Recruiting in the High Schools Essay Example for Free

Recruiting in the High Schools Essay You see them everywhere dressed up head to toe in camouflage and shiny boots, with the image of a super hero. With the recent conflicts in the Middle East, parents across America have protested the military being inside of our children’s schools auctioning off a better life. Let’s face it, who can give a better life to you than your mother? In 2002 the government made a flagship program designed to help underprivileged kids called the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act†. â€Å"Since 2002 the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act† has meant that US schools which receive government money must allow the military in to talk to students† (Act of Congress). So this poses a huge problem for the parents that are trying to fight to get the military out of the schools and to put a ban on recruiting from within the confines. The military shouldn’t be able to recruit in high schools for many reasons. The most important reasons why the military shouldn’t recruit inside of high schools is because the mind of a high school student isn’t developed enough to make the right decisions to join; the military gives false hope to kids of financial freedom, and the possibility of death isn’t realistically depicted by the recruiters to the high school students. Why are we recruiting in high schools instead of on college campuses? There could be a lot of reasons behind it, but first and foremost is that seventeen year olds aren’t ready to join. The mind of a seventeen year old isn’t fully developed until their in their twenties. So the judgment of a right and a wrong decision isn’t mindfully thought through. Yes, a seventeen year old only needs a high school diploma and parental consent but, how can they think they are ready for war when they can’t even drink alcohol or vote for their commander and chief? In high schools there are cliques and like any kid they want to be in these so called cliques. Robert Ayers discusses in his book how kids are looking for a clique or group to belong to, â€Å"High school kids are at an age when being a member of an identifiable group with a grand mission and a shared spirit — and never underestimate a distinctive uniform — is of exaggerated importance, something gang recruiters in big cities also note with interest and exploit with skill† (William Ayers). Ayers is depicting to us how easy it is to manipulate, and convince a young mind, seventeen years old, just wants to be part of a group with an image no matter what group it is. All someone has to do is depict an image of greatness and the young people are sold. The fact and bottom line is that our kids look up to a glorified image that the military and their commercials depict from a young age and they shouldn’t be capitalized on nor taken advantage of due to this overwhelming lopsided image. The military is currently under quota of manpower that they need to run a successful defense, so turning to seventeen year olds without the knowledge of military recruiting tactics is the logical and more efficient way to get people to join our depleted military. But this is not a reason to prey on sixteen and seventeen year olds who aren’t even old enough to vote nor drive, but they can make life and death decisions to join the military. But having the undeveloped brain, like we all went through, as they do they are not old enough to cypher through the presentations that the recruiter gives in order to make a valid and rational decision. Why do you see more recruiters in poverty stricken areas contrast to those in areas of good or well financial being? This is because the military is unethically targeting the vulnerable kids in our school system. Recruiters unethically target low income kids while promising them financial aid for school after these students serve in the military. Some of the students are promised is school fully paid for via the â€Å"Post 9/11 bill† and the â€Å"GI Bill†. But if you go www. va. gov website you will see the underlying criteria to actually get 100 percent free tuition. The Veteran Affairs website referenced these criteria’s; Active duty status, months and years served, months retired and a plethora of underlying circumstances. Getting high school students seem to be the plan for high school students, â€Å"The U. S. military’s practice of targeting low-income youth and students of color for recruitment, in combination with exaggerated promises of financial rewards for enlistment, undermines the voluntariness of their enlistment† (Soldiers of Misfortune). So why does the military seem to recruit people of color? Well according to www. census. gov the website tells us a lot about Caucasian children eighteen and under below the poverty line was seventeen percent and the children of the minority races were thirty five percent and higher. So this is actually the ideal place for a recruiter to so called â€Å"fill their quota†. Going back to the argument of recruiters promising false financing of school, this could be an advantage for the recruiters. Promising people who don’t have anything something is unethical and misleading. This is mostly unethical because the recruiters that are usually E-4 to E-6 have no pull to get you in different schooling programs nor give you the position that you could want, in