Plain language webinar for Indian Copyeditrors' Forum

I post here a recording of an introductory webinar on plain language that I did for ICF. It provides a definition of plain language, the history and context in India, and guidelines on how to write plainly with some examples. Do view and share!

 

Top of Their (My!) Game podcast, health literacy, and finding Indian laws

 

 

 

Read the August edition of my newsletter Clear Enough here.  

I was on a podcast!

I recently spoke to Bob Milstein, host of the Top of Their Game podcast. 

"Meet Vijayalaxmi Hegde: a writer and plain language specialist, and one of the leading voices advocating for clear communication in India. 

With hundreds of languages and extraordinary cultural diversity, India demonstrates why plain language is critical to ensuring everyone can participate in the world's largest democracy. 

In this episode, Vijayalaxmi shares the state of the plain language movement in India, the push to reform legal and government communication, and how AI and international standards could shape its future. It's a fascinating conversation about language, inclusion, and the power of clarity."

 

Aparna Mittal: engaging patients with plain language-driven health literacy

When I wrote about the NHS’ plain language website, I had strongly wished for something like it in India. While that still remains an ambitious wish, I was heartened to recently discover PatientsEngage, a platform dedicated to making chronic health conditions easier to understand, and thereby, manage. It also features lived experiences of people with conditions such as cancer, arthritis, and heart disease, which makes it more relatable to other patients and their families.

I sat down with Aparna Mittal, co-founder of the platform, to understand her perspective on plain language and health literacy in the Indian context.

Vijayalaxmi Hegde (VH): How did you get started with PatientsEngage? 

Aparna Mittal (AM): I was a senior executive and business head at a company that sold CRM software to pharma companies. This gave me insight into how these companies worked with the medical community. One thing led to another and I stumbled upon the concept of patient engagement around the same time. The concept was already at least a decade old in the West, but unheard of in Asia.

I realized that for patients and their caregivers in India and other Asian countries it is not enough to end up at a Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic website. We needed our specific context. Also, people were looking for lived experiences. If Indians wanted advice on living with a condition, it could only be accessed from these sites that were tailored to Western contexts.

PatientsEngage came about to localize health information for people dealing with chronic conditions and for their families or caregivers. We also wanted to share their lived experiences, which help other patients and their caregivers to learn and cope. It may not be medical expertise, but it gives valuable insights into how to live with a condition 24/7. This is something you cannot get from a clinician. We started with three conditions–diabetes, cancer, and arthritis–in June 2014.

VH: What was your idea of health literacy when you started?
AM: By health literacy, we meant content that could be easily understood by a highschooler. No fancy language. Even when we edit personal voices, we don’t rewrite people’s words. We edit it for grammar and clarity, but keep their voice. This has been intentional from the start.

In the West, a lot of medical content has moved to plain language. On our site, we try to communicate as clearly as possible, but I think we still don’t meet clear English standards when it comes to the content we get from healthcare professionals. They are so used to thinking and speaking in medical terminology that they sometimes struggle to explain in layperson’s language.

VH: Were you aware of plain language when you started PatientsEngage?
AM: No, I heard of the term “plain language” only in the last five years or so. But we have always tried to hold the intention of clear communication. Interestingly, translation holds a mirror to the content. We often realize something is not clear when we try to translate the content from English to Hindi. Then we go back and see how we can better explain a term.

VH: How are plain language and health literacy relevant to a developing country like India?
AM: I came across a statistic somewhere that 95% of chronic condition management happens outside the clinical arena. And this was in the Western context where consultation times are typically longer.

In India, for many an appointment with a doctor may be more infrequent or very brief. Hence there is little possibility of a detailed understanding of the condition and how to manage it. Back home, the patient and their family must make many decisions related to managing the condition. What would be useful is for someone to explain to them in plain language or even share plain language resources that would enable them to make informed decisions and manage their condition well. 

Our goal is also to bring patients and their lived experiences into policy-making process, to get them to be a part of research design or health committees. Again, plain language is indispensable in this process. If they [patients and caregivers] are sitting on a committee and the experts use jargon, they cannot contribute effectively and do not feel included.

The term “plain language” is better than asking for something to be explained in simple language. It has a negative connotation. I like it [plain language] even better than saying, “Explain [something] to me like I am a five-year-old or as if I am your grandmother.”

We see plain language and health literacy as tools for patients and their families to gain agency. Policy makers must understand that health literacy drives better health outcomes. 

VH: How do decision makers react when you talk of plain language, patient engagement, or patient participation?
AM: It is a slow process. We are finding allies, but slowly. They believe in it and are happy to find an organisation they can work with and a growing set of trained patient advocates available to support this. This is an evolving state.

I met a patient advocate from the UK. He told me to have faith and that we are now where they were 25 years ago. That is true. But it may be much tougher for us. We are a more paternalistic society with limited resources.

I wish we could skip this learning curve though. Like India leapfrogged large scale reliance on mainframes and went straight to UNIX and Open Systems. Similarly, why can’t we take advantage of all the health literacy lessons that other countries have learned and skip the learning curve? Is that wishful thinking?

VH: How do you handle misinformation?
AM: Every story goes through an editorial process. We validate all claims and if there’s something we can’t validate we don’t run it. Someone who had vitiligo said they avoided all white food items like salt, rice, sugar, and it helped them. Now, it may be true that some of these foods can be inflammatory and hence avoiding them may have helped in some way. But the reasoning is wrong: that because they were white they had to be avoided.

We have either backed away from such stories or published them with a note to the reader when we couldn’t fact-check the claims or they didn't follow evidence-based care protocols. We have also done this with new and experimental treatments. We wait for the evidence to develop before we publish about it.

