Corrigendum - 13 April 2013

The third and fourth sentences of the first paragraph of the article “How to Extinguish Bodo-Muslim Conflict and other Ethnic Conflicts in Assam” by Syed Shahabuddin in Mainstream (February 23, 2013) have been printed as follows on p. 17: “The Bodos are the biggest tribe, claiming to be the original inhabitants; they are scattered all over the State but concentrated in the north-east. They form about 10 per cent of the State’s population and the four north-east districts constitute the Bodo Autonomous District, namely, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalgiri and Baksa.” 

One reader, David Hopkins (from Lakshmi Ashram, P.O. Kausani, District Almora, Uttarakhand), sent an e-mail on March 11, 2013 asking a pertinent query: “Was this a gremlin in the press or did the author actually write this, when the reality is that these four districts are in the extreme west of Assam, bordering on Bhutan?” He also wrote: “I fear that whenever I come across such a basic error in any article, then doubts arise in my mind as to the veracity of the rest of the article.”

The e-mail was forwarded to Syed Shahabuddin. On March 16, 2013 the author wrote to the editor: “I thank Mr Hopkins for pointing out the error. The word ‘north-east’ should indeed be read as ‘north-west’. It was our mistake.”

The two sentences should thus read: “The Bodos are the biggest tribe, claiming to be the original inhabitants; they are scattered all over the State but concentrated in the north-west. They form about 10 per cent of the State’s population and the four north-west districts constitute the Bodo Autonomous District, namely, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalgiri and Baksa.”

Both the author and myself sincerely regret this inadvertent error.                              —Editor