Social Responsibility Project Report

Submitted in Partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of Business Management of Christ University By Abhinandan Betala Reg. No. 1011228
Under the guidance of

Mrs.Vinita Seshadri

Department of Management Studies CHRIST UNIVERSITY Bangalore 2010 2011

DECLERATION
I declare that this report titled, Social Responsibility Project,is a record of bonafide project work carried out by me under the supervision of Mrs. Vinita Seshadri, Class Co-Ordinator, II Semester BBM Section-C, Department of Management Studies, Christ University, Bangalore. I further declare that this has not previously formed the basis of the award of any degree, diploma or other similar title of recognition.

Place:________________________ Date:_________________________

Abhinanadan Betala 1011228

Guide Certificate

This is to certify that this report titled Social Responsibility Project, submitted to Christ University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of Business Management, is a record of the original work carried out by Abhinandan Betala under my guidance and supervision.

Place:Bangalore Date: Mrs. Vinita Seshadri

CONTENTS 0 1 0 2
Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility Madhya Pradesh Welfare Association For the Blind a. Louis Braille b. Vision c. Organization d. Mission e. Services At a Glance Helen Keller High school About us Mission Ways to volunteer Alliances Day to day activities done for the project Individual experience Recommendations Conclusion Acknowledgement

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Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming an increasingly important activity to businesses nationally and internationally. As globalisation accelerates and large corporations serve as global providers, these corporations have progressively recognised the benefits of providing CSR programs in their various locations. CSR activities are now being undertaken throughout the globe. The term is often used interchangeably for other terms such as Corporate Citizenship and is also linked to the concept of Triple Bottom Line Reporting (TBL), which is used as a framework for measuring an organisations performance against economic, social and environmental parameters. The rationale for CSR has been articulated in a number of ways. In essence it is about building sustainable businesses, which need healthy economies, markets and communities. The key drivers for CSR are: Enlightened self-interest - creating a synergy of ethics, a cohesive society and a sustainable global economy where markets, labour and communities are able to function well together. Social investment - contributing to physical infrastructure and social capital is increasingly seen as a necessary part of doing business. Transparency and trust - business has low ratings of trust in public perception. There is increasing expectation that companies will be more open, more accountable and be prepared to report publicly on their performance in social and environmental arenas Increased public expectations of business - globally companies are expected to do more than merely provide jobs and contribute to the economy through taxes and employment. Corporate social responsibility is represented by the contributions undertaken by companies to society through its core business activities, its social investment and philanthropy programmes and its engagement in public policy. In recent years CSR has become a fundamental business practice and has gained much attention from chief executives, chairmen, boards of directors and executive management teams of larger international companies. They understand that a strong CSR program is an essential element in achieving good business practices 5

and effective leadership. Companies have determined that their impact on the economic, social and environmental landscape directly affects their relationships with stakeholders, in particular investors, employees, customers, business partners, governments and communities.

Madhya Pradesh Association for the Blind

(Late Sri Louis Braille) 4 Jan, 1809- 6th Jan, 1852

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Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 January 6, 1852) was the inventor of Braille a worldwide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. Braille is read by passing the fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points. It has been adapted to almost every known language. At the age of 10, Braille earned a scholarship to the National Institute for the Blind Youth in Paris one of the first of its kind in the world. However, the conditions in the school were not notably better. Louis was served stale bread and water, and students were sometimes abused or locked up as a form of punishment. Braille, a bright and creative student, became a talented cellist and organist in his time at the school, playing the organ for churches all over France. At the school, the children were taught basic craftsman skills and simple trades. They were also taught how to read by feeling raised letters . However, because the raised letters were made using paper pressed against copper wire, the students never learned to write. Another disadvantage was that the letters weighed a lot and whenever people published books using this system, they put together a book with multiple stories in one in order to save money. This made the books sometimes weigh over a hundred pounds.The school had just 3 books, all of which Louis had read. 7

In 1821, Charles Barbier, a former Captain in the French Army, visited the school. Barbier shared his invention called "night writing", a code of 12 raised dots and a number of dashes that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without having to speak. The code was too difficult for Louis to understand and he later changed the number of raised dots to 6 to form what we today call Braille.

