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Ayodhya: Ram Janmabhoomi Trust releases 3D visualization of Ram Mandir construction progress, watch video

OpIndia Staff
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Ayodhya: Ram Janmabhoomi Trust releases 3D visualization of Ram Mandir construction progress, watch video

On Thursday, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust released a 3D animation video describing in detail the process of the construction of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. The five-minute video captured the specifics and technicalities of the Ram Mandir Construction.

Explaining the entire timeline right from the temple location to the land excavation process that started in the month of January 2021, the 3D visualization released by the Trust clarifies how exactly the temple is being constructed. The temple will be built in 10 acres and 57 acres of land will be developed into a complex with a prayer hall, a lecture hall, an educational facility and other facilities like a museum and a cafeteria.

Excavations for the construction started in January 2021 and were completed in March 2021. The engineering fill of the excavated site has been divided into 5 zones and constitutes of 48 layers, each layer of 250 mm thickness. The temple is said to have a total of 360 columns, each having 16 idols to include the incarnations of Shiva, the Dashavataras, the Chausath Yoginis, and the 12 incarnations of the goddess Saraswati.

Currently, the plinth stone erection process is going on which will be completed by March 2022.

According to the visuals, the execution process began in the month of September 2021 when the tower cranes were installed at the location. At present, the columns of the temple are being fixed and the process is estimated to gain ground by the month of March this year. Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on August 2021 had informed that the construction of Ram Mandir was gaining pace and that it would be ready soon. “The doors would be opened for all devotees for darshan soon”, it had tweeted.

The original design for the Ram temple was prepared in 1988 by the Sompura family of Ahmedabad. The Sompuras have been part of the design of over 100 temples all over the world for at least 15 generations, including the Somnath temple. While the temple architect is being looked after by the company of Chandrakant Sompura, Larsen & Toubro have offered to oversee the design and construction of the temple free of cost and are the building contractors of the project. Meanwhile, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd has been designated as a project management consultant.

The Sompura family had designed the Akshardham Temple of Gujarat and the Somnath Temple too. The Ram Mandir is designed by Chandrakantbhai Sompura and his sons.

The construction work will be accomplished with 600 thousand cubic feet of sandstone Bansi mountain stones from Rajasthan. Thirty years ago, more than two hundred thousand bricks etched with the ‘Shri Rama’ in several languages had arrived from various parts of the country, these will be utilized in the foundation.

According to the reports, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust began the first phase of construction of the Ram Temple in March 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown in India followed by the 2020 China–India skirmishes caused a temporary suspension of the construction.

The temple construction officially started again after a Bhoomi Poojan ceremony on 5 August 2020. Three-day long Vedic rituals were held ahead of the ground-breaking ceremony, which revolved around the installation of a 40 kg silver brick as the foundation stone by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

The Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had earlier said that the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya would be ready in three years time. The Trust will open the temple for devotees by December 2023 and the entire project including the museum, digital archives and a research centre will be complete by the year 2025.

Arnab Goswami led NBF expresses disappointment over withholding of TV ratings by BARC despite I&B ministry direction, urges to release it without delay

OpIndia Staff
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Arnab Goswami led NBF expresses disappointment over withholding of TV ratings by BARC despite I&B ministry direction, urges to release it without delay

News Broadcasters Federation, the largest congregation of news broadcasters including Republic TV, TV9, Asianet and most major regional TV news networks, has expressed displeasure over the failure of BARC to publish the viewership ratings of news channels in the country. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday (12 January 2022) had issued a directive to BARC to resume the release of ratings with immediate effect, but the same has not been done yet.

BARC had suspended the publication of weekly viewership ratings following the allegations of manipulation by India Today TV and two other networks had emerged in 2020. However, the controversy had taken an ugly turn after Mumbai Police had targeted Republic TV in the case, instead of taking action against India Today which was named in the complaint and the FIR.

NBF has said that it is deeply disappointed over BARC withholding the television ratings for the news genre, despite clear directions from the Ministry to resume it with immediate effect. The News broadcasters Federation (NBF) in a press release said that the audience viewership data for new channels is with BARC and withholding it despite clear instruction from the Ministry, is not necessary.

The Press release asks BARC to comply with the order from the ministry and release the news genre ratings without any further delay. It reads, “The BARC should comply and release the ratings of news channels without any further delay. If there are news channels that don’t want ratings they can be voluntarily exempt.” The request is in light of the losses suffered by the News broadcasters in advertising as the performance ratings of News channels were not released.

