On 4th Nov. i.e. the 4th day of the District Book Fair ( 1-6 Nov 2001) a Seminar was held in the evening on the topic 'Right to Information in Orissa', attended by about 200 persons hailing from different walks of life like teachers, government officials, media men, NGOs and litterateurs.

Sri Dibakar Biswal, a Senior Journalist of the district who presided, observed that in our State where corruption and malpractices are rampant in the administrative circles, the legislation of a Right to Information Act is highly essential. Sri Ashis Senapati, an Advocate and Columnist and one of the organizers of the Seminar welcomed the resource persons invited to talk on the subject He observed that the Chief Minister of Orissa on the occasion of Jayprakash Jayanti on 11 tit October 200 1 declared that a legislation for right to information in Orissa would soon be introduced. It is therefore pertinent that the people should discuss and debate what should be the contents of such a legislation. Sri Dhagaban Jena, a retired College teacher and a leader of the teachers' association of the State observed that in the present age of explosion of knowledge and information, there is an imperative need for transparency at every level, so that the people can take advantage of such advancement of knowledge and technology. Since information is power, there is no better means of empowering the people than by way of enabling them to freely access information from all sources Government or Non-Government.

Sri Chitta Ranjan Behera, a Social Activist observed that the present trend all over the world is to make the administration more and more transparent and accountable before the people. Let alone the developed countries, the neighboring State of Pakistan which is ruled by a military regime is now seriously exercising over a right to infonnation bill for their people. It is unfortunate that a Central Bill introduced in our Parliament in July 2000 is still pending for discussion, though 7 States have passed the Right to Information in their respective legislatures. In Orissa a serious effort for introducing this legislation is yet to begin in true sense of the term. At last Sri Behera presented a draft-Bill for Right to Information formulated by him and appealed to the members present to discuss its provisions critically and write to the Chief Minister of Orissa to appraise him about the people's concerns at ground level. Dr. Sriram Ch. Das, a Social Activist and Columnist opened his address with the observation that the Official Secrets Act of 1923, which was introduced by the British colonial rulers in order to keep the Indians ignorant and alienated from the administration is pitifully in force today, even after 54 years of independence. As a result, corruption and malpractice are rampant in every sphere of public life. What we need today is the abolition of the Official Secrets Act along with a people's movement at grass root level for changing the deep rooted mind set of the Officialdom who have been nurtured in an atmosphere of secrecy, suspicion and disbelief towards the people for decades. Sri Rabi Narayan Pati, a Bhubaneswar based Consultant raised a critical question, since no department of the Government has any system of properly storing and documenting the information, they wouldn't be able to cater to the public demand for information on various subjects, even if the right to information is made in to a law. Sri Pati also raised the question of piracy of indigenous knowledge by the foreign companies, about which the campaigners for right to information need to remain alert.

Sri Baishnab Parida , Social Justice Activist and President of Samajbadi Party, Orissa observed that he had formed the' Platform against corruption and criminalisation' in 1996 pledged to fight against these two major social maladies. One of the demands of this Platform was the need for legislating a Right to Information Act in Orissa.. He now very much wished to ally with any genuine individual or organization who want to fight against corruption and criminalisation and for openness and transparency in public life. Vote of thanks was offered by Sri Saroj Kumar Sahoo, an organizer of the District Book Fair.