The same year, Louis Braille began inventing his raised-dot system with his father's stitching awl, the same implement with which he had blinded himself, finishing at age 15, in 1824. Inspwered by the wooden dice his father gave to him, his system used only six dots and corresponded to letters, whereas Barbier's used 12. The six-dot system allowed the recognition of letters with a single fingertip apprehending all the dots at once, requiring no movement or repositioning which slowed recognition in systems requiring more dots. These dots consisted of patterns in order to keep the system easy to learn. The Braille system also offered numerous benefits over Hay's raised letter method, the most notable being the ability to both read and write an alphabet. Another very notable benefit is that because they were dots just slightly raised, there was a significant difference in make up. Braille later extended his system to include notation for mathematics and music. In 1829, he published the first book in Braille, entitled Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them. In 1839 he published details of a method he had developed for communication with sighted people, using patterns of dots to approximate the shape of printed symbols. With his friend Pierre Foucault, he went on to develop a machine to speed up the somewhat cumbersome system. Braille became a well-respected teacher at the Institute. Although he was admired and respected by his pupils, his writing system was not taught at the Institute during his lifetime. The air at the institute was foul and he died in Paris of tuberculosis in 1852 at the age of 43; his body was disinterred in 1952 (the centenary of his death) and honored with re-interment in the Panthon in Paris. His system was finally officially recognized in France two years after his death, in 1854. 8

Vision
Organization visualizes full participation and equal opportunities with dignity to visually challenged persons in particular and persons with all categories of disabilities in general of all age group in all spheres of life. To convert this vision into reality, the citizens help is sincerely requested. Needless to say that the cause is big and our resources are very limited. With everyones help this cause could be achieved.

HELEN KELLER once said The blind man is neither a genius Nor a freak nor an idiot. He has a mind which can be educated and it is the duty of the public to help him to make the best of himself.

Organization
President (Acharya) - Dr. M.V. Shirdhonkar Vice President (Adhikshak) Mr. G.D. Singhal Chief Patron (Mahaposhak)- Mr. Rameshwar Thakur (Honourable Governor Of Madhya Pradesh) Dwerector & Managing Trustee (Nirdeshak)- Sri Rajaram Borse Finance (Ganitagya)- Mr. Mohammad Zafar Administrator (Khoshadhyaksh) Mr. Hariom Pandit

Trustees1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Sri Devatha Radhakrishna Sri D.M.Kiran Rao Sri Venkatesha Murthy Dr.Vijayalakshmi Deshmane Sri Gopal Chettiyar Sri Ramaswamy Agarwal Smt. Vijaya Kalani Sri. John Christopher Sri. O. Shyam Bhatt

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Mission
Empowering Visually Challenged with dignity (Dedication and selfless service are our basic ideals) The overall work of MPWAB hinges upon the above ideals. Service to society is an obligatory duty. By serving one can attain fulfilment in life. Our vision is a self-reliant society where people have a sense of service and take care of social issues locally. The organization is committed for Promoting comprehensive rehabilitation of Visually Challenged Persons in particular and persons with all categories of disabilities in General at State level. To prevent preventable blindness and other disabilities. To empower the blind through education and training in becoming self-sufficient through employment or self-employment and thus, empower them with dignity, and become contributory members in the society.