“NBF calls upon BARC to release the ratings and not delay this any further, to put an end to the severe challenge the news genre was facing as advertising was deeply hurt in absence of any ratings,” he federation further said.

The BARC was asked to resume publication of TRP data after a halt of 16 months following the alleged charges on manipulation of ratings in October 2020. Revoking the curb, The I & B ministry on Wednesday said, “We have asked BARC to release the News ratings with immediate effect and also to release the last three months data, for the genre in a monthly format, for fair and equitable representation of true trends.”

In a statement, the ministry had said, “In the spirit of the TRP committee report and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI’s) recommendation dated 28.04.2020, M/s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has undertaken revision in its processes, protocols, oversight mechanism and initiated changes in governance structure etc. The reconstitution of the board and the technical committee to allow for the induction of independent members have also been initiated by BARC. A permanent oversight committee has also been formed. The access protocols for data have been revamped and tightened.”

News Broadcasters Federation is one of the two rival organisations of TV news networks in India, which was created on the initiative of Arnab Goswami, the current board president of the group. The other organisation is News Broadcasters Association, which comprises NDTV, News18, Times Network, TV Today, Zee News, India TV, ABP and some others, and is currently chaired by Rajat Sharma. While NBA has most national news networks, NBF is much larger in terms of the number of members as it has a large number of regional channels as members, and currently has over 50 members.

Dawood Ibrahim’s nephew Sohail Kaskar manages to escape to Pakistan, was wanted by Mumbai Police

OpIndia Staff
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Dawood Ibrahim’s nephew Sohail Kaskar manages to escape to Pakistan, was wanted by Mumbai Police

Sohail Kaskar, the nephew of India’s most-wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim has fled to Pakistan. The attempts of Mumbai Police to trace Sohail, who was jailed in the US after being convicted on charges of narco-terrorism have failed. According to recent sources, Kaskar has fled to Pakistan via Dubai.

Recently, the Mumbai Police had intercepted a phone conversation with Sohail’s voice. After consultation with the American agencies, it was confirmed that he had fled to Pakistan via Dubai. Questions are being raised over the cooperation of Mumbai Police and investigative units in the US over this case. Kaskar is the son of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother.

As per reports, Kaskar and his associate Danish Ali were arrested by the US and Spanish government agents from Spain under charges of arms smuggling and narcotics dealing. While the Indian police were able to get Danish Ali extradited from the USA, Kasar’s extradition was awaited.

It is not yet understood how and under what circumstances Kaskar managed to flee to Pakistan from the USA. A report by Republic TV stated that CBI officials had no information on his travel to Pakistan.

Since his detention in September 2015 in the US, Indian officials were trying through various diplomatic means to bring Kaskar to India. Mumbai Police and the Indian agencies were trying hard for Sohail Kaskar’s extradition to India under the India-USA mutual legal assistance treaty (2005).

Sohail Kaskar had been caught in Spain in 2014 and brought to the United States over charges of narco-terrorism and for selling arms to Colombian rebels. Sohail had left India at the age of 10 with his father Noora Kaskar and uncle Dawood Ibrahim after the Mumbai serial bomb blasts in 1993.

Radio Pakistan launches another anti-India propaganda, supports banned Khalistani terrorist organisation SFJ

OpIndia Staff
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Radio Pakistan launches another anti-India propaganda, supports banned Khalistani terrorist organisation SFJ

On January 12, the Pakistan government’s mouthpiece Radio Pakistan launched another anti-India propaganda and sided with the banned Khalistani terrorist organization Sikhs for Justice. In a post on its website, Radio Pakistan claimed India is running propaganda to ‘defame’ Sikhs for Justice.

Recently, based on the intelligence information provided by the Indian government, the German authorities arrested terrorist Jaswinder Singh Multani of Sikhs for Justice, who was involved in the Ludhiana Court blast. Radio Pakistan tried to defend SFJ by saying it had distanced itself from the terror attack. Pakistan further claimed that the US administration had refused India’s narrative to label the Khalistan movement as a terrorist.

SFJ has written multiple times to Imran Khan for support

In the past, Sikhs for Justice has written to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on multiple occasions to support the Khalistan movement officially. Recently, just two days before the Golden Temple lynching case, SFJ’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannu had written to Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, to support SFJ to “Free Punjab” and form “Khalistan”.

