Monday, September 20, 2010

[ZESTCaste] An interview on Caste Census (New Post at Insight blog www.blog.insightyv.com)

 

"People who oppose caste-census are less in numbers, but are powerful and they run this country"



An interview with Dilip Mandal

Dilip Mandal, a senior journalist and writer, is currently associated with Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. He has been consistently writing on some of the most important socio-economic issues before our country, in newspapers and on internet. He has recently edited a book 'Caste Census: Parliament, Society and Media' (in Hindi).

Here he is interacting with Insight members – Gurinder Singh Azad, Anup Vimal, Noopur and Anoop Kumar – on the issue of caste census.  This interview is also being published in Hindi here.


Please read the entire interview both in English and Hindi at our blog www.blog.insightyv.com



--
"Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run, Obama ran so your children can fly"



 

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati magic (Opinion)

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/FE-Editorial---Mayawati-magic/683978/

Mayawati magic
The Financial Express
Posted online: 2010-09-20 22:38:23+05:30

While the UPA continues to grapple with the issue of the land
acquisition Act, and getting the stormy Mamata Banerjee on board, the
issue has moved far beyond what it was considering. Haryana chief
minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda set the ball rolling when he came up
with the model—the model has been in force for a few years but got
centrestage after Sonia Gandhi recommended it—which not only gave
farmers upfront compensation for their land, it guaranteed an annuity
as well. After the farmers' agitation over land acquisition for the
Yamuna Expressway project, the chief minister of the country's largest
state, Mayawati, came up with an even more generous offer.

The Haryana scheme fixes the minimum land acquisition prices across
the state, including in specific urban and rural areas. It also has
provisions for an additional compensation through an annuity payment
of Rs 15,000 per acre of land with clauses that allow an annual
increment of Rs 500 on each acre for 33 years. And the annuity is even
higher at Rs 30,000 per acre, with annual increments of Rs 1,000 per
acre each year, in the case of acquisition for special economic zones
and technology cities/parks that are being set up by private
developers. Additionally, there are other incentives like allotments
of residential and commercial plots for rehabilitation.

In addition to the one-time compensation, Uttar Pradesh's policy
provides for a larger annuity of Rs 20,000 per acre with increments of
Rs 600 each year over 33 years. Landowners who forgo annuity payments
can claim Rs 2,40,000 as additional compensation per acre. The
original landowners are also to get 7% of the acquired land, for
residential plots of a minimum size of 120 sq metres. The most
important provision is that the UP scheme allows the ousted landowners
to use a quarter of the one-time compensation for purchasing the
shares of the company floating the projects. This is particularly
important since this ensures oustees get a large part of the benefit
from future development on their land—typically, land prices escalate
when the land-use is changed from the agricultural to the commercial
or industrial. By owning a share in the project, farmers will continue
to benefit. A win-win for all concerned.


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[ZESTCaste] ‘Expedite pending cases of atrocities on dalits’

http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/mumbai/Expedite-pending-cases-of-atrocities-on-dalits/Article1-601089.aspx

'Expedite pending cases of atrocities on dalits'

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

Mumbai, September 17, 2010First Published: 02:06 IST(17/9/2010)
Last Updated: 02:07 IST(17/9/2010)

The high court directed the state to inquire into the pending cases
involving atrocities on Dalits and come up with remedial measures for
their speedy disposal. A division bench of Justice BH Marlapalle and
Justice ND Deshpande also questioned why the meeting of the newly
set-up high-powered committee, headed by the CM, to oversee the
implementation of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, had not
yet taken place.

The bench raised the query after counsel for petitioner organisation,
Sanghraj Rupawate, pointed out that the meeting scheduled for
Wednesday did not take place. Public Prosecutor Pandurang Pol assured
the panel will meet by September 30.

The bench directed Principal Secretary (Social Justice) Santosh Gavai,
who has been appointed as nodal officer, to coordinate between various
departments and ensure implementation of the Act and suggest remedial
measures within three months. The court asked Gavai to look into the
43 cases cited by the petitioner NGO and ensure the act is
implemented.

