African american music and acculturation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

African american music and acculturation - Essay Example Despite the fact that West African music differed from one region to the other, all cultures within this region shared sufficient features that enabled them to constitute a heritage that was identifiable as African when they were trans-located to the New World (Jackson 25). From the accounts given by early traders and explorers, it has been deduced that music was a lifestyle of these West Africans. It was used to enhance rituals, worship, provide recreation, and as a means of communication. These cultures shared a characteristic feature in integrating music with dramatic elements and dance. When they were enslaved and stripped of their community and families, their rich stories, customs, traditions, and music remained with them and were passed the new generation. On arrival in the new world, they were designated as heathens and the clergymen of the time were compelled to convert the Africans to Christianity. This religious conversion acted as the first instance in which the Africans were exposed to European music with the singing of hymns and psalms (Jackson 25). They often gathered, on Sundays, to make music, sing, and dance. The first all the black worship churches were established in the 18th century with Reverend Allen Richard realizing the importance that music held for the people, publishing a hymnal for use by the Africans. These black churches provided the people with opportunities earlier denied to them, for instance the experimentation with religious music from set pieces to formal anthems and lowly spirituals (Jackson 27). The 18th century also saw the establishment of the camp meeting that was an interracial revival with all black meets being sponsored by the black churches afterwards. Camp members took to adding their own choruses or verses to traditional European hymns with the first documentation of the ring shout, an African religious dance ceremony with European infected lyrics, happening here. A number of white American writers described this ring shout in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Paul Marshall, in his description of a dance with European melodies accompanied by movement of feet that glided forward without leaving the ground (Jackson 28). To the accompaniment of European hymnals with added verses and choruses, the dancers would do a flat-footed glide that was punctuated by stamping, an African dance style. The influx of free blacks and slaves from Santa Domingo in 1804 during the Haitian Revolution carried with it the Voodoo practices. However, it is believed that these were in existence much earlier in Louisiana as an institutionalized ritual worship cult movement since there had been importation of slaves as early as the 16th century from the West Indies. These ceremonies were centered upon the worship of Damballa the snake god, also called Da, via dancing, singing, and spirit possession. One myth held by the Dahomeans held that Papa Legba was the chief of all the Voodoo gods; he became the first god to master the skill of music and that all human musicians took after him and were considered his offspring. The connections between papa legba and blues and jazz musicians have been found to be far reaching and complex (Jackson 36). In fact, there is very little doubt that Papa Legba has morphed into Pa Pa La Bas when

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Renewable Energies Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Renewable Energies Essay During the last two decades one of the main concerns of many people and governments is the supply of energy for different purposes such as producing electricity. Two main issues lead them to think about this problem deeply. First of all the environmental problems such as carbon dioxide emission and also the shortage of fossil fuels for generating electricity. Therefore many countries decided to find alternatives which are accessible or easy to access and they cannot harm the environment. Some of alternatives are wind, Tidal, nuclear and solar energy. By looking generally to alternatives it can be realized that each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. Currently two main sources which are really important among governments and they have invested on them is solar and nuclear power for producing electricity. Nuclear power can be defined as one kind of energy which can produce through some chemical reactions between the atoms of the element. Nowadays scientists have found some m ethods to use the energy which is release from the reactions among atoms. The other kind of energy source is solar energy which is releasing from the rays of sun. Governments have decided to use these kinds of renewable energy sources to overcome the problem of energy shortage. Some countries have developed in these two kinds of energy source industries. However in each area some people are for and some of them are against this kind of producing energies. One of the common methods of producing electricity in recent years was using fossil fuel energy for spinning the turbines to produce electricity; however scientists found a method of capturing sunlight energy and heating to transfer this energy into turbine to spin them and produce a sustainable energy form without any environmental impact. Generally the main process of this method is using some kinds of mirrors in different shapes which are mostly having u shape or they are like a dish. Through this mirrors in these plants they concentrate the sun rays and convert it into heat energy for boiling water. After boiling water the steam which is produced due to heating energy from the effect of sun light the conventional turbines will spine and through complicated systems produce electricity. One of the main and biggest projects related to solar power is in California in the united stated. This project has been held between the areas Kramer junction and Harper lake in California. This solar plant can produce 150 megawatts of electricity. It can cover 1500 acres in the desert. In this project more than 900,000 mirrors have been used to capture sun light. Through this project the amount of