Services At A Glance
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1. Helen Keller Education Academy : Prakash Nagar , Near Water Tank, Navlakha,
Indore Phone :0731- 2401242 , 2402242

2. Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind :33,B/D , Kila Maidan , Indore 3. Study Centre of IGNOU & M.P. Bhoj Open University (Special Education of
Visually Challenged Children) 4. Low Vision Centre 5. Day Care Centre for Deaf- Blind children 6. Braille Teaching 7. Integrated Education of Blind children in normal Institutions 8. Placement Unit 9. Free supply of Aids & Appliances 10. Computer Literacy 11. Braille Equipment Bank 12. CBR project: Comprehensive Eye Care Services Depalpur Dist., Indore 13. Special school For VCC(girls) At Dewas

14. Extension cell of NIVH, Dehradun

Helen Keller High School 12

There is a growing desire among the youth in India to volunteer their time and talent for community development. But most of them are not currently involved in volunteering work because of three major reasons: 1. Not knowing where to start. 2. The fear that it may be too much of responsibility. 3. Concern that it cannot be done with their limited time availability.

Helen Keller Organization was formed with the sole aim of working for comprehensive rehabilitation of visually challenged at M.P. State level. Since its inception in 1961 it has developed need based services for visually challenged person in the areas of prevention, early identification, education, counseling, rehabilitation, employment, advocacy and many other specialized supportive services. Today, HKH, Indore has come up as largest organization of its kind with such wider vision for the cause. This is the organization where beneficiaries group equally involve with other professional to work together in developing policy and implementation of various programmes. The actions emerging out of vision inspires them to work for other disability, organization has developed services for deaf blind children, multiple disabled and other disabled persons. Now organization equally emphasis on developing services for disabled women of the State. Financials: - Yearly Budget: 1 crore - Revenue Sources: International Funding Agencies. State Govt. Grant. General Donations Central Govt. Grant - Key Sponsor: Aide et Action India, American India Foundation, Sense International (India), Ashray Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice, Infosys Foundation, Govt. of M.P. - A corporate can adopt us at yearly funding of Rs. 30 lakhs deficit

Ways to volunteer
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MPWAB offers various options to the youths with varying time commitments.

Few months after graduation and before starting your professional careerVolunteering provides true-to-life experience and also helps you develop better communication skills and leadership qualities. If you volunteer for three months or more, you are eligible for a fellowship (stipend).

For few hours every week throughout the year you can be associated with one or more projects closer to your home or college. Semester breaks-Here you can volunteer full time for 10 days or more. Your time will be utilized based on your interests and abilities. Remember that the longer you volunteer, the better are the fruits of service. I assisted Master of Social Works (MSW) students in doing their project work with credible NGOs. Non-field work- You can help them with your writing, photo and video skills, graphics work and/or website development. Something that every one can do is subscribe to their e-newsletter. Give them your email-id and you will receive their monthly e-newsletter. Your email address will remain confidential.

Alliances
Government Organisations District AIDS Control Society , Ujjain Nehru Yuva Kendra Snagathan, Ujjain Department of women & child development , Ujjain District Industries and Trade Centre , Ujjain District Employment office, Ujjain District Health Department Ujjain. Department of Agriculture , Ujjain Zilla Panchayat, Ujjain 14

 Lead bank (Bank of India), Ujjain Childline,Ujjain Micro,Small,Medium Enterprises(MSME) ,Indore Rajiv Ghandhi Prodyogiki Vishav Vidyalaya, Bhopal Department of Social Justice , Ujjain Non-Government Organisations Kripa Social Welfare Society, Ujjain Lion's Clubs- International National Centre for Human Settlements and Environment,(NCHSE) Bhopal M.P. Voluntary Health Association (MPVHA), Indore Institutions Institute of organic Agriculture Education and Research ,Indore Jan Shikshan Sansthan(JSS), Ujjain Krishi Vigyan Kendra (K.V.K.) , Ujjain Industrial Training Institution (I.T.I.)

