Meeting of the Core Group of Eminent Intellectuals on Orissa RTI Rules, held at Hotel Keshari, Bhubaneswar on 26^th October 2005

To discuss and analyse in depth the clause-wise provisions made under the Orissa RTI Rules, a meeting of the core group of eminent intellectuals was held in the evening of 26^th Oct. 2005 in the Board of Hotel Keshari, Bhubaneswar, under the aegis of Orissa Right to Food Campaign.

The following members were present-

• Sri Rabi Das, Editor ‘Paryabekshak’ an Oriya daily, and a senor journalist of the State

• Sri Panchanan Kanungo, former Minister of State for Finance, Govt of Orissa

• Sri Karunakar Patnaik, Director, Institute of Social Studies, Orissa Chapter, Bhubaneswar and former Director Panchayatiraj Dept, Govt of Orissa

• Sri Kedar Nath Jena, President Orissa Consumer Forum, and a senior Advocate of Orissa High Court, Cuttack

• Prof. Digambar Satpathy, Retd. Director of Textbook Bureau, Govt of Orissa and an eminent educationist

• Ms.Dharitree Dash, Secretary Ramadevi Mahila Silpodyogi Sangathan, Tarpur, Jagatsinghpur

• Sri Chitta Behera, Advisor to Orissa Right to Food Campaign on Campaign for RTI in Orissa

• Sri Pradip Pradhan, Convener Orissa Right to Food Campaign

On behalf of the group, Sri Chitta Behera presented a detailed paper containing ‘Tabular presentation of commissions and omissions in the Orissa RTI Rules vis-à-vis RTI Act 2005’, which was taken up for item-wise discussion by the members of the group.

The members of the group while agreeing overall to the contentions of the tabular presentation so made, felt that it should form the basis of a wider discourse around Orissa RTI Rules, across the State through district level and even Block level events like Seminars and Workshops.