The PIL filed in 2009, highlighted poor implementation of the
Atrocities Act alleging the state had not sent an annual report to the
Centre in the last five years, even though it was mandatory to do so.
The state, however, claimed that the reports had been forwarded to the
Centre.


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[ZESTCaste] What Makes You a ‘Brahmin’ Buyer?

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/What-Makes-You-a--Brahmin--Buyer/683137/

What Makes You a 'Brahmin' Buyer?

ArchnaShukla Posted online: Sun Sep 19 2010, 13:56 hrs
New Delhi : The ways in which marketers profile Indian consumers are
oddly archaic.
Do you wear a pair of Nike shoes on your morning jog or a pair bought
from a local manufacturer? Do you use a toothpaste endorsed by a top
Bollywood actor or you don't care much for which brand? Do you use a
premium brand of shampoo or settle for soap instead?

Your response to the questions will determine which social class, more
specifically, "the caste" of consumers you belong to. Five years ago,
a Bangalore-based brand strategy and marketing consultancy devised a
system which uses the metaphor of the caste system to classify
consumers and their buying habits. The "Brand Caste System" includes
the four varnas, with Brahmins and Kshatriyas at the top. The varna is
not determined by the birth of a consumer, but by the brand
preferences he displays.

It uses responses to questions such as the above, the kind of brand a
consumer uses, the reasons he uses it, the number of times he uses it
and the readiness with which he dishes out big bucks to buy a
favourite brand to determine his position on the consumption ladder.

"Affordability, width of consumption, depth of use, the flaunt value
and other such parameters determine whether a consumer is a Brahmin or
a Kshatriya," says Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults, the
firm that devised the system. He says it is used by several leading
Indian and international marketers, though he did not cite names,
citing confidentiality.

The pecking order

Market research tools are used to understand consumers' background,
their consumption habits and the triggers to purchase decisions. But
profiling the mind of the Indian consumer seems to involve the
marketing world in other prejudices of Indian society. The SEC system,
the socio-economic classification system which forms the backbone of
all market research in India, for instance, focusses only on the chief
wage earner of a family—and that is usually the man.

It disregards the income or the preferences of women, who make a
significant contribution to household income in rural and urban
markets, and who are decision makers in household purchases. It slots
a household as SEC A/B/ C/D or E (A is at the top) by taking into
account the education and the profession of the man in the family.

Even if a woman is the chief wage earner in her family, the husband's
background is used to understand the household's consumption
preferences—the assumption being that her social and educational
background will be similar to her husband's. "We are not an
egalitarian society yet. Men and women still marry into the class and
social background similar to their own," says Ashutosh Sinha,
vice-president, marketing science group, IMRB, one of the leading
market research firms in India.

Sinha was part of the team that put together the system in the
Eighties. But as he points out, the UK system from which the SEC model
was inspired has since been upgraded to keep up with changing consumer
profiles. In the US, too, marketers factor in incomes of all family
members to assess their aspirations and requirements.

Industry observers are not terribly shocked by the trends. Says
Professor Arvind Sahay, who teaches marketing strategy at IIM,
Ahmedabad: "It's only 40-50 million families in the top six cities of
the country where women make a significant economic contribution to
the household income. For the rest, the SEC system makes perfect
sense." Both Sahay and Sinha, however, agree that the SEC needs an
overhaul to reflect the demographic transition that India is going
through.

Some marketers are hopeful that the caste-based census initiated by
the government will throw up information that may be used to reach
consumers in novel ways. Most of them, however, don't want to be seen
endorsing it. Even though they acknowledge caste as an important
social factor, they don't want to be seen taking a politically
incorrect stand.


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[ZESTCaste] Cops help SC, ST youths get jobs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Cops-help-SC--ST-youths-get-jobs/683773/

Cops help SC, ST youths get jobs

Express News Service

In yet another initiative of community policing in the state, the
Sonbhadra police are helping youths belonging to Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribes from Naxal-hit areas in getting jos.