carbon dioxide emission can decrease significantly in comparison to fossil fuels carbon dioxide emission. Because 3800 tons of carbon dioxide used to produce by fossil fuels. One of the European countries which are really concern about energy efficiency is Spain. The government has invested significantly due to the future and problems related to energy sources such as shortage and pollution of other sources. They have found this kind of energy adequate as an alternative. Trujillo solar project which is started on the year 2006 and finished on 2007 has some advantages in terms of electricity generation for many homes and also decreasing carbon dioxide emission. The total output of this project which might be introduced is 20 megawatts. The method which is used to generate electricity from sunlight in this project is photovoltaics. This project has been designed and developed by power light corporation. In this project they can cover about 100 hectars.The name of the project is Magascona. The calculations from the company can illustrate that the mentioned power plant can supply electricity for 20,000 homes. Moreover it can prevent from carbon dioxide emissi on annually by about 42,000 tons. A kind of renewable kinds of energy which is really controversial its future and its efficiency is nuclear power. In general nuclear energy is a kind of energy which is release from the atom of some elements through some reactions. This kind of energy sometimes can produce by doing some controllable processes to use this energy and convert the nuclear power to electricity. This method of producing electricity has its own advantages and disadvantages. Although some people are concern about its disadvantages but it might be a good alternative as response to the shortage of energy in future. Also there are different comparison between using nuclear power and fossil fuels for generating electricity. The general concept of generating of electricity from nuclear power can be explained through this way. In the first stage the Uranium element which is radioactive element should be extract from the mines. After that Uranium should be fed to the nuclear power plant as a main fuel for reactors. In power plants by using controllable reactions which can be called fission reaction an intense amount of heat will produce. The purpose of this intense amount of energy is to vaporise the water and use the resulted steam for spinning the turbines. The electricity which is produced by turbines will feed the electricity into electricity greed. In the last stage they will use this electricity for various purposes such as industry and homes. Although this method of producing electricity could be an alternative for the future. but there are many arguments for and against investment on nuclear power plants. Currently there are different countries that are invested on this industry such as France and USA. It might be claimed that France is the pioneer of producing electricity from nuclear power by having about 59 nuclear power plants. Generally the amount of electricity which is generated in this country is about 540.6 Tera watt hour and it is a huge amount of electricity. Currently France is the largest exporter of electricity from nuclear power. However the amount of investment in nuclear power plant is quite allotrope of the main nuclear power plants which was carried out in 1991 and 1993 was CIVAUX .This power plant has two phases. The first phase was built in 1991 and the other one built two years later. Both phases completed in 1999 and the government invested about 4.1 billion dollars on this project. There are a sig nificant issue in this project. At the time of testing this nuclear power plant before putting the electricity into the grid the engineers found out a leak from primary coolant, therefore they decided to shut down the reactor and repair the problem. Because, as some people might know, if any problem occurs during any reaction in these nuclear plants sometimes some disasters might occur, such as explosions. Unfortunately the amount of electricity which was produced in proportion to the time and investment on this project was not worth very much. The CIVAUX project work out 1,349 kwe and it was much lower amount among the other foreign projects.By comparison this project and the amount of energy which is produce by fossil fuels was not a successful project.By comparison this nuclear project to the one fossil fuel project for producing energy they have almost the same amount of electricity production. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France#Limitations Civaux 1-2 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nuclear-cannot-solve-climate-change

Mathew Malefanes Painting of Nelson Mandela Essay -- Art

Mathew Malefane's Painting of Nelson Mandela Mathew Malefane was born in Soweto; he was one of the privileges children and went to a school in Cape Town to study filmmaking. He now makes documentaries in Johannesburg. He taught himself to paint, and this painting Of Nelson Mandela made a very deep impression on all black Africans. Mathew Malefane chose to paint Nelson Mandela for a number of reasons. One could be as a role model to all black Africans as he fought for their rights and freedom. It could be symbolising slavery, or the Apartheid. A painting is a very good way to show emotion and feeling, and he could of painted Nelson Mandela, as he was delighted and pleased that he was set free. Nelson Mandela stood up for his rights and for the rights of all black people. He believes that they should be equal and respected as human beings. As he stood up and believes this he was put in prison for 20 years. As he was imprisoned there was many protests and riots, and when he was released he was voted for the government. He then won the election, and gave moving, emotive, and touching speeches, which won over all the Africans and he finally became the leader of the African National congress. In the painting, the uses of certain colours are very symbolic. The background is painted in blocks of yellow, green, and black. These are all the colours of his flag. The yellow is surrounding his head, and this symbolises him coming into the light and out of the dark prision he was in. T...

Assessment Of For And As Learning Essay

Assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what students know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum outcomes or the goals of their individualized programs, or to certify proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or placements. It is designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents, other educators, the students themselves, and sometimes to outside groups (e. g. , employers, other educational institutions). Assessment of learning is the assessment that becomes public and results in statements or symbols about how well students are learning. It often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ futures. It is important, then, that the underlying logic and measurement of assessment of learning be credible and defensible. Teachers’ Roles in Assessment of Learning Because the consequences of assessment of learning are often far-reaching and affect students seriously, teachers have the responsibility of reporting student learning accurately and fairly, based on evidence obtained from a variety of contexts and applications. Effective assessment of learning requires that teachers provide  ?a rationale for undertaking a particular assessment of learning at a particular point in time ?clear descriptions of the intended learning ?processes that make it possible for students to demonstrate their competence and skill ?a range of alternative mechanisms for assessing the same outcomes ?public and defensible reference points for making judgments ? Transparent approaches to interpretation ?descriptions of the assessment process ?strategies for recourse in the event of disagreement about the decisions With the help of their teachers, students can look forward to assessment of learning tasks as  occasions to show their competence, as well as the depth and breadth of their learning. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Assessment for learning focuses on engaging students in classroom assessment in support of their own learning and informing teachers about what to do next to help students to progress. Assessment for learning is assessment for improvement not assessment for accountability as can be the case with summative assessments (Stiggins, 2002). The keys to Assessment for Learning (AFL) is to use a variety of assessment tools and methods in order to provide ongoing evidence to students, teachers and parents that demonstrates how  well each student is mastering the identified outcomes. This evidence is used to provide descriptive feedback to the students and to enable the teacher to differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of individual students or groups. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING VS. ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING Gregory, Cameron, and Davies (1997) outline some distinct differences between Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning. Educators are using these terms to help distinguish between the teacher’s role as a learning coach versus the teacher’s role of judging the extent of a student’s achievement in relation to an established standard. This assessment is considered summative and is done at the end. 1. Assessment for learning is the big deal, while assessment of learning is the done deal. 2. Assessment for learning is formative, while assessment of learning is summative. 3. Assessment for learning is supportive, while assessment of learning measures. 4. Assessment for learning uses descriptions, while assessment of learning uses scores. 5. Assessment for learning happens day by day, moment by moment, while assessment of learning happens at the end. The assertion is that neither one is better than the other, but both need to be used within a  students learning so that the student is able to understand not only the work that is being asked of them, but also how their own learning occurs. Assessment for learning is intended to be both diagnostic and formative to help students improve their learning. Four critical questions that the teacher must ask when planning for assessment for learning: WHY AM I ASSESSING? If the intent of assessment is to enhance student learning teachers use assessment for learning to uncover what students believe to be true and to learn more about the connections students are making, their prior knowledge, preconceptions, gaps, and learning styles. This information is used to inform and differntiate instruction to build on what students already know and to challenge students when their are problems inhibiting progression to the next stages of learning. Teachers use this information to provide their students with descriptive feedback that will further their learning and not as a sumamtive assessment or to report a grade. WHAT AM I ASSESSING? Assessment for learning requires ongoing assessment of the outcomes that comprise the intended learning. In most cases these are the curriculum outcomes. Teachers create assessments that will  expose students’ thinking and skills in relation to the intended learning, and the common preconceptions. WHAT ASSESSMENT METHOD SHOULD I USE? When planning assessment for learning, the teacher must think about what assessment is designed to expose, and must decide which assessment approaches are most likely to give detailed information about what each student is thinking and learning. The methods need to incorporate a variety of ways for students to demonstrate their learning. For example, having students complete tasks orally or through visual representation allow those who are struggling  with reading or writing to demonstrate their learning. HOW CAN I USE THE INFORMA%ON? The information collected in assessment for learning is used to report to the student and by offering descriptive, on time feedback and to provide the teacher with information to allow for changes in instruction for individual students or groups of students. ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING Assessment as learning occurs when students are their own assessors. Students monitor their own learning, ask questions and use a range of strategies to decide what they know and can do, and  how to use assessment for new learning. Assessment as learning: ?encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning ?requires students to ask questions about their learning ?involves teachers and students creating learning goals to encourage growth and development ?provides ways for students to use formal and informal feedback and self-assessment to help them understand the next steps in learning ?encourages peer assessment, self-assessment and reflection. ROLES This assessment model supports the view of today’s learners as actively involved in the learning process. Students are educated on the purpose of assignments and the outcomes they are trying to achieve. Hence the teacher and the student both have critical roles in understanding learning outcomes and modifying learning in Assessment as Learning. Teacher Ensuring assessment methods are appropriate and the purpose is clear to students ensures quality and fair assessment practices as per the Principles for Fair Student Assessment in Canada (1993). Beyond choosing the learning outcomes to be covered, the activities to follow and the assessment methods, in Assessment as Learning, the teacher engages the students in this process. In Assessment as Learning, the teacher is a guide, â€Å"Giving them [students] the tools to undertake their own learning wisely and well. † (WNCP, p. 42) Students learn to monitor their own learning and make adaptations as required. In addition to monitoring learning and guiding instruction through assessment for learning, the teacher is assessing the students’ ability to assess themselves as they learn how to assess their own learning. Teachers can follow the following model in order to practice Assessment as Learning in their classroom: (adapted from WNCP, p. 42-43) 1. Discuss the learning outcomes with the students. 2. Create criteria with the students for the various tasks that need to be completed and/or skills that need to be learned or mastered 3. Provide feedback to students as they learn and ask them guiding questions to help them monitor their own learning 4. Help them set goals to extend or support their learning as needed in order to meet or fully meet the expectations 5. Provide reference points and examples for the learning outcomes Teachers are also responsible for ensuring that students have a learning environment in which they feel comfortable and safe to learn as well as have ample time to practise what is being  taught. Student Beyond completing the tasks assigned to them by their teacher, students move from the passive learner to an active owner of their own learning. Initially, with teacher guidance and tools, students learn to monitor if they have understood the learning outcome being explored and the metacognitive process. Once the metacognitive skills have been acquired, students can independently adjust their learning accordingly and demonstrate the â€Å"self-reflection, self- monitoring and self-adjustment. † (WNCP, 2006, p. 85) Extensive and relevant modeling in the questions below can help students reach this point: 1. What is the purpose of learning these concepts and skills? 2. What do I know about this topic? 3. What strategies do I know that will help me learn this? 4. Am I understanding these concepts? 5. What are the criteria for improving my work? 6. Have I accomplished the goals I set for myself? What is self-assessment? According to Boud (1995), all assessment including self-assessment comprises two main elements: making decisions about the standards of performance expected and then making judgments about the quality of the performance in relation to these standards. When self-assessment is introduced, it should ideally involve students in both of these aspects. Andrade and Du (2007) provide a helpful definition of self-assessment that focuses on the formative learning that it can promote: Self-assessment is a process of formative assessment during which students reflect on and evaluate the quality of their work and their learning, judge the degree to which they reflect explicitly stated goals or criteria, identify strengths and weaknesses in their work, and revise accordingly (2007, p. 160). EXAMPLES OF SELF-ASSESSMENT Self-assessment can take many forms, including: ?writing conferences ?discussion (whole-class or small-group) ?reflection logs ?weekly self-evaluations ?self-assessment checklists and inventories ?teacher-student interviews These types of self-assessment share a common theme: they ask students to review their work to determine what they have learned and what areas of confusion still exist. Although each method differs slightly, all should include enough time for students to consider thoughtfully and evaluate their progress. When students understand the criteria for good work before they begin a literacy activity, they are more likely to meet those criteria. The key to this understanding is to make the criteria clear. As students