Showing posts with label Polity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Polity. Show all posts

18 January 2018

For the first time, India will allow nearly 15% of universities to offer online degrees allowing students and executives to learn anywhere, anytime.

For the first time, India will allow nearly 15% of universities to offer online degrees allowing students and executives to learn anywhere, anytime.
The courses, however, will be non-technical in nature, implying that they exclude degrees in engineering and medicine, human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar explained.
Although some believe the move may compromise quality, it will help India improve its low gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education and address the problem of access to colleges, faced in several parts of India.
“In a month or so, the rules will be finalized. The University Grants Commission is working on it,” said higher education secretary Kewal Kumar Sharma.
Universities accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and rated A+ will be allowed to offer such courses. Others that want to offer such courses will be allowed a window of two years to achieve the A+ level in NAAC accreditation.
“We are creating an enabling environment where not just students but working executives can study and earn a degree without travelling the distance,” Javadekar said, adding that adoption of technology in India is huge and this can be leveraged to boost higher education.
With mobile phone availability and usage on the rise, experts are hopeful that the existing ecosystem may be more welcoming to the idea of online learning.
The annual status of education report (ASER) published on Tuesday, which measures the learning ability of young people in the age group of 14-18 years, found that 73% used a mobile phone. “Maybe the policy makers can think about utilizing this bright spot,” said Madhav Chavan, co-founder of the non-government organization Pratham, which brings out the report.
However, the policy will face three key challenges. For one, it will be in direct conflict with distance education; second, the experience worldwide is that open online courses have not been a spectacular success; and three, the evaluation of students will be a difficult task. Besides, Indian higher education is not staffed sufficiently to manage the existing number of students.
This will be different from the regular correspondence course as it will allow students from outside the state—in case a state university is offering such courses—to sign up. At present, a state university cannot offer correspondence courses through distance mode to students residing outside the state boundary.
Ministry officials said since only a fraction of the universities with good ranks will be allowed to offer such courses, quality can be handled better.
Javadekar, however, said the government wanted to improve the GER significantly. Currently, some 25% of eligible students are pursuing higher education in India as against more than 70% in the US. Besides, the GER varies across several states. For example, while the proportion of students pursuing tertiary education is 14% in Bihar and 21% in Odisha, it is 47% in Tamil Nadu.
Asked why the country is pushing more people to pursue higher education instead of a skills-based education, the minister said government is working on the jobs front and better news will follow.
In 2016-17, India had more than 40,000 colleges, 11,669 stand-alone institutes and 864 universities catering to more than 35.7 million students.

Ills of too much transparency

Ills of too much transparency
In as much as we gain as we improve the transparency of decisions in organizations and society, we should be cognizant of the losses the pursuit for transparency entails.
In the last few days, circumstances forced the Supreme Court and the Catholic Church in Kerala, two organizations that normally operate in complete secrecy, to open up about a few of their decisions. Since what came out in the open were issues of impropriety, the immediate demand from all quarters was for even more openness about the functioning of both these organizations.
The Catholic Church is a 2,000 year old organization that has made secrecy an art form. The case isn’t too different for the Supreme Court in India. The key decisions were taken only by a select few insiders and the man in the street was never privy to the machinations. The common man had no option but to obey their decisions or face the consequences, in complete silence.
Like sunlight, the ideal disinfectant, transparency has been considered the panacea against corruption in organizations and society. Transparency allows access to all decision-making processes. Decisionmakers know that what they say or do will be linked to them personally. They all know that their performance will be evaluated by others according to some normative standards. The decisionmaker is also expected to provide clear reasons for taking any decisions. Thus, transparency is expected to bring in the twin benefits of clarity about a decision and holding the decisionmaker accountable for it.
It seems that more transparency can only do more good. Should organizations then open up all their decision-making processes?
As the chorus for more transparency was heard around the world, behavioural scientists did their bit to study the impact of more transparency. According to Ethan Bernstein of Harvard University, the issue of transparency can be seen from the point of view of the observer or from the point of view of the observed. Almost all the discussion on transparency has looked at the issue from the point of view of the observer. From that angle one can only visualize good things that will accrue due to new levels of openness.
But when we look at the issue of transparency from the point of view of the observed, the whole issue takes on a complexity of a different order. According to sociologist Erving Goffman, being observed creates a feeling of being “on stage” among those who being are observed. As soon as they know of it, the observed will always change their behaviour to control others’ impressions and avoid embarrassments.
Transparency puts those observing the decisions in an evaluative mode, looking at everything with a critical eye. Right from prime time television debates to discussions on social media, we tend to focus on what has possibly gone wrong. We rarely use evaluations to look for opportunities to praise the decisionmaker. So the consequent tendency of the observed is a defensive one—to not be seen as doing anything wrong.
Innovation and creativity do not stem from a linear, as per existing rules, decisionmaking process. All innovations have come from experimenting with and even going against the status quo. The evaluative mood that transparency engenders obliterates any attempts at experimentation.
Innovation results from non-conscious processes in the brain. The consciousness of a person cannot explain the rationale for decisions that led to an innovative outcome. It is worse if the attempt to come up with an innovative solution was a failure. So the decisionmaker can neither explain why he took those decisions nor has anything to show in terms of results for walking a path different from what has been laid out according to existing rules. They know that those who cannot provide satisfactory justifications for their actions will face negative consequences.
Innovation cannot happen if there is no scope for experimentation or if failures are not tolerated, if not encouraged. The critical, evaluative mood that transparency creates will nip innovation in the bud.
Studies have shown that workers are at their most productive and creative when they are not observed, suggesting that performance improvements can sometimes be achieved by creating “zones of privacy”.
Calling for complete transparency in all decisionmaking also makes a crucial assumption about the powers of the brains of those observing the decisions. It assumes that the brains of those observing the decisions have the expertise to process all the information regarding that particular decision and arrive at the right conclusions. The truth is that most of us do not have expertise even in one field but have a tendency to be evaluative about almost all decisions, more so those decisions that affect us. Transparency tends to give a wrong feeling that having a point-of-view and having an expert point-of-view are the same.
Transparency is seen by many to be a panacea for many ills in organizations and society. But transparency is one issue that reminds us of the complex nature of human behaviour. In as much as we gain as we improve the transparency of decisions in organizations and society, we should be cognizant of the losses the pursuit for transparency entails.
One should be careful of what we wish for. Too much of a good thing can actually be harmful. It is one thing to demand more and more transparency. But it is quite a different matter to decide how much transparency, for whom and in what context is most beneficial. Yes, sunlight is a good disinfectant, but sunstroke is an instant killer too.

