behaviour of some government officials towards general public was not good. Jogi and Saluja said certain officials harrassed the general public and this incident is an indication that people are fed up of the government officials' attitude.

"She was brutally killed even though she kept on begging for her life" — This has been mentioned by the Delhi Police in a chargesheet it filed in the Jigeesha Ghosh murder case on Saturday.

Ghosh, a 28-year-old executive with Hewitt Associates Pvt Ltd (Noida) and resident of the CPWD Colony in Vasant Vihar, was abducted by Ravi Kapoor and his friends from outside her home early on March 18 and later killed.

Having finished its investigations, the Vasant Vihar police have filed a chargesheet against Ravi Kapoor, the main accused, and two of his friends, Baljeet Singh, alias Poppy, and Amit Kumar Shukla. They along with two others, Ajay Sethi and Vijay Kumar, were also involved in the murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan on September 30 last year. These murders had raised concerns over security for working women in Delhi. The accused were arrested on March 24.

DCP (South) H G S Dhaliwal said, "An intensive investigation was conducted in this case and our teams have done a lot of hard work. The challan (chargesheet) has also been filed in time."

In the Jigeesha Ghosh murder case, a 448-page chargesheet has been filed under various sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 365 (abduction), 397 (robbery with attempt to cause grievous hurt or death), 34 (common intention), several forgery sections including 468, 471 and the Arms Act against the three accused.

The chargesheet, filed 90 days after the accused were arrested, includes the testimonies of 59 witnesses, among them Jigeesha's family, police officers, forensic experts and others. The police have also submitted 10 photographs related to the accused persons and crime spots, and one CD and documents related to recovery of the weapons used by the accused persons while committing robberies and murders.

Since the courts are closed for summer vacations, the chargesheet was filed in the court of Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Jitendra Mishra at the Patiala House complex.

During their investigations, the police found that Ravi Kapoor, Baljeet Singh and Amit Kumar Shukla abducted Jigeesha in a Hyundai Santro (HR18C3409) from the CPWD Colony around 4 am. She had been talking on her mobile phone. The accused then drove towards Mahipalpur. They asked her for her ATM pin at gunpoint and withdrew Rs 20,000 from an SBI ATM in Mahipalpur. After this, they strangled her and threw her body near Bhadkal Lake.

The police also found that Ravi Kapoor also roamed around the city using fake police uniforms, police badges, stickers on cars and arms, for which he was booked for forgery and under the Arms Act.

In the Soumya Vishwanathan murder case, sources said the Vasant Kunj police would be filing a chargesheet against the five accused — Ravi Kapoor, Baljeet Singh, Amit Shukla, Ajay Sethi and Vijay Kumar — by next week. "Investigations are over in that case too and almost all the documentation has been completed," a source said.

The South district police will also file a supplementary chargesheet against the five accused in the coming months under MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act), which was imposed on the accused later, in April.

The word on the Varun Gandhi tapes is out and it says not doctored. The Forensic Science Laboratory's report, which was submitted to the Pilibhit police on Saturday, confirms what many believed—it was indeed Varun Gandhi's voice on the tapes containing the hate speeches he delivered in Desh Nagar on March 7 and Barkhera in Pilibhit on March 8.

Varun had alleged that the recordings were "doctored" and there was a "political conspiracy" to defame him. "These are not my words and not my voice," Varun had said after the footage was aired on TV channels.

After Varun refused to give a sample of his voice to police at the Etah and Pilibhit jail, the police arranged a microchip containing a recording of his March 7 public meeting at Desh Nagar in Pilibhit. A top police official confirmed that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has reported that Varun's voice matched with that in the recording. "Three exhibits were sent to FSL—a compact disk, a mini video cassette that was recorded at Barkhera and a microchip, voice recorded at Desh Nagar. All three exhibits were arranged through media houses," added the official.

The Pilibhit police, who have almost completed their investigation and were waiting for the FSL report, are likely to move the state government soon in order to file a chargesheet against Varun in court. "The FSL report is second evidence against Varun. We already have affidavits and recorded statements of 20 people," said investigating officer Mani Ram Rao.

In all, six FIRs have been filed in Pilibhit against Varun, who is at present out on bail.

John Abraham is hurting and it isn't for the first time.

The 36-year-old actor is laid up with a broken ankle he sustained while shooting for David Dhawan's "Hook Ya Crook".

