>>A technical snag: The photograph accompanying the interview, “In 80-90 %, TB bacilli in kids same as in MDR-TB index case” (Science & Technology page, Nov. 21, 2013 - print editions) did not show the face of Prof. H. Simon Schaaf. The Online and Epaper of The Hindu did not have this problem.
>>There was a mix-up in the colouring scheme in the Business page graphics (Nov. 20, 2013) depicting the changes in Sensex, Gold price, Rupee value and Brent oil price. It should have been in green in case of an upward trend and red in case of a downward trend. It was a design error.
>>A sentence in “ >Half of India’s population still defecates in the open ” (Nov. 20, 2013) read: “The economic impact of inadequate sanitation is about Rs. 2.4 trillion ($38.4 million), or 6.4 per cent of India’s gross domestic product, …” A reader said Rs. 2.4 trillion is $38.4 billion and not million.
Also it is 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP at ‘purchasing power parity’. Else it will be 2.133 per cent (of $1.8 trillion).
The writer’s clarification: According to a UNDP-Water & Sanitation Program report, it is estimated that the total economic impact of inadequate sanitation in India amounts to Rs. 2.44 trillion (US$53.8 billion) a year — this was the equivalent of 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP in 2006.
Additionally, in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms with the price level in India being about a third of the USA, the adverse economic impacts of inadequate sanitation in India is US$161 billion, or US$144 per person. Of the Rs. 2.4 trillion lost, about Rs. 1.1 trillion signifies the loss of flow of economic value of 2006, and the balance Rs. 1.3 trillion, the present value of future losses owing to the human capital lost in 2006.
In the same article, another reader pointed out an error in the last paragraph that read: “… by 2017 the country will be declared free from open defecation.” The reader said the Government had revised the year to 2022 . The reader is right.
