The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

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Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Corrections and clarifications

The report "1993 blasts: verdict likely next month" (July 23, 2006) said Special Public Prosecutor Mr. Ujjwal Nikam blamed the defence for prolonging the Mumbai serial bomb blasts since most of the formal documents such as the inquest panchnama, spot panchnama, death certificates and post mortem notes were not submitted by the defence. A reader found this intriguing since it is the police or the prosecution that possesses such documents and provides copies thereof to the defence side. The Mumbai Bureau clarifies that it was a reporting error. "Submitted" should have been "not accepted by the defence," the actual phrase used by Mr. Nikam.

In "Tata sports book released" ("Sport", July 25, 2006) the caption of the accompanying photograph said "Sunil Gavaskar (left), Narain Karthikeyan and Ajit Agarkar during the function organised to release the book [`To Strive and To Soar'] published by the Tata Group." As a reader points out, Sunil Gavaskar was on the right. The error was in the earlier editions.

Suo motu, which means "on its own", is often misspelt. It was "suo mottu" in the text and "suo motto" in the graphic in "68 fatalities on city roads last year" (Thiruvananthapuram, July 25, 2006).

In "Corrections and Clarifications" (July 21, 2006) and the reference to "megawatt = one million watts", a reader says that symbols for units do not take a plural form with added `s'. The symbol merely names the unit in which the preceding magnitude is measured. Therefore "megawatt = one million watts" should have been replaced by "one million watt". Dr. Russ Rowlett, Director of the Center for Mathematics and Science Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, clarifies: "If the name of a unit is spelled out, then it takes a plural in the usual way: `one million watts'. It is only the symbols for units that do not change in the plural. For example, write `100 kilometres,' but if you use the symbol write `100 km,' not `100 kms.'"

A few readers point out that in "Golden Mile plots sold at Rs. 55,000 a square yard" (Andhra Pradesh, July 21, 2006), it should have been Rs. 29,855 a square yard instead of Rs. 55,000. The Hyderabad Bureau clarifies that the highest rate quoted by a bidder for an acre in Kokapet on the city's outskirts was Rs. 14.45 crore. When calculated it works out to Rs. 29,855.06 a square yard.

In "William Shakespeare — The Great Ones" (Young World, July 21, 2006, page 2), one of the quotes was "`Frailty, thy is woman!' (Hamlet)". It should have been "Frailty, thy name is woman" ("Hamlet", Act 1, Scene 2, line 146), as a reader says. The complete line is "Let me not think on't — Frailty, thy name is woman!".

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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