evaluate their work, you may want them to set up their own criteria for good work. Help them with the clarity of their criteria as they assess their own work. Students’ observations and reflections can also provide valuable feedback for refining your instructional plan. As your students answer questions about their learning and the strategies they use, think about their responses to find out what they are really learning and to see if they are learning what you are teaching them. K-W-L (KNOW, WANT TO KNOW, LEARNED) CHART. K-W-L (Ogle, 1986) is an instructional reading strategy that is used to guide students through a text. Students begin by brainstorming everything they Know about a topic. This information is recorded in the K column of a K-W-L chart. Students then generate a list of questions about what they Want to Know about the topic. These questions are listed in the W column of the chart. During or after reading, students answer the questions that are in the W column. This new information that they have Learned is recorded in the L column of the K-W-L chart. Purpose The K-W-L strategy serves several purposes: Elicits students’ prior knowledge of the topic of the text. ?Sets a purpose for reading. ?Helps students to monitor their comprehension. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Donna Ogle asserts that KWL helps students become better readers of expository text and helps teachers to be more interactive in their teaching (Ogle, 1987). KWL charts help students to be active thinkers while they read (Carr & Ogle, 1987), giving them specific things to look for and having them reflect on what they learned when they are finished reading. In learning, metacognition involves the active monitoring and conscious control and regulation  of cognitive processes. It involves thinking about thinking, self-awareness, and self-regulation (Flavell, 1979). The metacognitive strategy of self-questioning is used to ensure that students comprehend the text. When students set their own purposes for reading, they are more motivated and active as readers. Each student has a schema, or a framework for how they view the world. Accessing a student’s prior knowledge is the first step in integrating new concepts into their existing schema. KWL charts help activate background knowledge and provide an opportunity for students to set their own learning objectives.

Agriculture Insurance in India , Problems and Prospectus Essay

Agriculture production and farm incomes in India are frequently affected by natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides and earthquakes. Susceptibility of agriculture to these disasters is compounded by the outbreak of epidemics and man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, price crashes etc. All these events severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income, and they are beyond the control of the farmers. With the growing commercialization of agriculture, the magnitude of loss due to unfavorable eventualities is increasing. The question is how to protect farmers by minimizing such losses. For a section of farming community, the minimum support prices for certain crops provide a measure of income stability. But most of the crops and in most of the states MSP is not implemented. In recent times, mechanisms like contract farming and future? s trading have been established which are expected to provide some insurance against price fluctuations directly or indirectly. But, agricultural insurance is considered an important mechanism to effectively address the risk to output and income resulting from various natural and manmade events. Agricultural Insurance is a means of protecting the agriculturist against financial losses due to uncertainties that may arise agricultural losses arising from named or all unforeseen perils beyond their control (AIC, 2008). Unfortunately, agricultural insurance in the country has not made much headway even though the need to protect Indian farmers from agriculture variability has been a continuing concern of agriculture policy. According to the National Agriculture Policy 2000, â€Å"Despite technological and economic advancements, the condition of farmers continues to be unstable due to natural calamities and price fluctuations†. In some extreme cases, these unfavorable events become one of the factors leading to farmers? suicides which are now assuming serious proportions (Raju and Chand, 2007). Agricultural insurance is one method by which farmers can stabilize farm income and investment and guard against disastrous effect of losses due to natural hazards or low market prices. Crop insurance not only stabilizes the farm income but also helps the farmers to initiate production activity after a bad agricultural year. It cushions the shock of crop losses by providing farmers with a minimum amount of protection. It spreads the crop losses over space and time and helps farmers make more investments in agriculture. It forms an important component of safety-net programmes as is being experienced in many developed countries like USA and Canada as well as in the European Union. However, one need to keep in mind that crop insurance should be part of overall risk management strategy. Insurance comes towards the end of risk management process. Insurance is redistribution of cost of losses of few among many, and cannot prevent economic loss. There are two major categories of agricultural insurance: single and multi-peril coverage. Single peril coverage offers protection from single hazard while multiple –peril provides