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Corrections and clarifications

The caption of a standalone photograph (July 11, 2007) was “Leopard’s day out — No Political Animal: People look on as a leopard rests on a tree right in front of the main gate of the Ass am Assembly in Guwahati on Tuesday. The animal is presumed to have come from nearby hills in search of food. Forest officials were making efforts to trap the animal.” The animal is not a leopard but a leopard cat, and as confirmed by Dr. R.J. Ranjit Daniels, wildlife ecologist. The leopard cat is a little larger than a big domestic cat. It has one of the widest spread ranges of any of the Asian species of wild cat and can be found across South East Asia. Such an extended range has led to fragmentation, and as a result a large number of sub-species have been recognised. It is under continued threat from hunting in many parts of its range.

In a Guardian article “Get competitive!” (Op-Ed, July 10, 2007), the byline was “Bill Taylor”, while the author note at the end said “William C. Taylor”, leading to a few queries as to who had written the piece. Helen Hodgson, Assistant Readers’ Editor, The Guardian, explains that “Bill” is a common diminutive for the name “William”. Bill Taylor may well prefer to use the name by which he i s known to friends in his journalism, but in publishing a book uses his full name.

In an essay “The politics of Tibet: a 2007 reality check” (Op-Ed, July 5, 2007), it was stated that the Dalai Lama turned 72 on July 5. The Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935.

A sentence in the second paragraph of an essay “Tibet in the time of high economic growth” (Op-Ed, July 3, 2007) was: “… and at another high altitude wonder, the 6.2 square kilometre Lhalu Wetland in the capital’s suburbs, which is reckoned annually to absorb 78,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide and produce 53,700 tonnes of oxygen.” A reader said that the figures quoted needed to be checked as this would represent 1,27,096 kg of CO2 per hectare and the release of 86,612 kg of oxygen per hectare. To release 1,27,096 kg of CO2 per hectare, the total biomass/ha needs to be around 2,50,000 kg or more. Prof. P.C. Kesava, DAE Homi Bhabha Chair and Distinguished Fellow, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, explains that it seems to be a somewhat high level of CO2 absorption and oxygen evolution. However, it is not precise as well to state that the total biomass/ha needs to be around 2,50,000 kg or more. One should also consider the nature of the biomass and its photosynthetic efficiency, in particular. What is important is that the Lhalu Wetland is serving well the cause of providing oxygen at that altitude — about 12,000 feet above the sea level.

In a report “TVS Motor introduces feature-rich Apache” (“Business” page, July 10, 2007), the caption of the accompanying photograph was: “Rich Riding Experience: K.N. Radhakrishnan, President, TVS Mo tor Company, with the new TVS Apache RTR 160 during its launch in New Delhi on Monday.” It should have been R. Chandramouli, Senior Vice-President (Marketing), TVS Motor Company. (It was because of a communication error by the PR agency handling the event.)

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