14 Apr, 2011, 03.54AM IST
Cash transfer for school attendance is in works
NEW DELHI: Poor families sending their children to school could get a cash incentive based on the attendance of their child.
The Planning Commission has taken note of a report that has suggested the measure to magnify the impact of the Right To Education law
The Chronic Poverty Report report, prepared by six experts and published by the Indian Institute of Public Administration , suggests merging conditional cash transfers with the existing schemes such as the mid day meal as an effective way of incentivising education for the poor.
"Demand for education from poorest households need stimulating as much as supply and quality of education need investment," says the report. It adds that conditional cash transfers can supplement the mid-day meal scheme, and scholarships for disadvantaged groups in stimulating demand for schooling in poverty stricken households.
Cash transfers conditional to school attendance has been successful in improving school enrollment and reducing dropout numbers in Latin America. "It would be gainful for India to gain a perspective on what has worked there (in Latin America)," noted the report.
Conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes involve money transfer directly to poor households in response to the beneficiary fulfilling specific conditions. In the case of education, these could be minimum attendance of children in schools, attendance in health clinics, participation in immunisation programs and others.
Variations of the scheme have been tried out successfully in India, notably in Bihar where the state provided cash to girl students to buy bicycles so that they could go to school everyday. "Other states and even the centre should think about such schemes as they do work," an official at the Bihar Education Project Department told ET.
The Bihar government spent 174.36 crore on the scheme over three years and benefited 8.71 lakh girls and helped bring down the dropout rate in the state from 25 lakh to 10 lakh in a span of four years.
The central government has implemented around six CCT schemes, including the National Programme for Education of Girls at the elementary level under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2003. The scheme provided 150 to every school going girl child a year but it had somewhat lesser impact. "The scheme is a moderate success as the cash element was not much, but more people in rural areas responded to the scheme and enrollment of girl children," said a Planning Commission official. The enrollment rate of girl child under the scheme in rural areas increased from 28% to 47% in three years after the implementation of the scheme.
Hyun H Son, Manila-based economist with the Asian Development Bank , says CCT programmes in Latin America and other developing countries has been perceived as "magic bullet" for poverty reduction. However, he says for the schemes to work, countries need to have very strong administrative delivery and monitoring mechanisms.
There are some dissenting voices though. A UNDP 2009 report has criticised CCTs for "short term motives" that might prove inadequate to meet the challenge and need to be supplemented by other broad based programmes.
Experts in India also say that in India CCTs to stimulate demand can only act as a supplementary act as the greater priority is to ensure the quality and infrastructure of education system. "Money cannot substitute for quality of the education provided. I feel there is enough demand but less capacity for schools to absorb the demand," says Himanshu, an assistant professor in JNU and a visiting fellow at Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi. He adds that to make the Bihar 'bicycle' scheme a success, the government invested extensively in education infrastructure before launching the scheme.
The Planning Commission has taken note of a report that has suggested the measure to magnify the impact of the Right To Education law
The Chronic Poverty Report report, prepared by six experts and published by the Indian Institute of Public Administration , suggests merging conditional cash transfers with the existing schemes such as the mid day meal as an effective way of incentivising education for the poor.
"Demand for education from poorest households need stimulating as much as supply and quality of education need investment," says the report. It adds that conditional cash transfers can supplement the mid-day meal scheme, and scholarships for disadvantaged groups in stimulating demand for schooling in poverty stricken households.
Cash transfers conditional to school attendance has been successful in improving school enrollment and reducing dropout numbers in Latin America. "It would be gainful for India to gain a perspective on what has worked there (in Latin America)," noted the report.
Conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes involve money transfer directly to poor households in response to the beneficiary fulfilling specific conditions. In the case of education, these could be minimum attendance of children in schools, attendance in health clinics, participation in immunisation programs and others.
Variations of the scheme have been tried out successfully in India, notably in Bihar where the state provided cash to girl students to buy bicycles so that they could go to school everyday. "Other states and even the centre should think about such schemes as they do work," an official at the Bihar Education Project Department told ET.
The Bihar government spent 174.36 crore on the scheme over three years and benefited 8.71 lakh girls and helped bring down the dropout rate in the state from 25 lakh to 10 lakh in a span of four years.
