Embassy New Delhi, India and Constituent Posts - OIG - US ...

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audience members can download or print them. It uses Twitter to send short daily policy-related
messages, including statements from Secretary Clinton translated into Hindi. The social media
team is also experimenting with text messaging to conduct post-program polling. They are
looking into cell-phone applications to convey customized information on demand, including
visa information in a question-and-answer format.
The combination of these efforts has resulted in a meaningful increase in the number of
persons that Mission India reaches. The OIG team believes that PAS India needs to continue its
social media push, discarding experiments that do not deliver and reinforcing those that do.
Statistics are necessary but can be misleading, given the huge population of India. What matters
is the trend line of usage, and at the present time the upward direction is promising.
Vernacular Language Capability
The Indian constitution recognizes 22 languages. While Hindi is the official national
language and English remains a secondary official language, the reality is that hundreds of
millions of Indians speak neither. Throughout the country, the regional vernacular media enjoy
circulation and viewership orders of a magnitude greater than their Hindi and English
counterparts. This factor represents a major challenge to PAS in its efforts to connect with
younger, broader audiences, consonant with the global shift in public diplomacy strategy away
from exclusive concern with elites toward more diverse groups emerging as vital forces in their
societies.
Vernacular language capacity needs vary from PAS to PAS in India. Local employees
who can monitor media, translate, and conduct outreach in the predominant regional languages
are essential. Countrywide, public affairs sections have language-qualified people. In some, the
addition of a specific language capability would augment the section’s effectiveness.
PAS selectively translates and distributes embassy and U.S. Government materials.
Increasing the amount of material or the number of languages has resource implications, but the
OIG team believes that the subject deserves strategic consideration in view of the mandate to
reach more diverse audiences.
Informal Recommendation 10: Embassy New Delhi should determine where
augmenting its vernacular language capability, including electronic communication,
would result in increased effectiveness in reaching priority audiences.
Information Support Team
Two military personnel serve on temporary duty in PAS as an information support team
charged with reaching Muslim audiences. Several factors prevent this team from being effective.
They have no expertise in Indian culture to guide them in approaching local audiences. They
have no vernacular language capability or contacts in Indian society to afford them entrée. A
PAS local employee works with them to help bridge these gaps, but this comes at the cost of that
employee’s assigned duties. Finally, because the Indian Government is reluctant to issue longer
term visas, team members can only stay for a few months, not long enough to gain expertise or
establish contacts. The OIG team believes that the costs of having the team in country may
outweigh any benefits their presence provides.
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