While 35 such youths were employed with Jaypee group of industries
last week, 30 others are undergoing training at a technical institute
of L&T group in Sonbhadra. The police will also be sending 100 more
such youths to L&T's training institute in Delhi next month. The
company will employ the youths trained at its institutes. The youths
engaged with Jaypee and L&T are class V passouts.


The Sonbhadra Superintendent of Police (SP), Preetinder Singh, said
the youths from different villages of Naxal affected areas ¿ Kon,
Manchi, Raipur, Pannuganj, Karma, Pipri and Windamganj —were picked up
for the jobs. These youths belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families
and could not study beyond Class V. They had no jobs and were easy
targets for Naxal groups.


He said they talked to the officials of Bombay Intelligence Security
(BIS), which supplies security guards to the Jaypee group in and
outside Sonbhadra district. As the company agreed to engage the
youths, the police selected 35 of them and provided them one-month
training. These youths are now employed as security guards with the
unit of Jaypee group in Sonbhadra.


Besides, they contacted the L&T authorities who agreed to train youths
at their technical institute in Sonbhadra. The 30 youths who are
undergoing two-month training there also getting Rs 1500 stipend.
These youths will be engaged at different sites of L&T after the
training and will be getting a monthly salary of Rs 6,000-8,000, the
SP said.


Singh said they are in the process of selecting 100 more youths from
villages for training at the Delhi institute of L&T from the next
month.


He further said the they will also make an arrangement to provide
computer training to Class XII pass youths from these areas. Former
IPS officer Kiran Bedi's organisation indiapolice.in, which provides
computer education to the wards of policemen across the country, has
agreed to provide training to the youths of tribal areas of Sonbhadra.


Singh said they already have purchased a few computers while some
computers have been provided by Bedi's organisation. Bedi's
organisation will send its instructors for two-month training to
selected youths and will issue certificates to successful students.
The organisation has also assured to employ those youths whoa re found
extraordinary during the training.


The training is expected to begin next month, the SP said.


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[ZESTCaste] ST reservation in panchayat polls: Govt now to move SC

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ST-reservation-in-panchayat-polls--Govt-now-to-move-SC/683778/

ST reservation in panchayat polls: Govt now to move SC

Express News Service Posted online: Sun Sep 19 2010, 06:42 hrs
Luknow : The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to challenge in the
Supreme Court, the Allahabad High Court's judgment regarding an
increase in reservation for members of the Scheduled Tribes (STs) from
0.06 to 2 per cent in the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.
On Thursday, a Division Bench comprising Justices Sunil Ambawani and
Kashi Nath Pandey had directed the state government to revise or
modify the final list of reservation of seats of pradhans in districts
where members of Scheduled Tribes have a substantial presence. The
court also directed the government to accordingly reduce the number of
seats allocated to the members of the Scheduled Castes (SCs).

The judgment came on petitions filed by Jan Sangharsh Morcha and
Pradesh Jan Jati Vikas Manch, which had prayed for an increase in
reservation for STs in 13 districts.


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[ZESTCaste] SC/ST students of IFBI, received a appointment orders from bank

 

http://www.c2clive.com/latestnewsdetail.php?id=2794

SC/ST students of IFBI, received a appointment orders from bank
Chennai,17th sept : Thirty-two students belonging to the SC/ST
communities on Friday received appointment letters from a private bank
after completing a six-month training programme in Banking, Finance,
Insurance and Mutual Funds at the Institute of Finance, Banking and
Insurance (IFBI).

The training programme was fully funded by the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar
Housing Development Corporation (TAHDCO). Speaking to reporters after
distributing the appointment letters, A. Tamilarasi, Minister for Adi
Dravida Welfare, said as part of the government's efforts to provide
employment opportunities to the SC/ST students the training programme
was conducted on Banking, Finance and other related subjects.