terms of career and financing. â€Å"Many possible recruits are promised that they will receive tens of thousands of dollars in education when, in actuality, 57 percent of veterans who have applied for Government Issue (GI) benefits have not received any financial aid, according to the non-profit organization Finding Alternatives to Military Enlistment† (FAME). Promising financial benefits to kids that less than the majority of the military veterans receive is morally and ethically wrong. Also, the recruiters don’t tell you that in some circumstance you can’t attend school while in an â€Å"Active Duty Status†. Reason being is that you could get deployed and be called off to duty at any time and then the government would have to reimburse the institution for the incomplete credits. The recruiters also don’t tell recruits that if you are a reservist you are not eligible for the GI Bill, being in the reserve status it will be impossible to accumulate four years’ worth of active duty. The military also made it so that this could never be reached, it’s like a safe guard they have in place. The U. S. government also targets disadvantaged communities and areas. The philosophy of recruiters seem to be â€Å" The more in poverty a student is, the more likely they will look for a way out and join the ranks†. When the recruiters target these areas their showing that the more fortunate kids lives are more valuable and worth sparing more than others. It just isn’t right to exploit children from these backgrounds and hold their lives to a lesser status than other backgrounds. Why isn’t war realistically depicted to recruits before they join? Because, it’s nothing like what you see on the video games like â€Å"Call of Duty† or movies like â€Å"The Expendables or The ‘A’ Team†, when people shoot a plethora of bullets at you someone or something gets hit. â€Å"War is catastrophic for human beings, and, indeed, for the continuation of life on Earth. With over 120 military bases around the globe and the second largest military force ever assembled, the U. S.  government is engaged in a constant state of war, and American society is necessarily distorted and disfigured around the aims of war† (William Ayers). A good statistic that should be shared while a recruit is debating whether or not to join the military is, â€Å"During the last decade of that spectacular century, two million children were killed, 20 million displaced, six million disabled† (William Ayers). Now this is a statistic that should get shared with recruits along with the good statistics that are put in there to glorify military service. Another good fact that recruits probably don’t know about â€Å"108 million people were slaughtered in wars during the 20th century† (William Ayers). Now the recruiters should tell the recruits to put this into perspective. 108 million people like you and me were killed within 100 years due to war and military conflict. The kids in high school need to understand that those were kids their age and younger, on some continents that were getting killed over things not fully understood. Then when your contract is up and you are honorably discharged from your branch of service people are still left with images of war and relive it every day. â€Å"Vets suffer long-term health consequences including greater risk of depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, sleep disorders, and more. About one-third of Vietnam vets suffered full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder. Another 22% suffered partial post-traumatic stress disorder. This is the nature of the beast. Anyone who’s been there knows† (William Ayers). If kids the age of 18 and lower are allowed to see and experience these things, then when their brains are fully developed they will be brain washed and war could be instilled in them with no turning back. This could also be that kid’s brains are not fully developed so they don’t have a clear concept of death. Recruiting in the high schools is ethically wrong due to the lack of the recruits’ brain development to cypher through and make a decision based on facts instead of the image the recruiters portray of the military. Also, the recruiters promise tens of thousands of dollars to these kids when that is a very farfetched truth. The recruiters need to tell them what you actually have to do to earn and qualify for that money so it can actually be yours’. Military recruiters also don’t depict a clear picture of war and all that is lost during it. People’s sanity, lives and total way of living are altered forever. Recruiting in high schools should be closely monitored in schools if not done away with all together. Kids eighteen and younger just don’t have a grasp on what’s reality and what’s fabricated. Works Cited Ayers, William. Hearts and Minds: Military Recruitment and the High School Battlefield. Www. democraticdialogue. com. N. p. , 07 Apr. 2006. Web. Cave, Damien. Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents. Editorial. New York Times [New York] 3 June 2005: B6. Www. newyorktimes. com. Web. Census Bureau Homepage. Census Bureau Homepage. N. p. , n. d. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. http://www. census. gov/. FAME Time Series. FAME Time Series. N. p. , n. d. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. http://www. fame. com/. Www. gibill. va. gov. N. p. , n. d. Web.

