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The roadmap to the University of Delhi (DU) is full of hurdles with escalating competition on both the academic and non-academic fronts. Being one of the most coveted institutes in the country, DU witnesses a myriad of students from different sections of the society and financial strata join it each year. To ensure that everyone gets a fair chance and in an attempt to bring out the best in the students, DU offers a wide spectrum of scholarship programmes.

In the hope to help students recuperate from their financial burdens, to acknowledge student welfare, and to ensure equal opportunity for all, the University has taken the onus of offering scholarships to all the students it admits. Here is a glimpse of a few scholarship programmes offered by DU:

Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao Endowment Book-Grant: A student from any college, belonging to the family of a Class IV or Class III employee of the University, presently in the first year of a three-year degree course is eligible to apply. INR 100 per month is given for a year, and is renewable if the performance of the scholar is satisfactory.

Shri Motilal Kaul Atma Memorial Book-Grant: The scholarship is awarded to blind students from any college who join any of the streams offered by Delhi University. INR 150 is awarded per month. The scholarship is tenable for three years, renewable on a yearly basis if the performance of the recipient is satisfactory. This encourages visually challenged students to pursue higher education with greater vigour.

His Holiness the Pope Scholarship: This scholarship was gifted by His Holiness the Pope during his visit to India in December 1964. Only postgraduate students are eligible to apply for this scholarship. An amount of INR 150 is given to students who are needy and whose parents’ income including his/her own income does not exceed the amount from where it starts attracting income tax. The scholarship is tenable for one year and can be renewed for the second year if the performance of the student is satisfactory.

Vijay Kumar Memorial Chadha Book-Grant: Any student of Campus Law Centre (CLC) in the first year of L.L.B., whose parents’ income including his/her own income is less than the minimum taxable income, is eligible for this scholarship. INR 100 per month is awarded for two years, renewable on a yearly basis.

Post-Graduate Scholarship: This scholarship, not exceeding twenty in number, and each of the value of INR 400, will be awarded each year, tenable for two or three years, as the case may be. The person must be a graduate from any Indian university with a first class degree. The scholarship is awarded by the Academic Council on the recommendations of the selection committee appointed by it.

There is no doubt that these scholarships are instrumental in reducing the financial burden of a few students to some degree, but their critical treatment and analysis exposes the urgent need of revision. As these scholarships have remained consistent for decades now, they have become obsolete and irrelevant in the current circumstances. The meagre amount cannot possibly be of any significance to any student in the contemporary era. This calls for raising the amounts of these scholarships to a level where they will actually aid and benefit those in need.

For more information, visit the DU website.

 

Feature Image Credits: The North East Today

Sandeep Samal
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A team of three students from the Department of Geology affiliated to Hansraj College were crowned as winners at Protolith’17, a technical symposium on geology and geophysics organised by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB).

IIT Bombay organised the second edition of Protolith, a national-level technical symposium on geology and geophysics from 6th to 8th October 2017, in which 170 students belonging to 17 universities from all over the country took part. There were myriad events organised in which teams from various universities had to battle it out to emerge triumphant. The events were Quiz, Modelino, Poster Presentation, Pirates of Protolith, Geoclick, Encuesta, Game of Stones, Get the Mineral, Lithofill, and Geodrama. Apart from these competitions, there were several workshops and talks on various topics like XRD, micropaleontology, rock mechanics, etc.

A team of three students represented the Department of Geology affiliated to Hansraj College, University of Delhi, at Protolith 2017. The participants were Suryaa Bhatia, Saagar Bhatia, and Aakash Gupta who are fourth-year students of B.Sc. (H)-M.Sc. Geology Integrated. Together they managed to bag the first prize in Poster Presentation, Pirates of Protolith, and Modelino and the second prize in Quiz and Geoclick.

The quiz involved a screening round and then a final round where all the 17 universities participated. The five teams that answered the most questions correctly advanced to the final round. The questions were based on geology, geophysics, and oceanography. Hansraj College came second in the final round of Quiz.

