The District Book Fair held at Kendrapara from 1st to 6th November 2001 was the first of its kind, which attracted the publishers and book -sellers not only from the district itself but also from the major cities like Cuttack and Bhubaneswar of the State. An outstanding feature of the Bookfair was the holding of a cultural evening everyday with a view to provide both entertainment and awareness among the participating public on the hot issues of the contemporary society. Each such cultural evening was organized around a particular theme. On the 4th day a Seminar was held 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. It started at around 6.30 pm and continued up to 9 pm.

Before the Seminar started, a bunch of Background materials consisting of an Article in Oriya on the status of Right to Information movement in the country, a Report of the Seminar on the Right to Information held at Anugul on 5th October 2001 and the quotes from eminent individuals, international bodies and Supreme Court Judgments were circulated among the speakers.

Sri Dibakar Biswal. A Senior Journalist of the district:

Sri Biswal who presided over the Seminar gave an introduction about the subject matter. He observed that the organizers of the Seminar have appropriately chosen this topic for the Seminar, since it is a burning issue all across the country. 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 Biswal cited an instance of how a man who died 20 years ago had received the house building assistance as a part of the rehabilitation programme of the Government following the Super Cyclone of 1999, whereas many genuine persons affected in the disaster have not yet got any assistance. This is just one of the numerous anomalies found in the relief and rehabilitation programmes run by the Government. If the people had right to know and check the process of enlisting the beneficiaries, then such discrepancies would not have taken place. He hoped that the ongoing Seminar shall reinforce the campaign for right to information in the State of Orissa.

Sri Ashis Senapati. Advocate and Columnist

Sri Senapati who was one of the organizers of the Seminar welcomed on behalf of the District Book Fair the resource persons invited to talk on the subject and introduced them to the participants. Coming to the topic of the Seminar Sri Senapati observed that the Chief Minister of Orissa in his speech on the occasion of Jayprakash Jayanti on 11th October 2001 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 Senapati informed that already 7 States of the country (Tamil Nadu, Goa, Karnatak, Rajasthan, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi) have already enacted the right to information, enabling thereby the people to access the information available with the Government. However in some States the act has been formulated in such a way that a large number of areas have been kept outside the purview of the act on the nebulously defined grounds of national integrity, sovereignty of the country, law and order, matters under investigation, sub-judice cases etc, as a result of which the basic goal of the legislation, that is making the administrative process transparent before the public, is virtually defeated. Sri Senapati further observed that in some States the Government has bowed down before the people's movement for enacting the right to information. He referred to the case of Rajasthan, where a people's organization named Kisan Majdoor Shakti Sangathan under the leadership of Mrs. Aruna Ray launched a battle against the local block administration for getting simple information as to how much wages the villagers got against the services rendered by them in the Government- sponsored construction projects. But the local administration refused to disclose such plain facts on the plea of Official Secrets Act. Such an obstinate attitude on the part of the local administration led the people to carry forward their struggle to a higher level. Ultimately the State Government was compelled to enact the Right to Information in the year 2000. Sri Senapati hoped that today's Seminar is expected to go a long way in sensitizing both administration and public on the need for legislating a right kind of right to information act in the State of Orissa.

Sri Bhagaban Jena, Educationist-

Sri Jena who is a retired College teacher and a leader of the teachers' association of the State congratulated the organizers of the District Book Fair for their decision to hold this Seminar on Right to Information at an appropriate time. Just as the aim of the Book Fair is to spread knowledge and information among the people, the proposed legislation on right to information aims at enabling the people to access information available with the Government. 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 Ranian Behera, Social Activist

Sri Behera 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 have already legislated a right to information act 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.

Besides checking corruption, the people's access to information as a matter of right shall further the cause of all round development of the country, since the true development rests on a participatory process of decision making and implementing any particular project at grass root level.

It is true that in some States the Right to Information Act has just been an eyewash. The common people continue to be debarred from getting the information about their day-to-day development matters by the officialdom on the plea that the information sought for falls under exceptional areas. Moreover, the concerned legislation in States has no teeth, that is, there is no provision for penalizing the negligent officers, who refuse to part with the official information on this or that flimsy ground. A law is no law, unless it provides for punishment to the defaulters and offenders. The Right to Information Act, now being implemented by the Government of GAO since 1997 is from this point of view an ideal one, since it provides for a fine of Rs.1 00 against each day's delay, to be realized from the concerned officer who fails to provide the information sought for within the prescribed period of one month.

An ideal legislation for right to information should mandate the concerned officer to specify in writing the reason for refusing to disclose a particular piece of information and also mention the specific appellate authority to whom the information seeker might appeal against such order of refusal. The appellate authority should be an independent and autonomous body outside the government departments.

The Government while preparing for passing a law for right to information ought to streamline and modernize its machinery for documentation and dissemination of information available in various departments. The information does not mean some material written on a piece of paper, but may include a video tape, computer floppy, Xerox copy of a muster roll or inspection of a construction site, depending upon the nature of information sought by a member of public.