Strategic information system of Meena Bazar Essay Example for Free

Strategic information system of Meena Bazar Essay Acknowledgement After going through a lot of limitation finally I was able to do a fruitful assignment on the strategic information management system of â€Å"Meena Bazar†. I would like to thank our honorable course teacher for her support and proper guideline that helped me a lot make a successful report. Special thanks to the Meena Bazar authority for their infarctions which helped me a lot to be successful in making the report. Acknowledgement After going through a lot of limitation finally I was able to do a fruitful assignment on the strategic information management system of â€Å"Meena Bazar†. I would like to thank our honorable course teacher for her support and proper guideline that helped me a lot make a successful report. Special thanks to the Meena Bazar authority for their infarctions which helped me a lot to be successful in making the report . Also thanks go the Wikipedia and other websites authorities fromwhere found lots of useful information. INTRODUCTION Meena Bazar is a well developed super shopin Dhaka City. It is a retailer of the daily goods includes all thefast moving consumer goodslike household, groceries,stationeries and cosmetics, etc.It offer clean and  friendlyenvironment with a wide rangeof quality products at affordableprices and it has become the primary channel for distribution of foods and other household effects on the consumers. Super shop  is to achieve the leading positionin superstore business of the country through excellence product and servicewith affordable price by implementing proper information technology. Scopes of the shop There are some scopes for the super shop to extend, such as; It is the only one organized super shop in the local market. There is more demand for such business in the local market. It can retail the quality products at the most lowest price in themarket. There is a chance to develop more outlets throughout the city. Thatis because; Demand to super shop is being increased day by day in city. Target Market Their target customers are those in the upper, upper middle and middleclass .It has a longer-term vision to target a customer base and include peoplefrom the lower income group.

Ignorance of Physical Health in Mental Health

Ignorance of Physical Health in Mental Health Bakhtawar Mushtaq According to the World health organization (2007) â€Å"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being , not merely the absence of disease and infirmity†. From this definition we surmise three main aspects and they always stroll side by side. This definition has both psychiatric and medicine field which insist us for holistic care. If one of the aspect will be ignored then it will difficult to achieve the complete state of well being. The health care professional should take care of physical problems while treating their mental health (Sturgeon, 2007). Mental health set ups are not only to treat the mental disorders, but the physical health issues too. On the other hand, â€Å" the physical health of patients with mental illness is neglected which leads to high premature mortality rates† (brown, 2012). Writing on this topic will help in understanding the importance of holistic care in mental health care setting. Neglecting physical health is a serious issue. Health care providers can prevent thousands of premature deaths by simple interventions, like the care of minor physical instabilities. With the socio-cultural context, stigma and stereotyping are the major barrier of physical health in mental health. In our culture, people easily stigmatize the patient without thinking the consequences. â€Å"Unluckily stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illnesses are present within the mental health professions themselves. The staff usually stigmatizes the patients and treats them unfairly. Instead of paying attention they just ignore the symptoms reported by the patients and label them as symptoms of mental health. Such symptoms may further worsen the condition†. (Cooper 2010) Thornicroft 2011 conducted a study which shows that only 13% mentally ill patients are getting the proper physical health treatments, 48% are getting poorer attention, the rest 30% are not getting any physical attention and 80% population is dying because of this issue which is the main factor of increasing mortality rate. Two main reasons are unnatural deaths and poorer physical health care. However, It shows the high mortality rate in mentally ill patients due to ignorance of physical health. It is very important to address this issue and take important steps to improve their health. During my mental health clinical, I found the enormous ignorance of physical health. A 25 years old female was facing extreme stomachache and she was complaining continuously. On the first day, Everybody was ignoring the patient by saying she is depressed rather listen her