DK Kapila The Oracle

  What is Love in short At one Office a small group of officers, newly recruited, were undergoing desk training. After completing their training at the Officers Staff College. They would sit in the mini conference hall in the morning and there would be a review of the previous before dispersing for the day. These youngsters had come through a tough examination and interview. Many would have tried for the Civil Services, RBI etc and maybe State Civil Services in addition. It would take them time to completely focus on just where they were now. And some could have been at the stage of striking deep friendships too at the Officers Staff College. One day, on arriving at the office, walking past the mini conference hall, I could make out a young lady officer was crying. Settling down at my office, the officer overseeing HR told me that one young lady officer was too upset. I decided to go over. On entering the conference hall, I saw the young lady officer was crying as was a young male ...

  *Book Review by Mrs Navneet Grewal* of Culture East and West It was an inquisitorial task of intellect and emotions to read through and absorb the lines written in the book *Culture, East and West, written by Pandit Bishan Das & Dinesh K. Kapila*. At first glance, the book seems heavy with its references to philosophy, religion, life and death, and divinity. But as you read through the pages, you understand that the quotes, references, stories, and Sanskrit shlokas open the doors to a wider perception, understanding, and varied school of thought. Being a Corporate Trainer, I have quoted "*The Crow's Story"* in my Behavioural Training Sessions and it has had a deep impact on the matrix of self-assessment. Another added perspective on dealings and gut feelings in our societal interactions is provided through "*The Horseman Story*". Additional perspectives on Western Civilisation and Sanatan Dharma offer a plethora of thought processes which will be duly unde...

  Fitness, Economics and Maids and the GDP !! Dinesh K Kapila We in India are generally foodies but don't eat a balanced meal, we partake of a meal  which is generally carbohydrate and oil rich and lacking in protein. Mostly cooked by maids in a hurry. Or over worked cooks. We think walking is enough exercise but walking needs to be coupled with resistance training. Plus we rarely do any house work thanks to the abundant supply of cheap labour. But salaries and more important the expectation for higher salaries are increasing. A fact. Now when our maid and cook will have to be paid a salary of fifty thousand a month each as the statisticians and economists project, we will all be fighting fit like the Europeans and Japanese. There will be no option. We may not have thought of this, the alternative route to fitness. By the way, economists and statisticians are always projecting, its in their DNA.   In the Indian context we can still vouch for the presence of wives in ...

  The Handicraft and Handloom Industry- Scaling up. Dinesh K Kapila, CGM NABARD (Retd) Published in The Business Sandesh 04/09/2026 Handicraft refers to any item made entirely by hand or with simple tools, covering a broad range of materials like pottery, metal, wood, and jewelry, while handloom is a specific subset restricted to fabrics and textiles woven manually on a loom without electricity.   The Indian handicrafts sector is valued around $4.85 billion to over $8 billion, with exports reaching roughly Rs 33,424 crore, and is part of a massive global market. The Indian handloom market is smaller, with domestic sales at Rs 4094 crore and expected to grow to Rs 8000 crore by 2037. Exports were Rs 1340 crore.  The market is somewhat stagnant, as power looms and factories produce uniform, cheaper alternatives that easily undercut handmade prices. Intermediaries control raw materials and supply chains, taking most profits and leaving artisans in low-in...

  Two Glasses in Your Hands are worth … Dinesh K Kapila Obviously this is inspired by the proverb, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. The intrinsic philosophy is that it is better to hold onto a small, certain advantage you already possess than to risk losing it by chasing something potentially better but highly uncertain. This saying dates back centuries, rooted in medieval falconry and hunting, where a bird already captured and held in the hand was far more valuable than birds still hiding in the wild bushes. Men have subscribed to that thought ever since and now it seems extended it to alcohol. There was a reunion of classmates and the greying classmates invited even the younger lot to join in. It was the party with a buzz. Now at this party there was Manohar, quietly observing, as he stared at the glass of whiskey in his left hand. It was surely a glass of whiskey, with a smoky amber quality. He looked at his drink .Thoughtfully. Maybe he was nostalgic, about his youth an...

  The Cultural Indoctrination Against Women and Girls -A few thoughts Dinesh K Kapila (written in Facebook Aug 2024) This issue is now again occupying our minds and thoughts, every now and then an unfortunate dastardly event triggers our thoughts and conscience and then we go back to the status quo. Perhaps not exactly status quo, the situation is much improved then it was just a few decades ago. Data is misleading many a family chose in earlier times to cover up or brush an incident aside. And stating that as women have stepped out of the confines of their houses, such incidents can happen. This is totally illogical. But to go back to cultural issues, an acquaintance just shared that in HP, which we consider a socially progressive state, there are still cases where the son is admitted to a private school and the daughter to a government school. The cultural indoctrination I find is deep rooted and starts with the ladies themselves. Exceptions are there but repeatedly I find post...

  Organic and Only Organic Dinesh K Kapila I was at a leading grocery store when a smartly and expensively dressed (top brands bag to clothes to shoes) confident and pleasant looking young lady around forty years walked in and straight away went into action with the Manager. Do you keep organic stuff, I do not want any of the regular, unhealthy stuff you sell to people. I want good quality products, the poor guy simply said all our products are the best brands or our own tested and procured products. She waved an elegantly manicured hand and one diamond wearing finger in the air towards him and said ‘dekhte hain’ (let me see). I want only pure high class organic stuff. Give me jaggery (Shakar). Only organic. The Manager scooted off, brought a trolley, and plonked two packets of jaggery saying, purely organic Ma’m, she looked at it with suspicion but sort of nodded and then she said I want high quality premium Gur (solidified jaggery) but only organic, and the guy says Ma’m Gur is...

  The   Mindset of an   Agri Tech S tart Up Founder – A Perspective By Dinesh K Kapila, CGM (Retd) NABARD.   Traditional agribusinesses have historically operated within linear, low-margin frameworks, a new class of agritech founders has now emerged to redesign agribusiness, critical value chains and manufacturing. However, building a scalable agritech enterprise is structurally distinct from digitized platform based entrepreneurship. The agritech founder must possess a unique psychological architecture, it diverges sharply from that of a urban oriented standard enterprise entrepreneur. Because agriculture is fundamentally an open-air, biologically constrained, and culturally entrenched system, founders require a profile of measured risk tolerance, operational patience, and deep, field-level empathy. The fundamental goal of agritech is the optimization of resource use, the reduction of post-harvest waste, and the enhancement of farmer income throu...