The central government has implemented around six CCT schemes, including the National Programme for Education of Girls at the elementary level under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2003. The scheme provided 150 to every school going girl child a year but it had somewhat lesser impact. "The scheme is a moderate success as the cash element was not much, but more people in rural areas responded to the scheme and enrollment of girl children," said a Planning Commission official. The enrollment rate of girl child under the scheme in rural areas increased from 28% to 47% in three years after the implementation of the scheme.
Hyun H Son, Manila-based economist with the Asian Development Bank , says CCT programmes in Latin America and other developing countries has been perceived as "magic bullet" for poverty reduction. However, he says for the schemes to work, countries need to have very strong administrative delivery and monitoring mechanisms.
There are some dissenting voices though. A UNDP 2009 report has criticised CCTs for "short term motives" that might prove inadequate to meet the challenge and need to be supplemented by other broad based programmes.
Experts in India also say that in India CCTs to stimulate demand can only act as a supplementary act as the greater priority is to ensure the quality and infrastructure of education system. "Money cannot substitute for quality of the education provided. I feel there is enough demand but less capacity for schools to absorb the demand," says Himanshu, an assistant professor in JNU and a visiting fellow at Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi. He adds that to make the Bihar 'bicycle' scheme a success, the government invested extensively in education infrastructure before launching the scheme.
13 Apr, 2011, 02.43AM IST, Divya Rajagopal,ET Bureau
NBFC licences put on hold till review of finance company guidelines
MUMBAI: Toyota Kirloskar , and Daimler, the maker of Mercedes cars, will have to wait a few more months to begin their business of lending for car and equipment purchases as the Reserve Bank of India put on hold new licences awaiting new guidelines, said two people familiar with the decision.
The central bank, which is in the midst of tightening rules for lenders who don't fall under the 'banks' category, has told some of the applicants for the finance company licence that it may not issue one till the new rules come into force, said those people who did not want to be identified. It might take RBI two to three months to come out with its new guidelines.
Jain Irrigation and German electrical equipment-maker Siemens are the other companies planning to set up a finance company that would fund purchases of their own product, helping their businesses grow. Europe's biggest automobile company, Volkswagen , recently got the licence for such a company. It will invest 120 crore to expand the business.
Manufacturing companies such as General Electric and others across the globe do fund equipment purchase that has helped them grow. Even state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals plans to set up a non-banking finance company. However, reckless funding could result in the collapse of even the parent company. GE, the top manufacturing company in the world, had to seek the help of US authorities during the 2008 crisis as there were few takers for its commercial paper.
Because of these companies' role in the financial markets, the RBI set up a committee under deputy chairman Usha Thorat to finalise a new set of guidelines after raising their capital requirements recently. RBI believes that there is a need to strengthen the supervision of the 12,500 NBFCs in the country due to the high exposure of banks to NBFCs at over 15 lakh crore.
"The recent global financial crisis has highlighted the regulatory imperatives concerning the non-banking financial sector and the risks arising from regulatory gaps, arbitrage and systemic inter-connectedness," said the RBI statement. "A need was, therefore, felt to reflect on the broad principles that underpin the regulatory architecture for NBFCs keeping in view the economic role and heterogeneity of this sector and the recent international experience."
The RBI has taken some measures in that direction. In the last four months, it has reduced the arbitrage opportunities of NBFCs. It has also increased the capital adequacy ratio of NBFCs to 15 % and removed the priority sector status of gold-loan companies.
But NBFCs are also seeing a growth in retail lending. NBFCs presently have a 26% market share, which is expected to go up to 47% in the next three years, says a report by rating agency Crisil . The profitability of NBFCs has also peaked to the 2007 levels. Hence, in the next three years, NBFCs' non-mortgage lending is expected to match the levels of a commercial bank, provided there are no regulatory challenges
The central bank, which is in the midst of tightening rules for lenders who don't fall under the 'banks' category, has told some of the applicants for the finance company licence that it may not issue one till the new rules come into force, said those people who did not want to be identified. It might take RBI two to three months to come out with its new guidelines.
