The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

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Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008
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Corrections and clarifications

The lead story “Six militants involved in attacks on IISc, CRPF camp held in Uttar Pradesh” (February 11, 2008, page 1) had, in two instances, the name of a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant as “Abu Osama alias Aavesh” (paragraphs three and four). It should have been Abu Saama, as mentioned in paragraph seven.

On February 7, 2008, this column had an entry correcting the rank of the Army Chief as General, when a Singapore report (“India, Malaysia firm up army-related dialogue”, February 6, 2008) had it as Lt-Gen [Deepak] Kapoor. This was a repeat of the correction done on October 9, 2007. Three days later, on February 10, 2008, the same mistake was there, this time in another report from Singapore — “Delhi, Manila exploring ties between armies” (February 10, 2008).

The fifth paragraph in a report “Centre declares 14 river projects national assets” (February 9, 2008) was: “Projects in the Yamuna basin include Lakhwar Vyasi in Uttaranchal, Kishau on the Tons tributary in Himachal Pradesh/Uttaranchal and Renuka on the Giri in Himachal Pradesh.” It should have been Uttarakhand. We repeat the correction we issued on January 24, 2007, and April 3, 2007. “The Uttaranchal Vidhan Sabha passed the Bill to rename the State as Uttarakhand by a voice vote in October 2006. The Lok Sabha passed the Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006, for changing the name of Uttaranchal as Uttarakhand in December 2006. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill by voice vote, again in December 2006. Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam gave his assent to the bill and the new name came into effect on January 1, 2007. Uttarakhand is both the new and traditional name of the state that was formed from the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh. The name Uttaranchal came into vogue when the then Central Government (BJP-led) initiated a new round of States reorganisation in 2000.)”

In a report “Armed gang walks away with firearms and weapons from police station” (Tamil Nadu, February 10, 2008), the sixth paragraph was: “The missing arms included four .410 muskets and one 303 rifle and a single-barrel bridge loading rifle of a licensee who had brought it for routine verification ….” There is no such thing as a “single-barrel bridge loading rifle”. It should have been “single barrel breech loading gun (SBBL).” Licensees do not leave their weapons in the police station after routine verification. Either they leave their weapons in the safe custody of police when they go abroad or are asked to deposit it in times of an emergency. “Musket” is a crude form of gun that was used in the American Wild West.

The first paragraph in a report “Former Speaker K. Rajaram dead” (Tamil Nadu, February 9, 2008) was: “K. Rajaram, former Speaker of the Assembly and Minister in Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam governments, died in Salem on Friday. He was 82.” The caption of the accompanying photograph said “Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi paying homage to the departed leader”, leading to a query on whether the Chief Minister had travelled to Salem. It was a reporting error. K. Rajaram passed away in Chennai.

The caption of a standalone photograph (Early editions, February 9, 2008) was “Lifetime Achievement Award – Honour For Singer: Noted Assamese singer Bhupen Hazarika receives the Lifetime Achievement Award from [Assam] Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at a function at Rabindra Bhawan in Guwahati on Friday. Bobita Sarma, member of the Indian Film Sensor Board, is at right.” It should have been Censor Board.

The last paragraph in a report “Funds for flood relief adequate: Karunanidhi” (February 8, 2008) was: “The Chief Minister detailed the assistance given by the different boards and said that after the DMK government took over on April 13, 2006, nearly 1.80 crore workers had been enrolled as members till January 6 this year.” It was an error. It should have been May 13, 2006.

In a football report “City defeats United away too” (Later editions, “Sport”, February 11, 2008) the fifth paragraph was: “City, wearing light blue retro shirts, celebrated its first win at Old Trafford since 1974. United was also in 1950s-style uniforms devoid of sponsorship”, leading to a query on the players’ jerseys. Both Manchester United and City wore “retro-style” colours devoid of any sponsorship.

The results column in a hockey report “Second straight win for SAIL” (“Sport”, February 11, 2008) was “U.P. 2 (Sunil Kumar, Mohd. Fayeem) bt Manipur 2 (K.H. Kotha, K. Phinglensana).” The match between U.P. and Manipur ended in a 2-2 draw. (The report was on the fourth junior National Hockey championship for boys (under-18) at the Gachibowli hockey complex in Hyderabad.)

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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