complain. Staff even didn’t perform any assessment or notice the facial expressions of the patient. On the second day when I went to the patient she reported her complain and I shared her concern to the doctor she said that just ignore these patients otherwise they will start complaining all the time. On the third day when I attend the clinical, staff told me that patient was very sick at night so she is admitted in hospital for physical checkup. Contemplating the scenario its perturbing that staff is ignoring thos e mentally ill patients who are very vulnerable to other threatening problems and other unexpected outcomes. â€Å"Mentally ill patients are more prone to physical illness than the general population because of many reasons such as lack of exercise, high rates of smoking and poorer diet all contributes to diseases like hypertension, high cholesterol and respiratory illness etc† (Chacà ³n, 2011). Some researchers show a strong genetic relationship between some psychological and physiological illness such as the people with diabetes have the tendency to get schizophrenia. Patient with mental illness can’t pay attention to their physical health so it is our responsibility to take care of their health. Further, somatic pain is also a reason, referring to the scenario my patient had pain, but nobody was listening to her concern because they were assuming that she have somatic delusions. These perceptions lead to serious illnesses in mentally ill patients. Thornicroft (2011) states that â€Å"there are many barriers which contribute to physical illness. He gives the concept of â⠂¬Å"diagnostic overshadowing† that people with mental illness receive worse treatment for physical disorders†. If a patient is admitted in emergency with co-morbid of mental illness and diabetes, staff will less likely to concentrate on diabetes. Furthermore, workload and shortage of trained staff are the contributing factors. Else, negligence in daily assessment is a major issue. Referring to my scenario, the patient was showing facial expressions but they didn’t notice it. Brown (2012) says that â€Å"health disparities experienced by these people is due to problems in accessing health assessment or lack of resources like equipment to assess the physical symptoms†. They should have access to all the facilities such as BP apparatus, to check their BP like in other diseases. Moreover, these patients are unable to explore their symptoms because of altered thought process and the side effects of antipsychotic drugs. These factors lead to serious physical prob lems in those mentally ill patients. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy, physical needs and health are the most important to be fulfilled. He says that physiological needs are deficiency needs, meaning that these needs are important in order to avoid unpleasant consequences like pain . So, from this model we can infer that physical health and needs are important in order to maintain a healthy life. Now, it’s our responsibility to aware the client about reducing the cause of physical illness. Moreover, to fulfill these responsibilities we should plan some strategies. At the individual level, we can only achieve the improvement, when the health care providers are trained in the skills like therapeutic communication, proper physical assessment, and other psychomotor skills. Staff should be sincere with their patients and have a keen eye on their patient’s assessment. (Brown, 2012) states that â€Å" mental health nurses and clinicians play an active role in health promotion, primary prevention and the early detection of physical health problems†. At the community level, management of health care organization should arrange trainings for providing the latest and reliable information that will help staff to give holistic care, to refresh their knowledge with new researches and the ongoing evaluation and analysis of training sessions. Thus the improvement in all these aspects will help caregivers to provide holistic care to mentally ill patients and complete state of wellbeing. Furthermore, at this level we can give knowledge to the families that their consciousness will be helpful for the patient and their early detection. At the international level, we need a multidimensional strategy to reduce disparities in the physical health of mentally ill patients (Tsay, 2007). Integration of mental and physical health is very important, like in my scenario patient was getting only medical attention and the staff was ignoring her verbal pain and facial expressions. These organizations which are handling mentally ill patients should take care of physical health to provide them holistic care and enough resources for the health care professionals to manage their health with all the three aspects. In conclusion, the physical health of mentally ill patients should be part of the field of action of psychiatric practitioners. Health consists of physical, mental, and social aspects consideration of all