Jain Irrigation and German electrical equipment-maker Siemens are the other companies planning to set up a finance company that would fund purchases of their own product, helping their businesses grow. Europe's biggest automobile company, Volkswagen , recently got the licence for such a company. It will invest 120 crore to expand the business.
Manufacturing companies such as General Electric and others across the globe do fund equipment purchase that has helped them grow. Even state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals plans to set up a non-banking finance company. However, reckless funding could result in the collapse of even the parent company. GE, the top manufacturing company in the world, had to seek the help of US authorities during the 2008 crisis as there were few takers for its commercial paper.
Because of these companies' role in the financial markets, the RBI set up a committee under deputy chairman Usha Thorat to finalise a new set of guidelines after raising their capital requirements recently. RBI believes that there is a need to strengthen the supervision of the 12,500 NBFCs in the country due to the high exposure of banks to NBFCs at over 15 lakh crore.
"The recent global financial crisis has highlighted the regulatory imperatives concerning the non-banking financial sector and the risks arising from regulatory gaps, arbitrage and systemic inter-connectedness," said the RBI statement. "A need was, therefore, felt to reflect on the broad principles that underpin the regulatory architecture for NBFCs keeping in view the economic role and heterogeneity of this sector and the recent international experience."
The RBI has taken some measures in that direction. In the last four months, it has reduced the arbitrage opportunities of NBFCs. It has also increased the capital adequacy ratio of NBFCs to 15 % and removed the priority sector status of gold-loan companies.
But NBFCs are also seeing a growth in retail lending. NBFCs presently have a 26% market share, which is expected to go up to 47% in the next three years, says a report by rating agency Crisil . The profitability of NBFCs has also peaked to the 2007 levels. Hence, in the next three years, NBFCs' non-mortgage lending is expected to match the levels of a commercial bank, provided there are no regulatory challenges
11 Apr, 2011, 02.08AM IST,
Pranab to seek Yashwant's help in PFRDA bill clearance
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to reach out to BJP leader Yashwant Sinha to get an early green signal for the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill. Sinha heads the parliament's standing committee on finance whose nod is necessary to get the long-pending bill passed.
On hold since 2004, the PFRDA Bill that gives a statutory backing for a pension sector regulator was re-introduced in the Lok Sabha in the recent Budget session.
Conceived when Sinha was finance minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, the Bill had been introduced in the last Lok Sabha, but lapsed with the UPA failing to convince their former allies - the Left parties.
The chairman of the interim PFRDA, which operates under an executive order, said that the government is now keen to get the Bill passed in Parliament's monsoon session.
"The finance minister will speak to Mr Sinha and point out that Bill is his baby, in a way, as it originated in his time as finance minister," PFRDA chairman Yogesh Agarwal told ET. "Mr Sinha will be requested to either not ask for the Bill to be referred to the standing committee or clear it quickly after it's referred," he said.
The Bill was scrutinised by the parliamentary committee on finance in UPA's first innings, before it lapsed. However, technically it has to be seen by the present Lok Sabha before clearance. Mukherjee is expected to point out to his NDA predecessor that all the suggestions of the previous Lok Sabha's standing committee have been incorporated in the present Bill.
A fortnight ago, the BJP had bailed out the UPA on the introduction of the Bill in the Lok Sabha. Congress' floor managers bungled up in ensuring their MPs' attendance while CPM leader Basudeb Acharia moved a division motion - which entails MPs voting on whether a Bill must be introduced at all.
Though Acharia had asked the BJP to support his motion, the party decided to vote with the government, defeating the division motion with 115 votes for the Bill and just 43 against. This marked the first time in recent years when the Congress and BJP came together to push reforms. Though the government expects less resistance from the BJP on financial sector reforms, the opposition party has said it will decide its stand on the content of pending financial bills in May.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar recently clarified that the party had 'only supported the introduction of the pension bill' and its stand on all pending financial bills would be discussed in May. "We are in favour of right type of financial reforms," he said last week.
Apart from the PFRDA Bill, the government introduced the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill and a constitutional amendment bill to enable the proposed Goods and Service Tax regime in the Budget session. The government has kept the foreign direct investment (FDI) limits in the pension sector outside the purview of the PFRDA Bill.
