Beyond Imported Blueprints: Advancing the Theory of Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development) for Contemporary Governance and State Automation in Nepal- Dronacharya Parajuli-Maulik Bikas

1.Introduction

This is because it has been a long process in terms of evolution of the trajectory in Nepali state building, governance, and socioeconomic development, with imported conceptual frameworks being important. Since then, Nepali policy makers, bureaucrats and political elites have been borrowing development models from the Global North, from modernization theory in the 1950s to the role of good governance and decentralization in more recent times. These paradigms have helped increase infrastructure and formalise institutions, but have often failed to produce sustainable, harmonious, equitable outcomes. They clash with the politically salient and culturally plural nature of Nepal, historical power imbalances, and geopolitical complexities.

This paper is an attempt to bring out the structure of inadequacy of the conventional development frameworks in the present Nepali politics and society. This research entails an extensive critical investigation of seven seminal scholarships and three key comparative international studies, followed by the identification of a theoretical gap: the lack of an indigenous locally relevant, and globally connected paradigm that can resolve the conflict between State government, ecological sustainability and human agency.

In this regard, the paper proposes and develops a new theory – Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development). Maulik Bikash is a synthesis of classical and contemporary political theories – synthesis of structural functionalism theory, historical materialism and the theory of an input-output systems model – and proposes an organic, humanized and conflict-free blueprint for governance of the states. Moreover, this study incorporates the contemporary technological vistas and discusses about the utilization of the digital innovation, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) in the automation of the state, in accordance with the philosophy of Maulik Bikash. This paper creates a holistic political and administrative approach to Nepal’s future by developing a “glocal” perspective on development that combines the experiences of the local grass-roots, central institutional instruments, and global technological systems.

1.1 Contextualizing the Agenda: Power Relations and the Developmental Dilemma in Nepal

To analyse the tension between state policies and societies in the present-day Nepal, the socio-political agenda that dictates power relationship in the country must be studied. The process of changing Nepal’s government from a centralized Hindu monarchy to a Federal Democratic Republic, formally embodied in the Constitution of 2015, was designed to break down the historical hierarchies among different castes, classes, gender and geographical locations. But there hasn’t been a shift in the substance of an institutional structure automatic with the formal democratisation of the apparatuses of the state. Control over power continues to be focused in the cities and with the traditional elite, and marginalised groups such as the indigenous nationalities (Adivasi Janajatis), Madhesis, Dalits and people living in remote hill and mountain areas are being kept on the margins.

This is a crisis over development, a socio-political friction. Development in Nepal has traditionally been done in a top down and bureaucratic way by foreign donors of “development” and the central government ministries. Therefore it has increased horizontal inequalities and it has made the political situation unstable. The central research question of this paper is: How to overcome the conflict between an exogenous and hyper rationalized model of development and a traditional model of governance, which are stalling, and create a harmonious, authentic and technologically advanced state governance model for Nepal?

2. Critical Literature Review: Examining Seven Foundational Works on Nepali Development and Power

We review seven pivotal scholarly works which have sought to answer similar structural questions in order to map the intellectual landscape of issues in relation to state-society dynamics and developmental trajectory in Nepal. For every work, the adopted theoretical approach, crucial statistical information, methodology are assessed and a critical academic response is given.

Work 1: Dor Bahadur Bista’s Fatalism and Development: Nepal’s Struggle for Modernization (1991)

• Theoretical Approach: Cultural anthropology + modernization theory (that is traditional fatalistic values of karmic resignation, afno manche or nepotism are against meritocracy and rational-legal development). According to Bista, there is a need to reform the cultural orientations of indigenous people so that they are nondogmatic and individualistic and in favour of rational enterprise.
• Empirical observations: Bista offers empirical observations on the unequal distribution of administrative and economic power in the hands of high caste Kathmandu elites as over 70% of the high administrative and economic positions historically were occupied by a narrow band of ethnic groups in spite of the high ethnic diversity in Nepal.
• Methodology: Ethnographic observation, historical institutional analysis, cultural critique and participant observation in a variety of Nepali communities.
• While Bista is brilliant with his diagnosis of elite capture and cultural stagnation, then, his theoretical framework is culturally essentialist. In doing this he inadvertently pathologises the marginalised communities, by attributing their helpless attitude to fatalism, while also underestimating the effect of structural and political-economic forms of exclusion, created through the state itself, that led to these “adaptive survival strategies”.