Things are looking up on the professional front though -- after the box-office success of "Dostana", Abraham is back with Kabir Khan's "New York".

The actor spoke to Reuters about "New York", his career and why he likes being called eye candy.

Q: You seem to have hurt your leg

A: "Yes, I have broken my navicular bone. I am getting used to walking on crutches though. In 2006, I broke my other leg in a bike accident. This is actually much worse than that. You know so far, I have broken four bones in my body. Thats a lot isn't it?"

Q: Tell us about 'New York'

A: "'New York' is looking good. The name of my character is Sam, a guy who is a typical jock. He has two friends, Maya and Omar, and it is about a sequence of events that changes their lives."

Q: This movie talks about discrimination and the after effects of 9/11, which is not a very common theme in Indian movies.

A: "Yes, this is not the jingoistic, America bashing film. It is a very unbiased way of (showing) what happened in America post- 9/11 and the way America looks at a certain section of a community and the way that community looks at America.

"We are also trying to tell a story that is commercial enough to be called a commercial Hindi film. The basic subtext of the plot is very different but the way it has come across is very peppy."

Q: There is a particularly disturbing scene of you in the promos, lying chained in a small cell.

A: (Laughs) I wish I could tell you more but all I will say is that you are right -- it is a very disturbing scene and we prepared for it for a very long time. I think that is one of the clinchers of the film. If that affects you positively or negatively, then we are home.

"It is not always about the time you have spent on screen, it is about the impact you make, which is what I have always believed an actor should do. If I have managed to do that, I have succeeded. But that is something the audience can say after having seen the film.

"I could blow my own trumpet and say this is my best performance, so films are better not being spoken of the actors themselves."

Q: So is it your best performance?

A: "Yes. By eons and light years."

Q: Do you remember the first time you went to New York?

A: "I am very familiar with New York. I used to go there in my modelling days. But when I went there post-'Kabul Express', I was taken aside by the authorities and questioned for six hours because I had an Afghanistan stamp on my passport.

"I remember the head honcho (sic) coming in and me talking about 'Kabul Express'. So he asked me to narrate the story to him. At the end of it, he said 'really nice story, when is the film releasing?'

"When I played Sam, it was partly reminiscent of what I went through in a very small way. But obviously, there are greater prejudices in the world and there are ways of looking at it. You either feel crucified or you give the other person the benefit of the doubt. I feel there is always a reason for someone to behave irrationally. That is what 'New York' is about."

Q: Do you face moments of insecurity?

A: "All the time. But then, you have to channelise that insecurity into excelling and doing better for yourself. Either you can sit and brood over what you dont have, or you can work hard and try and achieve what you want.

"I have been the subject of ridicule. I have been pushed into every corner. But these days, because I have broken my foot, I sit across from my father and we talk. And he is a very wise man and he always gave me this example of a fable by William Wordsworth.

"A big man was crossing a bridge that only one person could pass at one time. Little John was crossing it from the other end. They meet at the centre and the big man told John, 'I don't let fools pass'. Little John walked back to his end, stepped aside and said 'but I do'.

"That is exactly my philosophy in life. Give the monkeys peanuts, let them rant, rave and scream, you just do your work. Be a horse with blinkers."

Q: Are you okay with being looked on as the nation's eye candy?

A: "Why should I have a problem with that? I want people to look at me as eye candy, if they don't, I would be in deep trouble. After all it is a visual medium. Why should I feel defensive?

"My audience is the one who comes out of the theatre and says 'John, we loved you in Dostana'. That's it. I don't have to sit at 40 fake award functions and go up and give the same speech 25 times, so that I can prove to the world that I have been liked by my audience. My audience has already rewarded me."

Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set to leave Manchester United for Real Madrid in a world record transfer, said he wanted to quit the Old Trafford club 12 months ago.

"After we won the European Cup (in 2008) I thought there is no more I can achieve here," Ronaldo told Sunday's News of the World in an interview. "When you have done all you can, you know it is time for a new challenge.

"I stayed one more season and it was nice to make it three (Premier League) titles in a row but it was my dream to play for Madrid."

Earlier this month, United accepted a record bid of 80 million pounds ($130.9 million) for Ronaldo, who is sorting out personal terms with Real.

"Of course I have not gone for the money," he said.

"To go down as the greatest, it will take lots of work but that is my target. If you go down as the greatest at Madrid it means you are one of the greatest of all time."