15 January 2018

Into the Gurez Valley

Into the Gurez Valley
Once the gateway to Central Asia, Gurez Valley in a forgotten corner of Kashmir is still home to the Dard people who live on the fence of modernity
Ghulam Hasan, 76, standing behind a wall of curious onlookers, finally summons the courage to step up with a few questions of his own. It’s been many years since he’s seen so many strange faces at his home in Chakwali—the last village in the Gurez valley, a tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir, at the northern tip of India, and just a short distance from the Line of Control. He shuffles amid the crowd, keenly observing faces and baggage alike, asks a few questions about where we have come from, and returns to his perch in the shade, satisfied with the answers.
It takes a simple hello to get him chatting, and, in the next few minutes, he begins reflecting on an era when visitors frequented these parts.
“There were so many things to see, so many stories to hear. Everyone would be out of their homes, watching the entourage of caravans pass by—some familiar faces, others visiting for the first time,” he says.
Hasan speaks of a time when trade flourished on the Silk Route and Gurez was considered the gateway to Central Asia. There was a sense of excitement each time a caravan made its way through the many villages en route. They brought essential goods from across the high mountains and, more importantly, news from distant lands, helping break the monotony of a secluded existence in the midst of nowhere.
Women handle a majority of the daily chores in Gurez, including the laborious task of collecting firewood.
Women handle a majority of the daily chores in Gurez, including the laborious task of collecting firewood.
Hasan grew up on a regular dose of such stories, narrated by his elders. For instance, the valley’s renowned potatoes would be taken to Skardu on a day’s march from Chorwan, a short distance from Dawar—the headquarters of Gurez. There, after a quick barter, traders would return with mules laden with apricots and apples. It was just one of the many exchanges that took place in this roving marketplace spread over a hundred miles. Gurez became a hub and a vital link between towns such as Kashgar and Gilgit in the north and Srinagar and Kargil in the south.
All that changed when India and Pakistan were handed their identities in 1947. The trade routes were sealed; the goods stopped coming in, as did the news. The people of Gurez were gradually pushed into a life of self-sustenance, isolation, and, to a certain extent, oblivion, tucked away in a corner of India that they are unfamiliar with.
Several children don’t have access to a school in their village and have to walk miles to get to the closest one.
Several children don’t have access to a school in their village and have to walk miles to get to the closest one.
***
What took me to Gurez was a simple call by Anil Gupta—fondly known as “professor” and founder president of Sristi, an Ahmedabad-based organization that works on grass-roots innovations—who wanted to set up a library at the Government Higher Secondary School in Badugam village. There is no greater joy for a bibliophile than to infect others with the same passion. Then, to do it for people in a remote land that has been afflicted by conflict and despondency was reason enough to gather around thousand books (mostly English, obtained through collection drives) and lug it over a thousand miles to them.
Located in the north-west corner of Kashmir, Gurez lies just 130km from the capital, Srinagar; the stark difference in lifestyles, though, is both enticing and appalling. Once you’re past Bandipora, the road climbs to the Razdan Pass (3,500m), before descending to a land that can best be described as inhabited wilderness. This sole link with the rest of the state gets snowed in from the end of November to April-May, cutting off the region for close to five months of the year. At the opposite end, and across the mountains, lies the same land that was once frequented by the people of Gurez and is today controlled by Pakistan.
This valley is home to the Dards or Dard Shins, who belonged to a region called Dardistan that today straddles India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. A few have stories of family members who were stranded across the mountains once the borders were drawn. There was little to do but start life afresh in a new land. What bound them was the comfort of the Shina language that is spoken in these parts. Some have never been seen since, while those with money have had the opportunity to reunite with their separated relatives. Though this isolation has been a bane, it has preserved the culture of a tribe which traces its ancestry all the way back to the fourth century BC.
Hasan grew up on a regular dose of such stories...the valley’s renowned potatoes would be taken to Skardu on a day’s march from Chorwan, a short distance from Dawar—the headquarters of Gurez. There, after a quick barter, traders would return with mules laden with apricots and apples
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In his paper Dards, Dardistan And Dardic, Professor John Mock writes, “In a well-known and much repeated story, Herodotus mentions a war-like people on the frontier of India, near to whom are found gold-digging ants. Herodotus provides the name Dadikai for one of the groups living on India’s frontier, which was then the seventh satrapy of the Achaemenian empire...Alexander, whose travels provide much of the data for classical geography of India, apparently did not meet any Dard people, but he did go to a place called Daedala.”
Not much has changed over the centuries in the daily routine of the Dards, who’ve built their homes in the valleys and on the slopes of Gurez and the neighbouring Tulail valley. Most farm vegetables such as potatoes and peas, and herd livestock for a living. A few tend to the needs of the Indian Army, ferrying supplies on their mules to posts high up in the mountains. The soldiers outnumber the locals, as is the case in most of Kashmir. Though shelling and infiltration have been sporadic in these parts of late, the army’s suffering isn’t very different from that of the Dards. Solitude and cold can break the strongest of people.
Men chop firewood in Gurez.
Men chop firewood in Gurez.
***
Kanzalwan, the first of the 28 settlements en route to Gurez, may seem like any other village in rural Kashmir. Past Dawar though, it feels like a different world. The Kishanganga river snakes its way through the valley, as fields and homes made of wood and mud lie in the shadow of the mighty Himalayas. The only aberration in the rustic landscape are the hidden army posts and checkpoints.
Most modern amenities that are taken for granted are missing from these parts. Given the proximity to the border, there is no mobile network, reducing the utility of a cellphone to a camera or a flashlight. Electricity is a 3-hour affair in the evenings, provided by the government through diesel-powered generators. The roads can best be described as dirt tracks. The hijabs that the locals don double up as face masks, given the rise in respiratory ailments these days.
“Twelve villages still don’t have electricity. What is more alarming is that they have no protection from natural calamities and bank on traditional methods for survival. Efforts are being made, but it is very difficult since the area is cut off for so many months,” says Sajad Hussain Ganie, district development commissioner of Bandipora.
There is just one hospital that can tend to major illnesses in Dawar; else it’s a taxing, bumpy ride to Bandipora. Primary healthcare centres have been set up in some villages, as have schools; however, the doctors and teachers who are needed to run them are usually missing. These government jobs are considered punishment postings and the schools are at some distance from some of the villages, making it a gruelling trudge for the children.
“I know education is a must in today’s times, so I encourage my four children to go to school. But their school is 14km away and I cannot afford the Rs100 taxi fare each day. There have been times when one of my girls had blisters on her feet and could not go. During the occasional days of shelling, we simply have to sit indoors, which further hampers their studies. What is their future?” says Mohammed Hussain of Niru village.
Besides dealing with the absence of teachers, these schools have limited infrastructure; for instance, even those that do have computers, have little use for them given the erratic electricity, let alone an internet connection. Despite the odds, however, most children are enthusiastic about learning. It was heartening to meet a class IV student, who was fluent in Shina, Urdu, Hindi and English. In that moment, the effort of giving them access to over a thousand books seemed worth it.
Under the circumstances, the army has become a guardian of sorts for the 38,000-odd people (as per a 2011 census). From running schools to carrying out evacuation sorties in the dead of winter, its role goes beyond defending the border. And it has earned it the respect of locals.
A severe winter is central to life in Gurez. While we were slogging uphill to get to the hamlet of Abdulin, women with axes and wicker baskets slid down the slopes with bundles of wood. They are strong and shoulder a majority of the work. The load—usually over 40kg—is added to the pile stacked up next to houses as vital fuel for the weeks to come. The dependence on wood has taken its toll on the forests, and it isn’t unusual to see barren slopes behind villages.
But this is a battle against the elements for these landlocked communities, which may not receive help for days in the harsh winter. Nothing is left to chance: Dried meat is packed in cellars, potatoes buried in pits. As December sets in, life comes to a standstill, with most days spent keeping warm by the bukhari (stove-cum-heater) or sipping butter tea. The only time one steps out is to clear the snow—it piles up over 10ft during some weeks—or an emergency.
Higher education, job opportunities and a lack of basic infrastructure have seen the youth move to other parts of the state. “A lot of the youngsters have moved to other towns or joined the army,” says Mohammed Imtiaz of Barnail.
“There’s little that has changed from when I was growing up here. What is the motivation for me to return home?” asks a teacher from Wazirithal, who had moved to Srinagar for higher education and has settled there.
The Kishanganga river. Photographs by Shail Desai
The Kishanganga river. Photographs by Shail Desai
***
In his 1895 book, The Valley Of Kashmir, Walter R. Lawrence writes: “Many of the Margs are visited every year by Europeans, and Gulmarg, Sonamarg, and Nagmarg are charming places for a summer holiday. Perhaps Pahlgam, the village of the shepherd which stands at the head of the Liddar valley with its healthy forest of pines, and Gurais which lies at a distance of 35 miles from Bandipura, the port of the Wular lake, will before long rival in popularity the other Margs.”
Unlike Pahalgam, Gurez has survived the onslaught of mass tourism until now due to its proximity to the border, despite being promised Rs 28 crore in July 2007 for upgrading the infrastructure. A few changes though are evident. The Kishanganga hydroelectric project can solve the region’s electricity woes. Though a fraction of it is meant for Gurez, smaller projects upstream are being proposed.
Permits were done away with a few years ago. But most outsiders here are either army men, or backpackers who venture out when the snow thaws off the mountains in cascades. As more follow in the years to come, sustainable growth will be key to protect the home of the hospitable Dards.