Work 2: Mahendra Lawoti’s Towards a Democratic Nepal: Inclusive Democracy, Political Parties and Change (2005)

• Theoretical Approach: Consociationalism theory and inclusive democracy theory. In the context of ethnically divided societies, Lawoti believes that ‘majoritarian democracy’ must invariably result in the tyranny of dominant groups, hence the need for power sharing institutional measures.
• Key Statistics: Lawoti publishes full biographical details on the demographics and bureaucratic representation of all, explaining that Janajatis, Madhesis and Dalits are underrepresented in the judiciary and civil service, to the extent of Khas-Arya groups, who make up about 30-40% of the population, being overrepresented in all leadership positions in the judiciary, civil service, political parties and military.
• Research technique: Quantitative analysis (demographic approach) of state organs, comparative approach (institutional mapping), and interview methodology (elites).
• Lawoti’s institutional focus is robust and refreshingly relevant to the design of constitutions. But his system is still bound by western liberal democratic processes. Undervalues the informal networks of patronage and clientship which underlie formal power-sharing structures in South Asia.

Work 3: Mary Des Chene’s Spanning and Scaffolding: Gurkhas, Anthropology, and History in Nepal (1991-2010 writings)

• Theoretical Approach: Post-colonial theory and historical sociology. Through discussions of local identities, commodification of labour and power dynamics, Des Chene explores how institutions such as the Gurkha recruitment system reflect the creation of local identities through external imperial and state structures.
• Key Statistics: Presents historical data on recruitment—more than 200,000 Nepali men served in British and Indian armies in critical geopolitical conflicts, sending billions in remittances that structurally changed the rural hill economy.
• Methodology: archive research, critical discourse analysis and historical ethnography.
• In terms of content, Critical Response is outstanding in its uncovers on how transnational labor extraction works, yet it is weak in providing a macro-theoretical account of state governance or national economic production, and is micro-historical and diasporic in its focus.

Work 4: Saubhagya Shah’s Civil Society in Nepal: The Making of a Modern Political Agendum (2008)

• Theoretical Approach to Political economy and critique of civil society. Shah investigates the depoliticization of local fights by international non-governmental organizations (INGO) and donor-funded civil society groups and the emergence of a new urban elite of people who depend on external money.
• According to Key Statistics, in the era of maximum foreign assistance inflows in the 2000s, more than 60% of development spending in some social sectors was done through nonstate actors, with little accountability to parliament or local government.
• The methodology includes political-economic critique, institutional expenditure mapping and qualitative case-study analysis of the impact of NGO intervention in rural districts.
• Critical Response: Shah gives a refreshing antidote to the deference paid to ‘civil society’. But his criticism is of a rather structural determinist nature and leaves few positive options for a productive public-private-civic partnership for modern state building.

Work 5: Pratyoush Onta’s The Politics of Bravery: A History of Nepali Nationalism (1996)

• Theoretical Approach: Nationalism and cultural studies (based on Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm). Onta examines the ways in which the state-sponsored history writing and public education built a monolithic, exclusionary Nepali national identity which is built around the Shah-Rana monarchy, the Nepali language, and Hindu ritual practices.
• Key Statistics: Dims the historical content of school textbooks over a 40 year period and depicts that more than 80% of the biographical text is devoted to rulers and conquerors of military elites, and that women, indigenous populations and labourers are completely absent.
• The methodology is based on the analysis of texts, the archive of media and deconstruction of historical discourse.
• Highly effective in deconstructing hegemony (critical response). But like many post-colonial critiques, it is good at deconstructing but is reluctant to offer positive and unifying institutional designs for a multi-faceted federal society.

