Hai,

Try PIC 12C508A. It is tiny and cheap (<Rs.35) for one time purchase and <Rs.27 for bulk purchase (>1K).

MPLAB IDE V 6.10 offers very good development platform.

PIC12C508A is OTP hence use PIC12F675 for development.
PIC16F84 is obsolete. But available in plenty in Indian market for Rs. 140 (1 piece) and then migrate to PIC16F628 later on.

(As, rightly said by others each and every mcu is powerful in its one way and it is up to us to harness the real power of the mcus)

Regards,
B. Gauthaman
India