The poster presented by Hansraj College was on the topic ‘Radon Anomaly as a Precursor to Earthquake’. The poster was evaluated by esteemed professors and dignitaries in the field of earth science who adjudged it as being worthy of the first position. Modelino was a model making competition, where participants had to demonstrate any phenomenon of earth science through models. Hansraj College’s winning model was on ‘Radon Anomaly as a Precursor to Earthquake’.  It explained how radon spikes can be used to predict an earthquake by calculating the magnitude, epicentral distance from the radon anomaly monitoring station, and the time between the radon spike and the earthquake occurrence.

Suryaa Bhatia’s picture that captured the beautiful stratigraphy of Kutch won the second position at Geoclick, a photography competition. The team also participated in Pirates of Protolith. In the prelims, they were asked several questions on structural geology revolving around discontinuity surface, faults, anticline, and syncline. The final round involved a puzzle that could be solved with the help of the Brunton compass and geological knowledge. The team was declared the winner in this event.

After securing positions in five out of ten competitions, Hansraj College was crowned victorious and was awarded with a winner’s trophy for the same.

 

Feature Image Credits: Suryaa Bhatia

Sandeep Samal
[email protected]

Instead of calculating the number of reserved seats based on the total number of faculty members at a university, the UGC wants the calculation to be department-wise.

While hearing a case on teachers’ recruitment in Banaras Hindu University in April this year, the Allahabad High Court held that reservation in teaching posts has to be applied department-wise by treating the department as a “unit” and not the university.

In response to the above verdict, the University Grants Commission (UGC) last month decided to implement a new formula for reservation in teaching posts in the university. Now, if Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) decides to accept the decision, it could result in lesser positions for SC, ST and OBC faculty on university campuses, according to PS Krishnan, former secretary to the central government and an expert on the subject.

The Court condemned UGC for applying reservation in a “blanket manner” and advised the regulator to revisit its implementation. According to a report by the Indian Express, “If the University is taken as a ‘Unit’ for every level of teaching and applying the roster, it could result in some departments/subjects having all reserved candidates and some having only unreserved candidates. Such a proposition again would be discriminatory and unreasonable. This again would be violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution,” the Allahabad High Court had observed in its verdict that cancelled the BHU recruitment and asked it to start afresh.

As per official data, there are 17,106 teaching positions at 41 UGC-funded central universities, of which roughly 35 percent seats are vacant, as of April 1, 2017. Any change in the implementation of reservation will affect all new recruitment drives taken up by universities in future. The number of SC, ST, OBC faculty positions currently are calculated by treating the university as a “unit”. This practice grouped or clubbed together all the reserved quota for all posts of the same grade, say, professor, across different departments in a university. If the new UGC formula is accepted by the HRD ministry, the reservation would be applied by treating each department in a university as a “unit”. This means the number of reserved posts at the same level will be determined separately for each department; calculated based on the total posts in each department.

Krishnan, who has worked in the field of social justice for SCs, STs, and OBCs for more than six-and-a-half decades, told the Indian Express, “Take professors, for instance. There are fewer professors in a department compared to assistant professors. If a department has only one professor, there can be no reserved posts there as reservation cannot be applied in case of a single post. But if all posts of professors across different departments are clubbed together, then naturally there is a better chance of positions being set aside for SC, ST, and OBC,”

He further added,” If our goal is to strengthen India by giving opportunities to persons belonging to the submerged populations, who have become qualified, then we should interpret rules or make rules to enable them to come in due numbers. If our aim is to weaken India then we can interpret rules in a manner, which defeats the goal of reservation.”

The UGC’s Standing Committee examined 10 court judgments on the subject and recommended that the Allahabad High Court’s verdict should be applied to all universities. The UGC is learned to have shared this decision with the HRD Ministry and is waiting for its “concurrence”.

Feature Image Credits: Digital Learning

 

Oorja Tapan

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College is going to be my second home for the next three years, here’s what these 3 months have been like.

I don’t miss school much; especially not 11th and 12th standards but I do miss my school friends. Working day and night to get into a good Delhi University college has finally paid off and it was all worth it.