NGO ACTIVITIES:
Ever felt I wish I could do something? 15

-when you see blind children crossing the road. -when you see deaf and blind people trying to find their own way. -physically challenged individuals begging on the road -when you see poor infrastructure and low educational standards in government and special schools. THE JOURNEY BEGINS.. Getting encouraged and inspired by these thoughts I began my journey to find an NGO that could help me in meeting out this opportunity. When I got the project I spent a couple of days in deciding which NGO to work for because none of the NGOS were ready to accept my proposal to work for 25 hours. Almost every NGO was willing that I should work for them for the span of 3 months. Then eventually I got the acceptance from a very reputed NGO called HELEN KELLER HIGH SCHOOL. The coordinator, MR. Hariom Pandit, after a prolonged discussion and verifying my certificates agreed with me to give me the permission to work for them in their MPWAB certified Helen Keller High School project. He informed me about the location, timings of the venue where the project was carried out. It was situated in the core area of Prakash Nagar. It was a huge area with a lot of greenery all around. I arrived there by changing three buses. It was a hectic journey but then I knew that hard work pays off well. As I reached there I found my head Mr. Babulalji, whom I knew from my childhood since I used to go there once in a month earlier, waiting for us to show us the right venue where the activities were supposed to be carried out. I saw a lot of special children performing their morning prayers and visited the school campus. It was a beautiful cite to see them reciting national anthem of our country. 16

Later , I came to know that it was an all state NGO MEET where more than 1300 NGOs had come there to have a meeting to support all the social causes for the disabled as well as poor people living in the remote and calamities affected areas where there are no helping hands. I was very excited and was waiting to help and contribute to the needs of people present there. But before I could start my contribution I was explained about the different times in which this this organization has helped people in difficult periods. It was also interesting to know the remedies that the organization has founded to bring an improvement in the quality of life of disabled people. As this was my first time in an NGO, I was not prepared for anything and didnt know how I should make the kids happy. There were 100 students exactly studying in the school from Grade I to Grade X. I met them and my first day was spent in introducing them and spending quality time with them. Knowing each other is the most important attribute when we meet anyone. My next day to the school was quite important as this day was their day i.e. CHRISTMAS DAY. The amount of happiness I felt that day was extremely fabulous as I have never had such a Christmas before. Early in the morning, when I went there, there were a lot of families present donating useful necessities as well as toys and gifts to the children. There was a delicious dinner made on that day especially for them which was sponsored by one of the well known families of Indore. There was a sweet smell of Rasgullas and Pav Bhaji that was prepared for them. I had my dinner with them and went to Rahuls (student of Helen Keller School Grade VI) room where I held a competition for them. Then all of us were asked to stand on the side and recite prayers before consuming the food. After the prayer was over I began serving food and this was an indication for people to start eating their meals. The whole process of serving took about two hours since there 17

were more people to be served. The entire work was divided so I did not feel so much pressure in serving the food. After serving the food and getting exhausted I sat to eat and started enjoying food as after working hard everyone enjoys the food. As all of us are humans at the end of the day I rested for half an hour . From 26th December, 2010 , the children of all grades had their exams and my work for the other three days was to conduct Grade IX and X examinations. I was shocked when I saw the blind children writing their exams with so much sincerity and dedication. The exam was in Braille and I used to dictate the questions and they used to write the answers. I undertook various activities during that time and felt happy about that. The children completed their exams successfully and were excited about their program which was to be held from 3rd January, 2011. They were very happy about the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The children of the school are being given such a brilliant training that no one will expect them to be physically challenged. They work like normal human beings and hate when someone obliges them. They consider themselves as being at par with the outside world and this quality enhanced a feeling of dignity and pride in myself. I gave them some knowledge about the co-curricular activities and performed some of the plays and songs with them. They were very excited about the fact that I was singing and they started calling me singer bhaiya . I liked the name given to me.

It was good experience altogether to receive feed backs from people who came there and I was enjoying every bit of it. There was a period when very less parents were there so I got a free time to relax my muscles and talk to each other sharing each others experience.