United beat Chelsea on penalties to win the 2008 Champions League in Moscow but lost 2-0 to Barcelona in last season's final in Rome.

Unsettled Argentina forward Carlos Tevez is to leave Manchester United, the Premier League champions said on Saturday.

Tevez, 25, whose "economic rights" are owned by agent Kia Joorabchian, left West Ham United for Manchester United on a two-year deal in August 2007.

He spent much of last season on the bench and his last appearance was as a substitute in the 2-0 Champions League final defeat by Barcelona in May.

A statement on the club website (www.manutd.com) said United had agreed a fee of 25.5 million pounds ($41.71 million) and offered a five-year contract which would have made Tevez one of the team's highest-paid players.

"Disappointingly, however, his advisers informed the club that despite the success he has enjoyed during the club's most successful periods he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United," the statement said.

Joorabchian responded by saying money had never been an issue and the club had not given Tevez enough time to make up his mind.

"When United made their offer about 10 days ago, for the first time in two years, we never went back to them to ask about money," Joorabchian told Sky Sports News.

NO REJECTION

"We just asked for some time to think about it. Obviously they have had two years to think about it and Carlos had to make a decision based on his family.

"Just to make it clear, this has been Carlos's decision. Nobody else would make this decision for him.

"We didn't actually reject the offer. Manchester United have ruled themselves out of the running. We actually asked for more time and if they could not give that we would have to walk away."

Joorabchian ruled out a Tevez move to United's arch rivals Liverpool and told Talksport Radio that "Manchester City and Chelsea probably would be the two clubs that are on the table".

There will be no issues over who owns the player's rights in future, with his next deal expected to be a permanent one.

Joorabchian said: "The Premier League have changed their rules now, when you do make a transfer it has to be a permanent transfer.

"All his rights will be sold, all his economical rights will be sold and he will belong to the club he will play for."

Tevez caught Manchester United's eye by scoring at Old Trafford as West Ham avoided relegation by winning 1-0 in the final game of the 2006-07 season.

In his first campaign at Old Trafford he scored 19 goals and was a vital cog in a side that won the Premier League and Champions League double.

Tevez netted a total of 34 goals in 98 appearances for Alex Ferguson's side.

US President Barack Obama has written a letter for his daughters on the occasion of Father's Day Sunday, saying that he could not be a perfect father.

'I know I have been an imperfect father. I know I have made mistakes,' said Obama in the letter that will be published in a magazine reported people.com

'I drove Michelle and newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 11 years ago and I think about the pledge I made to her that I would give her what I never had. And that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father,' he added.

Obama has two daughters Malia,10, and Sasha, eight.

After a thorough interrogation and search Indian authorities confirmed that the military cargo aircraft, which has landed in Mumbai air port yesterday was carrying medicines to the US troops operating in Afghanistan and no weapons or ammunition were on board said IAF spokesperson Wg Cdr Tarun Kumar Singha.

Speaking to ANI Wg Cdr Singha said the aircraft was hired by the US military, from a Russian agency. All the 18 persons including the crewmembers who were in the aircraft were civilians and belonged to the Russian agency.

The hired military cargo aircraft violated the Indian air space near Gujarat yesterday and was forced to land at Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The aircraft was travelling from Diego Garcia island, a military base of the US near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Wg Cdr Singha said that according to norms any hired civilian aircrafts for the military purposes has to get an AOR clearance form the IAF on this case the Russian agency did not obtain the clearance, the Mumbai ATR instructed the captain to land the aircraft.

He denied the report of IAF planes escorting the intruded aircraft and said the pilot followed the instruction given by the ATR, so the question of escort does not arise.

The Indian authorities have given the clearance to the aircraft to fly. Shreeraj Gudi

Six people, including two minors, across the country Saturday tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1) virus, taking the total number of affected people in India to 56 though 21 of them have been discharged on recovery.

Among the new cases, three were reported from Delhi, and one each from Hyderabad, Bangalore and Fatehgarh in Punjab, the health ministry said in a statement.

'Three more people have tested positive for the swine flu Saturday, including an indigenous case where the patient contracted the flu without going abroad,' Delhi Health Secretary J.P. Singh told IANS.

Three cases in the national capital include: a 27-year-old male passenger who had travelled from Canada to New Delhi transiting Brussels June 17 and self-reported at the identified health facility, a four-and-half-year-old boy who travelled from Toronto transiting Brussels reaching Delhi June 17, and a 30-year-old man and a family contact of a positive case reported June 17.

