Citizen-Facing Agent Copy: A Style Guide

The agent called a sixty-year-old applicant 'buddy', then told her the scheme was 'super simple' and that she was 'all set' when the file was not all set. A different build addressed a teenager as 'maananiya' and quoted a section that did not exist, because the prompt said be formal. Both builds had passed a language eval that only checked whether the script was Devanagari.

Copy is policy. The words decide whether a person understands the next step, whether they are patronised, and whether they believe a false eligibility. This template is a style sheet for Indian citizen-facing agents. Paste it. Delete lines that are not yours. Do not let a model invent a departmental voice from consumer chat logs.

It is not a Rajbhasha order and not a substitute for official-language duties on specified instruments. Chat is not a notification. When the two meet, the instrument wins.

Not legal advice. Your public-grievance manual and any State language instruction still sit above this sheet.

Voice: a clerk, not a brand

Use the address your public desk already uses. If the counter says 'aap', the agent does not say 'tum'. If the counter never uses first names, the agent does not celebrate that it parsed one. If the scheme is grave — death, eviction, prosecution — the agent does not use exclamation marks.

No mascots unless a competent authority has approved a named assistant and the name is not a religious or caste landmine. Default is no name, or the department's name.

No English slang in an Indic sentence to sound modern. No purple Sanskrit to sound official. Short sentences. One next step.

• You may say what the department can do next.
• You may not say 'I have sanctioned' unless a competent officer has.
• You may not apologise by inventing a compensation the scheme lacks.
• You may not blame the citizen for the department's outage.
• You may not joke about documents, identity, or money.

Facts: names, numbers, schemes

Scheme names come from a list. If the list does not contain the name the citizen used, ask a clarifying question from the list. Do not invent a nearby scheme. Do not merge two schemes into a kindness.

Numbers follow the numeral contract. Emit amounts the way the desk emits them. Repeat file numbers in groups people can read back. Do not round.

Offices and designations come from a list. The agent does not promote a clerk to collector because the sentence sounded better.

Language match

Reply in the language and script of the citizen's last complete utterance, unless they asked to switch. Do not 'upgrade' them to English. Do not 'upgrade' them to a literary register they did not use.

If you cannot continue in that language, say so in that language and offer the human desk. A mid-stream English dump is a failure, even if the facts are right.

Specified bilingual instruments are not chat. Do not let this style sheet authorise a single-language sanction letter.

Paste-ready do / do not. Add your scheme list as Annexure A.

Do	Do not
Aapke aavedan ki stithi: prapt. Agla kadam: [one action].	You're all set! 🎉
Yeh yojana soochi mein nahi hai. Kya aapka matlab [A] ya [B] hai?	Haan, woh scheme mil sakti hai (guessing).
Rashi ₹12,50,000 (12.5 lakh) — kripya pushti karein.	About twelve lakh or so.
Main yeh nirnay nahi le sakta. Adhikari [desk] aapki madad karenge.	I have approved your case.
Abhi pranali anupayogi hai. Number [x], ya kendra [y].	Unexpected token / 500 / try again later.

How to enforce this without a writer in every district

Put the sheet in the system prompt if you must, and also in a linter: banned phrases, required next-step, scheme-list check, language-id check. Prompts drift. Linters fail builds.

Sample ten transcripts a week against the sheet. Field LANG tags feed the sample. The style guide that nobody marks is literature.

Two voices, one of them public

Objections you will hear — and what to do with them

These are the lines that stall the file. Answer them in the room, then put the answer in the note. A spoken answer without paper will be forgotten by the next officer.

[Tone is subjective](/blog/tone-and-formality-in-government-communication). We cannot mark it.

You can mark invented schemes, missing next steps, language switches, and banned slang. That is enough to fail a build. Literary taste can wait.

A warmer brand will increase adoption.

Adoption of a false promise is not a KPI you want in a newspaper. Warmth that survives the sheet is fine. Warmth that invents a sanction is not.

We need a different voice per scheme.

Then write a short addendum per scheme. The base sheet still bans invention and still requires a next step.

Translating the English sheet is enough.

It is not. Address forms, honorifics and banned slang are language-specific. Get the desk to mark the translation.