protection from several hazards. In India, multi-peril crop insurance programme is being implemented, considering the overwhelming impact of nature on agricultural output and its disastrous consequences on the society, in general, and farmers, in particular. Agricultural Insurance market is on the threshold of a spectacular growth. The support measures proposed by the government in the horticulture sector; potential of organic farming; growing clout of aromatic and medicinal plants; Bio-diesel plants; contract farming; corporate farming and integrated insurance (supply chain and ware housing) etc are likely to put agricultural insurance on high pedestal. The government underlined its priorities for agriculture in 2004 by setting a target of doubling agricultural credit in next three years. A large chunk of credit for agriculture would be supported by insurance collateral. Considering consumers? preference for branded agricultural products; big corporate houses too have taken up corporate farming, increasing the demand for insurance. Agricultural insurance in future though is likely to be largely demand driven, the efforts of the government to support and finance insurance products and / or facilitate congenial environment as meaningful risk management tool would further enhance the potential and credibility of agricultural insurance. Despite progress of irrigation and improvement in infrastructure and communication the risk in agriculture production has increased in the country. The risk is much higher for farm income than production, as is evident from lower risk in area and higher risk in production. State wise results show that only in the states where irrigation is very reliable, it helped in reducing the risk. Those states where irrigation is not very dependable continue to face high risk. In some states farmers face twin problem of very low productivity accompanied by high risk of production. As, with the passage of time, neither technology nor any other variable helped in reducing production risk, particularly in low productivity states, there is strong need to devise and extend insurance products to agricultural production. Despite various schemes launched from time to time in the country agriculture insurance has served very limited purpose. The coverage in terms of area, number of farmers and value of agricultural output is very small, payment of indemnity based on area approach miss affected farmers outside the compensated area, and most of the schemes are not viable. Expanding the coverage of crop insurance would therefore increase government costs considerably. Unless the programme is restructured carefully to make it viable, the prospects of its future expansion to include and impact more farmers is remote. This requires renewed efforts by Government in terms of designing appropriate mechanisms and providing financial support for agricultural insurance. Providing similar help to private sector insurers would help in increasing insurance coverage and in improving viability of the insurance schemes over time. With the improved integration of rural countryside and communication network, the Unit area of insurance could be brought down to a village panchayat level. Insurance products for the rural areas should be simple in design and presentation so that they are easily understood. There is lot of interest in private sector to invest in general insurance business. This opportunity can be used to allot some target to various general insurance companies to cover agriculture. To begin with, this target could be equal to the share of agriculture in national income. Good governance is as important for various developmental programmes as for successful operation of an agriculture insurance scheme. Poor governance adversely affects development activities. With the improvement in governance, it is feasible to effectively operate and improve upon the performance of various programmes including agriculture insurance. Crop insurance program works as collateral security, therefore also benefit banks. When claims are paid, banks first adjust the claim against their outstanding dues, and balance if any is credited to the farmers. Therefore, the Crop Insurance Scheme also benefits the banks. In Philippines, banks are made to share a part of the premium burden. For rice where the premium is 10. 81 per cent, borrowing farmer pays only 2. 91 per cent, while the government pays is 5. 90 per cent and the lending institution, 2. 00 per cent. A similar arrangement can be recommended for participating banks in India. Such arrangement would also bring non-loanee farmers into the fold of banking network, thus institutional lending of crop loans. Remote sensing is the emerging technology with potential to offer plenty of supplementary, complimentary and value added functions for agricultural insurance. The present technology available shall not only provide the insurers with tools like crop health condition, area-sown confirmation, yield modeling which are very important, but also strengthen the position of insurers vis-a-vis re-insurance market. Some of the possible applications of for agricultural insurance could be as follows: 1. Estimating actual acreage – sown at insurance unit level to check the discrepancy of „over-insurance? (area insured being more than area sown). 2. Monitoring crop health through the crop season, and investigation on ground for advance intimation of yield reduction. 