The actual fee for the course was around Rs 85,000 and these students
were charged only Rs 30,000. The State government had provided free
education to the SC/ST students and their entire expenses from class
VI to Plus Two was borne by the government, which amounted to Rs 3.43
crore. Similarly, it also had spent on scholarships to the tune of Rs
3.47 crore for those who were admitted to higher secondary levels, she
said.

In the last four years, the department had received Rs 125 crore,
which was spent on providing scholarships and imparting training on
various trades for those who could not complete their school
education, she said. When the 32 students joined the institute, those
in the organisation were apprehensive whether the students would be
able to complete the training successfully, said S. Venkatesh,
president of IFBI.

The apprehension was mainly due to their social background. However,
their apprehension was proved wrong and the entire batch completed
their training successfully and were able to get placements in the
private bank, he said.

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[ZESTCaste] Prostitutes of god

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/prostitutes-of-god-2082290.html

September 20, 2010
Prostitutes of god
By Interview by Matilda Battersby

Journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about temple
prostitutes in south India - girls dedicated to the Hindu goddess
Devadasi before puberty who spend their lives selling sex.
Former Independent journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary
about India's temple prostitutes - young girls who are dedicated to
the Hindu goddess Devadasi at a young age and support their families
as sex workers.

The first instalment of the four-part exclusively online documentary
'Prostitutes of God' goes live today on VBS.tv [http://www.vbs.tv].

Harris talked The Independent Online about making the film:

I first went to India after I left The Independent three years ago. I
wanted to run away and do something really different, so I went to
volunteer with a charity in southern India which rescues victims of
sex trafficking.

On my very first day there I stumbled into a meeting of Devadasi
prostitutes. I was told that they were temple prostitutes, but didn't
have any understanding of what that meant. It sounded absolutely
barmy!

I began to research it and in February 2008 was invited to northern
Karnatakar, which is the centre of the tradition in India. I
interviewed a few of the women and wrote an article about it for Vice
magazine. But visiting them stayed with me, and I wanted to find out
more.

When you approach a Devadasi girl for interview the response varies
hugely. There's a huge spectrum of women. A really wealthy brothel
madam in Mumbai would be quite proud to talk about what she does. But
in very poor rural communities, like in Karnatakar, they're much more
difficult to talk to. These young women are ostracised and exploited
and they're ashamed of what they do. They wish they could get married,
but they can't and are in this dreadful prison.

The only thing that has changed since the Devadasi practise was made
illegal in 1988 is that the ceremonies have been driven underground.
It's still very common in some parts of India. A Westerner wouldn't
know to look at the girls that they are Devadasi, but Indians know on
sight who they are and what they do. Really it comes down to caste.

Caste is a massively complicated issue still in India. My
understanding of it is that originally when the Devadasi tradition
first came about, the women dedicated were from high caste families,
even royalty. They held a very special place in the Indian culture:
were incredible dancers, poets, artisans. They had specific religious
roles to play within the temple performing various sacred religious
rites. They were almost like nuns and it had nothing to do with sex.
It was more like being a priestess.

As film shows how much the tradition has deteriorated over the
centuries. Specifically in the 19th Century when the Christian
missionaries came, the Devadasi became less well thought of. These
days it's very much a low caste tradition. Girls from the Madiga
caste, otherwise known as the "untouchable caste," have really limited
prospects. They can be agricultural labourers, sewage collectors or
prostitutes, essentially. As prostitution is the most lucrative, a lot
of Madiga women get into sex work.

Some girls are dedicated to the goddess at age two or three. They
won't actually enter into sex work until they reach puberty at around
twelve. The girls most at risk of being dedicated will have grown up
in very matriarchal Devadasi communities. There aren't any men. They
don't have fathers. So there probably is some understanding from a
young age that they're not from traditional families, they don't have
husbands.

The girls probably won't have a real understanding of the sex work
element until what they call their 'first night'. This is when their
virginity is sold to a local man, normally the highest bidder. He
might be a local farmer, landowner or businessman. Some of them say,
"I was dedicated to the goddess, but I didn't know this was what was
expected."