When I first entered college, I was told not to call my seniors bhaiya or didi, not that it lessens respect for them in my eyes but it breaks a wall of senior-junior and you be more open with them. Your seniors are the pillars for surviving these three years because they are always ready with advice for every situation and for every teacher’s class.

The shift is sudden but you settle gradually. The whole realization takes time to seep in. The number of times you introduce yourself is never-ending and probably won’t end till the next three years and there is no end to kinships – class, department, society, other departments, other colleges – you never know where you may find alike people.

It takes a month or two to find your place in the class and in your group but once that is done; you are as comfortable with these people as you are with your school pals. You share stories and laugh which bond you together. Classes getting cancelled can lead to meaningful conversations or likes, dislikes, opinions and matters of importance. Mass bunks strengthen our unity. College societies become a second home.

I believe girls colleges empower their girls in a way co-ed colleges don’t. Girls have to handle everything on their own without any monopoly like the stage, lights, elections, events or fests.

After the little that I have studied of literature out of the lot, I have realized that women have been oppressed in the name of patriarchy from the beginning of literature and victim-blaming is rampant in all classical texts

Myths busted in the very first month of college that teachers don’t teach and nobody comes to college. My teachers facilitate us with a lot of dedication. College classrooms unlike school give us much more freedom to put forth our point of view and argue with fellow students as well as teachers, such mind-boggling ideas can emerge from such debates.

College is a place where you change as a person and evolve. It hopefully prepares us to deal with the outside world and tread on the path of success while also having fun.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

 

Prachi Mehra

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Students and administration continue to take Environmental Studies (EVS) lightly. While colleges often choose to not hire expert faculty for EVS and instead expect science professors to teach the same, students view it as another exam they need to pass. Unless this lax attitude towards EVS changes, large sections of our population would remain ignorant about issues related to the same.

Environmental Studies is a subject all students pursuing an undergraduate degree are supposed to study. The University Grants Commission (UGC) ordered the 706 universities across India to incorporate Environmental Studies in their curriculum (India Today). UGC also asked that all new students be made to plant a sapling on their first day of college. While some colleges have been unable to meet the sapling guideline due to lack of space the former has been adequately respected, at least in principle. The purpose of incorporating EVS in our curriculum is to educate students about pollution, the eco-system, recycling, and the cost of neglecting the environmental impact of our deeds. While the idea behind making EVS compulsory was a beautiful one, it has failed to serve its original purpose and both the administration and the student body have played a role in that.

Colleges often do not hire experts to teach environmental studies. More often than not, professors from the science faculties end up teaching EVS. The purpose of a lecture is not just to provide textbook knowledge; it is also to incite passion and make students learn from their personal experiences. If there is a dearth of professors passionate about the environment; EVS lectures would never be fully engaging. But lack of experts is not the sole reason that negatively impacts how seriously EVS is taken. Students also choose to take EVS lightly and not give it the same importance that they allot for their core subjects. To see students using their cell phone during an EVS lecture is not a shocking sight; most people attend it just for the sake of maintaining their minimum attendance. Sandeep Samal of Hans Raj College says, “Basically students, a day before exams cram the notes easily available in the market.” EVS is treated like a burden in Universities across the country. Most faculty members see it as an additional subject that needs to be taught; while students view it as another exam they need to pass. The desire to actively seek knowledge about the environment and learn more about ways to preserve it is largely absent.

Around half of India’s population is under 25 years old or younger. With the youth consisting of India’s largest age group- it is essential that they be adequately educated about the impact of their everyday decisions. Small lifestyle changes like not using plastic straws, cups, and bags, reusing and upcycling old products, carpooling can lead to an immense impact on the environment. With liberalisation and the rise of the Indian middle class, consumerism has increased multiple times. The idea of “conspicuous consumption” is more relevant than ever. Huge SUVs are bought simply because they are supposed to represent wealth. In order to make their products more attractive, companies have introduced layered and intricate packaging, which includes multiple boxes and tags. All these minor changes have resulted in turning cities into mass dustbins.

