Here in Orissa we talk of so many big, big ideas, which however don't get translated into reality. We should ponder over what is the cause? Now we are discussing the right to information, but how can it be realized? Justice Mishra observed that so many laws exist in our country, about which people are largely ignorant. So if we think of making right to information into a law, we should first think, how it could reach and benefit the people. Can the NGOs make it reach the people? I say, "no". NGOs are accountable to the people of course. The Government is the proper authority for implementing such a law. But who is after all the Government? There is a political process going on in our society, which is very much essential for realizing the right to information for the people. So we should not avoid the political process and rather influence it in all possible ways. I believe that a proper law on right to information can be formulated not in air-conditioned rooms by a coterie of bureaucrats, but by way of involving the people below and seeking their opinion. The kind of information, which the people need in their day-to-day life, should be given primacy in this proposed law on right to information. The proposed law might exclude from its purview the information relating to the security and integrity of our nation. Except these matters, all other matters should remain transparent before the people.

We are talking of so many rights for the people, such as right to food, right to education, right to health and the like. But no such right can be realized without the necessary change in existing political system. Right to Information is similarly a political problem and need be solved accordingly.

A speaker proposed that the Government should disseminate all its information through Internet. But in my view, it won't guarantee access to information by the common people at village level. Unless and until the officials at Block, Tahsil and District level become transparent and simultaneously the people become assertive about their rights vis--vis the officialdom, the right to information can not be made into a reality, whosoever be the Chief Minister. So my suggestion is that let us debate and discuss the proposed Bill on right to information among the people at village level, take their opinions and reformulate a proper law on such basis. Such a law, I think, would serve the purpose of the people.