Work 6: David N. Gellner’s Borderland Lives in Northern South Asia (2015)

• Theoretical Concepts: Anthropological political economy and border borderland studies. Gellner examines the ways in which border-crossing marginalized communities deal with state power, citizenship, and transnational trade in non-exclusive Nepal.
• Key Statistics: Provides survey data from border districts, revealing that more than 45 per cent of households survive on informal cross-border trade and remittances and that these are not primarily covered by formal taxation and regulations.
• Research methodology: multi-sited ethnography, household survey and comparative regional observation.
• Critical Response: Paints a nuanced picture of the informal economy. It works mostly at the micro-sociological level, however, and has not identified how central state apparatuses can legality and efficiency engage these informal dynamics, without resorting to heavy-handed coercion.

Work 7: Lok Raj Baral’s Nepal: Quest for Participatory Democracy (2006)

• Theoretical Framework: Classical political science theory and the theory of democratic transition. Baral sheds light on party politics, constitutional struggles and the process of elite deals in the turbulent shift from Panchayat to multi-party democracy and republic in Nepal.
• Key Statistics: Gathers electoral information over various election cycles, including high voter turnout (often over 60-75%) and chronic governmental instability, with a lower average of cabinet life before 2015 than nine months.
• Research Methods: Historical-institutionalist process-tracing, analysis of elite interviews, and analysis of electoral data.
• Critical Response: Delivers a powerful account of police change. Yet Baral’s approach is very much one of procedural institutionalism and neglects to capture the extent of the cultural and epistemological disjuncture between Western notions of party-based politics and the nepalese expectations of paternalistic, moral leadership.

3. Comparative International Literature: Bridging Global Frameworks with Nepali Realities

To put Nepal’s development problems into the international comparative perspectives, we present three large comparative studies of the international community and cross-check their congruence with the Nepali academic literature in theoretical approach, methodology, data used, and conclusions drawn.

3.1 Introduction to the Comparative Theoretical Matrix

The given theoretical frameworks need to be critically synthesized in order to analyze the contemporary society and the governance of the state of Nepal. To promote and support the native paradigm of Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development) which is in harmony with cultural ethos, ecological stewardship and advanced digital state automation, it is necessary to critically review the three fundamental theories presented: Functionalism, Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism.

Each paradigm makes an important point about state-society relationship, but they have their own theoretical weaknesses if they are used individually in the context of the socio-political realities in Nepal. In this comparative study, their key foundations, constraints and reinterpretation is done using the integrative lens of Maulik Bikash.

3.2 Comparative Analysis of the Three Major Theories

Theoretical Dimension	Functionalism	Conflict Theory	Symbolic Interactionism
Core View of Society	An integrated Interdependent parts lead to equilibrium, stability, and consensus in this organism (system).	An arena of perpetual struggle over scarce resources, power, and class dominance (Base vs. Superstructure).	A dynamic, continuously constructed reality created through daily interactions, symbols, and shared meanings.
Primary Focus & Scale	Macro-level institutions (family, The legal systems, political structures and religion were also discussed (religion, legal systems, political structures).	Macro-level structural inequalities, economic base, and elite domination (Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat).	Micro-level individual agency, subjective interpretations, and dramaturgy (Front stage/Back stage).
Key Thinkers	Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, David Easton.	Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Antonio Gramsci, C. Wright Mills.	G.H. Mead, Herbert Blumer, Erving Goffman, Anthony Giddens.
Nepali Contextual Application	Guthi systems, federal administrative levels, constitutionally allocated functions, feedback loops in the electoral system.	Historical feudal land relations (Bikta, Kipat), the 10-year Maoist People’s War, and contemporary remittance-based capitalism.	Cultural greetings (Namaste), bureaucraticimpression management, and changing traditional practices like dowry.
Primary Blind Spot / Critique	Ignores structural power inequalities, caste/class oppression, and the reality of social conflict.	Overlooks social stability, cultural solidarity, and consensual institutional continuity; overly deterministic.	Neglects macro-structural power constraints, institutional oppression, and material historical conditions.

3.3 Evaluating Theories Through the Lens of Maulik Bikash

All of these three theories can’t be said to be fully delineated map of Nepal’s true progress. In essence, functionalism rationalizes, legitimates or ignores injustice, while Conflict Theory comfortable immobilitizes polarization in a destructive, binary fashion and Symbolic Interactionism never transcends the micro level and becomes mindful of the macro-economic forces of the world of global capital.

Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development) breaks free from these confines and integrates all their sound recognitions in a holistic and humanized approach:

1. Integrating Functionalist Stability with Structural Justice: While Functionalism Maulik Bikash’s focus on system maintenance (AGIL framework) is not about any elite preservation, but about equitable resource distribution/in ecological balance.
2. Transforming Conflict into Consensus: Maulik Bikash criticizes the conflict theory on the same basis as historical exploitation (Base/Superstructure), but goes a step further and discusses about a governance model which is not in conflict with each other, where multi-stakeholder collaboration forms an alternative to polarization instead of violent class struggle.
3. Elevating Agency and Technology: Incorporating Symbolic Interactionism and According to Maulik Bikash, Structuration Theory (Giddens) recognises the ongoing human agents in reshape structures. It combines digital innovation, Agency of Ground Intelligence (AGI) and Agency of State Intelligence (ASI) for state automation, thus empowering local grassroots actors (Agency) to transparently connect with the central state apparatuses (Structure) between local realities and a global technological ecosystem.

4. Identifying the Research Gap

The literature-based analysis of the seven Nepali literature and three comparative international literature demonstrates that there are clear research gaps in a structural way:

• The Dichotomy of Critique vs. Construction: Existing Nepali scholarship is good at diagnosing ills – elite monopoly (Lawoti), cultural fatalism (Bista), external donor dependency (Shah) and historical exclusion (Onta). Similarly, comparative global literature (Scott, Acemoglu & Robinson, Sen) diagnoses institutional failure and the perils of high-modernist planning. But none of these works present an The model of synthesized governance is operational to suit the socio-cultural, ecological and technological context of today’s Nepal.
• Hence the current scholarship suggests that there is something like an antagonism between tradition and modernity, local agency and global technology, the Absence of an Organic Synthesis. A key need is the development of an overarching theory that weaves together the Nepali indigenous philosophy of harmony within society, care for the environment, and the modern approach of state automation through machine learning and AI.

5. Developing the Research Question and Methodological Framework

To fill the identified gap, a thorough analytical research question and methodological design should be used.

5.1 Research Question

How can an organic humanized development model (Maulik Bikash) combine global state governance processes with ecological sustainability and the latest in digital/AGI state automation processes to address the structural conflicts and political instability on the ground in present-day Nepal?

5.2 Secondary Data Utilization

The researcher adopted only secondary data in this study and the data has been systematically synthesized in four domains which are: The Constitution of Nepal (2015), local government operation acts, federal policy documents.

1. Socioeconomic and Demographic Indicators: Data from the Central Bureau of Reports from Statistics (CBS) Nepal, National Planning Commission (NPC), the World Bank governance indicators and UNDP Human Development Reports.
2. Technological and Digital Infrastructure Data: National Telecommunications Authority reports, e-governance readiness indices and artificial intelligence policy whitepapers.
3. Historical and Philosophical Texts: Classical political philosophy, Eastern ontological traditions (Vedic and Buddhist notions of balance and duty), contemporary critical theory.

Methodological Steps to ConclusionPhenomenological Description (First Step): Describe the current phenomenon of the Nepali state, which involves political instability, government bureaucracy, migration of youths for foreign employment and a lack of trust within society.

1. Causal-Consequential Analysis: Using David Easton’s Input-Output Systems Model and Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism explain the relationship between structural causes and societal consequences.
2. Theoretical Synthesis (Maulik Bikash): Build a new theoretical model which connects global governance practice with the local cultural, social and political realities.
3. Technological Integration: Technical application of Digital innovation, AGI and ASI in automation of the state with the paradigm of Maulik Bikash.
4. Conclusion & Roadmap: Conclude with final synthesis, as actionable roadmap for Nepalese statecraft.

6. Phenomenological Description of the Nepali State Phenomenon

First, the lived reality of present day Nepal needs to be accounted, so as to ground our theoretical construction. The post-2015 federal democratic republic pledged to bring equal and fair prosperity (Samridhi), decentralized governance and social justice (Samabajik Nyaya). However, the reality of the situation on the ground is starkly different and full of paradoxes.