three aspects are very essential; a change in one aspect will lead to distortion of health. There for it is the duty of health care providers and organizations to prevent illness and restore health by screening, diagnosis and treat physical illness of mentally ill patients. Here my suggestion is that as a health care professional, we have to consider all three aspects of health and provide holistic care to the patients to achieve a complete state of health. REFERENCES Thornicroft, G. (2011). physical health disparities and mental. The British Journal of Psychiatry Retrieved from http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/199/6/441.full.pdf Buhagiar, K. (2011). physical health behaviors and health locus of control in people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and bipolar disorder: a cross-sectional comparative study with people with nonpsychotic mental illness. BMC Psychiatry Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/2628t51807u8p131/fulltext.pdf Tsay, J. (2007). disparities in appendicitis rupture rate among mentally ill patients. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/a6v7309617l52m76/fulltext.pdf Chacà ³n, F. (2011).Efficacy of lifestyle interventions in physical. Annals of General Psychiatry Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/d4ku137132654624/fulltext.pdf Brown, B. (2012). improving the physical health of people with severe mental illness . No mental health without physical health Retrieved from http://docs.health.vic.gov.au/docs/doc/20C06D82E2C17401CA2578B700253D49/$FILE/improving-the-physical-health-of-people-with-severe-mental-illness-no-mental-health-without-physical-health.pdf Cherry, K(nd). Hierarchy of needs. The Five Levels of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm Sturgeon, S. (2007).Promoting mental health as an essential aspect of health promotion.Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/suppl_1/36.abstrac (1948). Who definition of health. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html Meldrum, D. (2011). the physical health of people living . Retrieved from http://www.mifa.org.au/sites/www.mifa.org.au/files/documents/Physical health Lit review FINAL June 2012.pdf (2012). Physical health conditions among. Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k12/NSDUH103/SR103AdultsAMI2012.pdf

Personal Narrative: I am Blind Essay -- essays research papers

I am blind. But I was not always blind. I once experienced the majesty of a sunrise in late August and the awe of the deep blue sea as the sun glistens from it. Now I have only my memories to comfort me. So they sent me here, a field trip, a good experience they say, to help me cope. They sent me to a deaf school for the day, unknowing of how awkward it is for me. They gave me a buddy, but for what? We can?t communicate through speech or sign language. ? You?ll figure it out,? they say. So now I sit here, alone and desolate in darkness, hoping for the occasional memory to write upon the blank screen of my vision and bring life to this seemingly dead place. And so I sit. The chair is hard and cold as stone, like a cement chair in a jail cell. It is firm, but not strong, it squeaks and wobbles around like a fish out of water. I reach down to make sure all four legs are there. Yes, there?s four, four cold smooth spears symbolizing my demise. Spears ready to leap forward and devour me if I make the slightest wrong or sudden move. I stretch out my arms, trying to find my surroundings. To the left, nothing but air. To the right, another spear, but not like the others this spears lies on its side like the rails in my bathroom. My hand follows the cold rod. It hits something leaving a sting and cracking my thumb as it crushes against my hand. This must be the desk. I glide my hand along the smooth surface felling all the little bumps of eraser left behind. I feel along the sides and touch the rigid edges where pens have been dug in deep like sharp wounds giving the desk a unique personality. As my fingertips reach the center, I re alize just how close the desk is, only about five inches away from my rapidly beatin... ... down the hall and I encounter a revelation of thought. We are going outside. I run faster now and burst through the front doors into the great heaven. I can smell fresh cut grass on the horizon and the soft warm rays of the sun finally beam down on my face. I breath the fresh cool air and listen. My bird has come back again and sings over the crackling flames and sirens of the trucks. It sings because it is free, it sings a victory praise for me because now I am free. I sit down on the wet grass and what I understand to be my buddy takes my hand. On my hand she spells out two letters. Two letters that say everything. She spells out ?O? ?K? and I cry because I know that no matter what happens or how much I have to suffer, in the end it?s okay because I am alive and I am free. So I am still blind, but now I am blind and loving it!