This may have been prompted by its experience in the insurance sector. Though it is keen to raise the FDI limit from 26% to 49%, the government has been unable to get the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill past Parliament.
On hold since 2004, the PFRDA Bill that gives a statutory backing for a pension sector regulator was re-introduced in the Lok Sabha in the recent Budget session.
Conceived when Sinha was finance minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, the Bill had been introduced in the last Lok Sabha, but lapsed with the UPA failing to convince their former allies - the Left parties.
The chairman of the interim PFRDA, which operates under an executive order, said that the government is now keen to get the Bill passed in Parliament's monsoon session.
"The finance minister will speak to Mr Sinha and point out that Bill is his baby, in a way, as it originated in his time as finance minister," PFRDA chairman Yogesh Agarwal told ET. "Mr Sinha will be requested to either not ask for the Bill to be referred to the standing committee or clear it quickly after it's referred," he said.
The Bill was scrutinised by the parliamentary committee on finance in UPA's first innings, before it lapsed. However, technically it has to be seen by the present Lok Sabha before clearance. Mukherjee is expected to point out to his NDA predecessor that all the suggestions of the previous Lok Sabha's standing committee have been incorporated in the present Bill.
A fortnight ago, the BJP had bailed out the UPA on the introduction of the Bill in the Lok Sabha. Congress' floor managers bungled up in ensuring their MPs' attendance while CPM leader Basudeb Acharia moved a division motion - which entails MPs voting on whether a Bill must be introduced at all.
Though Acharia had asked the BJP to support his motion, the party decided to vote with the government, defeating the division motion with 115 votes for the Bill and just 43 against. This marked the first time in recent years when the Congress and BJP came together to push reforms. Though the government expects less resistance from the BJP on financial sector reforms, the opposition party has said it will decide its stand on the content of pending financial bills in May.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar recently clarified that the party had 'only supported the introduction of the pension bill' and its stand on all pending financial bills would be discussed in May. "We are in favour of right type of financial reforms," he said last week.
Apart from the PFRDA Bill, the government introduced the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill and a constitutional amendment bill to enable the proposed Goods and Service Tax regime in the Budget session. The government has kept the foreign direct investment (FDI) limits in the pension sector outside the purview of the PFRDA Bill.
This may have been prompted by its experience in the insurance sector. Though it is keen to raise the FDI limit from 26% to 49%, the government has been unable to get the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill past Parliament.
12 Apr, 2011, 04.08PM IST,PTI
Rs 72,000-cr income tax refunds in 2009-10: CBDT
NAGPUR: The Income Tax department has refunded as much as Rs 72,000 crore to tax payers across the country in 2009-10, Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT )) Chairman Sudhir Chandra said here.
"The Income Tax department has improved its tax refund rate and Rs 72,000 crore have been refunded to tax payers in the fiscal year 2009-10 against Rs 57,000 in the previous financial year," Chandra said addressing the passing out of 63rd batch of Indian Revenue Services (IRS), here yesterday at the National Academy of Direct Taxes.
Chandra said the tax collection has gone up rapidly and this fiscal which ended on March 31, 2011, the booty was to the tune of Rs 4.50 lakh crores against a target of Rs 4.46 lakh crores which was revised from Rs 4.30 lakh crores.
The issue of delayed refunds was not a healty trend and was tarnishing the department's image. Hence, it has cleared 78,00,000 refund cases in the process, he claimed.
Union Minister of State for Railways K H Munniappa's son Narsimha Raju was among the pass outs.
Deepika Mohan was awarded the coveted Finance Minister's Gold Medal for best all round performance. There were 123 officer-trainees from 23 different states.
Uttar Pradesh topped the list with highest number of 26 trainees followed by Tamil Nadu (17), Bihar (14) and Maharashtra (8).
"The Income Tax department has improved its tax refund rate and Rs 72,000 crore have been refunded to tax payers in the fiscal year 2009-10 against Rs 57,000 in the previous financial year," Chandra said addressing the passing out of 63rd batch of Indian Revenue Services (IRS), here yesterday at the National Academy of Direct Taxes.