When I first went to India I thought some of the women might consider
it a kind of honour to be a Devadasi, because of it is an act of
religious devotion. Sexuality and divinity are very closely entwined
in the Hindi faith. Religion is closely linked to sexuality and
beauty. But I think there's very little religious link left now. Most
of the women that we spoke to don't even pay any heed to the
traditional religious practises of the goddess. They see it as a
business.

HIV is very prevalent in the community. Our translator, who works very
closely with these communities, describes HIV as being like plucking a
bunch of grapes. As soon as a woman is infected then her whole family
becomes infected. Every man she sleeps with then becomes infected.
Then the men pass it onto their wives. It's very difficult to measure
the disease's prevalence because many don't understand what that
they've got.

There is widespread ignorance about AIDS and HIV in those communities.
And a huge stigma attached to using condoms. People die of HIV related
illnesses and they call it "dying of a fever." The infected often go
undiagnosed. There's also huge disparity. One of the towns we went to
had a huge NGO which was campaigning for the rights of sex workers,
distributing condoms and educational materials, so the Devadasi were
quite switched on about it.

It's very difficult for girls to leave the profession. You see groups
of former Devadasi becoming social activists and campaigners against
the tradition. That's one way out. Another is to become an educator or
a social worker. There is a huge movement to try and stop dedications
happening, and the impetus for that is coming from the grass roots.
The former Devadasi women.

Living a normal life in India after having been a Devadasi prostitute
is extremely, extremely hard because they're seen as damaged goods. In
India marriage is everything. If there's any suggestion that a girl
has had sex before marriage then she's ostracised from society. Women
are still stoned to death in some villages for those kinds of
transgressions. So it's very difficult for them to rebuild their
lives.

The rest of the four-part documentary will be screened on VBS.tv later this week

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[ZESTCaste] Case filed against temple board employee

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Case-filed-against-temple-board-employee/articleshow/6587953.cms

Case filed against temple board employee
TNN, Sep 20, 2010, 06.40am IST

ANNAVARAM: A case under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act was filed
against Annavaram temple executive officer by police on Sunday
following a complaint from the devasthanam employee.

The EO K Ramchandra Mohan and sanitary inspector Venkateswara Rao were
booked following a complaint filed by employee Jaggu Dandeswara Rao.
Rao said Mohan had verbally abused him taking his caste name when he
went to approach him over his transfer issue. Rao also said the
sanitary inspector had been harassing him in the section and he had
gone to Mohan seeking a transfer to another wing.

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[ZESTCaste] Killing in the name of honour

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Killing-in-the-name-of-honour/articleshow/6588000.cms

Killing in the name of honour

Jaya Menon, TNN, Sep 20, 2010, 05.21am IST

A charred piece of earth and some bits of bones are the only signs of
a dastardly killing in the name of honour. No other evidence remains
of the spine-chilling crime to mar the rustic charm of Maalaipatti
village, perched among the green mountains of the Western Ghats in
Dindigul district. On July 28, 2008, a few days after being chained in
a bathroom and treated like a rabid dog outside her terraced house,
tortured and beaten up with a wooden log, young Sangeetha, barely
conscious, was burnt to death by her family members near a dry water
channel running through a field. The dalit youths, who were called to
conduct the last rites, recall in horror how the terrified, emaciated
girl had regained consciousness as the flames engulfed her, shouting
for help.

The village, in which the intermediate Naicker caste is the dominant
community, then purged itself the floors of the houses were scrubbed
clean with detergent and water, and the walls whitewashed. The local
Mariamman temple too got a fresh coat of paint. The village had
decreed that Sangeetha should die for bringing shame to her community
by eloping with a dalit boy from the village.

