  The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) are going to be used as the active
detectors in the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)-Iron Calorimeter (ICAL)
experiment for the detection and study of atmospheric neutrinos. In this paper,
an extensive study of structural and electrical properties for different kind
of bakelite RPC electrodes is presented. RPCs fabricated from these electrodes
are tested for their detector efficiency and noise rate. The study concludes
with the variation of efficiency, leakage current and counting rate over the
period of operation with different gas compositions and operational conditions
like temperature and relative humidity.