Unless we take into account our high consumption level; we would end up destroying the planet for our greed. Our planet is running out of room and resources and the Earth will run out of resources at this rate of consumption. This situation is extremely dangerous and it is important that we educate ourselves about it. Colleges do not just need to take the theoretical teaching of EVS more seriously, but also encourage practical learning and set up challenges or weekly goals for students. Challenges like using public transport for a week or recycling and donating old clothes instead of throwing them away should be promoted. Environmental Sciences is one subject which needs to be taken extremely seriously and unfortunately, it seems to be one of the most neglected ones. We have a moral and social responsibility to be accountable for our actions and curb the capitalistic sense of greed and consumerism that is on the rise. A respectful attitude towards the planet is necessary to ensure our survival and the best way to be environmentally conscious is to be proactive in our learning and in our actions.

 

Feature Image Credits: Amazon

 

Kinjal Pandey

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With Diwali just having gone by, reality hits us and we realise that the official current semester will be ending soon and our very ‘dear’ semester examinations are coming close as the internals’ fever has died down. We are all huffed and puffed about our attendance issues, looking for ways to increase it or at least manage it to come at par with the ‘so-called’ 67% standard set by the University of Delhi, either through medical or internship certificates, or through extracurricular activity (ECA) slips. We all have one Rambo mission to attend all classes henceforth, especially the horrifying morning 8:30 a.m. lecture, trying our level best not to zone out in the middle of the lecture. We fight the urge to collect every possible reading material and book there is to extract as many sources available and save ourselves from drowning in the upcoming exams. Of course, all of us are engaged in discussions with our peers like, “Boy, that escalated quickly”, “How time passes by”, “Dude, I am having a mental breakdown as to how many more assignments I am still left to submit”, and so on.
Pause for a minute to think and retrospect. How did you spend one-half of the year? Was it according to your customary need to go clubbing at Hauz Khas, hang out at the Hudson Lane food joints, shop at Kamla Nagar or Sarojini Nagar markets, beg your parents to allow you to attend a sleepover at one of your friend’s house or PG, spend another evening at India Gate making Boomerang videos for Instagram, or create that one awesome memory with friends that you failed to capture on Snapchat but laughed out all night about it with your hostel mates? Or were you busy studying the entire semester, preparing for entrances like CAT or JNU, keeping up with the notes, doing various internships, or learning a language? I am sure we all had a coalescence of all the aforementioned activities. How many of these do you consider worthwhile? How many of these do you regret and how many are you still aspiring to do? Students in their freshman year must still be in doldrums regarding adjusting to the new city and will surely plan to carry out all remaining Delhi ventures in the next season. Sophomores must be in a state of shock that they have already reached the intermission in their college lives and should now get serious about what to do next. And my dear seniors, you are very well treading upon the teary path of farewells next semester, so get your grip for the dreary path of a hardcore competitive world outside the walls of your college-cum -cocoon.
As for exam -related tips, I am sure you all are smart enough to figure out how to sail through exams. Just in case you are not accustomed to the exam fever, prepare a fixed target-oriented schedule and try to stick to it in order to micromanage your core and elective papers. Try to avoid all sorts of group-studies as now is the time for individual, prioritised studying. Emphasise on what to read and even more on what not to read. You are the best judge of yourself.
Believe me for one thing – that however you have spent your time since July, be pleased with yourself, because life, and for that matter, college-life is too short for regrets. Have faith in your capabilities and get your guns ready for the next half of the year. Do not let the approaching winter deter your happy, sunny, and young minds.
Image Credits: Icebreakerideas.com

Oorja Tapan
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I still prefer falling asleep listening to the old songs in my playlist because of their eternal charm and evergreen nature. However, music these days seems to be lacking these ethereal qualities.

The sudden fame of Dhinchak Pooja, Omprakash Mishra, Taher Shah, Hero Alom, and people’s addiction to ‘cringe pop’ has forced me to ponder on the dearth of musical brilliance and creativity that our generation faces. Or, maybe we as a generation have lost the understanding to appreciate good music and lyrics. I am more inclined to believe that latter is the truth because to say that there is a paucity of good music would be incorrect.

