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Subject: Global Groupings and Conventions

Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

  • What is the Temporary Protection Directive of the EU?

    Responding to the crisis, EU Member States made the unprecedented decision to activate a major European Union’s Council Directive, known as the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD).

    What is Temporary Protection?

    • The EU Commission describes “temporary protection” under the TPD as an “exceptional measure to provide immediate and temporary protection to displaced persons from non-EU countries and those unable to return to their country of origin”.
    • The directive applies when there is a risk that the standard asylum system is struggling to cope with demand stemming from a mass influx risking a negative impact on the processing of claims.

    Objectives of this protection

    1. To both establish minimum standards for giving temporary protection to displaced persons
    2. To promote a balance of effort between Member States in receiving and bearing the consequences of receiving such persons

    Why establish standards?

    The Commission gives two reasons for doing so:

    • It reduces disparities between the policies of EU States on the reception and treatment of displaced persons in a situation of mass influx.
    • It promotes solidarity and burden-sharing among EU States with respect to receiving large numbers of potential refugees at one time.”

    What obligations does the TPD place upon EU states?

    According to the European Commission, the TPD “foresees harmonised rights for the beneficiaries of temporary protection”, which include:

    • Residence permit for the duration of the protection (which can last from 1-3 years),
    • Appropriate information on temporary protection,
    • Access to employment,
    • Access to accommodation or housing,
    • Access to social welfare or means of subsistence,
    • Access to medical treatment,
    • Access to education for minors,
    • Opportunities for families to reunite in certain circumstances, and
    • Guarantees for access to the normal asylum procedure

    The TPD also contains provisions for the return of displaced persons to their country of origin, unless they have committed serious crimes or they “pose a threat to security from the benefit of temporary protection”.

     

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  • Why NATO isn’t sending troops to Ukraine?

    Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has been rapidly deploying troops to member countries but has clarified that it has no plans of sending them to Ukraine.

    What is NATO?

    • NATO is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949.
    • It sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.
    • Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
    • NATO has spread a web of partners, namely Egypt, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.

    Why was it founded?

    Ans. Communist sweep in Europe post-WWII and rise of Soviet dominance

    • After World War II in 1945, Western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak, and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy.
    • By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and Eastern Europe.
    • By 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all non-communist political activity.
    • What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and Eastern Europe.

    Ideology of NATO

    • NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries.
    • It commits the Allies to democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
    • It also provides a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation across the Atlantic.

    What is Article 5 and why is it needed?

    • Article 5 was a key part of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, or Washington Treaty, and was meant to offer a collective defence against a potential invasion of Western Europe.
    • It states: (NATO members) will assist the party or parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
    • However, since then, it has only been invoked once, soon after the 9/11 attack in the United States.

    Why has Article 5 not been invoked this time?

    • The reason is simple: Ukraine is a partner of the Western defence alliance but not a NATO member.
    • As a result, Article 5, or the Collective Defense Pledge, does not apply.
    • While NATO has said it will not be sending troops to Ukraine, it did invoke Article 4, which calls for a consultation of the alliance’s principal decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council.
    • In its history, it has only been activated half a dozen times.
    • But the fact that this time around eight member nations chose to invoke it was enough to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation at a global level.

    What may prompt NATO to invoke Article 5?

    • NATO will invoke Article 5 only if Russia launches a full-blown attack on one of its allies.
    • Some top US officials have warned of the impact of some of Russia’s cyberattacks being felt in NATO countries.
    • When you launch cyberattacks, they don’t recognize geographic boundaries.
    • Some of that cyberattack could actually start shutting down systems in eastern Poland.

    But what is NATO’s problem with Russia?

    • Russia has long been opposed to Ukraine’s growing closeness with European institutions, particularly NATO.
    • The former Soviet republic shares borders with Russia on one side, and the European Union on the other.
    • After Moscow launched its attack, the US and its allies were quick to respond, imposing sanctions on Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds.

     

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  • What is WHO’s Pandemic Treaty?

    Members of the World Health Organisation (WHO) held the first round of negotiations towards the pandemic treaty on February 24, 2022.

    What is the Pandemic Treaty?

