DK Kapila The Oracle

  Corruption Impacts our Governance and E thics .  Dinesh Kumar Kapila, CGM NABARD (Retd) (Published in The Business Sandesh of 05/11/2026)   Centuries  ago   Chanakya (Kautilya) viewed corruption as an inherent risk of   human nature when individuals are granted administrative power and financial custody. In his   magnum opus, the  Arthashastra , he dedicated entire chapters to state revenue, bureaucratic   conduct, and the detection of embezzlement.   His insights on public corruption are strikingly realistic, blending dark psychological observations   with highly structured, pragmatic solutions.   The off the book incentives required to set up a business in our nation are known but we obfuscate the issue or are resigned to the process. Permissions required in transfers of title deeds often entail a cost of servicing the process. It could be argued that these are lower order functionaries but it could be a reasonable assumpti...

  Thank You, 17 th  Punjab .  Dinesh K  Kapila  CGM  (Retd) NABARD (Published in The Vayu Aerospace and Defence Review - Edition V / 2026)   It was the afternoon of a warm and humid August in 2016.  I recall it even now.  I entered the General ICU at a local reputed hospital  in Chandigarh  to meet my mother. She had collapsed at home due to a diabetic complication and for us it was touch and go till the ambulance got her to the Emergency Wing and subsequently moved her to the General ICU. Thankfully she recovered quite well and  was discharged within a few days with the  advise  to recuperate at home.    But to go back to the General ICU, I saw my mom lying quietly on her bed and walked towards her. This was the second day of her stay. As I bent down to greet her, she smiled, asked about me (a mother is a mother) and then gestured to the elderly tall lanky Sikh gentleman in the next bed. She said with a sen...

  Status of  the  Assistive Technology  Market  for the Physically Challenged  in India  Dinesh K Kapila CGM (Retd) NABARD,  (Published in The Business Sandesh on 02/10/2026)   Assistive Technology (AT) is defined as the application of organized scientific knowledge and skills related to assistive products (APs), which includes systems and services to improve the functioning and independent living of a person with at least one or more functional difficulties or disabilities.  T he UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have focused on the need for social inclusion with the  affirmation  that “no one should be left behind”, and that the governments should make efforts to reach the unreached .    Assistive technology (AT) is essential to minimize functional limitations  for the physically challenged.  Few  studies are there  to estimate the prevalence of  the  needs, met and unmet for AT a...