Indian Army moves away from tradition, plans new cell with focus on social media

Army chief General Bipin Rawat | PTI file photo

The contours of the plan will be firmed up on completion of Indian Army’s ongoing study on structural reorganisation.

New Delhi: The Indian Army will be setting up a new directorate for social media in its headquarters in a move that marks a major shift from its traditionally conservative approach to the platform.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat said Tuesday the service’s Additional Directorate General for Public Information (ADGPI) and the Information Warfare cell of the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMO) may be merged to form the new department. The name of the wing is yet to be decided.

Currently, the ADGPI functions as a wing under the Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI).

It is understood that the mandate of the new institution will include perception management, psychological operations, cyber warfare, dispelling negative or false information about the Army, aside from other important information dissemination.

The finer contours of the plan will be firmed up on completion of the ongoing study on “reorganising the Army headquarters”.

The strength of the proposed new institution is yet to be finalised, but sources said the staff is likely to be a combination of both regular Army personnel as well as civilians who could be hired on a contractual basis.

The Indian Army broke with its tradition of being media shy about three years back. Its twitter handle (@adgpi) has one of the largest followings for any Indian institution (5.64m). Now General Rawat wants to formalise the social media outreach with information warfare, which involves confusing adversaries while promoting the army’s own narratives.

‘Next year’

Rawat said a preliminary report of the study — part of four different studies being carried out on the organisational restructuring of the Army — will be discussed at the Army Commanders’ Conference in October, while the final report of the study is expected by December.

“We should be able to start implementing the recommendations of the study by next year,” Rawat said.

The Army chief was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an event organised by the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies on ‘Social media & The Armed Forces’ Tuesday.

Filling the gap

Among other aspects, the study will highlight how the benefits of social media can be best leveraged by the Indian Army. At present, the ADGPI informally deals with the media and looks after the Army’s operational publicity on various social media platforms. The Information Warfare section operates separately under the DGMO.

The ADGPI staff has a maximum strength of 40, in stark comparison to those of other countries.

Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) supposedly has a strength of over 800 of which half are uniformed and the rest civilians. The ISPR staff is also assisted by others taking its combined strength to over 5,000, a senior Army official said on condition of anonymity.

Not only are there gaps between ADGPI and the Information Warfare cell, there is also no concrete policy on social media usage by the Army at present.

The study will look at filling this gap by merging the two and to check if a separate institution can be created, headed by an officer not less than the rank of a Lieutenant General or a Major General, said an Army official who didn’t wish to be named.

Speaking about the Army’s present approach to social media, Rawat said there should be some checks and balances the Army must exercise when using social media, but there is no blanket ban on its usage. He further added that there is no point in issuing an order on what he can’t control.

Dos and don’ts

At present, the Army has a set of rules and regulations for its personnel to follow on social media. However, Army sources said not all of them are stringently followed.

These include following the thumb rule of ‘Think, Type/Upload, Post/Send’, differentiating between ‘Personal Opinion’ and ‘Official Information’, not cribbing on social media. In another ‘Do Stay in Your Lane’ rule, the Army asks its personnel to not post or comment on areas of expertise where they don’t have any first-hand, direct experience or knowledge.

It also says follower or friend requests should not be accepted blindly and further advises against using professional position for self promotion.

Among other rules, it also advises against posting or sharing content, including photos or videos, of Army activities or operations on private accounts.