"Sunlight" it is said "is the best disinfectant". The right to information is indeed access to this source of this purifying light. An illustrious American President had said that "A nation" cannot be both ignorant and free; that never was and never will be.

" I am happy to have gone through the book of Ms. Uma Mohan on the Right to Information Act 2005. This, indeed, is an epoch making legislation. At times of tumultuous change we see today, a society cannot manage these great forces of change by being clever and secretive. Even time honoured methods to grapple with turmoil maynot assure success; but not doing so might guarantee failure. Right to information is one of the crucial institutions of ensuring probity of conduct in society and maintenance of standards in public life. The next society which will emerge on the tripod of information technology, Bio-tech and Nano Technologies will have no resemblance with the one we live in today. At every cross-over point in the cycle of civilizations the sources of energy have played a crucial role. The right to information is one of the new sources of energy for a new civilization. The knowledge society recognizes information as an integral part of wealth. The interesting facet of this wealth is that it belongs to nobody in particular. The same information can be used by different persons for different purposes at the same time. That, in itself, is one of the unique qualities of information. Every citizen of the country has an equal right to particular information in the official domain and who ever tries to sit on the information and suppress it, quite obviously should be presumed to do it for some ulterior motive. That may be against public interest. It has been the experience of all modern governments and public institutions that right to information and the corresponding obligation of disclosure have played a crucial role as effective tools against corruption and bureaucratic delays.

We need a transparent system of access to administration and dissemination information. The countries and governments with transparent working have achieved higher levels of economic progress compared to those with translucent or opaque systems and conditions. We will increasingly realize the importance of this legislation when, in course of time, its true potential is achieved and its beneficial ripple-effects unfold. Ofcourse in times to come we will see both its use and some attempts at its misuse. Even within a short time we see its dramatic effects of this law in dismantling bureaucratic structures. What we need are more and more civil society initiatives to assist the citizen to exercise this right meaningfully and effectively.

I congratulate Ms Uma Mohan for offering this neat exposition for the benefit of the common citizen of India on the benefits and implications of this Right. An exposition of law on non-technical terms will demystify the law and bring it closer to its beneficiaries. Having gone through the text I must express my appreciation of the commendable effort of Ms Uma Mohan is synthesizing the provisions of this law to present the whole view within the comprehension of the common man.

This piece of work will go a long way in motivating the citizens in exercising the right to information. The book, indeed, is a real gift to the Indian citizen.