3. To check adequacy and reliability of CCE data. 4. Developing satellite based crop productivity models for cereals and other crops. There is a need to promote private sector participation in agriculture insurance. First license for the private sector, was issued in October 2000. As of today, there are ten private sector insurers in the general insurance business: Reliance, Tata-AIG, Royal Sundaram, IFFCO-Tokio, Bajaj-Allianze, ICICI-Lombard, HDFC- Chubb, Cholamandalam, ECGC and Star Health. The latter two, are limited to only a few lines of general insurance. The fact remains that these insurers have not yet undertaken agricultural insurance to a significant extent. Only two companies in the private sector have initiated crop insurance, albeit on a small scale. ICICI-Lombard was the first company to experiment with rainfall insurance in 2003. The concept is further extended to weather insurance since 2004. IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance (ITGI), the second company in private sector, started piloting rainfall insurance, since 2004. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has stipulated that every new insurer undertaking general insurance business, has to underwrite business in the rural sector to the extent of at least 2 per cent of the gross premium during the first financial year, which is to be increased to 5 per cent during the third financial year of its operation. Crop insurance is included in the rural sector insurance for this purpose. The business targets stipulated in rural insurance apparently are very small. Those who do not meet even these small targets, are getting away by paying penalties of nominal amounts. If private insurers are to be spurred to enter the rural insurance market in a significant manner, the business targets have to be raised substantially by IRDA. The experience of government supported and subsidized crop insurance and the recent entry of private insurers, raise questions about the co-existence of government and private agriculture insurance. One view is that the private sector will be unable to compete with government insurance, given the subsidies and access to the administrative machinery for delivering insurance. An alternative view is that given only 15 per cent coverage by government insurance, the private sector can carve out a reasonable market for itself based on improved efficiency, better design and superior services. Here one can even think of public-private partnership in providing agriculture insurance as against public-private competition. However, it is possible only when crop insurance can be run in a more professional manner with clear objectives. Providing Government help to private sector insurers would help in increasing insurance coverage and in improving viability of the insurance schemes over time. There should also be insurance provided by seed companies so that farmers who paid high prices for seeds such as GM crops did not suffer in case of crop failure. In order to promote public – private participation in agriculture insurance GOI should follow the USA model to work out premium rate through an exclusive technical agency, and offer the product to all insurers. Insurers can implement the product, enjoying the same level of support and subsidy. As a variation from the USA method, the government would not provide reinsurance support and reimbursement of administrative and operating expenses, as these costs would be loaded in the actuarial rates. The government can decide whether or not different insurers compete in the same area, or allocate specific crops and areas to a particular insurer (Planning Commission, 2007). With increased commercialization of agriculture price fluctuations have become highly significant in affecting farmers? income. Accordingly, market risk is now quite important in affecting farmers? income. We feel that implementation of market insurance to cover price risk is much easier than yield insurance. This can be done by requiring interested farmers to register their arketable surplus with insurance agency or market committee at the time of sowing of crop. The insurance agency should offer insurance cover to include price guarantee which could be minimum support price in some cases or market based price from the past. Farmers should pay premium for this kind of price insurance and initially government should share some burden of the premium. During harvest if price in the notified market falls below the guaranteed price then insurance agency should pay indemnity. Modalities to be worked out for implementation of this kind of model. The farming community in India consists of about 121 million farmers of which only about 20 per cent avail crop loans from financial institutions and only three fourth of those are insured. The remaining 80 per cent (96 millions) are either self-financing or depend upon informal sources for their financial requirements. Most of the farmers are illiterate and do not understand the procedural and other requirements of formal financial institutions and, therefore, shy away from them. Therefore, while the institutional loanees are insured compulsorily under the NAIS, only about 15 per cent of the non-loanee farmers avail insurance cover voluntarily. This is quite indicative of the enormous insurance potential that exists for addressing the needs of the farming community and enhancing the overall efficiencies as also the competitiveness of the agriculture sector. This also signifies the tremendous potential of agriculture insurance in the country as a concept, which can mitigate the adverse impacts that such uncertainties would have on the individual farmers.