British High Commission launches Hindi website

Website part of digital diplomacy

PTI | April 1, 2010



In an attempt to reach to more people in India, British High Commission today launched it's Hindi website hoping that this will bring a transformational change in the relations between both the countries.

The website -- www.ukinindia.fco.gov.uk/hi -- will be updated on a daily basis parallel to it's English counterpart.

The website has sections like news, business, details for British nationals, information about visas, studying and holidaying abroad.

Launching the website, British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg said, "given the fact that Hindi is the language more people speak in India and that the internet is becoming more popular, we hope that this move would bring a transformational change in our relations with the people here."

"This step is part of a wider strategy to communicate directly with the citizens of this country and elsewhere. We hope to communicate with communities which we haven't been able to till now," Stagg said.

Considering "digital diplomacy" to be as important as traditional diplomacy, he said, "in case of traditional diplomacy, it is just the government to government, whereas through websites or digital diplomacy, lobby groups, NGOs, society gets involved."

Relation between any two countries is not just about the government of one country and the other, the NGOs, lobby groups and society too shape the policy of a country, he said.

The Commission does not, as of now plan to have their website in other Indian languages, preferring to check the effectiveness of the newly launched website.

"We do not have any plans of having websites in other languages. If we are able to communicate effectively through this website, we will then see if we can be more ambitious," he said.

Comments

 

Other News

Astonishing breadth and depth of ancient Indian knowledge systems

The Greatest Books of Ancient India: Incredible Ideas about Science, Music, Maths, Art and More By Dr. Pradeep Chakravarthy and Dr. R. Thiagarajan Hachette India, 208 pages, Rs 399  

Strong El Nino threat over India`s monsoon, food & water security

India is heading into the southwest monsoon season this year under the shadow of a rapidly strengthening El Nino, with meteorologists warning that the climate phenomenon could significantly disrupt rainfall patterns, intensify heat stress and place additional pressure on the country’s agriculture-d

How corporates can nudge real change

The Business Of Business Is (Not) Just Business: How Behavioural Tools Can Drive Real Change Edited by Sutapa Banerjee, with Foreword by Nadir Godrej HarperCollins, 336 pages, Rs 699  

India stopped jailing people for paperwork. Now comes the hard part

A small pharmacist in Rajkot neglects to change a notice in his store under a little-known clause of a public health law. This was not only a non-compliance matter, but also a criminal offence, and a jail sentence was the punishment under the old system. Not a fine. Not a warning. Jail. Now scale

How to make our cities climate-resilient

Indian cities are growing at a pace that our infrastructure and climate can no longer sustain. This rapid urban sprawl increasingly strains urban systems, overshadowing the severe environmental fallout produced in its wake. The repercussions include Urban Heat Island Effect (UHI), Urban Floods, and many mo

Trump’s China setback pushes US to woo India

A week after Donald Trump’s visit to China – the first by an American president in nine years, US secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived in India on May 23 on a four-day visit aimed at resetting Washington DC’s relations with New Delhi and attending the third Quad ministerial meeting.





Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter