The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

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Friday, Nov 02, 2007
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Corrections and clarifications

The caption of the accompanying photograph in an article “Looking for space to spread their wings” (Op-Ed, November 1, 2007) was: “An Indian Airlines plane flies past over a new Boeing A-321 aircraft that joined the Air India fleet at the Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi on July 28.” A large number of readers point out that the Air India aircraft is an Airbus A-321, and it is seen on the plane.

The article also made a reference to Air Emirates. It should have been just Emirates, which is the international airline of the United Arab Emirates.

The eighth paragraph of an AFP report “The nano-race hots up” (“Newscape” page, November 1, 2007) was: “More than forty years ago, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore said the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double roughly every 24 years, a prediction that has largely held true ever since.” It should have been every 24 months (two years). This observation was first made by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore in a 1965 paper.

In the second paragraph of a review of the book “Story of a city” (“Book Review” page, October 30, 2007), “official addict” should have been “official edict” and “Sepoy Muting of 1857” should have been “Sepoy Mutiny of 1857”.

In the same paragraph, a sentence was “With Queen Elizebeth’s Proclamation of November 1, 1858 following the collapse of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the British Crown took over the administration of British India from the East India Company.” It was an error. “Queen Elizabeth” (and not Queen Elizebeth as was published) should have been “Queen Victoria”.

The President of India is referred to as the “First Citizen” and not the “First Lady”, as mentioned in a PTI report “Rare honour for cricket, hockey stars” (“Sport”, October 31, 2007). “First Lady”, an American idiom, is a term applied to the wife of an elected male head of state. (But it has become commonplace for the title to be bestowed on women, as a term of endearment, who have proven themselves to be of exceptional talent.) It is incorrect in the Indian context as it generally refers to the consort of the President/Chief Executive.

A sentence in the fourth paragraph of an article “Would Watson be different if he were black?” (Op-Ed, October 30, 2007) was: “What this means is that if one were 30 per cent African, based on Professor Watson’s reasoning, it would make a person more African, and therefore less intelligent, than someone who is 60 per cent African.” It should have been “What this means is that if one were 60 per cent African, based on Professor Watson’s reasoning, it would make a person more African, and therefore less intelligent, than someone who is 30 per cent African.”

The heading of a report (Hyderabad, October 22, 2007, page 1) was “Hyderabadi in Pentagon research project”. A reader says the heading was misleading. The Hyderabad-born research scientist is a part of a team that is participating in an autonomous vehicle race being conducted by DARPA (which has offices in the Pentagon), while the heading suggests that the Pentagon is supporting the research project. In this programme, DARPA is funding some 11 teams. The Hyderabadi scientist is not on one of those 11 teams. His team is from what is known as “Track B” or self-supporting teams, of which there are some 78. The article also incorrectly states that the race is traversing a tough 336-km course from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The accompanying picture in the article is actually not of the current project vehicle (Cajun Bot 2), but of the older one (Cajun Bot) which participated in the previous event.

Our Hyderabad Bureau clarifies that the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the research wing of Pentagon. Funds from Pentagon do reach DARPA. Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the distance mentioned was about the last two grand challenges. It was an error, but the website of the University of Lousiana mentioned the distance. The picture, as pointed out, was that of a vehicle that participated in the last race. (This clarification is delayed because we had to wait for the reporter’s response.)

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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