Recently when I was listening to Mohammad Rafi’s ‘Chaudhavi Ka Chand Ho’, I could not but help admire the sheer brilliance of his singing techniques and the mesmerising lyrics. Similarly, the lyrics of song ‘Mera Kuch Samaan’ by Gulzar always leaves me enraptured because of the subtlety with which it successfully conveys the complexity of a relationship. Even fun-loving songs like ‘Ye Chand Sa Roshan Chehra’ still make not only mine but everyone’s feet tap. The lyrics of these songs were not crass and the singers were not content with just above average singing.

frank-sinatra

Whenever I hear Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Funny Valentine’ or ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ I cannot help but swoon to its tunes. Tom T Hall’s ‘That’s How I Got To Memphis’ or Ben E King’s ‘Stand By Me’ still delight and enchant me. There must be a reason that different and newer versions of songs like ‘Abhi Na Jao Chhodkar’, ‘ Lag Ja Gale’, ‘Blue Skies’, ‘Message in a bottle’ are being sung over and over again by the singers. To say that my criticism just stems out of nostalgia for the times gone by would incorrect. After pondering about it a lot, I realised that my doubts held a lot of substance. I am not saying that the music that we are producing today has a substantially deteriorated quality. Undoubtedly, we have a lot of talented singers, lyricists, music composers, and directors. However, to say that the standards have dropped drastically would not be an overstatement.

So the question remains who is to blame for the popularity of cringe-worthy songs like ‘Selfie Maine Le Li Aaj’, ‘Bolna Aunty Aau Kya’ or songs like ‘Gandi Baat’ which though have very catchy tunes put forward the concept of eve-teasing and molestation. We, as an audience, are to be blamed for this poor condition of the music industry. The originality in the music produced by Bollywood has taken such a dip that every few months we find a remix version of an old song on our music playlist. Mass media following of the YouTube sensation Rebecca Black or the recent Omprakash Mishra should certainly be discouraged. This is necessary because in the process we are seeing the death of music and musicians that deserve the encouragement and spotlight. If we fail to do so, it would be a great disservice not only to our generation but to the upcoming one.

 

Feature Image Credits: YouTube

 

Anukriti Mishra

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#MeToo is an initiative aimed to highlight how common and rampant assault and harassment are. Responses have poured in across social media emphasising how deep the problem is. What do we need to do to keep the movement alive?

A social media initiative to accent the stories of sexual harassment and assault, the #MeToo campaign has found resonating hearts throughout different ages, geographical boundaries, and backgrounds. It was started by Tarana Burke over ten years ago. The campaign was turned into a hashtag by American actress, producer, and activist, Alyssa Milano after Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, was accused of having sexually harassed and assaulted over thirty young models and actresses. The campaign has been trending on Twitter, Facebook and has even made waves on Instagram. Indeed, social media can play a very important role to fight patriarchy. In the words of Tarana Burke “Me Too is largely about empathy. We use a term called empowerment through empathy. It’s short and succinct but it’s powerful”. #MeToo has allowed thousands of people to speak out against sexual assault and has gained immense traction on social media.

While Trump became the American President despite several accusations of assault against him, in France prosecutors ruled that an eleven year old girl “consented” to have sex with a 28 year old. In India politicians continue to blame everything to the victims clothing, whilst the real perpetrator- egotistical men who don’t have any fear are never called out. Authorities continue to act as the agents of patriarchy, with problematic laws, delayed justice and corruption being the preferred methods of subjugation. Along with that, sexist films, and songs that objectify women are equally guilty of promoting harassment. The Me Too campaign should not be limited to sharing our stories; it should act as a reminder of why we need to crush the patriarchy, now more than ever.

 The #MeToo movement has highlighted the problem of assault and harassment across the globe.
The #MeToo movement has highlighted the problem of assault and harassment across the globe.

