The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

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Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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Corrections and clarifications

The caption of the accompanying AFP photograph in a report “‘Taj Mahal’ afloat on the Thames” (July 18, 2007) was: “Bridging the Gap: A model of the Taj Mahal is stationed on the Thames in front of the London Bridge on Tuesday.” It should have been the Tower Bridge. The Tower Bridge is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name. It has become an iconic symbol of London and is sometimes mistakenly called London Bridge, which is the next bridge upstream. The bridge is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust.

In a report “IBSA to team up in nuclear field” (July 18, 2007), the reference in the text to the South Africa Cooperative Union was incorrect. It should have been the South Africa Customs Union (SACU).

Referring to an article “Sivaji: super hit but the message is troubling” (July 15, 2007), a reader disputed a sentence that stated that MGR introduced the free mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren in Tamil Nadu. The reader said that Kamaraj had introduced it in the 1960s. The writer clarifies that while Kamaraj did indeed introduce a mid-day meal scheme in the 1960s, nevertheless, so did MGR. He in fact introduced a different noon meal scheme, which historians generally agree was more effective and widespread, both in its implementation and distribution. A more detailed contrast on the two schemes and their successes can be found in Narendra Subramanian’s work “Ethnicity and Populist Mobilisation: Political Parties, Citizens and Democracy in South India” (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999) and also the works of Prof. Barbara Harriss in this area. What was correctly referred to in the context of the article was the mid-day meal scheme that MGR introduced.

In the same article, it was stated that the film “Sivaji” opened on June 12. The film opened on June 15.

In a report “Social exclusion takes another form” (Op-Ed, July 2, 2007), a sentence was: “The first case was reported in Kerala in 1987, just four years after scientists Luc Montaigner and Robert Gallo isol ated the AIDS virus at the Pasteur Institutes in Paris in 1983.” A reader points out that Luc Montagnier (and not as spelt in the sentence) isolated the AIDS virus at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Robert Gallo is an American who isolated the HTLV-1 Virus, associated with leukaemia and belonging to the same family of retroviruses. So Dr. Gallo cannot be credited for the discovery of the AIDS virus at the Pasteur Institute. (The credit for isolating the HIV/AIDS virus was always a topic of controversy and the role of Dr. Robert Charles Gallo, the American scientist, was disputed by a section of the scientific community as many believed the credit should legitimately go to Dr. Luc Montagnier and his team. After protracted controversy, it was decided — it was in fact, almost a “political” decision — that the shared credit for identifying the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) be given to both Dr. Gallo and Dr. Montagnier.)

“This Day That Age” (July 18, 2007) had the dateline “from the pages of The Hindu dated July 18, 2007.” A number of readers point out that it should have been “… dated J uly 18, 1957”. The error was in the early editions.

The Hindu Crossword (July 18, 2007) was numbered 8969. It should have been 8968. The solution grid, in the same issue, was numbered as 8968. It should have been 8967.

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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