Don’t Worry, It’s Just a ‘Data Input Error’

The Hindu’s Lost Kingdom

We, the Sikkimese, eternally supersensitive to being ignored at the national level, invoke the Article 371F mantra at the slightest whiff of mainstream bullying. Barely had our eyebrows returned to position after the 2023 ‘definitional change of Sikkimese,’ when our ‘Sikkimeseness’ faced yet another surprise attack. This time, it came from an astonishing display of cartographic creativity by The Hindu. Their map of India no longer showed that tiny wedge nestled between China, Nepal, and Bhutan. Instead, Sikkim had vanished into a strange kind of freedom.

For a people long burdened by an “ever-ignored, ever-bullied” mentality, this was no minor oversight. It was a moment to hold a national daily of The Hindu’s stature to account. And we seized it, raising our voices to assert our internationally recognized borders, our strategic geopolitical relevance, and our most basic right namely, territorial existence.

And at long last, The Hindu responded, Oopsie-daisy! Sorry, it was just a 'data input error.’

The timing of The Hindu’s cartographic amnesia was curious, to say the least. While Sikkim was joyfully dancing away, celebrating 50 years of its merger with India, The Hindu seemed to chime in with a rather uninvited message: ‘Sorry to poop on your party, but what exactly are you dancing about?’ We in return wondered if this was an unsanctioned referendum on Sikkim’s status? Given China’s habit of casually redrawing maps to suit its territorial whims, one would expect a major Indian newspaper to be extra cautious. But no, why bother with accuracy when you can just shrug and say, “Oops, our bad!”

One might assume that a newspaper of The Hindu’s stature employs fact-checkers, editors and perhaps even someone who has glanced at a map of India at least once. But maybe, in these times of economic slowdown, they have also resorted to hiring staff on an ad hoc basis, or off a muster roll without competitive exams or rigorous recruitment procedures.Or maybe, in this brave new world of digital shortcuts, there is just no time for pesky little questions like, “Does this even look like India?” It seems they sourced the map data from what could only be an India hating Pakistani or a Chinese third-grader’s geography project, skipped verification (because how could a computer-generated map be wrong?), hit publish without a second glance, ignored the post-publication reviewor worse, noticed the error and stayed silent, thinking, “What does the erasure of one tiny state really matter?”That is, until the noise from Sikkim grew loud enough to sound desperately inconvenient.

Truly, a masterclass in journalistic (in)efficiency. Right up there with Zee News reporting on wild elephants spotted in North Sikkim villages last June.

The “data input error” explanation is the journalistic equivalent of “the dog ate my homework”- an excuse so lame it insults the intelligence of anyone expected to believe it. Yes, software glitches happen, even in the most advanced systems. But for an entire state to vanish from a national map?At a time when India is locked in a historic cartographic standoff with Pakistan over every pixel of Kashmir?At the very moment that same "vanished" state is marking 50 years of its merger with India?

This is not a mere error. This is institutional negligence. This is the slow, unmistakable fall of editorial vigilance, a fall from grace for a media house once considered a bastion of journalistic credibility. And the silence that preceded the outcry? It speaks volumes.No alarms raised, no corrections issued, just the quiet assumption that no one would notice. Or worse, that no one would care. The apology that finally came is too little, too late.

Would such a lapse be tolerated if it were Kashmir? Unthinkable. The outrage would be immediate, the apologies profuse, the retractions swift. But when it is Sikkim? The indifference is telling. It reveals a deeply uncomfortable truth which is -for much of India’s media, some borders are sacredand others, disposable.

Maybe this is the natural endpoint of an era where speed trumps accuracy, where algorithms replace accountability, noise silences substance. Or maybe it is something even darker. It is the compliance of a media house who seems to operate with the notion that the margins of a map are negotiable.Either way, the message to Sikkim is unmistakably clear,“you exist at the convenience of those who draw the lines.”It may sound like overkill, but if the collective feelings of the Sikkimese were given words, this is exactly how they would read.

The only other believable explanation, to my mind, seems to be that The Hindu staff confused "Sikkim" with "Samsung" and figured it was a tech import. Either that or perhaps they thought Sikkim was just a limited-time offer that had quietly expired. Regardless, congratulations to The Hindu for achieving what China only dreams of -making Sikkim disappear with a keystroke. On a positive note, The Hinduat least gave us a crash course on how not to read a map.

“The timing of The Hindu’s cartographic amnesia was curious, to say the least. While Sikkim was joyfully dancing away, celebrating 50 years of its merger with India, The Hindu seemed to chime in with a rather uninvited message: ‘Sorry to poop on your party, but what exactly are you dancing about?’”

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