Free telephones for Indian workers

The Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has approved the provision of free telephones to three-hundred-and-twenty thousand government employees.

The giveaway had been opposed by the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, on the grounds that it ran counter to government policy on fiscal discipline.

However, Mr Vajpayee agreed with the Telecommunications Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, who argued that the cost was reasonable and the idea would motivate employees. India's telephone density is among the lowest in the world with two-point-six lines per hundred people compared with a global average of about fourteen-point-five.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service