    • In December 2021, the World Health Assembly agreed to start a global process to draft the pandemic treaty.
    • The need for an updated set of rules was felt after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of global health systems.
    • The Health Assembly adopted a decision titled “The World Together” at its second special session since it was founded in 1948.
    • Under the decision, the health organization established an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate the contents of the pandemic treaty in compliance with Article 19 of the WHO Constitution.

    What is it likely to entail?

    • The pandemic treaty is expected to cover aspects like data sharing and genome sequencing of emerging viruses and equitable distribution of vaccines and drugs and related research.
    • Solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic have seen an inequitable distribution of vaccines so far, with poorer countries at the mercy of others to receive preventive medication.

    Why need such treaty?

    • Most countries have followed the “me-first” approach which is not an effective way to deal with a global pandemic.
    • A widely-accepted theory points that the novel coronavirus may have jumped from animals to humans in a wildlife market of China.
    • Many nations want a ban on wildlife markets.

    Issues in negotiations

    • While the EU wants the treaty to be legally binding, the U.S., Brazil and India have expressed reservations about the same.
    • The legal nature of the treaty is yet to be defined.

     What is Article 19 of the WHO Constitution?

    • Article 19 of the WHO Constitution gives the World Health Assembly the authority to adopt conventions or agreements on matters of health.
    • A two-third majority is needed to adopt such conventions or agreements.
    • The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was set up under Article 19 and it came into force in 2005.

     

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  • What is the Munich Security Conference (MSC)?

    The latest edition of MSC a week ago assumed significance as it was here that the Ukrainian President appealed for help ahead of the Russian invasion.

    Munich Security Conference

    • The Munich Security Conference is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963.
    • It brings together heads of state, diplomats and business leaders from the world’s leading democracies for three days of meetings and presentations.
    • It is the world’s largest gathering of its kind.
    • Over the past four decades the MSC has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers.

    How did it begin?

    • When the MSC was founded in 1963, it was envisioned as a way for leaders, mostly from the West, to discuss threats and dangers in an informal setting.
    • Most of the concerns at the time stemmed from the Cold War, which had dominated world politics for nearly a half-century.
    • Over time, the conference evolved into a platform for airing grievances and workshopping political agreements, some of them outside the realm of East-West relations.
    • In recent years, the conference has often invited leaders from authoritarian countries, and even adversaries, to speak.

     

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  • Why do we need a refugee and asylum law

    Context

    A Private Member’s Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha proposing the enactment of a Refugee and Asylum law.

    Why does India need a Refugee and Asylum law?

    •  The principle of non-refoulement: The international legal principle of non-refoulement — the cornerstone of refugee law, which states that no country should send a person to a place where he or she may face persecution.
    •  The principle of non-refoulement is clearly affirmed, with no exceptions, though reasons have been specified for exclusion, expulsion, and revocation of refugee status, to respect the Government’s sovereign authority but limit its discretion.
    • India is not signatory to Refugee Convention: India has been, and continues to be, a generous host to several persecuted communities, doing more than many countries, but is neither a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, nor does it have a domestic asylum framework.
    • The tradition of asylum: It will be in line with India’s millennial traditions of asylum and hospitality to strangers.
    • Because India has neither subscribed to international conventions on the topic nor set up a domestic legislative framework to deal with refugees, their problems are dealt with in an ad hoc manner, and like other foreigners they always face the possibility of being deported.
    •  It will finally recognise India’s long-standing and continuing commitment to humanitarian and democratic values while dealing with refugees.

    Multiple laws

    • In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management.
    • We have a cocktail of laws such as:
    • the Foreigners Act, 1946,
    • the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939,
    • the Passports Act (1967),
    • the Extradition Act, 1962,
    • the Citizenship Act, 1955 and
    • the Foreigners Order, 1948 — all of which club all foreign individuals together as “aliens”.

    Defining refugee

    • Well-founded fear of persecution: The internationally-accepted definition of the term, includes people who have fled their home countries and crossed an international border because of a well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries, on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
    • Who does not qualify as a refugee? This means that people who cross borders in quest of economic betterment, or because they are fleeing poverty, anarchy or environmental disaster, do not qualify as refugees.
    • Nor do those who flee from one part of their home country to another because of war, conflict or fear of persecution.