Me Too, has seen a fair degree of sceptics. While some people see it as a revolutionary movement that highlight how common sexual assault is; others see it as a way of focusing the harassment related narrative only to the victim. It is therefore even more important that we carry forward this responsibility and create awareness about sexual harassment and assault. We should be more thoughtful of our actions and of those around us: this would mean recognising and calling out people who make crude jokes, and show a discriminatory attitude towards women. By voicing our hurt, pain, and trauma we have set wheels to a movement that could redefine societal perception of victims and assault in the 21st century. It falls upon us to fearlessly speak up against any kind of victim-shaming and blaming. The Me Too movement will only be a success when we go above and beyond to fight for the cause of social justice and freedom from fear of harassment.

Feature Image Credits: Pinkvilla

Image Credits: Recode

 

Kinjal Pandey

[email protected] 

 

 

WHAT’S THIS THING CALLED ‘BOKEH’?

Also known as “Boke”, it is one of the most popular subjects in photography. Why? Because it makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. The word comes from the Japanese language, which literally translates as “blur”. So bokeh is essentially the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens.

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Photo by Vansh Sabarwal for DU Beat

LENS TO USE FOR BOKEH PHOTOGRAPHY

For capturing great out-of-focus pictures, photographers usually use the fastt lens or the fast prime lenses. Lenses with small aperture values of f/1.2, f/1.4, f/1.8 are called fast lenses as they allow more light to enter due to which we can increase the shutter speed. These lenses produce shallow depth of field due to which background/fore-ground gets out-of-focus and that creates an aesthetically appealing photographs, known as bokeh.

Source:
Source: Canon Global

CREATING DIFFERENT FUN BOKEH SHAPES

We can create bokeh of different shapes by using the most basic requisites. Take a small black piece of paper and cut it approximately into the size of your camera lens and tape it over it. Cutting the piece of black paper into different shapes, whatever pleases the cameraman works. When pictures shall be captured with the black piece of paper stuck to the lens, you will get the bokeh effect from the shape you cut it out in, be it heart or squares.

Source:
Source: DIY Photography

 

Source:
Photo by Vansh Sabarwal

VALUE ADDITION TO THE PICTURE

Engaging in bokeh photography is fun. But it becomes even more fun when we understand and manouvre with different angles in clicking the said picture. Focussing is essential. To get great output in the form of pictures, one needs to understand what one needs to focus on. When one masters that, the pictures that come out of it, are worth the effort.

Source:
Photo by PV Purnima for DU Beat
Source:
Photo by Vansh Sabarwal for DU Beat

 

Few Examples:

Vansh Sabarwal
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Ankita Kar Dharmakar
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Photos: Vansh Sabarwal, PV Purnima, and Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed various authorities — including the Delhi Police, DMRC, MCDs, DU vice-chancellor, Union Home ministry, winning candidates of DUSU polls, the dean of students’ welfare, and the petitioner in the case of preventing defacement of public property during Delhi University Student Union election campaigning – to convene a meeting in order to devise a plan of action.

The court has also asked the winning candidates to place an action plan on how they proposed to clean the area and how future elections would be conducted. A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued the order while hearing the plea filed by advocate Prashant Manchanda, as reported by The Indian Express.

On Monday, the elected student representatives — including DUSU president Rocky Tuseed and vice-president Kunal Sehrawat — were in court. Stating that many of the defaced properties bore his name, the bench sought an explanation from Rocky. Counsel for Rocky told the court that they had carried out cleanliness drives in the North and South campuses — with the help of students and NGOs — to remove the graffiti and spray paint, irrespective of which candidate or political party had carried out the defacement.

The plea highlighted defacement of public property in Delhi University, properties within the jurisdiction of the MCDs and the Delhi Metro. It added that it was next to impossible to completely remove the defacement. The bench then directed the authorities to file a report of the meeting — to be held on 27th October at 3 pm at the dean’s office — on the next date of hearing on 28th November.

The bench has further said that defacement of public property was a cognizable offence, punishable with 10 years in jail. Rocky and the other candidates assured the bench that they would not do so in future.

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Ankita Dhar Karmakar
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