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I went in for a photo shoot session where I thought that the pictures would help me make my report in a better and an attractive way. There was another reason why I wanted to take the pictures. It was that this experience was something that had to be shared in future as well and it was a good way of going back to the memory lane. After the photo shoot session I decided to get back to my work and with full dedication I continued the work. Having worked there at the reception for a long time I got the affirmation to go and have my lunch . The lunch provided by them was awesome and it was free also as I was engaged in social activities I had an advantage. The next day I was appointed to arrange the targets for the Golden Jubilee Celebrations which were to be started from 3rd January and I undertook the responsibility and made respective arrangements. The function was to be held at Kila Maidan and the journey was will be started from Rajwada. After their whole wandering in and around the arrangements I took a constructive feedback from them by letting them fill the forms and provide their contacts and address so that I could be in touch with them in the future. Now it was really becoming tiring for me because I was working since morning and its not a easy job to attend this many people from various backgrounds at a single time. However I completed my work and went home. The work was very well organized but the main issue was of finance collection. Since that day I did not had much work so I went with the other volunteers to collect donation money from the assigned addresses and several institutions. Next day on Monday I had to go to work for the NGO as my 5 hours were remaining and I had to complete that in order to get the qualifying certificate. After 1 P.M., I went to Helen Keller High Schools main office and had a talk with the NGOS head and he told me that our efforts were really helpful the other day and he also told us that I had some small work and that I had to go to a place and meet some trustees and explain the same 19

thing as I performed yesterday and tell them all about the various activities taken up by the myself. I set out for the place in auto and reached there after 20 minutes. Then I met some people who were the trustees of MPWAB and they wanted to know about my experience helping the children and my contributions as a volunteer. I did the same as required by them. I explained them about my work and they were perplexed by my explanations. It was again a revision type of thing for me and now I was getting bored but I cant ignore it also because I was on the verge of completing the project. After two hours I was told to go back to the office again and I set out for it. The person who took me to the place, pointed out some places on the way and told us that these are the various small NGOS where some volunteers come and do their projects. So after requesting him a lot he finally agreed to my request and I told the auto wala to stop in the middle . I got down there and then went inside in one of the NGO. It was not as big as the main office of MPWAB but I found it amazing. I saw people helping some children in carrying out their activities. Those children were divided into groups. Some were orphans and some were those children who were physically challenged. I spent around 2 hours with them and I also contributed in helping them by serving them food and playing indoor games with many of them. It was a good experience playing with kids who were also happy when they saw some outsiders coming and interacting with them. After this I went back to the office and there I saw the head Hariom Pandit in his office. I waited there for half an hour and then he called me. He was very much amused with my work and dedication which I showed in the whole time span. I was having talks with him then the person who went with me came into the office and told about my work in the orphanage, Mr. Pandit, who himself is blind by birth, was amused by hearing this and he agreed to give me the certificate. He gave me the envelope which had the certificate , I thanked him and gave him the assurance that in the near future I will surely help their NGO whenever they will require. 20

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

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As a learning experience, the NGO project contributed a lot towards my personal growth and development. It made me come face to face with realities that I experience everyday, but I was not ready to accept it as a part of our lives. On a general note the project was a very broad one that could have ranged from an idea based community service to people based service. My effort, though centered around a project named and the issues that the blind people had to face everyday, it did taught me a lot in other aspects as well, because during the course of my interaction with the young , I was fortunate enough to be able to share a part of the experiences of some of the many time tested beings. At times I was not so welcome and at times it seemed as an extension of our daily lives, but on the whole it taught me a lot and I would not be exaggerating it if I say that the project benefitted me more than the society in terms of immediate results, because to say the truth I did not do much other than just give company to, and spend some time with the children. I could not forget the first day of my NGO activity when went to prakash nagar by bus. It was an awesome experience going this far by bus. As I reached there I was told to serve foods to the people present there. This was my first time serving food to these needy children. Then after serving food I realized how good and satisfactory it felt by serving people. It was really a nice experience living for a night . Whole night was fun as I talked a lot about the activities that I did the whole day starting from my journey then serving food to children and then arranging things for exhibition which was my next task to be held the next day. I arranged quite a few flower pots and many other things displayed in the exhibition. And the whole day was too tiring and I was asleep.

