DK Kapila The Oracle

  markets #agriculture Sub Optimal Prices for Farmers Dinesh K Kapila The farmers are agitating about the low prices of mustard and potatoes. I am getting multiple views. One medium size farmer from UP, Eastern UP, says he and fellow farmers prices got optimal prices for the vegetable crop and sugarcane. Now as regards the MSP for grains, PSF ( Price Stabilisation fund) for vegetables like onions, potatoes etc. I am checking but it seems the Govt didn’t allocate funds in the last budget and this year’s budget under PSF. This was envisaged to be a safety net for the fall in prices, glut and predatory practices by unscrupulous traders. And what about the EMarkets. How are they faring. I at least have feedback which suggests it’s not really functioning the way it was envisaged. Are such markets ensuring better prices for farmers ( real farmers ), not traders or middlemen in this regard ? The IT oriented administrators tried to create a grand narrative, pardon the expression, by talkin...

  The Various Citizens of India Dinesh Kumar Kapila We are a highly emotional people with only one distinguishing feature, the degree of emotions can vary. Region to Region. And our media is highly verbose and ready to discuss any issue, for any length of time, the actual news be damned. Talk, opinions, discussions and counter discussions. This only poisons the atmosphere even more. Then we have the guys, seemingly educated, but willing to trust any passing by rumour. Or story without even assessing the facts or reading up. Just as an aside but more to just bring out this point, we have the ratings of happiness. As per countries. I told my friend, thank you for the forward but first define happiness. Or read the parameters and find out the parameters applied and how were they applied. Now we know there are many types of Indians but broadly six types have evolved as of now as regards their views on the Economy and our trajectory of development. In any case we are all deeply enraptur...

  https://lnkd.in/dU25XRBw #women #womenempowerment #womeninagriculture #agribusiness My views on this at recent seminar My main focus was on the need to accord space to women in decision making and financial planning. That is minimal while the work participation rate is there in Agriculture operations. To reduce the drudgery in work which women had to take up. Most agricultural operations and dairy, the element of drudgery was left to women. But the role in decisions was absent. Then the women could contribute better with better quality equipment which made for ease of operation by women. Maybe the use of hydraulics too for lifting. Innovation was required. At most camps for training in rural areas, women were absent and even if present, chose to remain silent and at least I never came across a woman asking for clarifications in the presence of men. A higher degree of effective participation by women would certainly improve productivity and diversification as also promote practice...

  The Late Gayatri Devi By DKK I first saw Gayatri Devi at an Army Cantonment and then later at the IMA (Indian Military Academy) (Dad was the Commandant) at Dehradun as a youngster way back in the 1970s and was in awe of her sheer elegance, sophistication and grace. It was refinement ingrained. Then I got to know more about her. Today in the age of Internet and WhatsApp we know icons for a short while but that sense of infinite charm and grace is often missing. Sometimes such figures just stay somewhere in your mind. As was said in that era, Indian women came to know of Chiffon sarees only after Maharani Gayatri Devi wore them. This really beautiful lady of her time was an icon of style. As stories go, once when Gayatri Devi entered an official meeting in New Delhi, her expensive french perfume was said to have made the babus heady. Every whiff was royalty. Wife of the Maharaja of Jaipur, Princess daughter of the Raja of Cooch Bihar, grand daughter of the Gaekwad of Baroda, it was...

  Women in Agriculture / Rural Dev / Off Farm Sector and Empowerment Dinesh K Kapila I am going absolutely as it comes on this. What do we mean by Women’s Day. It is a point I always bring out. Honestly. Tell me, when we look at women giving interviews to the audio visual media, we are judging their confidence too. That makes us realise their self confidence and assess the faith and passion they have in what they espouse. While I do not seek to uphold all that is sourced from the Western World as correct and worth emulating, after all there is something called cultural heritage too, but I draw the line at personifying confidence. What do you perceive when a woman or lady speaks from the typical western mindset. She stands up straight and looks at the camera directly or at the interviewer. The voice comes clear and so does the eye contact. I have spent time on this over the years requesting and advising women to look at me or t the camera or whoever it may be and to make eye co...