In the letter addressed to Khan on December 16, terrorist organization SFJ called itself a “human rights advocacy group”. The letter read, “SFJ is conducting its first-ever global non-governmental Khalistan Referendum on the question ‘should Indian governed Punjab be an Independent country”?” and sought his support in the referendum.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s anti-India propaganda

For years, SFJ’s founder and designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu has been making provocative speeches. He was directly linked to the January 26 incident in which he had urged Sikh youth to hoist the Khalistani flag on Red Fort. On January 26, two flags were hoisted on Red Fort with the holy Sikh symbol. Recently, SFJ took the responsibility of blockade of PM Modi’s convoy in Ferozpur. Several advocates of the Supreme Court had recently reported that they had received threatening calls from SFJ operatives from the UK in which they warned the apex court not to peruse the case.

Comedy of Errors: Twitter user gets inundated with calls, messages after AAP announces #JantaChunegiCM campaign, here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
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Comedy of Errors: Twitter user gets inundated with calls, messages after AAP announces #JantaChunegiCM campaign, here is what happened

Aam Aadmi Party’s latest political stunt #JantaChunegiCM has turned out to be a harrowing experience for a Twitter user. Turns out, the number AAP released for the campaign is so similar to this Twitter user that all AAP supporters and some critics are sending their votes and favourite candidate and, well, some abuses, to this individual instead of sending it to AAP hotline. Here is what happened:

Earlier in the day, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal announced a phone number for the ‘WhatsApp call/message’ hotline and urged people to send in the name of their favourite candidate for upcoming Punjab elections as CM face.

The number on Truecaller revealed it was saved in name of ‘Lavnasur CM Bhagwant Mann’.

AAP number

Lavnasur is the monicker given to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal by Twitter users. You can read about why he is called so here.

Except, some AAP followers noted down a wrong number and ended up being a nightmare for Tarun Bhairam, a Twitter user.

Tarun’s tweet

Tarun tweeted to Arvind Kejriwal, bewildered, that it seems like he gave away his number for the WhatsApp campaign for Punjab CM.

Tarun’s tweet

However, turns out that Bhairam’s phone number is very similar to AAP hotline and many AAP supporters likely noted down a wrong number and inundated him with their choice of CM. As one can see, various people including someone identifying himself/herself as ‘Trendy Girls’ wanted Bhagwant Mann as CM. But they all seem to have gotten the number wrong.

Our sympathies with Tarun Bhairam.

Congress releases first list of 125 candidates for UP assembly elections, ticket allotted to mother of the Unnao rape victim

OpIndia Staff
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Congress releases first list of 125 candidates for UP assembly elections, ticket allotted to mother of the Unnao rape victim

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has announced 125 candidates of the party for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. On 13th January 2022, Priyanka Gandhi addressed a press conference where she released the list. In the first list, 40 per cent of the candidates are women. Announcing the names of women, Priyanka Gandhi said that all these women are strugglers. Congress has also given a ticket to Asha Devi, the mother of Unnao rape victim.

Congress General Secretary announced the list in an online press conference

In an attempt to lead the other competitors in the UP state assembly elections of 2022, the congress party on Thursday has announced the names of the candidates for 125 seats in the state. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi announced the names in an online press conference. In the press conference, Priyanka Gandhi said, “Out of the list of 125 candidates, 50 are women. We have tried that there should be candidates who are struggling and initiating new politics in the entire state. It is our effort that through them we will be able to give a new direction to the politics of UP.”

40 percent women candidates

Notably, the Congress party has fielded 40 per cent of women candidates in the first list of 125 candidates including Asha Devi, mother of Unnao rape victim. Priyanka Gandhi said, “There are some women journalists on this list. One is an actress and the rest are struggling women, who have struggled for many years while in Congress. Today there is a dictatorial government in UP. Our effort is to bring the issues to the center.”

About leaders leaving the party

On the question of leaders leaving Congress, Priyanka Gandhi said, “It happens in every election. Some people come, some people go. Some get scared. Our struggle requires courage. It hurts when someone leaves.”

The elections to be conducted in seven phases

Voting for 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will begin in seven phases from February 10. Voting will be held in UP in seven phases on 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 of February, and March 3 and 7. While the counting of votes will take place on March 10. The Election Commission has not allowed any political rallies and roadshows till January 15 for the assembly elections in UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand because of Corona.

Karnataka: Congress suspends Mekedatu padayatra after High Court slammed state govt for not stopping “super spread” event and BBMP cancelled permission

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: Congress suspends Mekedatu padayatra after High Court slammed state govt for not stopping “super spread” event and BBMP cancelled permission

The Bangalore Municipal Corporation on Thursday cancelled the permission to Congress for the final event of Mekedatu Padayatra scheduled on January 19. This is after the High Court slammed the Congress party for the ‘super spreader’ event and had also slammed the Karnataka Government under CM Basavaraj Bommai for taking no action to stop the march. Subsequently, today the party decided to suspend its Padayatra program in the state for the time being.

