Handbook on

Child Labour
 CONTENTS
1. Introduction: 01

2. Constitutional provisions 01

3. Denition of Child labour 02

4. Causes of Child Labour 03

5. Myths & Facts 03

6. Data on Child labour: 05

7. Approach of the Government 05

The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition &

Regulation) Act -1986
07

8. Dispute related to age verication of the

Child /adolescent
11

9. Role of Technical Advisory Committee 11

10. Role of the District Magistrate 12

11. Offences under the Act 12

12. Child and Adolescent Rehabilitation Fund 13

13. Role of Inspector: 13

14. Special Task Force: 13

15. Payment of amount to rescued child/adolescent
from Child and Adolescent Labour 14
Rehabilitation Fund
1. Introduction:
Child labour is a complex issue that deprives children of their childhood, their
potential and their dignity. Though undesirable, child labour persists in our
country on account of socio-economic compulsions. On account of poverty,
many parents send their children to work in order to supplement their income.
The income derived from child labour, however meager, is sometimes
necessary to sustain the family. On one hand, a certain amount of non-
exploitative child labour persists in family enterprises at the same time there
are other forms of child employment in hazardous trades, factories and other
organized establishments which rob the young of their childhood and are
banned under the law.

Not all work done by children can be classied as child labour that is to be
targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that
does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their
schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes
activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family
business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school
holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to
the welfare of their families. They provide them with skills and experience, and
help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult
life.

2. Constitutional provisions
Constitution of India provides for protection and development of children and
Article 15 (3) permits positive discrimination in favour of children by providing
for the following:

“Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special
provision for women and children.”

With regard to child labour, three specic Articles in the constitution are
important to understand. Article 21A, which makes education free and
compulsory between the ages of 6-14 years; Article 24 that prohibits
employment of children in factories and mines and Article 39, which requires

01
the State to direct its policies to ensure the tender age of children is not
abused. These Articles are given below.
Article 21A: The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all
children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by
law, determine.
Article 24: No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work
in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.
Article 39 (e): that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and
the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by
economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength;
Article 39 (f): that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in
a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood
and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material
abandonment.

3. Denition of Child labour:

Child labour has been dened in W.P.(Crl.) No. 2069/2005 in the matter of
Save the Childhood Foundation Vs. Union of India and Others. As “ a system of
employing or engaging a child to provide labour or service to any person, for
any payment or benet, paid to the child or to any other person exercising
control over the said child”.
According to ILO, the term “child labour” is often dened as work that deprives
children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful
to physical and mental development. It refers to work that:
v is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to
children; and
v interferes with their schooling by:
v depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;
v obliging them to leave school prematurely; or
v requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively
long and heavy work.

02
4. Causes of Child Labour:
• Poverty- is one of the biggest factors in contributing to child labour, in fact
it will be better expressed as that both these components “Poverty & Child
Labour” fuel the prevalence of each other
• Difcult family situation also leads to child labour, for instance where the
child has a single parent or parents are incapacitated due to illness
• Low level of education & ignorance among the family is also a reason
which contributes to child labour. Parents are not educated and are
ignorant enough to understand the value of education
• Social exclusion- this still happens in remote areas of our country where
children from lower strata/caste are not allowed to enter schools and
obtain education as they are not allowed to sit with the children from the
upper caste
• Migration- children are not able to receive education if the families are low
income and migrate often or seasonally for work. In these situations
children are often left out of schools and are seen working alongside their
parents. This is mostly prevalent in construction sites where parents
reside in temporary shelters at worksites for the duration of the
construction activity and then move to other location.
• Gender bias- In India this is another major factor contributing to child
labour , where people think it is important to educate the male child as he
will contribute to family in the coming years while the girl marries and goes
out of the family and therefore is discriminated
• Dysfunctional families contribute to child labour. Families with instances
of alcohol consumption, gambling and domestic violence often are not
able to make their ends meet and hence children are required to work for
additional income.

5. Myths & Facts:

Myth- a child works to send money back home for supplementing the
household income.
Fact- Under abject exploitation many a times the child is barely able to make
his ends meet, let alone extending any help to parents whatsoever.

