We need a theory of honest mistakes: Salman Khurshid

India needs a theory of honest mistakes — was the key takeaway for management graduates present at the Business Standard ‘Best B-School Project Award 2010’ in Mumbai today.

Union Minister for Water Resources Salman Khurshid, who was the chief guest, asked the students to differentiate between mistakes which were malafide vis a vis ones that were bonafide in nature.

“One cannot eliminate all the viruses at one time. One has to eliminate them one at a time. So, it is important to identify the serious ones,” he told the students, before handing over the awards to the winners of the national-level competition.

The minister was responding to a presentation on ‘crafting a corruption-free India’ by students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The focus of the project was on setting up an Indian Institute of Politics that would have a robust admission process and where individuals would be trained to join political organisations. The project won the consolation prize.

While admitting corruption was rampant, Khurshid said the malaise needed to be studied from different angles. “We are making the mistake of merging all kinds of corruption into one. It’s time for us to understand the concept of corruption. There’s a mechanical and psychological dimension to it. You need to study corruption to develop a model where it can be eliminated.”

“I believe this is an aberration that will pass. We are going through a process of transformation from a controlled society to a free society. We are going through a moment when perhaps the best has to struggle a bit. But India is a great nation with good people and we will come out of this,” said Khurshid.

“We are still living in two different worlds — one, where people are excited about opportunities and struggling to find ways for the nation to prosper and the other, where people were still struggling with micro issues of the day-to-day life.”

“While some are struggling with the option of what to chose, there is a section which is struggling to have the right to chose,” Khurshid signed off.