Two weeks to annex the sheet

Steal this article. Strike through. Do not start from a blank brand workshop.

1. Days 1–3: sit the public-grievance cell and one field clerk on this sheet. Delete what is not you.
2. Days 4–7: attach Annexure A (scheme names) and Annexure B (banned phrases per language).
3. Days 8–10: wire the linter checks you can do mechanically. Sample the rest.
4. Days 11–14: put the sheet in the standing order. Fail the next vendor demo that says buddy.

File note you can paste

Subject: Style sheet for citizen-facing agent copy — annexure to the standing order.

The agent will use the attached voice, scheme list and numeral rules. It will not sanction, will not invent schemes, will not switch language without being asked, and will always offer one next step or a human desk. Chat style does not authorise single-language official instruments.

Weekly sampling will mark breaches. This sheet is not legal advice and not a Rajbhasha order.

What we will lint

Prcept AI will put your scheme list and banned phrases on your side of the rack and refuse to ship a mascot without a signed addendum. We will fail our own demo if it upgrades a speaker to English.

If you want a warmer voice, write it. We will not improvise one from consumer models.

This article is informational field guidance for Indian public institutions, not legal, language-policy, procurement, finance or engineering advice. Confirm against the live Gazette, Official Languages Act and Rules, your State's official-language law, MeitY / IndiaAI notices, GFR, GeM terms, DPDP text, departmental manuals and your counsel before you file it.

How to test this with real speech, not staff English

“Citizen-Facing Agent Copy: A Style Guide” fails in the field if you only tested officers. A P1 CIO/CTO should hear a first-generation student, a rural caller, or a Hinglish grievance before claiming “government AI copy style guide”.

A public agent is not a startup mascot and not a gazette. It is a clerk with a loudspeaker. This is the style sheet you can annex to the standing order so the model stops improvising dignity. Twenty-two scheduled languages is a Constitution fact, not a model fact. Script support is not language support. Official language rules may require bilingual output even when the model prefers one script.

• Name the languages and scripts in the eval set.
• Include code-mix and scheme-name tests.
• Measure comprehension, not BLEU alone.
• Design a human fallback when language fails.

Close this loop before the next CAB

Put “Citizen-Facing Agent Copy: A Style Guide” on the next change-advisory or bid-opening agenda as a single line item with an owner. If it cannot earn a line item, it will not earn a control. The owner should be a P1 CIO/CTO, not “the vendor.”

Revisit the item when the model, the GeM term, the region, or the SI changes. “government AI copy style guide” is not a one-time workshop. It is a watch item. Date the last check. Unsigned watch items are souvenirs.

What must be true before you file this

If “Citizen-Facing Agent Copy: A Style Guide” is only a heading, it will not survive a file inspection. A P1 CIO/CTO should be able to attach one artefact that proves “government AI copy style guide”: a log export, a clause, a scored row, a dated notice, or a refusal rule.

Write three dated sentences: what was decided, who owns it, and when it will be re-checked. Unsigned sentences are souvenirs. Dated sentences are controls.

• Name the owner of “government AI copy style guide” inside the institution.
• Attach one artefact a stranger can open next year.
• Revisit when the model, the notice, or the SI changes.
• Do not treat a vendor slide as evidence.

What the next file must contain

“Citizen-Facing Agent Copy: A Style Guide” earns a line in the noting only if a P1 CIO/CTO can attach proof of “government AI copy style guide.” A heading is not proof. A vendor slide is not proof. A workshop photograph is not proof.

Write three dated sentences: what was decided, who owns it after the next posting order, and when it will be re-checked. If you cannot write the three sentences, you are not ready to buy, to sell, or to go live.

Leave unsourced percentages out of the note. DPDP is not a blanket localisation statute. The November 2025 AI governance text is guidance, not an Act. CERT-In’s 28 April 2022 directions still set specified incident and log clocks. A PAC, when lawful, lives in GFR Rule 166.

• Name the designation that owns “government AI copy style guide.”
• Attach one artefact a stranger can open next year.
• Record the instrument you are actually using.
• Revisit when the model, the SI, the notice or the posting changes.