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Corrections and clarifications

* * The sentence in "A journey to remember across China" (Op-Ed, July 3, 2006) was "At every stop on the first leg of the journey [on the Beijing-Lhasa train] — Shijiazhang the grimy capital of Henan, Xian the home to the famous Terracotta Warriors and Lanzhou, the gateway to the Gobi desert — the train is greeted by a gaggle of local journalists." As a reader points out, Shijiazhuang (wrongly spelt in the text) is the capital of Hebei province, not of Henan province. Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan.

* * The use of "Gandhi" in the headline and the text ("Gandhi as postmodern thinker — Book Review", July 4, 2006) has made a reader unhappy. He finds this disrespectful. It was a departure from The Hindu's accepted practice of referring to him only as Gandhiji or Mahatma Gandhi.

* * A number of readers have objected to the heading "Lara's fulsome praise for Team India" ("Sport", July 4, 2006). "Fulsome" has a negative connotation and means "excessive and often insincere" praise. It is always "fulsome flattery" and never "fulsome praise". The report highlights Lara's earnest and full-throated praise.

* * "A break-up of the data between rural and urban segments is more revealing," was the sentence in "A patchy record" (Editorial, July 1, 2006). A reader points out that "break-up", which means disintegration or dissolution, has frequently been used in the wrong sense in The Hindu. The word should have been "breakdown" — a list of separate parts.

* * The name of the new coach of the Indian football team was incorrectly given as Dave Houghton in "Bhutia feels Brazil was not imposing" ("Sport", July 5, 2006). It should have been Bob Haughton. Dave Houghton was the former cricket captain of Zimbabwe.

* * In "Corrections and Clarifications" (July 5, 2006), we incorrectly named cricket player Ramnaresh Sarwan as Ramesh Sarwan.

* * Referring to "Office of profit: the wages of neglect" (Editorial page, May 17, 2006), a reader says that in the first paragraph, it was stated that Parliament had passed the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1975, exempting several offices from disqualification and had updated the list only sporadically up to 2000. The reader adds that Parliament had passed three enactments for prevention of disqualification, namely of 1950, 1951 and Act 1953. Later, Act 10 of 1959 was passed, which is still in force. The 1959 Act, which repealed the Acts of 1950, 1951 and 1953, was amended from time to time and the last amendment was in 1999. The reader is right. The reference should have been to 1959.

* * "V.P Singh — the man and his politics" (Editorial, June 28, 2006) had two usages to which a reader objects. "The visitors were there primarily to wish Mr. Singh on his birthday ... " This is bad English, commonly used. It should have been "wish him a happy birthday" or "greet him." Another sentence in the editorial read, "The Ayodhya conflagration imposed an impossible choice on Prime Minister [V.P.] Singh ... " Conflagration is an inappropriate word here, for it had not yet developed into one. Situation or build-up would have been apt.

* * The caption of the Reuters photograph accompanying the report "Lord Jagannath's rath yatra begins" (June 28, 2006) said it was the 129th annual yatra in Puri. But a number of readers wondered whether this figure is right. The annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath is being held in Puri for at least 700 years, according to Mr. Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, IAS, Chief Administrator, Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri. The confusion may have arisen because the 129th annual rath yatra is being held simultaneously in Ahmedabad. (A number of media agencies have made this error).

* * In "Putin warns of clash of civilisations" ("International", July 5, 2006), a report on a global conference of religious leaders in Moscow, it was stated that India is being represented by the head of Udipi Math, Sugunendra Teertha Swamiji. The swamiji is the head of the Puthige Math, which is one of the Ashtamaths in Udipi. (The other representative is the Jathedar of the Akal Takht).

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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