With social media and now artificial intelligence (AI), this approach becomes all the more important. The desire to simply forward stuff is so strong. Even, intelligent, educated people do not stop to check a link before passing it along.

Of web accessibility and practising plain language communities

 Read the July edition of my newsletter Clear Enough here. 

Kishore Pariyar: the voice of clarity in banking and bureaucracy

In today's post, I am happy to profile Kishore Pariyar, a plain language hero. He has practised and advocated plain language in his roles at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and at top positions within the government as well as at international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This is no small achievement, given the entrenched ways of writing in bureaucratic and banking circles.

I present an edited email interview with Pariyar, who currently lives in Siliguri after retiring from government service. 

What does plain language mean to you? 

Plain language means writing in a simple and clear way. Laypersons are able to understand it easily without professional help. 

Sometimes sentences are written in a complex way to avoid legal risks. Because of this, people may not understand the real meaning. They may even need to pay professionals for help. Plain language solves this problem. It uses short, clear, and easy sentences. 

In a room full of people with different IQ levels and backgrounds, if even the person with the lowest level of understanding can grasp the message, then the communication has truly succeeded. To me, plain language is not about making ideas smaller. It is about making ideas reachable.

Since when have you been practising plain language? What motivated you to do so? And what, if any, were the benefits? 

I have been practising plain language for many years, though I may not have formally called it so in the beginning. During my career in regulation and supervision, I discovered that many non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and banks were not able to comply with RBI instructions, not because they did not want to comply, but because they failed to properly understand the circulars. The language was often technical, lengthy, and difficult to interpret. For fear of making mistakes, many institutions gave vague or incomplete replies.

I also noticed that even many junior colleagues within the system were struggling to understand the language and process cases correctly. This made me realise that complexity in communication was itself becoming a barrier to effective regulation and compliance.

One incident particularly influenced me. A large number of compliances in a bank had remained pending for months, some even for more than six months. I called the compliance officers from different divisions of the bank and explained in simple language what exactly was required. The results were remarkable. Most of the pending compliances were completed within two weeks.

After that, I also started “train the trainer” sessions so that understanding would not remain limited to a few individuals. The idea was to create institutional memory so that compliance culture could continue smoothly in the future as well. This experience convinced me that plain language is not merely about simplification. It improves understanding, reduces fear, strengthens compliance, and builds confidence.

Do you think plain language is only for the layperson? Please elaborate on your answer. 

No, not at all. Even highly educated people such as doctors, engineers, business persons, and professors often struggle to understand complicated legal language. They may know English very well, but when it comes to interpreting legal documents, agreements, insurance policies, or loan papers, many still seek professional help. In fact, lawyers sometimes differ in interpreting the same law or document. This shows that the problem is not education alone. The real problem is the complexity of the language used. 

Plain language helps everyone. It makes communication clear, reduces confusion, and lowers the chance of misunderstanding. A document should communicate its meaning directly, instead of forcing people to depend on experts to understand what is written.

You have worked with the RBI, the government, and with international agencies. How would you rate their openness to plain language? 

In my experience, RBI circulars and regulatory documents are often difficult to understand, even for many employees, bankers, and officials of NBFCs. The language is usually technical, lengthy, and written with great caution to avoid legal and regulatory risks. Because of this, many regulated entities sometimes fail to understand the exact requirement and may not be able to comply. 

The situation is similar with many international agencies. In fact, they are often even more conservative in their drafting style. They try to protect themselves from legal, reputational, and policy risks. As a result, the language becomes highly formal and complex. However, I feel that awareness is now growing about the importance of plain language. Regulators and institutions are slowly realising that communication becomes more effective when people can clearly understand what is expected from them.

Why do citizens need to know what the RBI does? What does its balance sheet hold for citizens? 

Most people think RBI is only for bankers or economists. But RBI affects the daily life of every citizen. 

When prices rise too fast, RBI tries to control inflation (see my explanatory article here). When you take a home loan, vehicle loan, or fixed deposit, RBI policies affect the interest rate. When you use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and money reaches instantly, RBI is working silently in the background. When a bank faces trouble and people still trust the banking system, that confidence comes largely because RBI supervises banks.

You only notice the electricity supply when it’s missing. Similarly, most people notice RBI only when there is inflation, banking stress, cash shortage, or payment failure.

Citizens should get to know the RBI because RBI protects the value of money, stability of banks, and trust in the financial system.

RBI’s balance sheet is not just an accounting statement (see my explanatory article here). It reflects the financial strength of the country’s central bank. It contains information on assets such as gold, foreign exchange reserves, and government securities. These act like safety cushions for the country. During difficult times like COVID, global crisis, or sudden financial panic, these assets help RBI support banks, manage liquidity, and maintain confidence in the economy. 

Like a family feels secure when savings are available during bad times, similarly, the country feels secure when RBI has strong reserves and a strong balance sheet. In short, RBI’s balance sheet assures people that:

• currency will remain trusted,
• banks will remain stable,
• digital payments will continue smoothly,
• and the economy can handle shocks.

What are your personal interests and passions? 

My personal interests revolve around learning, communication, and helping people grow. I am also passionate about emotional intelligence, mentoring, and public speaking, as they help people understand themselves and connect better with others.

I enjoy reading extensively and try to finish four books every month, though I must honestly admit I succeed only sometimes. I also enjoy writing books and articles, especially on finance, leadership, mindfulness, and human behaviour. 

Apart from this, music is very close to my heart. I enjoy playing musical instruments and often sing to myself. It helps me relax, reflect, and stay emotionally balanced. 

ISO science writing standard, Zen Citizen, DeisgnThings, my webinar

Read the June edition of my newsletter Clear Enough here.