On the other hand, physical connectivity has grown: networks of rural roads wind their way through the farthest reaches of the Himalayas, mobile internet access is now over 90%, and thousands of local governments are run by elected officials. The four cornerstones of state capacity, however, are being undermined. With lack of industrial jobs in the country and a total feeling of political disenfranchisement, more than two thousands young Nepalis take to the sea every day to work in the Gulf countries, Malaysia and western countries as menial labors.

The problem of extremely poor capital budget execution (the failure to reach 60% even in the last 15% of the fiscal year) continues as a result of the colonial level of bureaucracy, where policy decisions are made in highly centralized fashion in Kathmandu ministries. Corruption has diffused alongside political power, moving away from patterns of patronage to a more diffuse form of rent-seeking, at the local level. Socially, though overt caste-based untouchability has abated, structural discrimination continues and polarization on religious, regional and ethnic grounds is a regular ploy resorted to by the political elite in order to ensure their own electoral survival. This is the reality of Nepal today: a richly promised democracy without being realised in operational terms which is grounded in humanising values.

7. Causal-Consequential Analysis: David Easton’s Systems Model and Historical Materialism

There are two theories from which we learn in that are the foundation to diagnose why this phenomenon occurs. Political Science: David Easton’s Input-Output Systems Model, Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism.

7.1 David Easton’s Input-Output Systems Model

Easton sees a political system as “a living organism situated in an environment. The inputs into the system are demands and supports from society, the outputs are policy, laws, allocations etc. from the “black box” (parliament, the administration and the court) and the feedback influences future inputs.

• Nepal – The structural problem in Nepal is a significant ‘conversion bottleneck’. Society makes huge demands on the political system for work, health care, dignity, etc. But the central state machinery, hampered by outmoded administrative processes, elite capture, and political instability, is unable to effectively translate these demands into policy products. If there is a lack of what is expected from the outputs, there is a loss of support in society, and there are protests, cynicism, and mass migration of people away from the country. There is a disconnect in the feedback loop – with the state using a language unable to grasp the realities of the people.

7.2 Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism

Given the Marxist conception of historical materialism, Marxists argue that in any society the material aspects of production and relations of production are determinate. The superstructure (legal, political and cultural institutions) are products of the underlying economic base.

• Application to Nepal: Nepal’s economic structure is still not properly developed with subsistence agriculture, low volume of manufacturing, and remittance-reliant consumer economy. The superstructure, federal political parties, constitutional bodies and electoral struggle is a superstructure untethered from a productive industrial base. Political power is not used to bring about social change, but rather as the major means for obtaining state dominated capital and rent. This means that class, caste and regional inequalities are never reduced and are rather renewed through the relations of production which continue to be extractive and mercantile and not productive and inclusive.

8. Introducing the New Theory: Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development)

Combining the views of our literature review, the comparative lessons from global theorists and the causal analysis of Easton and Marx, we now present a synoptic native paradigm: Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development).

8.1 Philosophical Foundation

The word Maulik means “original,” “authentic,” “indigenous” and “fundamental” in Nepali. The meaning of bikash is “development” or “evolution”. By contrast, this work does not subscribe to the theories about the West that define development as linear modernization and secularization or to the neoliberal models’ glorification of certain unchecked forms of economic activity. His depiction of development as a harmonious and organic evolution of a society based on the cultural ethos, ecological context and human dignity, contradicts the theory of market efficiency and efficiency of growth of development.

8.2 Core Pillars of Maulik Bikash Contextual Authenticity (Cultural & Social Grounding): Policies for development have to

1.  Value and develop indigenous knowledge systems, communal solidarity structures (dhikur, parma, Guthi systems) and local philosophical systems. It denies the transplant of foreign institutional models blindly.
2. Ecological Synergy (Nature-Science-Humanity Integration): Inspired by Eastern In the ontological traditions that Maulik Bikash celebrates, humanity is an intrinsic part of nature (Prakriti), and extractive capitalism is a no-go. The principle that no case of loss or deterioration of ecological stability can be allowed to occur at the cost of economic growth, especially in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem which is vulnerable to climate change.
3. Harmonious Governance (Conflict-Free Administration): How to get out of majoritianism, and how to build a governance structure that is based on consensus and consultation, a structure where the organs of government are not seen as agents of elites but civic stewards; Maulik Bikash’s analysis of how to do this.
4. Stakeholder Alignment (The Common Direction): A one-stop national platform where common people, the bureaucracy, Parliamentarians, Cabinet ministers and International development agencies share a common direction in development, with no barriers of bureaucratic hurdles and political sabotage.