NEW SALARY OF CJI AND OTHER JUDGES OF SUPREME COURT AND HIGH COURT

Isro carrying out studies in disaster management, monitoring haze
The Isro is carrying out studies in disaster management and monitoring of rice crop, global rainfall, fire hotspot and haze, says union minister Jitendra Singh
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is carrying out studies in disaster management and monitoring of rice crop, global rainfall, fire hotspot and haze, union minister Jitendra Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Space Applications Working Group, one of the four Working Groups of Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF), had recommended to further promote space applications, including rice-crop monitoring, global rainfall monitoring, fire hotspot, haze monitoring and disaster management, at the 24th session of APRSAF held at Bengaluru in November 2017.
Isro is carrying out studies in these areas, minister of state Jitendra Singh, who holds multiple portfolios, including Space, said in a written reply to a question in the upper House. The Isro shares information it gathers with other neighbouring countries, in the event of disasters, through many programmes including Sentinel Asia (APRSAF’s initiative for disaster management support), International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ United Nations Platform for Space based Information for Disaster management and Emergency Response (UNSPIDER).
In response to another question, Singh said, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), designed to orbit Mars, is functioning well since its positioning in Mars orbit in 24 September 2014. “The designed mission life of MOM was six months but has successfully completed more than three years and is expected to function further. All scientific payloads continue to perform well,” he said.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NEW SALARY OF CJI AND OTHER JUDGES OF SUPREME COURT AND HIGH COURT