Chandra said the tax collection has gone up rapidly and this fiscal which ended on March 31, 2011, the booty was to the tune of Rs 4.50 lakh crores against a target of Rs 4.46 lakh crores which was revised from Rs 4.30 lakh crores.
The issue of delayed refunds was not a healty trend and was tarnishing the department's image. Hence, it has cleared 78,00,000 refund cases in the process, he claimed.
Union Minister of State for Railways K H Munniappa's son Narsimha Raju was among the pass outs.
Deepika Mohan was awarded the coveted Finance Minister's Gold Medal for best all round performance. There were 123 officer-trainees from 23 different states.
Uttar Pradesh topped the list with highest number of 26 trainees followed by Tamil Nadu (17), Bihar (14) and Maharashtra (8).
13 Apr, 2011, 06.50PM IST,PTI
Doha trade negotiations on the verge of collapse
GENEVA: The Doha trade negotiations are on the verge of collapse due to unrealistic demands by leading industrialised countries that want China , India , and Brazil to "harmonise" a large percentage of their industrial tariffs well below current applied rates, sources said.
World Trade Organisation director general Pascal Lamy today informed members of the G-90 coalition that there are "unbridgeable" differences over "sectorals" in Doha industrial goods, sources said.
The G-90 includes countries from Africa, Pacific and Caribbean as well as least-developed countries.
Lamy said his meetings with the US, China, India, and Brazil over the last fortnight revealed that the gaps in positions among members are too wide and not amenable for any closure at this juncture, an African trade envoy told PTI.
As part of the sectoral negotiations, the US wants China, India, and Brazil to reduce their tariffs on chemicals, industrial engineering goods, and electricals and electronics close to zero.
Washington justified its demand on the ground that the three "emerging" countries are the major beneficiaries in the global trading system.
Though the Doha mandate calls for "voluntary" participation in the sectoral negotiations, the US has turned the tables by saying that unless the three developing nations agree to its demand for reducing tariffs close to zero through a basket approach it would not move, sources said.
The three developing countries flatly rejected the US demand on sectorals saying they would only participate on a voluntary basis to conclude the Doha agreement, said trade officials from these three countries.
Consequently, Lamy has now given up his plan to issue the "draft final texts".
Instead, he would circulate "documents" from the chairs for the Doha negotiating bodies on April 21.
In a fax sent to members on Monday, he said, "These documents will be accompanied by an introductory report by the TNC chair in which I will, inter alia, report on the consultations I am conducting currently."
The sudden volte-face took place on Friday last following a meeting between the director general, who is also the chair for the Doha trade negotiations committee, and the respective negotiating chairs, sources said.
"The Doha Round is dead," a South American trade envoy told PTI, arguing that "it is time for members to acknowledge this and make appropriate corrections."
Given the differences in Doha industrial goods, particularly sectorals, it is clear from the day one that it would be difficult to prepare a text.
"We are somewhat surprised by Lamy's admission that gaps on sectorals are unbridgeable, as we had repeatedly told him several months ago," said another trade envoy. In the absence of a plan to issue texts before Easter, it is clear that members will now have to prepare for a "soft-landing," said one trade envoy here.
He implied that members will continue to work without any deadline until there is some convergence.
Another trade envoy said, "The window of opportunity to conclude the Doha trade negotiations in 2011 is now almost impossible. Since 2008, differences in the three Doha market access areas of agriculture, industrial goods and services have significantly widened."
World Trade Organisation director general Pascal Lamy today informed members of the G-90 coalition that there are "unbridgeable" differences over "sectorals" in Doha industrial goods, sources said.
The G-90 includes countries from Africa, Pacific and Caribbean as well as least-developed countries.
Lamy said his meetings with the US, China, India, and Brazil over the last fortnight revealed that the gaps in positions among members are too wide and not amenable for any closure at this juncture, an African trade envoy told PTI.
As part of the sectoral negotiations, the US wants China, India, and Brazil to reduce their tariffs on chemicals, industrial engineering goods, and electricals and electronics close to zero.
Washington justified its demand on the ground that the three "emerging" countries are the major beneficiaries in the global trading system.