Smut, Erotic Reality/obscene Ideology Essay -- Murray Davis Human Sexu

Smut, Erotic Reality/Obscene Ideology In the book Smut, Erotic Reality/ Obscene Ideology , by Murray Davis (1983), the author expresses the idea that the best source for studying human sexuality objectively is "soft core", rather than â€Å"hard core† pornography. (Davis p. xix). The purpose of this paper is to critique Davis's claim and to study what understanding of human sexuality someone might have if they used some other resource that is available today, in this case the Internet. Davis argues that , "hard core pornography is usually more abstract and less explicit than soft-core pornography". (Davis, p. xix, 1983). Davis doesn't go on to explain how hard-core pornography can be less explicit than soft-core. However he does explain that hard-core pornography is more abstract in that, it depicts the sex act only and not the emotional or personal characteristics of the people involved in the act. (Davis, p. xx) He believes soft-core pornography is describing "a sexual experience", which conveys characteristics of the participants that are not described by hard-core pornography. Hard-core pornography describes "sexual behaviour" which involves more of the act of sex rather than the characteristics and feelings involved with sex. (Davis, p. xix) Although Davis admits that the vocabulary of sex is changing (Davis, p. xxv), he also states that hard-core pornography uses considerably more vulgar terms that are associated with lower-class activity, such as, "prick, fuck, and suck" (Davis, p. xxiii). Davis believes that hard-core pornography, induces imaginative behaviours by using these lower-class, four-letter words. The stories use phrases such as "First we sucked, then we fucked."(Davis p. xix, 1983), to allow the reader the tools to imagine the scene actually taking place. The reader is lead by the author through the story by using words that may be more understood or common in the readers' everyday life. He also accuses hard- core films of being "behavioristic" and "abstract" because they often fail to "fully inform the audience about the characters personality types and social categories."(Davis, p. xx, 1983) Soft-core pornography, on the other hand, often depicts "the subtle phenomenological effects that result when a character's sexual behaviour clashes with his or her personal and social characteristics." (Davis, p. x... ... to the search. For example, love plays a role in our sexuality. If someone did not know this they would enter â€Å"human sexuality† into the search engine and again may be distracted by flashy, hard-core, sex-sites and may not find anything on love. The over-all understanding of human sexuality would be limited according to which sites were looked at. Although I agree somewhat with Advisee's claim that soft-core , rather than hard-core pornography, may be a better resource for studying human sexuality. I feel that using only one resource for information can limit the view and even sometimes distort an individuals ideas of human sexuality. When using a resource such as the Internet, one may be overwhelmed with information and marketing tactics may win the attention of information seekers and take away from the sites that actually offer factual information regarding human sexuality. Therefore, I believe that an individual should use all resources available to them when studying any topic, especially a topic as complex as human sexuality. References Davis, S. Murray. (1983). Smut erotic reality obscene ideology. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

Models of Decision Making :: Business Management

MODELS OF DECISION MAKING: ïÆ'Ëœ SWOT Analysis Model ïÆ'Ëœ Poster’s Five Forces Analysis ïÆ'Ëœ PEST Analysis SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis is the most common and renowned model for decision making in the business world today. It is used for conducting the audit, study and analyze the overall strategic position of the business and the environment in which the business operates SWOT is an abbreviation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The main objective of SWOT analysis is to devise the best strategy for the organization, using it to prepare the business model for the company while keeping in view the resources, capabilities and constraints that are applicable. It is in fact used to assess the internal potential of the organization and how it can be utilized to exploit the avenues available in the environment. It takes into consideration all the favorable and unfavorable factors associated with the organization. This tool when used consistently can help in the predicting the future outcome and including those forecasts in the organization’s strategy. Conducting SWOT analysis is not a complex task but includes a very simple and interesting activity. It also includes brainstorming sessions. SWOT analysis may be used to develop the business idea, assessing an opportunity to make an acquisition, analyzing a potential partnership or making decision about a brand, product, an investment opportunity. SWOT analysis is conducted using a template which is usually in the form of a grid and consists of four sections. An example of the template is produced below: STRENGTHS Financial Resources Human Resource Market Access Brands Patents Copy Rights Technology Infrastructure Quality Cost minimization Effective management Geographical edge Expertise and Experience Backward and Forward Integration Other assets WEAKNESS Cash shortage or lack of access to financial resources Lack of access to market Incompetent human resource and management Lack of infrastructure Non availability of technology Lack of competitive strengths Ineffective supply chain management Narrow Product Range Poor Decision Making Huge Debts High employee turnover Obsolete equipment Complex decision making process Large wastage of raw material OPPORTUNITIES New market New Government policy or change in recent policy Lifestyle or industry Niche market Increase in level of income of individuals New Products and services THREATS Political factors Legislative issues Environmental factors High turnover of staff Takeover by a big giant New technology by competitor Disagreement with key contractors and customers Seasonal impacts Change in attitude, tastes or lifestyle International market impacts on local market Change in the market demand Ever changing technology Price war leading to decrease in profitability Increased competition leading to access capacity Lets have a view on each of the four factors: Strengths: Strengths are the competitive edge or the capabilities an organization has to be utilized when competing with its competitors.