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Myth¹- children work primarily because their parents are not alive
Fact- Only 3 out of 1000 child labourers are orphans.
Myth²- Every form of child labour is bad.
Fact- The type of work children can be involved in differs greatly, and not all
work done by children has been targeted for elimination. For instance,if a child
or teenager is involved in work that does not have a negative impact on their
health or prevent them from attending school, it is generally considered
acceptable. It is recognised that this type of work can be a positive inuence
on children by contributing to their personal development and the welfare of
their families.
Myth- Most child labourers work in factories:
Fact- ILO global estimates show that 58.6% of child labourers aged between
ve and 17 work in the agricultural sector; 6.9% work in domestic work;
7.2% work in the industrial sector including mining, manufacturing and
construction, and 25.4% work in services including retail trade, restaurants
and transport.
“Often, most people hear about children working in sweatshops and factories,
but in fact the majority of child labour occurs in agriculture, often in very poor
subsistence farming areas,
Myth- Child labour only exists in poor countries:
Fact- Child labour is a global problem. The largest number of child labourers
are found in Asia and the Pacic (77.7 million), while sub-Saharan Africa has
the highest incidence of child labour, with 21% of children aged between ve
and 17 involved in the practice.
But beyond these regions, child labour is still an issue. “Of the 168 million
children in child labour, 12 million are in upper or middle income countries,”
Myth- Child labour is a necessary evil for growing economies:
Fact- There is a school of thought that major economies were built partly on
the exploitation of child labour, and that the availability of cheap labour is
necessary for today’s burgeoning economies. Domestic workers in private
households, of which 10.5 million are children, play an important role in the
smooth running of national economies, as do garment and factory workers.

1 All You Want to Know About Child Labour- In Coversation With Kailash Satyarthi.
2 http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/wdacl/lang--en/index.html

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But the ILO argues that growing economies require quality education and a
skilled workforce to ourish. “If you look at a number of countries in Asia,
South America and elsewhere, there are examples of economies that have
expanded rapidly while making education and social protection schemes a
priority. For many, investing in education has helped lead to economic growth

6. Data on Child labour:

According to the Census

1971 10753985

1981 13640870

1991 11285349

2001 12666377

2011 4353247

7. Approach of the Government

In 1979, Government of India formed the rst committee called
Gurupadswamy Committee to study the issue of child labour and suggest
measures to tackle it. The Committee examined the problem in detail and
made some far-reaching recommendations. It observed that as long as
poverty continues, it would be difcult to totally eliminate child labour and
therefore, any attempt to abolish it through legal recourse would not be a
practical solution. The Committee felt that in such circumstances, the only
alternative would be to ban child labour in hazardous areas and to regulate the
conditions of work in other areas.
Based on the recommendations of Gurupadaswamy Committee, the Child
Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986. The Act
prohibited employment of children in certain specied hazardous
occupations and processes and regulated the working conditions in others.
The list of hazardous occupations and processes was progressively
expanded on the recommendation of Child Labour Technical Advisory
Committee constituted under the Act.
In agreement with the above approach, a National Policy on Child Labour was
formulated in 1987. The Policy seeked to adopt a gradual & sequential
approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous

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occupations & processes in the rst instance. An Action Plan was formulated
for tackling this issue, which included: Legislative Action Plan for strict
enforcement of Child Labour Act; focusing on general developmental
programmes for beneting child labour; and project based interventions to be
initiated in areas of high concentration of child labour.
Following this Plan, in 1988, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP)
Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour. The Scheme provides
for running of special schools for child labour withdrawn from work. In the
special schools, these children are provided formal/non-formal education
along with vocational training, a stipend, supplementary nutrition and regular
health check-up.
In December, 1992, Government of India ratied the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child however, Article 32 of the Convention that relates to child
labour was ratied by stating that
“it is not practical immediately to prescribe minimum ages for admission to
each and every area of employment in India - the Government of India shall
take measures to progressively implement the provisions of Article 32”
In 2016, Government of India amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986 due to following reasons:
v To remove the contradiction of child labour law with the Right to Education
Act, according to which elementary education is free for every child in a
neighborhood school. The contradiction existed as the child labour law
allowed children upto 14 years of age to work in non-hazardous
occupations and processes and on the other hand, RTE made education
free and compulsory.
v Need to ratify ILO Convention 138 that relates to keeping the minimum
age of entry to work at 15 years keeping in view the diverse stages of
socio-economic development of the country.
v Need to ratify ILO Convention 182 that relates to prohibition and
elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency.

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The Child and Adolescent Labour
Child
(Prohibition & Regulation) Act -1986 (Person who has not
completed 14 years of
age or as specied in
Who is a child? RTE whichever is more)

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Who is an adolescent?