Electoral bonds are a half measure at best

Electoral bonds are a half measure at best
Without improving regulatory frameworks for greater transparency in the finances of political parties, changing the means of donations will have little impact
Bringing about effective electoral finance reform in India requires political acknowledgement of an obvious truth. Measures of the kind announced in the Union budget last year will have limited effectiveness, or worse, be counterproductive, if they are not accompanied by the will to police the political establishment. The electoral bonds initiative detailed—if sparsely—by finance minister Arun Jaitley last week, makes this mistake.
Last year, the Association of Democratic Reforms put hard numbers to the extent of electoral finance malfeasance. Between 2004-05 and 2014-15, 69% of the total income of political parties was from unknown sources. This is not a new problem. The Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption had raised the issue of black money in politics as far back as in 1964. A number of committees and commissions have addressed the electoral finance issue since. Their recommendations have failed to find purchase.
Electoral finance reform around the world has attempted to balance two objectives: remove black money and under-the-table contributions from the system and increase transparency so that citizens can see where the money is coming from and where it’s going. In “Reforming India’s Party Financing And Election Expenditure Laws” (Election Law Journal, 2012), M.V. Rajeev Gowda and E. Sridharan have argued that these objectives are incompatible in India. Companies need to stay on good terms with parties in the government as well as those in the opposition. If funding regulations impose transparency—and with it, the risk of alienating a political faction if they give money to another—they will resort to underhanded means.
History seems to bear this out. In 1985, the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi rolled back Indira Gandhi’s 1968 ban on corporate donations which had entrenched black money networks in politics. But this did nothing to clean up electoral funding. Faced with the prospect of losing anonymity by having to account for the donations in their annual reports, companies elected to persist with the black money system.
Jaitley has echoed this argument in explaining why electoral bonds ensure anonymity for donors. It is an implicit indictment of the crony capitalism that is endemic in the Indian economy. It is also a misrepresentation which fails to address the other half of the equation. Anonymity for corporate donors is important because the accounts of political parties remain opaque. The latter prevents citizens from making an informed assessment of government policies and regulations—public oversight that could check vendettas against or rewards for particular companies.
The Union budget last year made no concrete moves on this front. Nor has any party shown serious intent in the past; quite the reverse. In 2013, the Central Information Commission had declared the six national parties to be within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. The parties have been united in disregarding this. Party accounts are audited by those appointed by the parties themselves, and regulations stipulating deadlines for submitting donation statements and income-tax returns to the Election Commission are flouted frequently and flagrantly with no consequence.
Another reform Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mooted in 2016, state funding of elections, underscores the importance of party transparency. State funding has a proven record in a number of countries that have made the transition over the decades from corporate donations—and it has been presented as a solution a number of times in the Indian. However, in countries where it has worked—Germany, Japan, Canada, Sweden, to name a few—it has been accompanied by strict, well-enforced regulatory frameworks regarding auditing and disclosure of party income and expenditure. In the absence of such frameworks, state funding in India is a non-starter, as the Law Commission Report (1999) and Venkatachaliah Committee Report (2002) have pointed out. It would do little save provide an additional source of party funding without denting black money revenue streams.
The Modi government has done well to take up the issue of electoral finance. But if it is serious about cleaning up the system, it must focus on increasing the accountability of political parties. It will not have a better opportunity to do so. It has staked its claim to rule on its will and ability to fight corruption. With eight state polls lined up this year and the general election next year, it—and other parties that support such a move—could reap the electoral benefits of the positive optics. If it remains business as usual, however, electoral bonds are likely to be little more than a sideshow in electoral finance reform.
What should the government do to increase transparency in political funding?