Major Problems Faced by Indian Agriculture

Major Problems Faced by Indian Agriculture The major problems confronting Indian agriculture are those of population pressure, small holdings, depleted soils, lack of modern technology and poor facilities for storage. (a) Population Pressure: India has a huge population of over one billion and it is increasing at a very fast rate. According to 2001 census figures the over all density of population is 324 persons per sq. km. This is likely to increase further in future. This has created great demand for land. Every bit of land has been brought under the plough.Even the hill slopes have been cut into terraces for cultivation. (b) Small and Fragmented Land Holdings: The pressure of increasing population and the practice of dividing land equally among the heirs has caused excessive sub divisions of farm holdings. Consequently, the holdings are small and fragmented. The small size of holdings makes farming activity uneconomical and leads to social tension, violence and discontentment. (c) Inadequate Irrigation Facilities: By and large the irrigation facilities available in India are far from adequate.So for half of the total area under food crops has been brought under irrigation and the remaining half is left to the mercy of monsoon rains which are erratic in time and space. (d) Depleted Soils: Indian soils have been used for growing crops for thousands of years which have resulted in the depletion of soil fertility. With deforestation the sources of maintaining natural fertility of soil has been drying out. Lack of material resources and ignorance of scientific knowledge have further depleted the soils of the natural fertility. Earlier only animal waste was enough to maintain soil fertility. e) Storage of food grains: Storage of food grains is a big problem. Nearly 10 per cent of our harvest goes waste every year in the absence of proper storage facilities. This colossal wastage can be avoided by developing scientific ware-housing facilities. The government has ta ken several steps to provide storage facilities. (f) Farm Implements: Although some mechanisation of farming has taken place in some parts of the country, most of the farmers are poor and do not have enough resources to purchase modern farm implements and tools.This hampers the development of agriculture. Challenges agriculture sector challenges will be important to India’s overall development and the improved welfare of its rural poor: 1. Raising agricultural productivity per unit of land: Raising productivity per unit of land will need to be the main engine of agricultural growth as virtually all cultivable land is farmed. Water resources are also limited and water for irrigation must contend with increasing industrial and urban needs.All measures to increase productivity will need exploiting, amongst them: increasing yields, diversification to higher value crops, and developing value chains to reduce marketing costs. 2. Reducing rural poverty through a socially inclusive s trategy that comprises both agriculture as well as non-farm employment: Rural development must also benefit the poor, landless, women, scheduled castes and tribes. Moreover, there are strong regional disparities: the majority of India’s poor are in rain-fed areas or in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic plains. Reaching such groups has not been easy.While progress has been made – the rural population classified as poor fell from nearly 40% in the early 1990s to below 30% by the mid-2000s (about a 1% fall per year) – there is a clear need for a faster reduction. Hence, poverty alleviation is a central pillar of the rural development efforts of the Government and the World Bank. 3. Ensuring that agricultural growth responds to food security needs: The sharp rise in food-grain production during India’s Green Revolution of the 1970s enabled the country to achieve self-sufficiency in food-grains and stave off the threat of famine.Agricultural intensification in the 197 0s to 1980s saw an increased demand for rural labor that raised rural wages and, together with declining food prices, reduced rural poverty. However agricultural growth in the 1990s and 2000s slowed down, averaging about 3. 5% per annum, and cereal yields have increased by only 1. 