Indian embassy urges students in US to counter ‘bias’

The outreach was made through the embassy’s “Student Hub”, an official initiative that is meant to “engage Indian students studying in the United States in India’s development”.

The Indian embassy in Washington reached out to Indians studying in the US in an effort to help counter the purported “biased and negative narrative” against the country in the international media amid a devastating second wave of Covid-19 infections.

The Student Hub’s website describes it as a platform for students to “connect, collaborate, and converse” with each other and the embassy.

The outreach was made through the embassy’s “Student Hub”, an official initiative that is meant to “engage Indian students studying in the United States in India’s development”. The Student Hub’s website describes it as a platform for students to “connect, collaborate, and converse” with each other and the embassy.

In the section of the website detailing how the students can get involved, the embassy has invited Indian students in the US to “contribute their time and ideas for the upcoming Fall 2021 Verticals in the three core areas” – climate action, India in the news, and grassroots learnings.

According to screenshots of the website tweeted by several persons on Tuesday, including Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, the section seeking volunteers for “India in the news” stated: “If you are into current affairs or international affairs, if you are concerned about how India is portrayed in the media whether in print, online, or social media platforms, if you would like to bring to light such portrayals and course correct the current biased and negative narrative against India in the global scenarios, this is where you click.”

However, after the screenshots were widely shared on Tuesday, the text in this section read: “If you are into current affairs or international affairs, are interested in how India is portrayed in the media – whether in print, online, or social media platforms and would like to bring to light such portrayals and understand the story behind the news, join us.”

There was no word from Indian officials on the outreach to Indian students regarding foreign media’s portrayal of the country.

Clicking on the link for volunteers interested on working on “India in the news” leads to a Google Documents form that includes the question: “List any study or project that you may have been involved with regarding India in the News, Bias in the US Media viz India.”

Other questions in the form focus on how much time students can devote to volunteering, and their interest in “being a Campus Lead and motivating other students from your campus and bringing them onboard to the Student Hub”.

The government has been critical of the foreign media’s coverage of its response to the second wave of Covid-19 infections.