But police in the Vilampatti station, barely a km from the village,
claim ignorance about the incident. They have, in fact, "dropped
action" in the case. Vilampatti circle inspector, D Sakkarai says, "We
have closed the case. We found clear evidence that the girl had
committed suicide." Then why had relatives hurriedly cremated the body
without even informing the police? "Yes, that is the only unresolved
issue," he admits.

Sub-inspector, Geetha Devi of the Nilakkottai all-woman police
station, who had been instrumental in tracking the lovers, and getting
them back to their families, says, "If I had know that such a fate
awaited Sangeetha I would never have got them back to the village."

Even two years after the incident, scribes visiting the village are
viewed with suspicion and hostility. "The family has suffered enough,"
said a Maalaiaatti resident belonging to the intermediate Naicker
caste sullenly when asked about the incident. Residents in the colony
of dalits in neighbouring Ethilodu talk in hushed tones about how the
Naickers had conspired to kill the girl from their own community for
daring to elope with a dalit youth.

A couple of days before Sangeetha was burnt alive, allegedly by her
own family, Maalaipatti's dominant caste gathered in the square, not
in their own village but in Pullakaadupatti, a km or two away, to hold
court and decide how to purge the slur brought upon by the girl. It
did not take long for the elders, hardened by caste sentiments, to
arrive at a verdict. "They decided to kill the girl. They burnt her
alive," said a shocked N Kamalanathan, panchayat president of
Ethilodu, neighbouring Maalaipatti, shrugging helplessness. The youth,
K Balachander (20), whom Sangeetha wished to marry, hailed from
Ethilodu.

The shocking spectacle of caste leaders and elders holding kangaroo
courts, huddled in the mandhai' (a low-slung, tile-roofed structure)
in the village square and passing death verdicts on those who dare to
violate the caste diktat is nothing new in Tamil Nadu's rural areas.
"It is a custom so ingrained in the village system that few

dare to question it," says A Kathir of Evidence. "The parents of the
girls or boys who rebel and fall in love or marry out of caste are
blamed for the shame' brought on the village and in many cases, they
pressured to murder their errant' son or daughter or drive them to
suicide."

"There are several such cases that take place, many of them are not
brought to our notice," admits P Murugadasan, inspector of the
Manamadurai (Sivaganga district) police station and investigating
another incident of honour killing, the Megala case.

"Though both Shiva and Megala were from the same caste, their marriage
was considered a dishonour for the family as the girl had been forced
to marry a relative a few days before she decided to elope with Shiva.
The family and relatives had hatched a plot to kill them both. It was
fortunate that Megala escaped," says T Manoharan (45), Shiva's uncle
from Kattikulam.

"What's more shocking is the fact that the police turn a blind eye
when such killings take place. By turning their backs, they, in fact,
encourage such killings," says Chennai-based Daniel Selvakumar (29), a
dalit Christian, fighting for justice in the case of his wife's death.
Sathura (24), hailing from the Thevar community of Vadachery village
in Thanjavur had been lured by her family to come back home with the
promise that their marriage would be conducted according to Hindu
rituals. On March 23, Daniel was informed that his wife had committed
suicide. Police harassed the youth when he rushed to the village and
refused to allow him to even see his wife's body.

"I showed him pictures of her body. Her left ear had turned blue. We
are not sure if she poured poison into her ear herself or if someone
else did it," said then Thanjavur superintendent of police, now in
Chennai's cyber crime, G Sampath. EOM

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit Women appeal for compensation

 

http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/19/stories/2010091951970600.htm

Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam

Dalit Women appeal for compensation

Staff Reporter

NAGAPATTINAM: In an attempt at spatial reclamation for dalit women in
politics, the twelfth Tamil Nadu Dalit Women's State Conference here
on Friday night,

pledged its support to the Vidudhalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. N.Bernard
Fathima of the TN Dalit Women's Movement said that only a dalit party
could represent the interests of dalit women .

Conference commenced with a condemnation session on the death of Devi,
a dalit girl, who was humiliated into committing suicide in May by a
dalit caste panchayat at Thiruchen

kaatankudi village here in Nagapattinam.

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