Adolescent
( Person who has
completed 14 years but
not completed 18

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3 Inspector-

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8. Dispute related to age verication of the Child
/adolescent:
• Documents to determine the age of the adolescent/Child are-
(i) Aadhar card of the adolescent
(ii) Date of birth certicate from school
(iii) Matriculation or equivalent certicate from the concerned
examination Board
(iv) The birth certicate issued by the corporation or municipal authority
or panchayat
• If the above documents are missing then the age shall be determined
through an ossication test or any other latest medical age determination
test by the prescribed medical authority .
• The age certicate provided by the prescribed medical authority will be
treated as a conclusive evidence for determining the age of the child.
• The medical authorities can grant certicate of age for adolescents in
employment or seeking employment.
• No charge should be taken by the concerned authority in order to provide
certicate of age.
• Order for ossication test can be given by appropriate authority not below
the rank of Additional Labour Commissioner.
• Test should be completed within 15 days of the order issued.

9. Role of Technical Advisory Committee

• Advise the govt. for addition of occupations and processes to the
Schedule
• Has 10 members including the chairman
• Has the power to regulate its own procedure

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10. Role of the District Magistrate
Ø Species the nodal ofcers, who shall exercise all or any of the powers
and perform all or any of the duties of the District Magistrate
Ø Assign powers and duties to nodal ofcers as he thinks t within the limits
of his jurisdiction.
Ø Preside over as chairperson of the Task Force formed at the district level.
Ø The district magistrate shall ensure that the children and adolescents
who are employed in contravention of the provisions of the act are rescued
and rehabilitated.

11. Offences under the Act:

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12. Child and Adolescent Rehabilitation Fund:
Ø The State Government will constitute a fund in every district or club two or
more districts together. The ne realized from the employer of the child or
adolescent will be credited in this fund.
Ø Any amount recovered as ne or for composition of offences in pursuance
of an order or judgment of a Court in favour of a child or adolescent for the
contravention of the provisions of the Act, shall also be deposited in the
Fund.
Ø The state government will credit Rs.15000 in the fund for each child or
adolescent for whom ne is credited.
Ø The government can decide upon how the money credited in the fund has
to be invested. The interest accrued on the invested amount must be paid
to the child/adolescent.

13. Role of Inspector:

The Central Government appoints inspectors to -
Ø Conduct inspections from time to time as specied by the central
government.
Ø Report the Central Government quarterly regarding the inspection made
by him for the purposes of securing the compliance with the provisions of
the Act and the action taken by him for such purposes.
Ø Conduct periodical inspections of places where employment of children is
prohibited and hazardous occupations and processes are carried out

14. Special Task Force:

Task Force has to be formed in a district which consists of –
• Inspector appointed under section 17
• Superintendent of Police
• Additional District Magistrate
• Nodal ofcer appointed by the District magistrate
• Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central)

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• Two representatives each from a voluntary organisation involved in
rescue and rehabilitation of employed children in the district on rotation
basis for a period of two years;
• A representative of the District Legal Services Authority to be nominated
by the District Judge
• A member of the District Anti-trafcking Unit;
• Chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee of the District;
• Child Labour Protection Ofcer in the District under the Integrated Child
Protection Scheme of the Ministry of the Government of India dealing
with women and child development;

The task force shall meet at least once every month and make a
comprehensive action plan for conducting rescue operation taking into
account- point of raid, condentiality of plan, and protection of victims &
witnesses and provide interim relief in accordance with the rescue and
repatriation issued by the Central Government.

15. Payment of amount to rescued child/adolescent

from Child and Adolescent Labour Rehabilitation
Fund-
Ø The amount credited, deposited or invested in the Child Adolescent
Labour Rehabilitation Fund and the interest accrued on it, shall be paid to
the child or adolescent in whose favor such amount is credited.
Ø The Inspector or the nodal ofcer having jurisdiction shall ensure that an
account of such child or adolescent is opened in a nationalized bank and
inform the bank in which the amount of the Fund is deposited
Ø The interest accrued on the proportionate amount of the Fund in favour of
the child or adolescent shall be biannually transferred to the account of
the child or adolescent, by the bank or ofcer responsible to invest the
amount.
When the concerned child or adolescent completes the age of eighteen years,
then, within a period of three months, the total amount credited, deposited or
invested in favour of the child along with interest accrued shall be transferred
to the bank account of child or adolescent.

