The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

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Saturday, May 27, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Corrections and clarifications

In the analysis "How Tamil Nadu voted" (May 19, 2006), a reader points out that in the table "By District: Performance of the alliances and parties", only 29 districts have been listed, though the total number of seats is correctly mentioned as 234. Krishnagiri district was omitted. Also, the number of seats relating to the districts of Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Coimbatore and Erode in the table is at variance with official figures mentioned. Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, clarifies: "The reader is right on Krishnagiri district. It was earlier part of Dharmapuri district and our analysis went by the earlier definition. We should have analysed the five constituencies each in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri separately. As for the remaining districts we are not in error, though the reader has some basis for thinking that this may be so. The confusion arises because there are some assembly constituencies that fall across two districts. Assembly constituency Sankari falls across districts Salem and Namakkal; we have put it under Namakkal but the reader puts it under Salem. Similarly, assembly constituency Dharapuram falls across districts Erode and Coimbatore; we have put it under Coimbatore while the reader puts it under Erode. In both cases we have followed the Election Commission of India's official classification which is based on the principle of a larger area of these constituencies falling in the relevant districts. The reader may have gone by the location of the Taluk headquarters."

In the AFP report on Shakespeare's First Folio ("Newscape", May 26, 2006), Ben Jonson (Ben Johnson was what was published) is the correct spelling of the 17th century dramatist, poet and wit, who lived from 1572 to 1637. (Samuel Johnson, poet, essayist, biographer and lexicographer, and Ben Johnson, the athlete, are two other names with similarities). The figures quoted for two collections have also caused some confusion, because the value was mentioned in terms of pounds for one, and dollars for the other (£2.5 million and $5 million).

The caption for a photograph of medical students standing around a banana vendor's cart in "Medicos call for `civil disobedience'" (May 24, 2006) said, "Novel protest: Medical students and junior doctors stage a symbolic protest against the proposed reservation policy of the Central Government, in Amritsar on Tuesday". A reader is unable to find out what was novel about it. Were they selling fruit, or eating them, or blocking the road in protest, he asks, as there were no details in the text also. The novel form of protest was that the students were selling bananas, and not indulging in acts of violence, to attract attention, the news desk clarifies.

The gross income from the sale of fish and milk was listed as Rs. 50,000 a year in "Integrated farming ideal for small scale ryots" ("Science & Technology/Agriculture — Farmer's Notebook", May 25, 2006). It should be in a month.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.

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