Though the Doha mandate calls for "voluntary" participation in the sectoral negotiations, the US has turned the tables by saying that unless the three developing nations agree to its demand for reducing tariffs close to zero through a basket approach it would not move, sources said.
The three developing countries flatly rejected the US demand on sectorals saying they would only participate on a voluntary basis to conclude the Doha agreement, said trade officials from these three countries.
Consequently, Lamy has now given up his plan to issue the "draft final texts".
Instead, he would circulate "documents" from the chairs for the Doha negotiating bodies on April 21.
In a fax sent to members on Monday, he said, "These documents will be accompanied by an introductory report by the TNC chair in which I will, inter alia, report on the consultations I am conducting currently."
The sudden volte-face took place on Friday last following a meeting between the director general, who is also the chair for the Doha trade negotiations committee, and the respective negotiating chairs, sources said.
"The Doha Round is dead," a South American trade envoy told PTI, arguing that "it is time for members to acknowledge this and make appropriate corrections."
Given the differences in Doha industrial goods, particularly sectorals, it is clear from the day one that it would be difficult to prepare a text.
"We are somewhat surprised by Lamy's admission that gaps on sectorals are unbridgeable, as we had repeatedly told him several months ago," said another trade envoy. In the absence of a plan to issue texts before Easter, it is clear that members will now have to prepare for a "soft-landing," said one trade envoy here.
He implied that members will continue to work without any deadline until there is some convergence.
Another trade envoy said, "The window of opportunity to conclude the Doha trade negotiations in 2011 is now almost impossible. Since 2008, differences in the three Doha market access areas of agriculture, industrial goods and services have significantly widened."
World trade talks hinge on India, China, Brazil: US
WASHINGTON: The fate of long-running world trade talks depend on whether China , India and Brazil are willing to make a deal that will open their markets to additional foreign goods and services, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Wednesday.
"If I can just be blunt, the question is whether they are willing to walk in the room, close the door and hammer out a deal," Kirk said in a speech at a trade symposium hosted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The remark came one day after European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht warned that the nearly 10-year-old round of talks were at a difficult stage and there was "no reason to be optimistic" about the chances for success.
"We're still at the table," Kirk said. "There's an anxiety that we may not get there. But we think it would be a real shame if we weren't able to find a way to rationalize global trade and get a Doha deal that works for everyone."
Kirk said developing countries often complain that the United States and the European Union have long dominated the process of establishing the international rules for trade.
"We've gladly opened that door and shown them we have three more chairs: one for China, one for India and one for Brazil."
"No three economies have benefited more from trade liberalization over the last 10 years than China, India and Brazil. That's a good thing," Kirk said.
"But with that blessing comes a responsibility, and we believe China, India and Brazil have the opportunity to find out just how bloody awful it is to bring these things to a close," Kirk said.
Despite De Gucht's bleak assessment of the talks, Kirk said he thought substantial progress had been made over the past 18 months in persuading other WTO members that a draft July 2008 deal did not do enough to open markets around the world to more trade.
"If I can just be blunt, the question is whether they are willing to walk in the room, close the door and hammer out a deal," Kirk said in a speech at a trade symposium hosted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The remark came one day after European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht warned that the nearly 10-year-old round of talks were at a difficult stage and there was "no reason to be optimistic" about the chances for success.
"We're still at the table," Kirk said. "There's an anxiety that we may not get there. But we think it would be a real shame if we weren't able to find a way to rationalize global trade and get a Doha deal that works for everyone."
Kirk said developing countries often complain that the United States and the European Union have long dominated the process of establishing the international rules for trade.
"We've gladly opened that door and shown them we have three more chairs: one for China, one for India and one for Brazil."
"No three economies have benefited more from trade liberalization over the last 10 years than China, India and Brazil. That's a good thing," Kirk said.
"But with that blessing comes a responsibility, and we believe China, India and Brazil have the opportunity to find out just how bloody awful it is to bring these things to a close," Kirk said.
Despite De Gucht's bleak assessment of the talks, Kirk said he thought substantial progress had been made over the past 18 months in persuading other WTO members that a draft July 2008 deal did not do enough to open markets around the world to more trade.
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