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What is Hazardous Work?
(1) Mines
(2) Inammable Substances or Explosives
(3) Hazardous Process

Explanation.- For the purposes of this Schedule, “hazardous process” has the
meaning assigned to it in clause (cb) of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948)

“PART A”

Hazardous occupations and processes in which adolescents are prohibited to

work and children are prohibited to help
(1) Mines and Collieries (underground and underwater) and related work in,-
Ø Stone quarries
Ø Brick kilns
Ø Preparatory and incidental processes thereof including extraction,
grinding, cutting, splitting, polishing,collection, cobbling of stones or
lime or slate or silica or mica or any other such element.
Ø A Mineral extracted from the earth.
Ø Open Pit Mines.

(2) Inammable substances and explosives such as –

Ø Production, storage or sale of re crackers.
Ø For manufacture, storage, sale, loading, unloading or transport of
explosives as dened under the Explosives Act, 1884 (4 of 1884).
Ø Work relating to manufacturing, handling, grinding, glazing, cutting,
polishing, welding, moulding, electro-plating, or any other process
involving inammable substances.
Ø Waste management of inammable substances, explosives and their
by-products.
Ø Natural gas and other related products.

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Hazardous processes(serial numbers (3) to (31) below are as specied in
the First Schedule of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948))

(3) Ferrous Metallurgical Industries

(i) Integrated Iron and Steel;
(ii) Ferro-alloys;
(iii) Special Steels.

(4) Non-ferrous Metallurgical Industries:Primary Metallurgical Industries,

namely zinc, lead, copper, manganese and aluminium.
(5) Foundries (ferrous and non-ferrous):Castings and forgings including
cleaning or smoothening or roughening by sand and shot blasting.
(6) Coal (including coke) Industries:
(i) Coal, Lignite, Coke, similar other substance;
(ii) Fuel Cases (including Coal Gas, Producer Gas, Water Gas).

(7) Power Generating Industries.

(8) Pulp and paper (including paper products) Industries.
(9) Fertilizer Industries:
(I) Nitrogenous;
(ii) Phosphatic; (iii) Mixed.

(10) Cement Industries:Portland Cement (including slag cement,

puzzolona cement and their products).
(11) Petroleum Industries:
(i) Oil Rening;
(ii) Lubricating Oils and Greases.

(12) Petro-chemical Industries.

(13) Drugs and Pharmaceutical Industries:Narcotics, Drugs and
Pharmaceuticals.
(14) Fermentation Industries (Distilleries and Breweries).

16
(15) Rubber (Synthetic Industries).
(16) Paints and Pigment Industries.
(17) Leather Tanning Industries.
(18) Electro-plating Industries.
(19) Chemical Industries:
(i) Coke Oven By-products and Coaltar Distillation products;
(ii) Industrial Gases (nitrogen, oxygen, acetylene, argon, carbon dioxide,
hydrogen, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, halogenated hydrocarbon,
ozone, similar other gas);
(iii) Industrial Carbon; (iv) Alkalies and Acids;
(v) Chromates and dichromates;
(vi) Lead and its compounds;
(vii) Electro chemicals (metallic sodium, potassium and magnesium,
chlorates, per chlorates and peroxides);
(viii) Electro thermal produces (articial abrasive, calcium carbide);
(ix) Nitrogenous compounds (cyanides, cyanamides, and other
nitrogenous compounds);
(x) Phosphorus and its compounds;
(xi) Halogens and Halogenated compounds (chlorine, ourine, bromine
and iodine);
(xii) Explosives (including industrial explosives and detonators and fuses).

(20) Insecticides, Fungicides, Herbicides and other pesticides industries.

(21) Synthetic Resin and Plastics.
(22) Man-made Fiber (Cellulosic and non-cellulosic) industry.
(23) Manufacture and repair of electrical accumulators.
(24) Glass and Ceramics.
(25) Grinding or glazing of metals.
(26) Manufacture, handling and processing of asbestos and its products.
(27) Extraction of oils and fats from vegetable and animal sources.