There need to be wide-scale debate around the right to information involving various cross-sections of public, so that the legislation when comes to shape can be made into a more or less fool-proof one.

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 take necessary moves for passing an appropriate piece of legislation guaranteeing the people's right to information.

Dr. Sriram Ch. Das, Social Activist and Communist:

Dr. Das, who belongs to Kendrapara and is well-known for his multifarious activities in the district 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. The CAG report on the large scale bungling of the central money in Orissa, which he has dealt with on several occasions in the news media is a glaring instance of embezzlement of the public finds taking place completely outside the knowledge of the people. The bureaucrats, who are able to amass huge chunks of public money in an illicit way do succeed in their nefarious game precisely owing to the tradition of secrecy in the administration.

Some voluntary organizations, who do not toe the line of corrupt officials are victimized by the latter for their practice of honesty and straightforwardness. 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 mindset of the Officialdom who has been nurtured in an atmosphere of secrecy, suspicion and disbelief towards the people for decades.

Sri Rabi Narayan Pati, Consultant:

Sri. Pati, who is a Bhubaneswar-based Consultant for NGOs took a critical view of the present campaign for right to infoffilation. He first raised the question where from the infoffilation shall come? 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. The culture of secrecy is so much deeply entrenched into the whole society that even the scientists are not willing to share a rare information with each other. Citing an instance from the past history Sri Pati observed that the renowned scientists like C. V. Raman and Meghanad Shah used to keep crucial information secret from each other due to their leg-pulling attitude. Unless and until we jettison this obscurantist habit from our mind and develop a culture of information sharing, a legislation on the right to information even if passed in the Centre and all States of the country won't take us far ahead of where we are at present.

Sri Pati raised anotller question that is piracy of indigenous knowledge by tile foreign companies. As is well-known, tile foreign scientists sponsored by multinational companies are gatllering information about our traditional and ethnic knowledge on plants, medicines and bio-diversity, which are patented as their intellectual property rights and again sold back in tile form of products in our markets will a high price tag. Under tile circumstances, there is a high possibility of increasing piracy of our native wisdom by tile profiteering multinational companies taking advantage of tile proposed legislation on transparency and freedom of information. The campaigners for right to information need to remain alert about possibility of such a negative fallout.

Sri Baishnab Parida, Social Justice Activist

Sri Parida who is the President of Orissa Samajbadi Party is also well known in the State as a protagonist of cause of Social Justice for the backward classes and anti- corruption movement. He had formed the 'Platform against corruption and criminalisation' in 1996 and convened a State-level Conference where the various political leaders and social activists had 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.

Sri Parida expressed his agony at the rampant and growing scale of corruption in the society, to which all political parties and non-government organizations are either parties or mute witnesses. If such a state of affairs is allowed to continue further, there is no future for this country. Sri Parida took of course exception to the role of judiciary, which seems to be still unaffected by the environment of corruption and malpractices all around. But how far this upright spirit of judicial activism would survive is a matter of grave doubt.

Sri Parida appreciated the attitude and steps taken by Sri N. Vittal, the Central Vigilance Commissioner, who is committed to transparency and cleanness in public life. However, some bureaucrats and voluntary organizations who are themselves discredited for indulgence in corruption organized one Seminar at Bhubaneswar a couple of years back with Sri N. Vittal as the key note speaker on the topic of fighting against corruption. It seemed to be paradoxical. The high profile bureaucrats and NGO leaders who are corrupt themselves have devised their new strategy of shielding their real face from the public by way of sheltering under the clout of the new anti-corruption Godman Sri Vittal.

Since all political parties have turned into training centers of coffllption, a broad- based social movement involving common people from different walks of life need be initiated to demand transparency in every sphere of our public life so as to ultimately cleanse our society of the grand malaise called coffllption. As a first step towards effecting transparency in the public life, the Right to Information is to be made into law.

Sri Parida concluded by saying that he 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.

Presidential Remarks by Sri Divakar Biswal

While summing up the proceedings of the Seminar, Sri Biswal observed that to- day's Seminar would certainly boost the campaign for Right to Information across the State of Orissa. Moreover, there should be more of Seminars and Workshops in different parts of the district Kendrapara involving the common people belonging to different walks of like. Each such event shall definitely contribute novel and realistic ideas to the think-tank around the proposed legislation on Right to Information in our State. Sri Biswal thanked the speakers who have thrown light on the topic from different angles and thus enriched the deliberations of the Seminar.

Vote of thanks by Sri Saroj Kumar Sahoo

Sri Sahoo, one of the organizers of the Book Fair extended his heartfelt gratitude to the speakers and participants of the Seminar for making it a success. He further assured that they would try to organize further events to reinforce the ongoing campaign for right to information in the State.