    Way forward

    • India must enact a National Asylum Law.
    • We need a proper framework to make sure that refugees can access basic public services, be able to legally seek jobs and livelihood opportunities for some source of income.
    • The absence of such a framework will make the refugees vulnerable to exploitation, especially human trafficking.
    • Our judiciary has already shown the way forward on this: in 1996, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the state has to protect all human beings living in India, irrespective of nationality, since they enjoy the rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 20 and 21 of the Constitution to all, not just Indian citizens.
    • The enactment and enumeration of refugee rights will reduce our dependence on judge-centric approaches — or even worse, the whims of Home Ministry bureaucrats, police officers and politicians.

    Consider the question “In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management. In the context of this, examine the need for law to deal with asylum seeker and suggest the various aspects the law should cover.” 

    Conclusion

    The problems of refugees worldwide are problems that demand global solidarity and international cooperation. India, as a pillar of the world community, as a significant pole in the emerging multipolar world, must play its own part, on its own soil as well as on the global stage, in this noble task.

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  • Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

    India has hit out at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), saying it was “hijacked by vested interests” over its remark on Karnataka Hijab Row.

    What is OIC?

    • The OIC — formerly Organisation of the Islamic Conference — is the world’s second-largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states.
    • The OIC’s stated objective is “to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world”.
    • OIC has reserved membership for Muslim-majority countries. Russia, Thailand, and a couple of other small countries have Observer status.

    India and OIC

    • At the 45th session of the Foreign Ministers’ Summit in 2018, Bangladesh suggested that India, where more than 10% of the world’s Muslims live, should be given Observer status.
    • In 1969, India was dis-invited from the Conference of Islamic Countries in Rabat, Morocco at Pakistan’s behest.
    • Then Agriculture Minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was dis-invited upon arrival in Morocco after Pakistan President Yahya Khan lobbied against Indian participation.

    Recent developments

    • In 2019, India made its maiden appearance at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Abu Dhabi, as a “guest of honor”.
    • This first-time invitation was seen as a diplomatic victory for New Delhi, especially at a time of heightened tensions with Pakistan following the Pulwama attack.
    • Pakistan had opposed the invitation to Swaraj and it boycotted the plenary after the UAE turned down its demand to rescind the invitation.

    What is the OIC’s stand on Kashmir?

    • It has been generally supportive of Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir and has issued statements criticizing India.
    • Last year, after India revoked Article 370 in Kashmir, Pakistan lobbied with the OIC for their condemnation of the move.
    • To Pakistan’s surprise, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — both top leaders among the Muslim countries — issued nuanced statements, and were not as harshly critical of New Delhi as Islamabad had hoped.
    • Since then, Islamabad has tried to rouse sentiments among the Islamic countries, but only a handful of them — Turkey and Malaysia — publicly criticized India.

    How has India been responding?

    • India has consistently underlined that J&K is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.
    • The strength with which India has made this assertion has varied slightly at times, but never the core message.
    • It has maintained its “consistent and well known” stand that the OIC had no locus standi.
    • This time, India went a step ahead and said the grouping continues to allow itself to be used by a certain country “which has a record on religious tolerance, radicalism, and persecution of minorities”.

    OIC members and India

    • Individually, India has good relations with almost all member nations. Ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, especially, have looked up significantly in recent years.
    • The OIC includes two of India’s close neighbors, Bangladesh and Maldives.
    • Indian diplomats say both countries privately admit they do not want to complicate their bilateral ties with India on Kashmir but play along with OIC.

    Way ahead

    • India now sees the duality of the OIC as untenable, since many of these countries have good bilateral ties and convey to India to ignore OIC statements.
    • But these countries sign off on the joint statements which are largely drafted by Pakistan.
    • India feels it important to challenge the double-speak since Pakistan’s campaign and currency on the Kashmir issue has hardly any takers in the international community.

     

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  • World Food Programme (WFP)

    India signed an agreement with the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) for the distribution of 50,000 tonnes of wheat that it has committed to sending Afghanistan as part of humanitarian assistance.