The age of crypto-economics

The age of crypto-economics
The fundamental value proposition of the blockchain is that it eliminates the need for trust
The Finance Ministry recently issued a statement warning against investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (CCs). Likening CCs to ‘Ponzi schemes’, it linked them to terror-funding, smuggling, drug-trafficking, and money-laundering. The stern advisory came after three other warnings issued by the Reserve Bank of India.
Why the distrust?
Two aspects of the bitcoin phenomenon have attracted great interest: the challenge it poses to states and central banks; and the potential of its underlying technology to unleash a new wave of creative destruction.
It would be safe to say that the world’s top central bankers have finally realised the futility of trying to control CCs. They are preparing to join them — by issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs).
A CBDC is a complex tool whose functionality is still being researched. But there is one flaw endemic to any CBDC: the contradiction between the centralising tendency of a CBDC and the decentralising technology that underpins cryptocurrencies. What economists conveniently forget when discussing CCs such as bitcoin is the trigger for it: distrust of bankers.
The global financial crisis of 2008-09 raised a simple question: what option do people have if banks are not to be trusted? A man (or a group of people) named Satoshi Nakamoto provided an answer: a peer-to-peer, ‘trustless’ electronic cash system based on a technology called blockchain.
Why is it attractive?
In order to be functional, a virtual currency must solve the problem of double spending. Given that anything digital can be copied, how do you prevent someone from spending the same unit of currency twice? Today’s cashless economy tackles this through a centralised ledger maintained by a ‘trusted’ intermediary — often a bank — on its own servers. But as per the definition of the problem, banks can’t be trusted, remember?
Nakamoto solved the double spending problem by designing a decentralised ledger that bundles data about transactions into blocks, timestamps them, and links each new block of transactions with the previous one in an immutable chain of blocks that are copied, authenticated, and updated continuously, and publicly, on thousands of computers — the blockchain.
The blockchain uses economic incentives (payment in the form of bitcoins or other CCs) to motivate members of the network to do the work of validating every transaction. It does away with the bank’s role as an intermediary, and this is what differentiates CCs from (the digital version of) fiat currencies.
Not surprisingly, central banks and states are not pleased to have the rug of the cashless economy — with which they’ve been smothering ordinary citizens — pulled from under their feet by a technology that regards them with disdain.
It has been pointed out that bitcoins, unlike a stock or a bond, are a purely speculative asset untethered to a material basis of value. While this is somewhat true, it doesn’t explain why bitcoins continue to remain attractive as a store of value. A major reason seasoned speculators find bitcoins irresistible is its deflationary nature, which makes it inflation-proof. Since there can only ever be 21 million bitcoins, unlike a fiat currency, it cannot suffer a loss in value due to inflation.
In this regard, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin may herald the next stage of neo-liberal economics: the privatisation of currency and disciplining of the state (no more quantitative easing!) by reducing the fiat currency into one of many competing currencies.
In theory, the state still has a trump card: it decides the currency in which taxes are paid. But that may mean little in a scenario where the political apparatus has been captured by finance capital, which is increasingly the norm in democracies where unknown donors contribute astronomical sums to political parties.
Blockchain world
Amid all the frenzy over bitcoin’s rocketing values, it is easy to forget that it is just one version of one application (cryptocurrency) of a new technology (blockchain). In some ways, the present moment is analogous to the early days of the Internet, when Hotmail was an exciting new discovery and the Internet was synonymous with email.
Coinmarketcap.com, a website that tracks the market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies, lists 1,379 currencies. Away from the hysteria around bitcoin, lesser known cryptocurrencies such as Omisego, TRON, Golem, and Storj are attracting investments that are helping to set up an entire decentralised ecosystem and payments infrastructure on blockchain platforms that could radically transform the way businesses transact with each other.
The fundamental value proposition of the blockchain is that it eliminates the need for trust — a commodity without which exchanges of value (transactions) cannot happen. This means that individuals and businesses can do away with a whole bunch of intermediaries whom they pay for managing trust.
For instance, on Ethereum, a blockchain platform that calls itself “the android of the cryptocurrency world,” you can set up an application that enables people to rent out idle storage space on their laptop. Someone who needs cloud storage can pay you directly, instead of paying Amazon, a leading cloud storage intermediary. You could thus monetise a resource that you didn’t even know you had. Well, Storj is an application that does precisely that, and it already enjoys a market cap of $298 million. Ethereum, too, is listed on cryptocurrency exchanges, and it is worth $112 billion, not far behind bitcoin’s market capitalisation of $259 billion.
Programmable money is another example of a decentralised blockchain-based application. Since digital currencies are software programs, one can program a particular CC such that, say, it cannot be used to buy the product of a company that uses sweat shop labour.
Two domains that would gain immensely from blockchain applications and CCs are Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT), since in an IoT world, thousands of devices would need to rapidly and seamlessly transact with each other in real time, without the devices’ owners having to dig into their wallets every time.
Given the enormous scope for increased efficiency and cost-saving, it is not inconceivable that in the medium term, the biggest threat to businesses in the finance and digital space will come from the blockchain versions of themselves.
Of course, as happened in the early days of the Internet, some of the claims being made about blockchain are plain silly. It is true that the technology’s peer-to-peer orientation renders it more democratic. But it is not about to usher in a socialist paradise. Even the World Wide Web was supposed to be a decentralised, democratic space where everyone was equal. We all know how that turned out.
Clearly, technological innovations cannot substitute for the hard job of reducing socio-economic disparities through political mobilisation. If blockchain is getting traction, it is because it works with, rather than against, market logic.
It so happens that right now any technology that drives decentralisation also carries some political promise by virtue of challenging the centralising tendency of power. But that is a byproduct, and not to be confused with its intent, which remains the same as with any other IT innovation of recent times: efficiency and profit.

The two-day 18th All India Whips’ Conference, 2018 concluded in Udaipur

The two-day 18th All India Whips’ Conference, 2018 concluded in Udaipur, Rajasthan today. The Conference was jointly inaugurated on 8th January, 2018 by Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Ananthkumar and Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje, who was also the Chief Guest in the Inaugural Function. Shri Kailash Chandra Meghwal, Speaker, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, presided over the valedictory and concluding session today. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation; Shri Vijay Goel, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Statistics & Programme Implementation, Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, Home Minister and Shri Rajendra Singh Rathore, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Government of Rajasthan were also present. Around 90 delegates including Ministers, Chief Whips and Whips in Parliament and State Legislatures participated in the conference.
The First Technical Session, ‘Action Taken Report (ATR) received from the States /UTs on the recommendations of the 16th and 17th All India Whips’ Conferences held at Goa and Visakhapatnam respectively’, was presided over and moderated by Shri Vijay Goel. The Second Technical Session, ‘Efficient Functioning of Legislatures’, was presided over by Shri Ananthkumar in the presence of Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal and Shri Vijay Goel and Home Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Gulab Chand Kataria. The Third Technical Session, ‘Rolling out e-Sansad/e-Vidhan in Parliament and State Legislatures to digitize and make their functioning paperless’, was presided over by Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal. While deliberating the usefulness and its limitations, the delegates wished all the success to e-Sansad/e-Vidhan MMP Project in the country. Delegates also shared their experiences and concern regarding various aspects of implementing the recommendations.
In the concluding session, Ten Recommendations were discussed and adopted unanimously by the conference. The recommendations are regarding the Reform of Zero Hour for prompt reply and ATR from concerned Ministry; developing the concept of Committee Hour for discussing reports of various Committees by the Legislatures; Reforms in the structure of Private Members Business; Legislative framework for more working days in both Union and State Legislatures; Infrastructural and Institutional support to Chief Whips for better coordination and functioning of Legislatures and Parliament; Digitization of the Secretariats of the State Legislatures; Consensus building in the Legislatures for not going to the well of the House by the Members etc. Follow up action on the Recommendations made by the Conference will be taken by Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
In his inaugural address, Shri Ananthkumar had opined that Whips play three Dimensional Role – Monitoring, Moderating and Motivating. He urged his fellow legislators to ‘Discuss’, ‘Debate’ and ‘Decide’ but not to ‘Disturb’. He observed that the basic purpose of the Conference is to discuss various aspects of parliamentary democracy which is the best form of Government among the available alternatives and to come out with some concrete resolutions so that the people of the country can be served in a better way. Smt. Vasundhara Raje had stated that a legislative body should work like a family where despite of strong debate there must be mutual respect among the fellow Members.

