Access to data important, can't find solutions in its absence: Kapil Sibal

New Delhi, Nov 15 (PTI) Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday asserted that information is at the heart of the progress of civilisation and access to relevant data is a problem the whole world is facing today.

Sibal, a senior advocate and former Union minister, said it is important for whichever government is in power to give reliable data.

"A society without information will be parched. In the absence of information, there is no dialogue, in the absence of information, there is no progress, in the absence of information, there are no discourses. Information is at the heart of the progress of civilisation," the Supreme Court lawyer said at an event marking the release of the 100th episode of his online show Dil Se With Kapil Sibal.

"Unfortunately, all those who block information are doing great injustice to their own future. You must have access to data, you must be able to understand that data, and you must disseminate that data. These three steps are important to come to solutions," Sibal said.

"If you don't have data, how do you assess that data? If you don't have data, how do you disseminate that data? How do you end up with solutions?" he said.

Sibal said the problem being faced around the world is that "data itself is polluted." "It is one of the biggest problems we face. If people don't share relevant data, we will never be able to find solutions," he said.

"Unfortunately, in the world of today, and I am not just talking about my own country, but around the world, we have difficulty in accessing data," he said.

Because "we cannot find data, we cannot find solutions," Sibal stressed.

The seasoned politician said it is time for us to think about these issues and the future of the coming generation.

Talking about his show, Sibal said he started this journey "sometime" in December 2023 and week after week he has been releasing episodes and has clocked today the 100th episode.

"Dil Se records the narrative of the oral history of India in contemporary times," he said.

"Years from now, when the history of India will be written, people will perhaps look at these episodes to find out what were the issues we grappled with and what were the issues of times. Through these conversations, we realised that there are issues we need to deal with... There are voices still not heard that need to be heard," the former Congress member said.

Former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit released the 100th episode of the series which was followed by a panel discussion between Sibal, Justice (retd) AS Oka, and director-producer Mahesh Bhatt. PTI ASK VN VN