One solution to many problems: Plain language communication

When things don’t work the way it is meant to be, government often pushes for Administrative Reforms. Everyday new policies are made and old ones are amended. People are unaware of many such policies that regulate wages, air travel, healthcare, insurance companies, taxes on paycheck, interest rate on savings, visas and many more. What is more interesting is that very few even think about how policies affect them every day.

Government uses policies to achieve better economic and social outcomes through regulations and laws. On one hand, the action is focused towards enhancing the life of citizens and businesses while on the other, vast fraction of society has no way of knowing what it means. Thanks to agencies who often use baffling-complex-bureaucratic jargons and imperial tone in documents for public disposal.

Models and theories are the best choices for a government to make an assumption for policy making, as direct public opinion is not a reliable source. Hence, there is no argument that models and theories are not the right approach, assuming that the government has the best consulting source that charts out a well suited solution for a given problem. So far so good. Often an argument is raised, why simpler English words are not preferred instead of grammatically long winded sentences? The answer you will get to hear is, “it’s more suited from legal as well as constitutional perspective” or sometimes invariably said, "It has always been done that way! ". In a democracy, people need to understand what their government is doing. When government agencies publish regulations and guidance in a broad technical and legal form with imperial tone, common people cannot grasp the interpretation and fill incorrect data, which in turn affects the benefits they need or which they are entitled to.

Part of the administrative reform calls for a greater need towards plain language communication. Today, a simple Google search for the words “Indian government policies” will throw up a long list of open readable files. You will be surprised to see many shalls and wills are sprinkled all through the document. Here are some examples: “User shall comply with …”, “All user organizations shall implement …”, “compliance of this policy shall be ….”. In a way these writings convey that what shall or will be done in the future, will not have any responsibility on the end user. Not having any accountability is just the opposite of why policy makers issue written policies.

Words such as - shall, will, should, would are auxiliary verbs. Some would argue saying that these are used to express simple futurity. So if the writers are thinking of the future, and their audience reads it in present, isn't it rational to use the present tense? Another argument may arise, writing shalls and wills in documents gives it an "imperial tone". As imperial tone makes the document sound more authoritative and legal. Maybe such a tone arises largely from the post independence era when authority was valued after the end of the British empire. Many political leaders of that time found the imperial tone acceptable because they were already familiar with the authoritative tone. Hence, it was easier to copy what was received and make only the necessary changes. Clearly, it is an unconscious way of emulating the tone to the present audience. So the shift from the future to the present tense can be a great impetus towards plain language communication. After all people read policy documents in the present of their time frame, not the future of those who drafts them.

- Amit Sengupta