IndicCONAN: a multilingual dataset for combating hate speech in indian context

Hate speech (HS) is a growing concern in many parts of the world, including India, where it has led to numerous instances of violence and discrimination. The development of effective counter-narratives (CNs) is a critical step in combating hate speech, but there is a lack of research in this area, especially in non-English languages. In this paper, we introduce a new dataset, IndicCONAN, of counter-narratives against hate speech in Hindi and Indian English. We propose a scalable human-in-the-loop approach for generating counter-narratives by an auto-regressive language model through machine generation - human correction cycle, where the model uses augmented data from previous cycles to generate new training samples. These newly generated samples are then reviewed and edited by annotators, leading to further model refinement. The dataset consists of over 2,500 examples of counter-narratives each in both English and Hindi corresponding to various hate speeches in the Indian context. We also present a framework for generating CNs conditioned on specific CN type with a mean perplexity of 3.85 for English and 3.70 for Hindi, a mean toxicity score of 0.04 for English and 0.06 for Hindi, and a mean diversity of 0.08 for English and 0.14 for Hindi. Our dataset and framework provide valuable resources for researchers and practitioners working to combat hate speech in the Indian context.