    What is WFP?

    • The WFP is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations (UN).
    • It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization focused on hunger and food security, and the largest provider of school meals.
    • Founded in 1961, it is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries.
    • In addition to emergency food relief, WFP offers technical assistance and development aid, such as building capacity for emergency preparedness and response, managing supply chains and logistics, etc.
    • The agency is also a major provider of direct cash assistance and medical supplies and provides passenger services for humanitarian workers.

    Feats achieved

    • As of 2020, it served 115.5 million people in 80-plus countries, the largest since 2012.
    • The WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to provide food assistance in areas of conflict and to prevent the use of food as a weapon of war and conflict.

    WFP in Afghanistan

    • The wheat will be taken through Pakistan to the Afghan border crossing and handed over to WFP officials in Kandahar.
    • The WFP runs its own logistics network inside Afghanistan, partnering with civil society groups.

     

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  • What is TRIPS Agreement?

    India runs the risk of being excluded from a proposal it co-authored at the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, in 2020, to “temporarily waive” intellectual property rights (IPR) held, by primarily Western countries, on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19.

    What is the case?

    • India and China are two major global suppliers of medicine.
    • A small group of WTO members was discussing suggestions to exclude drug manufacturers in India and China from prospective waivers to IPR obligations.
    • IPR obligations are a result of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which WTO members are committed to upholding.

    What is the Agreement on TRIPS?

    • The Agreement on TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    • It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations.
    • TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.
    • It introduced intellectual property law into the multilateral trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date.

    Key provisions

    • TRIPS requires member states to provide strong protection for intellectual property rights.
    • It seeks to provide copyright rights, covering authors and other copyright holders, as well as holders of related rights, namely performers, sound recording producers, and broadcasting organizations.
    • It provides for geographical indications (GI); industrial designs; integrated circuit layout designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade names and undisclosed or confidential information.
    • It also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
    • TRIPS also has a most favored nation (MFN) clause.

    Why TRIPS?

    • The obligations of the main international agreements of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that already existed before the WTO was created:
    1. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (patents, industrial designs, etc)
    2. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (copyright).
    • Some areas are not covered by these agreements. In some cases, the standards of protection prescribed were thought inadequate.
    • So the TRIPS Agreement adds significantly to existing international standards.

    What else is covered under TRIPS Agreement?

    • Copyright terms must extend at least 50 years unless based on the life of the author.
    • Computer programs must be regarded as “literary works” under copyright law and receive the same terms of protection.
    • Patents must be granted for “inventions” in all fields of technology and must be enforceable for at least 20 years.

     

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  • Preventing genocide

    Context

    Incendiary speeches at a religious assembly include calls for the genocide of Muslims in India and can be seen as part of an ongoing pattern of targeting minorities.

    Background of the convention against genocide

    • India’s role: India has signed and ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948.
    • In 1946, Cuba, India and Panama co-sponsored General Assembly Resolution 96(I), which affirmed genocide as a ‘crime under international law’.
    • As a result of this resolution, a convention on the prohibition of genocide was drafted, which was passed by the General Assembly in 1948 and came into effect in 1951, with more than 150 states party to the convention presently.
    • Legal obligation: Legal obligations on states that are party to the convention include:
    • the obligation not to commit genocide,
    • to prevent genocide, and to punish genocide(Article I),
    • to enact legislation to give effect to the provisions of the convention (Article V);
    • to provide for effective penalties for those found guilty of criminal conduct (Article V); and
    • the obligation to try those charged with genocide in a competent tribunal (Article VI).

    No legislation enacted by India

    • Since signing the Genocide Convention and ratifying it, to date India has not enacted any legislation in accordance with Article VI of the Genocide Convention.
    • At the outset, India is in violation of its international obligation to criminalise genocide within its domestic law per Articles V, VI and VII, and to take all means to ensure the prevention of genocide.
    •  Indian domestic law shows that there are no comparable provisions for the prosecution of any mass crimes, least of all genocide.
    • Indian Penal Code provisions relating to rioting, unlawful assembly and ‘promoting enmity between different groups’ do not embody the basic elements of the crime of genocide, which is against a collectivity or a group, with the specific intent to cause its destruction.
    • These also do not pertain to another key aspect of the Genocide Convention – that of prevention, and creating the conditions in which such hate speech and other associated acts are not allowed to flourish.