6 January 2018

Kumbh Mela enters UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity

Kumbh Mela enters UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity
Kumbh Mela which is held once every 12 years has been recognised as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by the UNESCO on Thursday.
The Kumbh Mela is held in Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik
The inclusion of the Kumbh in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity was done during the ongoing session of the committee's meeting in South Korea. The inscription of Kumbh is the third in two years after the addition of Yoga and the Parsi festival Nouroz on December 2016.
The culture ministry, which expressed happiness over the inclusion of Kumbh in the list, said the inscription of Kumbh Mela was recommended by the expert body after it observed that it is the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth, and that it represents a syncretic set of rituals related to worship and ritual cleansing in holy rivers in India.
The committee also noted that knowledge and skills related to the Kumbh are transmitted through the 'Guru-Shishyaparampara parampara', which ensures the continuity and viability of this festival in perpetuity.
In 2003, the UNESCO General Conference adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage as an international treaty acknowledging that cultural heritage is more than tangible places, monuments and objects, and that it also encompasses traditions and living expressions.

good article about human rights and india:issues,challenges

good article about human rights and india:issues,challenges
Justice has and must continue to remain first principle of social and political Institutions
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings without discrimination. Human Rights Day, observed on 10 December every year commemorates the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This has been a guiding document to guarantee the rights of every individual without discrimination and one that would serve as a valuable ally to the UN Charter in ensuring global peace and security.
The human rights discourse has assumed great importance especially in the last few decades, with human rights being viewed by governments and civil society alike, as indispensable to the realization of development goals, including the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The arena of human rights and social justice has gradually expanded over the decades to include among others, the right to healthcare, education, food, forest rights for indigenous communities as well as policy-level interventions in the form of affirmative action for the historically marginalized and discriminated. Further, issues of gender, youth, the differently-abled, and the elderly are also recognized as important human right concerns today.

India has been unequivocal in its commitment to the preservation and protection of human rights globally as well as within the country. It is a signatory to several of the core international human rights and International Labour Organizations (ILO) conventions.

Our commitment for human rights is part of our culture, from time immemorial it always respected others Human Rights. We have a noble saying called “Sarve Janah Sukhino Bhavantu,” We believe in the principle of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam- The entire Universe is one Family”.
Civil rights, Minority rights and others are guaranteed in India not just because they are in the constitution, they are guaranteed because they are part of our DNA.
“Secularism which got included in the constitution at a later stage is ingrained in our DNA from the beginning,” India as a country has no history of aggression of any kind. We tried to assimilate all the people who have come here.
In addition to being a signatory to these important human rights conventions, our country’s Constitution has given a robust human rights protection framework. An independent judiciary, free media and an active civil society and a number of independent human right bodies, such as, the National Human Rights Commission provide a vigorous and effective network for human rights protection and an effective system of checks and balances.

The establishment of urban and rural local self-government, notably the three-tier Panchayati Raj System is also a crucial component of this human rights protection framework, for it has taken development, human rights, and social-economic welfare down to the very grassroot level. Local self-governance in India has opened up new vistas in women’s empowerment and the participation of historically marginalized groups such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in local governance/public affairs, thus, bolstering our shared vision for the realization of human rights and human empowerment.

Women constitute 33% in majority of local bodies, and 50% in many of the state. I believe in the coming days we will have considerable representation even in the legislature and also in Parliament.
It was in keeping with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and the endorsement by the General Assembly of the United Nations through its Resolution of 20 December 1993, that countries across the world established their respective National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). The National Human Rights Commission of India was also instituted by the Parliament of India with a view to realize the cherished goal of equal rights and life opportunities for all people.

Since its inception in 1993, the NHRC, India has played a pivotal role in the enforcement of the fundamental rights outlined in our Constitution and those contained in key international human rights instruments to which India is a party. In addition, it has done much by way of spreading human rights awareness and sensitization among governments and members of civil society on the importance of safeguarding human rights.

We have retired Chief Justice of India as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, that itself shows our commitment to Human Rights.
However, despite this formidable human rights protection framework and the significant strides we have made since our independence, there are several human rights challenges that continue to confront us as a nation.

Poverty is perhaps the biggest affront to human dignity and fulfillment and among the major challenges to realizing a truly democratic India. Rapid strides have been made since independence but a sizeable proportion of India’s population lives below the poverty line.

We are all engaged in eradicating poverty. We have chosen the path of inclusive growth that is including the people in the developmental agenda of the nation. Welfare measures taken by the government such as Jandhan, Mudra and others are moving in a direction to eradicate poverty.
In this regard, India is committed to implement Agenda 2030 on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are rooted in a human rights approach towards ending poverty and other forms of discrimination and inequity. The government is taking proactive measures for ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests.

India has taken steps to make the right to education a cardinal principle of state policy. Universal access to education and creating a literate world has been the focus of governments. However, there are challenges in terms of illiteracy and quality of schooling. Literacy is crucial as a human right and also for successful functioning of democracy and socio-economic development of the country. Although according to 2011 Census, the literacy rate has risen to 74.04 per cent, the female literacy rate stands at 65.46 per cent. I believe that democracy can effectively flourish only when people know their rights and privileges and also their duties and responsibilities.

Women empowerment and gender equality are important issues for our democracy as the position of women is still precarious, especially in rural areas, despite the fact that women, according to the 2011 census, comprise 58.7 crore (48.5%) of the country’s total population. Gender inequality is among the key social disparities that keeps large numbers of women on the margin of ‘new India’. Poor literacy rates and discrimination is education against the girl child have contributed to enhancing the vulnerability of women in society. There has been some improvement in the last 10 years in the sex ratio but challenges of female feticide and pre-natal sex selection persist. I am happy that programmes like ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ are being taken up responding to these challenges.

The right to shelter is another right that impacts the quality of life. India has embarked on a number of programs that seek to make this a reality.

The challenges of caste and communalism are major challenges to Indian democracy which serve to weaken the stability of the country with the potential to disrupt peaceful co-existence in our multi-religious and multi-cultural society.

These challenges are sometimes being exploited for personal, political and sectarian gains and that is a big challenge to us.
Indian democracy has also been confronted with terrorism and extremist violence both of which tend to trample upon the right to life and liberty of individuals. Any violence and senseless killings are the worst forms of violation of human rights and need to be dealt with accordingly.