9. Digital Innovation, AGI, and ASI for State Automation within Maulik Bikash

One of the criticisms of indigenous or traditional development model is that they glorify the past and deny technological development. However, Maulik Bikash categorically denies this by integrating advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) as key tools to automate the state administration and ensure administrative justice.

The Maulik Bikash concept is not about technology being used to emulate western techno-capitalism but to do away with human corruption, smoothen out the bureaucracy and ensure absolute transparency. This we call Glocal Technological Governance.

1. Digital Innovation and State Automation

• Decentralized Digital Infrastructure: Implementing a blockchain and a secure cloud infrastructure across all 753 local government tiers that will guarantee transparency in public procurement, eliminate petty corruption and keep track of where and how money is being used in the development process in realtime.
• Automated Service Delivery: AI-powered single windows for citizens to recieve state documents, land registration, and welfare distribution without the need to grease bureaucratic palms in Kathmandu.

2. Harnessing AGI for Policy Simulation and Planning

• Predictive Governance: Using AGI models built with Nepali socioeconomic data to model the downstream effects of macro-policies (e.g., agricultural subsidies, federal tax structures, disaster response planning) before they are put into place. This removes policy making by trial and error that adversely affects vulnerable communities.
• Resource Allocation Optimization: Using machine learning algorithms for the equitable allocation of federal equalization and conditional grants based on multidimensional poverty measures and not political connections.

3. ASI and Ecological-Economic Balancing

• Planetary and Local Stewardship: As humans move closer and closer toward Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), Maulik Bikash requires ASI systems to be aligned with ecological preservation and human well-being constraints. ASI can monitor glacier melting, deforestation and watershed management in real time, coordinate automated disaster early-warning systems for vulnerable mountain settlements in Nepal.
• Glocal Ecosystem Integration: Linking local grassroots inputs (citizen feedback through digital participatory apps) and central legislative processing and global technological proactivity, to build a cybernetic loop of governance that is both highly local and technically cutting edge.

10. Conclusion and Roadmap for Nepalese Statecraft

The governance crisis in today’s Nepal is not going to be solved by rehashing worn-out blueprints brought from the shores across the seas, nor by turning the clock back to isolationism. Comparative study reveals a significant gap in the structural aspect between Nepali scholarship and international literature i.e., there is a lack of a system based on scientific governance with cultural authenticity.

Maulik Bikash (Authentic Development) fills this void. Drawing on the concepts of Easton’s systems model and Marxist materialist critique, Maulik Bikash attempts to diagnose the underlying causes of the bottlenecks of conversion and extractive elite politics in Nepal. It combines Eastern harmony of philosophy and advanced state automation based on digital innovation, AGI and ASI to provide a functional and future-proofed administrative structure.

Actionable Roadmap for ImplementationConstitutional Alignment: Amend federal and provincial administrative rules to require that all significant infrastructure projects and economic policy initiatives are assessed for “Maulik Bikash,” in order to achieve ecological, cultural and equity outcomes.

 

1. National AGI & Data Sovereign Initiative: Create a publicly owned computational center in Nepal with support of the state for data processing related to public governance, thus generating the ability of data sovereignty and leveraging AGI for State planning.
2. Bureaucratic Reorientation: shift civil service training away from rote-learned colonial practices to intensive training on digital public infrastructure, algorithmic transparency and engagement with communities with empathy.
3. Multi-Stakeholder Compact: Create a national development compact, binding all political parties, parliamentarians, civil servants, local leaders and civil society to key principles of Maulik Bikash, creating a common and non-partisan path for Nepal’s modern republic towards the century.

In this sense, through Maulik Bikash, Nepal can be a pioneer in humanized, technologically equipped and eco-friendly statecraft in the 21st century and come out from the passive state of receiving aid from the world.

Authored by Dronacharya Parajuli, MPhil Scholar, Department of Political Science, Nepal Open University.

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