Though I cant really measure the accomplishment of my objective, I can say this for sure, that it added to my being as a person and if nothing else, it will help me to be better and more compassionate beings. It may sound clichd and I might not be even be able to do it 22

for all I know, but I am sure my heart would be satiated if I continue to visit those people who taught me a lesson in compassion.

RECOMMENDATIONS
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After working in Helen Keller High school for 25 hours these are the suggestion I would like to make to the management of MPWAB .These suggestions are based on my experience of interacting with the volunteers and my observations.

The people of the NGO are really nice but they should make sure that when they are taking the volunteers into certain outside project then they should make necessary arrangements so that the volunteers can reach to the destination without facing any problem. I am saying this because I faced a lot of difficulty in reaching my destination as I was told just the name of the place where I had to reach.

The NGO can have talks with institutions and get students to volunteer and organize activities in their project as it cheers up the students and also provides a learning opportunity to the youngsters.

The organization should also make sure that they give chances to as many college students as possible because in the beginning I found it difficult to join the NGO because the minimum requirement to work there for was 3 months and I had to work for 25 hours.

My suggestion is that they should invent small projects also so that people like us can get a good opportunity in working and gaining a lot from these social activities.

Apart from these general suggestions that are suggested above, I would like to say that the NGO is run in a very efficient and well maintained way. All the things are very well communicated and the staffs or members out there are very dedicated to their various projects and they achieve their objective also. I had good experience working with such a huge organisation and it would not have been possible if Mr. Babulalji had not recommended me for this project.

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I would also like to thank the owner of the NGO who allowed me to work and give me the certificate for 25 hours of work as it was not on their criteria and it was against their rules, but it was his gratitude towards me that he considered my project and granted me the permission for working there. Nowadays youngsters hardly pay any heed to the wounds of people but organizations like HKH are instigating the warm blood to show the talent by helping people. It is through HKH only that youngsters who are really interested in doing social activities for the society and the poor can do it according to the wishes because the projects designed by HKH are such that youth can participate in it. I would like to suggest that once in a lifetime a man should live for another man.

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CONCLUSION
Doing a social activity is not at all opposed by anyone and no one will ever refuse you from doing that. This being the first experience for me working in NGO I learnt a lot and I got to see the realities of life. People need help and by helping others for a good cause is not a wrong thing to do. These 8 days that I spent their will always be days that I will look back to in life just for the valuable lessons and experiences I received. As a conclusion I would like to thank the college for having this project as a part of my curriculum as it helped a lot to bring a positive change in myself. Having done this project I hereby infer that no matter it was a hectic process overall but I got the opportunity to help the needy and register my names in the good book of god.

Because service to man is service to God

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CONTACTS
Hellen Keller Education Academy Prakahnagar, Near Water Tank, Navlakha, Indore 452001 (M.P), India +91-731-2401242, 2402242 Regional Office & MPWAB Center: 33, B/D, Killa Maidan, Indore 452006 (M.P.), India +91-731-2401242, 2402242

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Some Glimpses of my Project

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my profound gratitude to all those who have been instrumental in the preparation of this project report. I wish to place on records, my deep gratitude to my Class Co-Ordinator Mrs. Vinita Seshadri, for her expert advice and help. I would like to thank Dr. (Fr). Thomas.C.Mathew, Vice Chancellor and Dr. Jain Mathew, HOD, for their support. I am deeply grateful to Mr. Hariom Pandit, Project Director Helen Keller High school, Indore, for the Co-operation extended by his team for me to help connect with the objective of Social Responsibility and furnishing the required information. Lastly, I would like to thank God, my Parents and Friends for their constant help and support.

Abhinandan Betala Reg. No.- 1011228

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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http://www.google.co.in/ http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://www.mpwab.com/ http://in.altavista.com/ http://www.bing.com/images/search? q=lousei+braille&view=detail&id=DD2920A207E6614CA5BDD403B7304CCB1C48B3 7D&first=1&FORM=IDFRIR&qpvt=lousei+braille

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