New Delhi, Jan 15 (IANS): The Delhi government on Tuesday decided to increase the number of Urdu Certificate Course Centres from eight to 50, to promote the language.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Governing Council of Urdu Academy, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Art, Culture and Languages Manish Sisodia.

"To promote the language and take it to people interested in the language, the Delhi government has decided to increase the Urdu Certificate Course Centre from eight to 50 in different parts of the city," the government said in a statement.

"We have to take Urdu to more people. Why should Urdu centres be limited to certain areas? If there is a centre in Okhla there should be one in Greater Kailash. We are also going to take knowledge in Urdu to more people through translation that will not only enrich academic discourse but also challenge fake news by providing historical evidence," it said.

Various issues pertaining to the promotion of Urdu language and functioning of the Academy were also discussed in the meeting.

"The Urdu Academy has done very well in the last year with some out of the box initiatives like the Heritage Festival and programmes in memory of Kaifi Azmi and Tom Alter. In the next year, we will focus on the grassroots level work for the language including increasing budgets and ensuring quality implementation of programmes. There is a need to revisit old schemes and come up with new ideas," the statement said.