The Karnataka High Court had questioned the state govt for its inability to stop the padayatra amid the third wave of Covid-19. The court had asked whether the state Government and its authorities were ‘helpless and totally incompetent’ to stop the event when no permission was granted, and the Covid-19 guidelines prohibit such rallies and gatherings.

The Padayatra was scheduled to enter Bengaluru tomorrow, but now that has been cancelled as the BBMP cancelled the permission given for the same. After that, the party call-off the program after growing criticism over the event that has turned into a super spreader event.

“We have been successful in the last five days. We were supposed to end the padayatra in Bengaluru. Because of the third wave we have to postpone it for now,” former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah informed. He added that the party will resume the event after the third wave is over.

Earlier today, CM Basavaraj Bommai had also written to Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, urging them to call off the program. Bommani assured them that the Mekedatu dam project on the river Cauvery is on track, the demand of the padayatra.

The Congress party leaders who attended the padayatra already for four days were seen blatantly violating the COVID norms. Several participants of the padayatra were also reported COVID positive. Congress member and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge today revealed his COVID positive report after he attended the opening event of the Mekedatu padayatra.

Kharge is fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, according to a statement issued by his secretary. “He is, however, not yet eligible for a booster shot”, said the statement. Two days ago, an official complaint was lodged against Congress chief DK Shivakumar for refusing to undergo a COVID-19 test. He was found coughing publicly while leading the padayatra protest against the Mekedatu dam.

The Congress leader had also defended the padayatra on multiple occasions and had allegedly said that he is perfectly healthy and does not need any test. The Congress party leaders called the ban, a politically motivated move of the ruling BJP in the state.

The 10-day padayatra with the theme ‘Our water, Our right’ was launched on January 9 at the Sangama, the confluence of Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers at Kanakapura in Ramanagara district. The march from Mekedatu to Bengaluru, passing through Kanakapura, Ramanagara and Bidadi, was scheduled to culminate at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru on January 19.

The shocking visuals of the padayatra emerged on Sunday where a large group were seen attending the padayatra without wearing masks or observing social distances. The Bommai Government has also banned the movement of vehicles to and from Ramanagar to avoid a state-wide health calamity. Several FIRs have already been filed against several Congress leaders for violation of Covid-19 norms.

The state government has also imposed a curfew on weekends and restricted public gatherings to fight the surge in COVID-19 cases, till January 19. It has also imposed a night curfew, and prohibited all rallies, dharnas and protests, among others. Reporting yet another spike, Karnataka on Wednesday has registered 21,390 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 10 fatalities, taking the tally to 30,99,519 and the death toll to 38,389. The total number of active cases across the state is now 93,099.

Rajasthan: Raped and left to die, specially-abled minor girl undergoes surgery, minister assures justice

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Raped and left to die, specially-abled minor girl undergoes surgery, minister assures justice

The specially-abled girl who was found left to die in a critical condition at the Tijara flyover in Alwar, Rajasthan, after suspected rape, has undergone major surgeries and is currently stable. Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena has confirmed that doctors have successfully operated on her and she is out of danger now.

The girl was rushed to the JK Lone hospital and admitted to the ICU after being found in an unconscious state on the flyover on Tuesday.

The Rajasthan Minister while speaking to ANI has assured that a Special Investigation Team has been formed to investigate the matter. “SIT has been set up to probe the matter. The accused will be arrested and brought to justice at the earliest”, He added. The Minister has assured that the entire treatment of the girl will be the government’s responsibility.

The medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Arvind Shukla said, “The minor was admitted at around 2 am, was under shock and bleeding profusely. A blood transfusion was done. She is stable and has undergone surgery, where plastic surgeons and gynaecologists were called. Her blood pressure has come back to normal.” Owing to the nature of wounds, the police believes the girl was raped and has been brutalised with sharp weapons.

SP Tejaswani Gautam informed that over 150 CCTV cameras in the area are being examined and probable suspects are being interrogated.

Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje Scindia has raised serious questions about the safety of women in the state. She tweeted, “Rajasthan has become No 1 in crimes against women. This cannot be tolerated. The Congress government needs to take urgent steps to protect women and save them from exploitation.”

The state of women safety in the state has been alarming for the past months, with several cases of rape and molestation being reported. On January 10, a mentally challenged woman was brutalised by two men in Banswada. On January 9, it was reported that an std 11 student was gang-raped by three people, after being kidnapped by her own teacher in Jodhpur. In Nagaur, on January 08, a two-and-a-half-year-old child was taken to the bushes and raped.

