The Ministry of External Affairs has not hired any fresh recruits into the interpreter cadre for nearly a decade and the cadre is being phased out, sources in the Ministry said. The decision to end the cadre that was started during the tenure of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was taken as the Ministry was not satisfied with the quality of interpretation and, therefore, more rigorous language training options are being provided to Indian Foreign Service (IFS-A) recruits, the sources said.
The MEA’s interpreter cadre gained prominence by working alongside a succession of Presidents and Prime Ministers, including PM Narendra Modi, who frequently uses interpreters when meeting foreign leaders. Most recently, interpreters were involved in discussions between Mr. Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump. However, MEA sources noted that over time, it became evident that “most interpreters were merely translating, rather than engaging in true interpretation, which is a highly specialised skill.” Sources further explained that young IFS officers are now being encouraged to specialise in foreign languages, as they are expected to acquire additional interpretation skills.
The Indian Foreign Service, which began during the interim government in October 1946, did not initially include an interpreter cadre. Early recruits, often from the Indian Civil Service and other backgrounds, typically brought foreign language skills from their previous training. Over time, an informal interpreter section developed within the Ministry, eventually evolving into the formal interpreter cadre that was officially launched.
Foreign language skills for Indian diplomats also found support when young direct recruits came into the service through competitive examination conducted under the Union Public Service Commission where the fresh recruits were asked to take at least one ‘compulsory foreign language’ and one ‘optional language’ apart from the mother tongue of the official.
The ‘compulsory foreign langauge’ was part of the six-part training of the Indian Foreign Service officials and officials were sent abroad for training. However with the first batches retiring, by the mid-1970s and because of the changing global circumstances where knowledge of Russian, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese became increasingly necessary, a need was felt to have dedicated language specialists.
Prominent interpreters
The process to establish a separate interpreter cadre began in the mid-1970s, and after some delays, recruitment for interpreters started in early 1984.
Over the decades, several interpreters gained prominence, including R.A.K. Sherwani (Persian), Abdul Khalique (Arabic), Jaya Mukherji (Russian), Anne Kurian (German), Kanakendu Ghosh (French), Zikrur Rahman (Arabic) and T. Steven (French). More recently, Shipra Ghose (Russian) and Nilakshi Saha Sinha have also gained recognition. Ms. Ghose, who interpreted for Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, has also been a part of the delegation during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits. Ms. Sinha, who served as Mr. Modi’s interpreter during numerous tours, is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Armenia.
Tense situations
In addition to providing interpretation services for the Prime Minister and other Ministers, interpreters are also essential in Indian embassies in countries where local decision-makers are not fluent in English. Indian interpreters have also played a crucial role during tense situations. Veteran diplomat Talmiz Ahmad recounted an incident in 2004, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran asked for his assistance when three Indian truckers were kidnapped near Fallujah in Iraq, where U.S. forces were facing strong resistance.
The truckers were part of a group of seven captured while transporting non-lethal military equipment for the Americans. “We managed to free them, but without the exceptional interpretation skills of Zikrur Rahman, we would not have succeeded in our mission. He had to interpret tactfully to handle a very tense situation,” Mr. Ahmad recalled.
Mr. Ahmad emphasised the increasing importance of professional interpretation in supporting Indian diplomacy and called for the strengthening of the interpretation service. He argued that while English is widely spoken in many foreign locations, Indian political leaders today rely more on Hindi than previous generations did. This shift makes high-quality interpretation from foreign languages into Hindi and other Indian languages even more crucial.
“The MEA must abandon its dilettante approach and establish a school of interpretation under its command. The quality of interpreters in recent years has been unsatisfactory for various reasons, but the task of interpretation is now more critical than ever,” he said, urging the revival of the interpreter cadre.
Published – March 08, 2025 11:19 pm IST