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(28) Manufacture, handling and use of benzene and substances containing
benzene.
(29) Manufacturing processes and operations involving carbon disulphide.
(30) Dyes and dyestuff including their intermediates.
(31) Highly ammable liquids and gases.
(32) Process involving handling and processing of hazardous and toxic
chemicals as specied in Part-II of the Schedule Ito the Manufacture,
Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989.
(33) Work in slaughter houses and abattoirsincluding work with guillotines.
(34) Work involving exposure to radioactive substances including electronic
wasteand incidental processes therein.
(35) Ship breaking.
(36) Salt Mining or Salt Pan Work.
(37) Hazardous processes as specied in Schedule IX to the Building and
Other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions
of Service) Central Rules, 1998.
(38) Work in beedi-making or processing of tobacco including manufacturing,
pasting and handling tobacco or any drugs or psychotropic substance or
alcohol in any form in food processing and beverage industry and at bars,
pubs, parties or other similar occasions that serve alcoholic

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 PART B

List of occupations and processes where children are prohibited to help in

family or family enterprises (in addition to PART A)

Occupations

Any occupation concerned with —

1. transport of passengers, goods or mails by railways;
2. cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railway
premises;
3. work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the
movement of a vendor or any other employee of the establishment from
one platform to another or into or out of a moving train;
4. work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any other
work where such work is done in close proximity to or between the
railway tracks;
5. a port authority within the limits of any port;
6. automobile workshops and garages;
7. handloom and powerloom industry;
8. plastic units and berglass workshops;
9. domestic workers or servants;
10. dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, resorts;
11. diving;
12. circus;
13. caring of Elephant;
14. power driven bakery machine;
15. shoe making.

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 Processs

1. Carpet-weaving including preparatory and incidental process thereof;

2. Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement;
3. Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving including processes, preparatory
and incidental thereto;
4. Shellac manufacture;
5. Soap manufacture;
6. Wool-cleaning;
7. Building and construction industry including processing and polishing of
granite stones; hauling and stacking materials; carpentry; masonry;
8. Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing);
9. Manufacture of products from agate;
10. Cashew and cashew nut descaling and processing;
11. Metal cleaning, photo engraving and soldering processes in electronic
industries;
12. Aggarbatti manufacturing;
13. Automobile repairs and maintenance including processes incidental
thereto namely, welding, lathe work, dent beating and painting;
14. Roof tiles units;
15. Cotton ginning and processing and production of hosiery goods;
16. Detergent manufacturing;
17. Fabrication workshops (ferrous and non-ferrous);
18. Gem cutting and polishing;
19. Handling of chromite and manganese ores;
20. Jute textile manufacture and coir making;
21. Lime kilns and manufacture of lime;
22. Lock making;

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23. Manufacturing processes having exposure to lead such as primary and
secondary smelting,welding and cutting of lead-painted metal
constructions, welding of galvanized or zincsilicate, polyvinyl chloride,
mixing (by hand) of crystal glass mass, sanding or scraping of leadpaint,
burning of lead in enamelling workshops, lead mining, plumbing, cable
making, wirepatenting, lead casting, type founding in printing shops.
shot making and lead glass blowing;
24. Manufacture of cement pipes, cement products and other related work;
25. Manufacture of glass, glass ware including bangles, orescent tubes,
bulbs and other similar glass products;
26. Manufacturing or handling of pesticides and insecticides;
27. Manufacturing or processing and handling of corrosive and toxic
substances;
28. Manufacturing of burning coal and coal briquettes;
29. Manufacturing of sports goods involving exposure to synthetic
materials, chemicals and leather;
30. Oil expelling and renery;
31. Paper making;
32. Potteries and ceramic industry;
33. Polishing, moulding, cutting, welding and manufacturing of brass goods
in all forms;
34. Processes in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvesting
machines are used and chaff cutting;
35. Saw mill – all processes;
36. Sericulture processing;
37. Skinning, dyeing and processes for manufacturing of leather and
leather products;
38. Tyre making, repairing, re-treading and graphite beneciation;
39. Utensils making, polishing and metal bufng;
40. ‘Zari’ making and processes involving the use of zari (all processes);
41. Graphite powdering and incidental processing;

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42. Grinding or glazing of metals;
43. Diamond cutting and polishing;
44. Rag picking and scavenging;
45. Mechanized shing;
46. Food processing;
47. Beverage industry;
48. Cultivating, sorting, drying and packaging in spice industry;
49. Timber handling and loading;
50. Mechanical lumbering;
51. Warehousing;
52. Massage parlours, gymnasiums, or other recreational centres, or in
medical facilities;
53. Operations involving the following dangerous machines:-
(a) hoists and lifts;
(b) lifting machines, chains, ropes and lifting tackles;
(c) revolving machinery;
(d) power presses;
(e) machine tools used in the metal trades;

54. Composing types for printing, printing by letter press, lithography,

photogravure or other similar process or book-binding, as specied in
sub-clause (iv) of clause (k) of section 2 of theFactories Act,1948.”

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