Harish Rawat gets his rival out, former Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay removed from all posts for ‘hobnobbing with BJP’

OpIndia Staff
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Harish Rawat gets his rival out, former Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay removed from all posts for ‘hobnobbing with BJP’

The former Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay has been removed from all party posts on the charge of ‘anti-party activities’, days after he reportedly met senior state BJP leaders. While further action is pending against him, Upadhyay is stated to be unhappy with former Congress CM Harish Rawat who is heading the assembly election campaign.

On January 3, Upadhyay had met some senior Uttarakhand BJP leaders at the residence of BJP organisational general secretary Ajeya Kumar. The BJP election in-charge Pralhad Joshi was also present in the meeting.

Uttarakhand in charge of the Congress, Devendra Yadav in his letter to Upadhyay accused him of continuous anti-party activities and hobnobbing with the BJP and other political parties. Yadav said that despite multiple warnings, Upadhyay was indulged in anti-party activities.

“People of Uttarakhand are yearning for change and are waiting to throw out the corrupt BJP government. There is wide spread anger with the maladministration, misgovernance and all-round corruption aided and abetted by the BJP leadership. It is the solemn duty of each one of us to rise to the challenge and serve the Devbhumi of Uttarakhand as also its people. Sadly, you have been hobnobbing with BJP and other political parties with a view to undermine this fight and weaken the cause of the people,” Yadav alleged in his letter.

One senior Congress leader associated with the Uttarakhand election said that the letter was only a formality since they were aware of Upadhyay going to join the Congress.

Upadhyay has now been withdrawn as chairman of the Uttarakhand Congress Coordination Committee, member of the state Congress Core Committee, and the Uttarakhand Congress Pradesh Election Committee.

In the past, Upadhyay served as president of the state unit from June 2014 till May 2017. He remained state spokesperson as well as the chief whip of the Congress legislative fold from 2008 till 2012. He also served as industry minister in the ND Tiwari-led government.

While his meeting with BJP leaders created a storm in the Congress party as well as in Uttarakhand politics, Upadhyay dismissed his meeting had any political motive. He said that he meets different people related to his forest rights activities. In the past also he had met former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party head, Akhilesh Yadav.

It is evident from the past couple of months that Upadhyay has turned critical towards the Congress party. He had alleged that he was neither given due respect nor a right place despite playing a significant role in strengthening the Congress in Uttarakhand.

Upadhyay accused Rawat of backstabbing and said Rawat was active in getting him defeated from the Sahaspur assembly seat during the 2017 assembly election.

Uttar Pradesh: Muslim girl marries Hindu boy in Bareilly’s Agastya Muni Ashram, seeks police protection from her family

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Muslim girl marries Hindu boy in Bareilly’s Agastya Muni Ashram, seeks police protection from her family

A Muslim girl named Jeenat in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district has appealed for police protection after she married a Hindu boy in the city’s Agastya Muni Ashram on January 12. Jeenat, who has now changed her name to Jyoti and adopted the Hindu religion, said that this interfaith marriage was not forced on her.

According to the reports, the Muslim girl named Jeenat, aged 21 years, got married to one Sachin Sharma in Bareily. A video of the girl has gone viral on social media in which she is saying that she was not forced to get married and she is of marriageable age. The girl says that she has married the person of her choice out of her own volition and appeals to the local police to not harass the friends or family members of Sachin over false complaints.

The girl has adopted the Hindu faith and has said that her new name is Jyoti.

The family of the girl has meanwhile lodged a complaint against Sachin Sharma accusing him of ‘kidnapping’ the girl. The city police are said to have considered the case as the matter is of interfaith marriage. “Jeenat has proved her legal marriage age. We are investigating the issue as her mother has lodged an official complaint”, said Inspector Rajeev Kumar Singh, as per reports.

Reports further suggest that the girl has stated to police that she is of legal marriageable age and the marriage has been performed as per her own choice. The members of Hindu organisations in the city also attended the marriage ceremony at the Agastya Muni Ashram and protected the couple during the wedding. At the Agastya Muni Ashram, Sachin and Jyoti were married as per Hindu customs and rituals.

It is pertinent to note that a High Court in Haryana, Punjab had ruled that a Muslim girl on attaining puberty is at liberty to marry anyone she likes and the guardian has no right to interfere. The Court while hearing the protection plea of a 17-year-old Muslim girl who married a Hindu boy willfully, had said that ‘marriage of a Muslim girl is governed by the Muslim Personal Law and that she can enter into a marriage of her choice’.

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