    Significance of the Gambia’s proceedings before the ICJ against Myanmar

    •  The Gambia has initiated proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar on the basis of the Convention.
    • The ICJ, relying on a previous case of Belgium v. Senegal, stated, “It follows that any State party to the Genocide Convention, and not only a specially affected State, may invoke the responsibility of another State party with a view to ascertaining the alleged failure to comply with its obligations erga omnes partes, and to bring that failure to an end.”

    Conclusion

    It is more imperative than ever that international legal protections against genocide are incorporated in domestic legislation. Furthermore, the fact that India has international legal obligations under the Genocide Convention which it is not adhering to must be rectified.

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  • India appeals against WTO order on Sugar

    India has appealed against a ruling of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) trade dispute settlement panel on domestic sugar subsidies, stating that the panel had committed “certain errors of law” in its report.

    What is the case?

    • India’s Minimum Selling Price system for Sugarcane was brought to notice to the WTO by Brazil, Australia and Guatemala.

    What was the complaint against India?

    Australia, Brazil, and Guatemala said India’s domestic support and export subsidy measures appeared to be inconsistent with various articles against WTO’s:

    1. Agreement on Agriculture
    2. Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM)
    3. Article XVI (which concerns subsidies) of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT)
    • Domestic Support: All three countries complained that India provides domestic support to sugarcane producers that exceed the de minimis level of 10% of the total value of sugarcane production.
    • Various subsidies: They also raised the issue of India’s alleged export subsidies, subsidies under the production assistance and buffer stock schemes, and the marketing and transportation scheme.
    • Notifying support: Australia accused India of “failing” to notify its annual domestic support for sugarcane and sugar subsequent to 1995-96, and its export subsidies since 2009-10.

    India’s reply to WTO panel

    • India rejected the panel’s findings as “erroneous”, “unreasoned”, and “not supported by the WTO rules”.
    • It argued that the requirements of Article 3 of the SCM Agreement are not yet applicable to India.
    • It has a phase-out period of 8 years to eliminate export subsidies under the agreement.
    • India also argued that its mandatory minimum prices are not paid by the governments but by sugar mills, and hence do not constitute market price support.

    Backgrounder: Sugarcane Pricing in India

    Who determines Sugarcane prices?

    Sugarcane prices are determined by the Centre as well as States.

    1. The Centre announces Fair and Remunerative Prices which are determined on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and are announced by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister.
    2. The State Advised Prices (SAP) are announced by key sugarcane producing states which are generally higher than FRP.

    Minimum Selling Price (MSP) for Sugar

    • The price of sugar is market-driven & depends on the demand & supply of sugar.
    • However, with a view to protecting the interests of farmers, the concept of MSP of sugar has been introduced since 2018.
    • MSP of sugar has been fixed taking into account the components of Fair & Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane and minimum conversion cost of the most efficient mills.

    Basis of price determination

    • With the amendment of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, the concept of Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) of sugarcane was replaced with the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP)’ of sugarcane in 2009-10.
    • The cane price announced by the Central Government is decided on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
    • This is done in consultation with the State Governments and after taking feedback from associations of the sugar industry.

    What is FRP?

    • FRP is fixed under a sugarcane control order, 1966.
    • It is the minimum price that sugar mills are supposed to pay to the farmers.
    • However, states determine their own State Agreed Price (SAP) which is generally higher than the FRP.

    Factors considered for FRP:

    • The amended provisions of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 provides for fixation of FRP of sugarcane having regard to the following factors:

    a) cost of production of sugarcane;

    b) return to the growers from alternative crops and the general trend of prices of agricultural commodities;

    c) availability of sugar to consumers at a fair price;

    d) price at which sugar produced from sugarcane is sold by sugar producers;

    e) recovery of sugar from sugarcane;

    f) the realization made from the sale of by-products viz. molasses, bagasse, and press mud or their imputed value;

    g) reasonable margins for the growers of sugarcane on account of risk and profits.

     

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