Union Minister for Human Resource Development Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chaired a Meeting of the Executive Board of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language to discuss various issues concerning the Council, particularly for the Promotion of Urdu Language inside and outside the country in New Delhi today.

During the meeting, Union HRD Minister inaugurated the new website of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language. A presentation of the activities of the NCPUL and a Vision Document relating to the activities to be carried out by the Council in the next five years was also presented before the Minister.During the meeting, the Minister emphasized that the grants that are given to the NGOs for the promotion of Urdu Language should be utilized fully.Healso advised the Members to make random inspections of the NGOs to ensure that the grants issued are utilized in a transparent manner. He also suggestedto the Members to work closely with the Director and Vice Chairman to chart out activities of the Council and to ensure that the message reaches the general public that theGovernment is committed to the promotion of Urdu Language.

The HRD Minister announced that there is an increase in funding of the Urdu Council. He said that the funding of Urdu Council has been increasedfrom Rs. 45 crores in the year 2013-14 to Rs. 84 Crores in the year 2019-20. The increase in 45% funding in five years is phenomenal, he added. The Minister said that effective steps should be taken to utilize the increased amount.

The decision for extension of ‘The Paper Maché scheme’ which is currently implemented through Kashmir University has also been taken in the meeting. In this scheme Rs. 15 Lakhs is spent every year for training Kashmiri Youths in making Paper Machéproducts which has got a high demand in market. The Vision document and other Agenda items were also adopted during the meeting.

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