The new case in Hyderabad is a 32-year-old man who had travelled from New York, transiting Mumbai. On reaching Hyderabad June 13, he self-reported at the identified health facility with swine flu-like symptoms June 18.

The single case in Fatehgarh Sahib is a 15-year-old boy, part of a group of 20 children and four teachers who had gone to Orlando, the US, on a NASA trip and had reached the Punjab town June 16.

Punjab health authorities were examining all children who had returned from the US study tour. Subsequent to this screening, the boy reported with symptoms of fever, running nose and sore throat June 18. All the contacts of these children have been traced and given chemoprophylaxis.

The single case reported in Bangalore is a 25-year-old man coming from Philaldephia via New York and London. A day after reaching Bangalore June 17, he reported at the health facility with the swine flu symptoms.

Indian health authorities have so far tested samples of 412 people, of whom 56 have been tested positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.

Six of them are indigenous cases who got the infection from the positive cases traveled from abroad.

Among these people, 134 were identified through health screening at international airports, 20 through contact tracing and the rest had self-reported.

Twenty-one of the confirmed cases have been discharged while the rest of them are all stable and remain admitted to the identified health facility.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported 44,287 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection from 94 countries as on June 19. The pandemic has claimed 180 lives.

Infosys Technologies Ltd chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy Saturday hoped the union budget for 2009-10 would focus on inclusive growth, which he termed as 'the need of the country'.

'I don't have any specific expectation for the IT sector from the budget. But I hope the government will try to bring in an inclusive growth, as it is the need of the country to make sure the poorer people will also benefit from the economic progress,' Murthy told reporters here.

Elaborating on his budget wishes, Murthy said the government should have better focus on healthcare, education, shelter and nutrition for the betterment of the needy.

'We are very happy there is a stable government and that is good thing to the country. I am sure this stable government will do quite a lot for the country because it is free to implement its policies,' he said on the margins of the IT bellwether's 28th annual general meeting (AGM).

Expressing relief over the outcome of the recent general elections, Murthy said a two-party system was a stable model, as evident from such a system in the US, Britain and many other countries.

'By and large, two-party system is a stable model. It is an evolved system,' he pointed out.

Commenting on the severe financial crisis that had led to a global recession of a magnitude never anticipated by critics of the free market system, Murthy said compassionate capitalism had proved to be the only viable system because communism had failed and socialism had not worked as well as everyone wanted.

'Though I don't believe the free market system has failed, as critics have pointed out in light of the global meltdown and financial crisis, I do admit there are negatives in all systems. But I think, by and large, compassionate capitalism has proved to be the only viable system,' Murthy noted.

West Bengal's principal opposition party Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Saturday said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee 'is a bigger Maoist' and threatened a stir if allegations that her party had links with leftwing rebels were not withdrawn.

'We will wait for 48 hours. If nothing happens within that time, then we will hit the streets,' Banerjee told mediapersons at her Kalighat residence.

'We don't support Maoists. If you search the chief minister's house, you will get Maoist literature. He is a bigger Maoist,' the Trinamool chief said.

Banerjee also demanded Bhattacharjee's resignation for the atrocities committed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres in various parts of the state.

'This chief minister should be sacked. He is wholly responsible for all the atrocities. He is the lead actor of all the atrocities across Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, Mangalkot and Keshpur,' Banerjee said.

The railway minister also questioned why the state government took so much time to crack down on the Maoists.

'Why didn't you ban the Maoists in the state, when it is banned in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh?' she asked pointedly.

'I am condemning the atrocities, whoever is doing this. But who created the Maoists? Who has carried out atrocities against common people in the name of Maoists? The people who are arrested in Lalgarh are not Maoists,' she thundered, denying her party's links with the rebels.

She alleged the CPI-M was trying to establish its sway in Lalgarh in the name of the operation. Neither the central nor the state government had apprised her party about the ongoing operation beforehand, she added.

'They didn't tell us anything about the operation that is going on for three days. We have not been informed by the state or the central government. Law and order is a state subject. It is their joint operation. I don't want to talk on this.'

Asked about the Maoist leader Kishanji's comment that they participated in the Singur and Nandigram along with Trinamool, Banerjee said: 'There were no Maoists during the Singur and Nandigram fights. I don't know any Kishanji. It is a drama created by the CPI-M. They are very good at creating new drama.'