We as a nation believe in peaceful co-existence, but unfortunately some people take terror as a state policy. Terror has no religion, but unfortunately some people are give a communal colour and using it as protection. “Terror is the enemy of Humanity”
I hope the United Nation Security Council completes the consultation at the earliest, and come to conclusion to take firm action against terror.
Corruption poses a serious development challenge and is a violator of people’s rights. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by subverting formal processes.

‘Justice’ has and must continue to remain the first principle of social and political institutions. The notion of justice focuses on a sense of fairness and protection of rights guaranteed under various laws of the land. However, the speed and alacrity with which justice is done is important. Human rights of all law abiding citizens must be protected with timely objective dispensation of justice.

Today’s Human Rights Day marks an importance milestone for not only India, but the world at large. The true test of ‘good governance’ is the degree to which a State delivers on the promise of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Thus, the key benchmark for judging effective governance is whether or not public institutions are effectively guaranteeing rights such as right to health, housing, food, education, and justice, besides ensuring effective safety in the country. This is the ideal world view we have inherited from ancient sages who said ‘Sarve Janaah Sukhino Bhavantu’ and also from the founding fathers who advocated the Antyodaya approach.

Our country’s cultural ethos has human rights as the underlying principle. It recognizes and respects human rights of all human beings. Living together without aggression and learning from others around the world has been our world view. Ours is a land that had said at least an million years ago: “aa no bhadrah krathavo yanthu vishwathaha” Let noble thoughts come to us from all over the world.

It is heartening to note that the NHRC, India on its part has been striving to protect and promote the constitutional rights of the common citizens, and has gradually expanded its scope of activity to embrace newer human right challenges and concerns with a view to promote a culture of human rights in the country.

5 January 2018

When Rajaji defied the salt law

When Rajaji defied the salt law
On Rajaji's death anniversary we recollect the the salt march by Gandhi's deputy from Tiruchi to Vedaranyam against the draconian salt law.
In the summer of 1930 at the break of dawn, C. Rajagopalachari picked up a fistful of spontaneous salt at Agasthyampalli and belted out “Vande Mataram.” It was April 30 that year, Gandhi’s deputy led the salt march from Tiruchi to Vedaranyam against the draconian salt law.
The event triggered marathon acts of nationalists’ defiance leading to month-long arrests of satyagrahis starting from April 30 through the end of May in 1930.
The history of Vedaranyam salt satyagraha harbours its own tales of valour. The success of the salt march was drafted by Sardar Vedarathinam Pillai and his deputies.
Rajaji began his march from Tiruchi on April 13 and reached Vedaranyam on April 28. To help Rajaji break the salt law without attracting any surveillance, Sardar Vedarathinam deputed his men to smuggle Rajaji to Agasthyampalli - some six km from the sathyagraha camp, says A. Vedarathinam, grandson of Sardar Vedarathinam. At the stroke of dawn, Rajaji picked up a fistful of salt and history was made.
Rajaji was temporarily lodged in a cell inside the salt office of Agasthyampalli till the arrival of the magistrate from Mannargudi. Today, the six-by-six foot cell tucked away in a corner of the salt department’s office is a silent testimony of a historic moment.
The nationalistic turf that already laid out by Sardar Vedarathinam was the reason for Vedaranyam being chosen for sathyagraha.
Sustained acts of rebellion by the nationalists tired the administrative apparatus of the British Raj. The salt department’s diary entries of the day speak of a vexed administration. ‘The villagers in Vedaranyam boycotted the administration and refused to render any help to the officials. This forced them to write to the higher officials to depute class IV staff from Adiramapattinam including blacksmiths, carpenters, babars, to provide their services,” says Vedarathinam, who has saved the diary.
Unlike Dandi march, Vedaranyam salt march witnessed four-five women participants, the famous among them being Rukmini Laxmipathi and Sucheta Kripalani.
“There were 99 satyagrahis, and we are still working to find out the names of each satyagrahi. We have tried to take the help of Nehru Memorial Library and any help from anywhere is welcome,” says Vedarathinam, who hopes to build a memorial with the names of each satyagrahi inscribed.
Vairappan, a barbar in his teens, had vowed not to render his services to anybody employed under the Raj. It is recorded that Vairappan walked away midway leaving behind a half-shaven sepoy after he realised that he was an employee of the Raj. Vairappan was later remanded for refusing to obey the orders of the magistrate. Today, a bust honouring Vairappan stands tall here at the satyagraha memorial

Tackling Maoism

Tackling Maoism
The Central Reserve Police Force lost 40 personnel in two Maoist attacks in the first half of 2017 in Sukma, the most severely Maoist-affected district of Chhattisgarh. Though the forces were jolted by these attacks, their spirit to fight back has not dampened. Rather, they continue to undertake challenging development work in these areas. This shows how the paradigm on tackling Maoism has changed over time. The government’s response has matured in terms of deliverance — from reactive it has become proactive, and from localised it has become holistic.
Proactive policing
Security forces are no longer reactive. When the Maoists decided to deepen their roots into Gariaband, the State government notified this division as a new district, which gave a fillip to development work. Many new police stations and security camps were set up to prevent any major Maoist attack. The cadre strength of the Maoists has consequently reduced. Similarly, a police action in Raigarh district eventually forced the Maoists to abandon their plan of expansion. The Ministry of Home Affairs, too, subsequently removed Raigarh from its Security Related Expenditure scheme.
When the Maoists decided to create a new zone in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the target districts were immediately put on alert, so as not to allow them to gain ground. Security forces were redeployed to ensure better territorial command. As the Chhattisgarh police have experience in tackling Maoists in Bastar, they are now coordinating with the bordering States to strengthen intelligence and ground presence. Such coordinated proactive policing will dampen the Maoists’ plans.
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The Maoist problem is not merely a law and order issue. A permanent solution lies in eliminating the root cause of the problem that led to the alienation of tribals in this area. The focus now is to build roads and install communication towers to increase administrative and political access of the tribals, and improve the reach of government schemes. The government has enhanced the support price of minor forest produce like imli (tamarind). More bank branches have been opened to ensure financial inclusion. All India Radio stations in the three southern districts of Bastar will now broadcast regional programmes to increase entertainment options. And a new rail service in Bastar is set to throw open a new market for wooden artefacts and bell metal.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said in the latest annual report report on ‘Children in Armed Conflict’ that the Maoists are providing combat training to children in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Despite the Maoists not wanting their children to study and get government jobs, remarkable work has been done in the field of school education and skill development. Earlier, the hostel of the Ramakrishna Mission in Narainpur was the only place where children could get quality education. Then, an educational hub and a livelihood centre in Dantewada district sprang up. Seeing its success, the government has now opened up livelihood centres, known as Livelihood Colleges, in all the districts. If the youth are constructively engaged by the government, the recruitment of youth by the Maoists will slowly stop.
Role of civil society
However, winning a psychological war against the Maoists remains an unfinished task. Though the government’s rehabilitation policies have helped the surrendered cadres turn their lives around, security personnel are still accused of being informers and are killed. To end this, civil society must join hands with the government in realising the villagers’ right to development. Loopholes in implementing government schemes must not be used as a tool to strengthen the hands of the Maoists. Indian democracy is strong enough to absorb even its adversaries if they abjure violence.
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Murder at noon: On Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma

The last two major attacks call for some serious introspection on the tactics used by the forces and their fitness to prevent any future attacks. The two-pronged policy of direct action by the security forces combined with development is showing results — the government has already made a dent in most of the affected districts and is determined to check the expansion of Maoists. The paradigm of proactive policing and holistic development should ensure more such significant results in the future.

A reform agenda for Indian cities

A reform agenda for Indian cities
The reforms operate at multiple levels—from setting specific checkpoints to giving local governments freedom to innovate
he Union ministry of housing and urban affairs has prepared a comprehensive road map for municipal reforms. From 2015 to 2017, some basic reforms were implemented in 500 cities under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. For example, 104 cities in 14 states collected more than 90% of user charges; 21 states have established municipal cadres; 256 cities started offering online citizen services; 21 states established state finance commissions; and 363 cities have completed credit rating. Now, the time has to come to go to the next level of reforms. That’s where the road map, consisting of three tiers of reforms, comes in.
As far as tier I reforms go, the purpose is to accelerate ongoing key financial and service delivery reforms. There are three sets of reforms: (1) Cities have to submit financial year audited accounts for the two years preceding the one in which the municipality seeks to claim the performance grant, (2) cities have to show an increase in their revenue over the preceding year, as reflected in the audited accounts. Specifically, urban local bodies have to recover more than 70% of their revenue expenditure from their own revenue receipts, and (3) cities have to measure and publish service levels for coverage of water supply, reduction of non-revenue water, 24x7 water supply and scientific processing of solid waste. Once these conditions are met, cities get the performance grant (Rs18,000 crore in five years) set down by the Fourteenth Finance Commission.
Tier 2 consists of five transformative reforms: (1) formulating and implementing value-capture financing policy, (2) ensuring that all urban local bodies undergo credit rating and cities with investible- grade rating issue municipal bonds, (3) professionalize municipal cadres by creating five of them, filling up posts and allowing lateral entry of professionals, (4) implementing the trust and verify model, and (5) enacting and implementing a land-titling law with a focus on using information technology.
The trust and verify model is a paradigm shift from the current process for municipal permissions. While granting building permissions, cities generally inspect first and give approvals later. This is the verify and trust model. The process of inspection results in time delays and cost overruns, and opens up opportunities for rent seeking.
Inverting this process gives us the trust and verify process in which permission is issued first and inspection taken up later. The assumption is that citizens can be trusted and will furnish correct information. Applications are submitted online with required attachments (documents), machine-checked for accuracy and completeness and building permissions issued. Inspections are only carried out after permission is issued.
Land titling in urban areas is another area of concern. A 2001 McKinsey study has reported that most, over 90% by one estimate, of the land titles in India are ‘unclear’ and land market distortions and unclear land titles cost India around 1.3% of gross domestic product. In India, ownership rights to property are proved through title deeds—a chain of documents that provide evidence of the transfer of title from one person to another over the years, all the way to the current owners. Even though the law provides that transfers of title and interest in property should be registered, this only provides limited assurance. Transfers can be challenged in several ways—from family members who may claim title through inheritance to unknown third parties who try to assert their right to specific performance.
Therefore, the need is to devise a mechanism by which transfers cannot be set aside. One way is to formulate a land-titling law. The Rajasthan government, for instance, has passed the Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Bill, 2016 to issue certificate of ownership to state residents living in urban areas. The new reform agenda incentivises all states to enact similar legislation.
States/cities are also incentivised to use leapfrog technology, such as the blockchain. Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions—here, property—which allows digital information (of property titles and transactions) to be distributed. The database is not stored in a single location; no centralized version exists as it is hosted by millions of computers simultaneously belonging to all interested entities. Every user of the blockchain has a copy of the entire ledger of transactions concerning the property and every transaction is uploaded on each such copy of the ledger.
Thus, information is shared and continually updated and there is an immutable history of every property transaction that can be viewed by all interested parties and tampered with by no one. Moreover, each property transaction is time stamped, further reducing the possibility of fraud. Other services, such as notarial and escrow, can also be added. This is similar to the encumbrance certificates for properties being given by state government registration departments.
The focus of tier 3 is rapid and even more transformational reforms along three main avenues: governance, planning and finance. The emphasis is on (1) deepening decentralization and strengthening urban local bodies through greater devolution of funds, functions and functionaries, (2) own source revenue mobilization for self-reliance and (3) flexibility in urban planning, particularly aligning master plans to changing socio-economic conditions in cities. These involve reforms that can be pushed for enhancing downstream accountability mechanisms, like making local ward committees responsible for operation and maintenance of projects, etc. States and cities compete against each other and the incentive is given based on competition. They have the flexibility to define their reform paths and innovate; only the what of reforms is given, the how is left to states.

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UKPCS2012 FINAL RESULT SAMVEG IAS DEHRADUN

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