4% per annum in the 2000s. The slow-down in agricultural growth has become a major cause for concern. India’s rice yields are one-third of China’s and about half of those in Vietnam and Indonesia. The same is true for most other agricultural commodities.Policy makers will thus need to initiate and/or conclude policy actions and public programs to shift the sector away from the existing policy and institutional regime that appears to be no longer viable and build a solid foundation for a much more productive, internationally competitive, and diversified agricultural sector. Priority Areas for Support 1. Enhancing agricultural productivity, competitiveness, and rural growth Promoting new techno logies and reforming agricultural research and extension: Major reform and strengthening of India’s agricultural research and extension systems is one of the most important needs for agricultural growth.These services have declined over time due to chronic underfunding of infrastructure and operations, no replacement of aging researchers or broad access to state-of-the-art technologies. Research now has little to provide beyond the time-worn packages of the past. Public extension services are struggling and offer little new knowledge to farmers. There is too little connection between research and extension, or between these services and the private sector. Improving Water Resources and Irrigation/Drainage Management: Agriculture is India’s largest user of water.However, increasing competition for water between industry, domestic use and agriculture has highlighted the need to plan and manage water on a river basin and multi-sectoral basis. As urban and other demands mu ltiply, less water is likely to be available for irrigation. Ways to radically enhance the productivity of irrigation (â€Å"more crop per drop†) need to be found. Piped conveyance, better on-farm management of water, and use of more efficient delivery mechanisms such as drip irrigation are among the actions that could be taken. There is also a need to manage as opposed to exploit the use of groundwater.Incentives to pump less water such as levying electricity charges or community monitoring of use have not yet succeeded beyond sporadic initiatives. Other key priorities include: (i) modernizing Irrigation and Drainage Departments to integrate the participation of farmers and other agencies in managing irrigation water; (ii) improving cost recovery; (iii) rationalizing public expenditures, with priority to completing schemes with the highest returns; and (iv) allocating sufficient resources for operations and maintenance for the sustainability of investments.Facilitating agric ultural diversification to higher-value commodities: Encouraging farmers todiversify to higher value commodities will be a significant factor for higher agricultural growth, particularly in rain-fed areas where poverty is high. Moreover, considerable potential exists for expanding agro-processing and building competitive value chains from producers to urban centers and export markets. While diversification initiatives should be left to farmers and entrepreneurs, the Government can, first and foremost, liberalize constraints to marketing, transport, export and processing.It can also play a small regulatory role, taking due care that this does not become an impediment. Promoting high growth commodities: Some agricultural sub-sectors have particularly high potential for expansion, notably dairy. The livestock sector, primarily due to dairy, contributes over a quarter of agricultural GDP and is a source of income for 70% of India’s rural families, mostly those who are poor and he aded by women. Growth in milk production, at about 4% per annum, has been brisk, but future domestic demand is expected to grow by at least 5% per annum.Milk production is constrained, however, by the poor genetic quality of cows, inadequate nutrients, inaccessible veterinary care, and other factors. A targeted program to tackle these constraints could boost production and have good impact on poverty. Developing markets, agricultural credit and public expenditures: India’s legacy of extensive government involvement in agricultural marketing has created restrictions in internal and external trade, resulting in cumbersome and high-cost marketing and transport options for agricultural commodities.Even so, private sector investment in marketing, value chains and agro-processing is growing, but much slower than potential. While some restrictions are being lifted, considerably more needs to be done to enable diversification and minimize consumer prices. Improving access to rural fi nance for farmers is another need as it remains difficult for farmers to get credit. Moreover, subsidies on power, fertilizers and irrigation have progressively come to dominate Government expenditures on the sector, and are now four times larger than investment expenditures, crowding out top priorities such as agricultural research and extension.