DK Kapila The Oracle

  Introducing Operational Excellence in Rural Cooperative Banks By Dinesh K Kapila                                           CGM (Retd) NABARD (Published in Business Sandesh 01/10/2025) There are challenges and opportunities for introducing operational excellence within our   rural cooperative banking (RCB) sector. The RCBs are a critical pillar of the nation's financial inclusion strategy, they are hampered by deep-seated issues across financial performance, governance, technology, and human capital. The recent improvements in profitability and non-performing assets are certainly a positive development but are they masking underlying structural inefficiencies that may erode their long-term sustainability. The fundamental challenge is not merely operational but syste...

  A Short Story What is Innocence ? A certain Senior Officer, quite senior really, visited a district whose head quarters was located way up in the mountains. It was the cold season. He was feeling cold, very cold. Night fell., Now the officer in the district was not too aware of worldly matters, aware but not too aware. A Matter of fact guy. A teetotaler. The Senior Guy, left alone, rang up the District Officer and told him, I am feeling cold. Freezing. Do something about it. I need warmth. At the earliest. Our District Officer was puzzled, he asked about the heaters and quilts and got very terse answers, it’s cold, too cold, do something and quickly. He obviously wanted a full size bottle of choice brandy or scotch but wanted to convey it this way. The District Officer got into his car all upset. Went to the hotel, it was a rather good hotel and asked the General Manager, what are the arrangements to heat up the room of so and so. “Sir”, clarified the GM, “it’s all heated up, it’...

  Science and Commerce Education in Rural Areas. Published in Business Sandesh 1st Sept 2025 Dinesh Kumar Kapila. CGM (Retd). NABARD.   This thought was crystallised by Ms Komal Jaiswal, Start up Founder (GreenAffairs). Her work on soil testing (she is deep into it, don’t confuse it with the standard test), then the advisory etc. she generates, lead her to believe one main reason for the lack of diversification or even knowing the correct amount of inputs and the varied aspects of costing is the lack of awareness of basic accounting and science. This thought did come to me twenty five years ago as a DDM   of NABARD in Punjab. Specially as regards marginal or small farmers and their families. These subjects, if taught at the rural schools would be useful.   It’s a fact that the development and expansion of India’s economy depend heavily on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. Alongside commerce as a subject. As the nation expan...

  Floods in Punjab We have huge floods in Punjab. This disaster sort of crept up upon us. It kept building up with rains in the catchment areas. . Much needs to be done. To help the residents of areas affected by floods. We cannot just say the spirit of Punjab. And a request, di not build it into a political issue. Please help. Actually much needed to be done earlier. One Were earthen embankments strengthened with studs, spurs, revetments and aprons before the flood season. Every year regularly. Two Was a scenario analysis done of flooding and measures required. In anticipation. Three Were drainage channels cleaned up and siltation removed as a part of regular integral precautions. Not just now but regularly. Four Why the benefits of implementing the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana not realised. Even if not this scheme, then have an alternative insurance product for crops and milch / draught / animals. Five What was the actual budget allocated for flood...

  JERC Meeting Some Points I attended the JERC (Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission) Meeting yesterday 25/07/2025. Democracy in action. As consumers we get our say. A lesson I learnt, first there were only three ladies present, one was the second judge (count her out), one presented on behalf of the company licensee CPDL (count her out) and one was a journalist. One policewoman was also there. Let us count them out too.  Not a single lady consumer was there. Surely they should be present. And make their concerns felt and expressed. They would be heard too.  I and a few others did circulate our views and the need to attend but it was not responded too.   We  tried to mobilise ladies and told them to read up but to no avail. It was stated to be too complex and layered in too much details. Secondly, among those attending it was predominantly an older profile in age as regards the males too. The only youngsters were the journalists. If the youngsters...

  The Mayurbhanj Sari and Poverty and Success The Prime Minister recently spoke about the Santhali Sari in Mayurbhanj Odisha, where women have started earning a decent wage due to the revival of this Sari, actually called the Mayurbhanj Sari. It is actually an initiative (an Off Farm Producers Organisation Project) taken up at the senior level by two of my batchmates from NABARD, Chola Uday Bhaskar and Devashish Padhi. For Devashish (now retired, this project started when he headed the Off Farm Dept at Head Office) it was a special project close to his heart, he was born in this district where his father was the Executive Engineer way back and took up irrigation projects to settle tribal farmers into Agriculture. The first lesson was not Handlooms and Saris but nutrition. A lady who had studied abroad (Oxford) and had set up a NGO found the women so undernourished that they did not have the physical strength to run the looms (Handlooms). She is Bindu Vinodhan, Founder, Mauna Dhwa...