Skip to main content

Posts

Recollecting with Col Raman Kapila - The Insurgency in J & K

  The Insurgency in J&K -  Recollecting with Col Raman  Kapila   by  Dinesh K Kapila , CGM NABARD (Retd) (Updated Version Appeared in The Vayu Magazine of March 2026) - Thank you to The Editor )  What I describe here is what many young officers in infantry battalions and the  Rashtriya  Rifles would have undergone in the 1990s and 2000 to 2010 period and maybe 2015, the sheer depth of the insurgency and  shrill  propaganda. And the  vicious  cruelty often exhibited by the  well trained  radicalised terrorists.  Most were trained in Pakistan.  Raman is my first cousin, we are close. He joined the Army in the Infantry (Rajput Regiment) and when the terrorism cum insurgency arose in the early 1990s, he was in the thick of it with multiple stints in the Mountainous regions of the Jammu Region and in Kashmir.   He  had  his fair share of successes and at times failures or rather what military m...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

The Proposal, The Fossils, The Traditional and The Martinets

 The Proposal, The Fossils, The Traditional and the Martinets.  Dinesh K Kapila.  Captain Bharat Bhardwaj, an Indian Army aviation pilot, knelt and proposed to his girlfriend in full uniform against the backdrop of an official military helicopter. And hell broke loose. Where did love figure in all the pontificating on it that followed. Love it was and love it is, this moment in time, just watching the couple so happy made the heart go light.  Grace and love are always so heartwarming. A slap on the wrist to the youngster and let it be, that was all there was to it. If at all. Shelley wrote it so well, “all things by a love divine, in one another’s being mingle, why not I with thine ?”.  The couple are in love. It shows. Capture that moment of time. Bless them with a long happy married life, remember he is in the Forces. Wish them a long happy years. That and may they always be in love.  There is nothing more to it. And should not be.  The youngster, a ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pre Reforms and Post Reforms - A Historical Context.

  Pre Reforms and Post Reforms – A  Historical  Context.                                                                       Dinesh K Kapila  CGM (Retd) NABARD  (Published in The Business Sandesh of 02/06/2026) The context for this  are  a series of conversations and interactions with young entrepreneurs and executives. I realized to them the structural reforms of the 1990s were more of a  seamless  continuation of the earlier decades.  To effectively communicate th e major shift  in concept, orientation and policy  from the pre reform period to the y ounger generation, we  have to move away  move away from  a  dry macroeconomic  mode  and  incorporate an element of  storytelling   backed by  honest, bala...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hair Salons ought to have Oldie Hours

  Hair Salons ought to have Oldie Hours Dinesh K Kapila Now this suggestion is by experience. That hair salons or as we say hairdressers or barbers need to introduce ‘oldie hours’, like happy hours at bars. Believe me, it will work. Rather generate returns. Returns which they cannot calculate or even fathom as they are focused solely on the youngsters. As you well, mature and then mature more in terms of the years passing by, the thick crop of hair on the head starts to thin out. Tablets, lotions and oils really do not work. That slice of a moon which is your bald pate starts to be visible and then only increases, very stealthily. It just creeps up on you. This thinning on the pate reduces the need for prolonged long sittings for a hair cut. Fifteen minutes is all it takes. Therein lies the problem. I was sitting at a hair salon. Patiently. Requested to wait. Quietly looking around and observing the immense range of services being rendered, head massage, curls being straight...
1 comment
Read more

Random Thoughts - Employment and Markets

  Between 2001 and 2025, India transitioned from a phase of "jobless growth" to a period of massive job creation. Total employment surged from roughly 40 crore to over 61.6 crore, driven by the service sector and informal/gig economies. Meanwhile, overall labour productivity increased steadily, though manufacturing specifically has struggled with fragmented, low-productivity growth. Aggregate Employment & Labour Productivity (2001 vs. 2025) 2001: Employment: Around \(400\) million workers. The early 2000s were frequently characterized by "jobless growth"—where the economy grew at roughly \(4 - 5\%\), but job creation in the organized sector remained largely stagnant. Labour Productivity: Output per worker was relatively low, growing at about a \(3 - 4\%\) annualized rate, deeply constrained by a lack of formalized skilling and heavy reliance on the agricultural sector for employment. 2025: Employment: Reached over \(616\) million (61.6 crore) workers aged 15 and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Military Leadership – Its Relevance for CEOs in the Corporate World.

  Military Leadership – Its Relevance for CEOs in the Corporate World. Dinesh K Kapila , Chief General Manager, NABARD (Retd) .   (Published in The Business Sandesh of 05/05/2026) The characteristics of Military leadership at the senior level are often not considered as an appropriate paradigm for the corporate world. The two worlds, specially in the Indian context are viewed as two exclusive separate streams. However one has to distinguish between the stereotyped image prevalent in India of a military leader and search for its essence and relevance for the corporate sector. The traits and views of military leaders such as Marshals Zhukov & Rokossovsky of Russia, Generals Eisenhower & Patton of USA, Field Marshal Montgomery of the UK and our very own Field Marshals Carriappa and Manekshaw can impart valuable insights.     My father, Major General Rajendra Nath, PVSM (Retd), a Brigade Commander in the 1971 War in Bangladesh, often advised that whatev...
Post a Comment
Read more