Hyderabad, Feb 2 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh government is committed to the development of Urdu and declared it as second language in several districts, Minister for Energy, Minority Welfare Mohd Ali Shabbir said today.

Inaugurating the one-day national seminar on 'Urdu Media in India' organised by the Press Academy of Andhra Pradesh in Association with State Urdu Academy, on the eve of the golden jubilee of AP Union of Working Journalists, he said the state government had provided Rs 17.5 crore in the budget for the development of Urdu language.

Stating that the government had decided to reimburse total tution fees for Muslim students from the next academic year, he said there were 11,400 Muslim engineering students in the state.

For the first time in the country, the state government had sanctioned for setting up a medical college especially for Muslims, he said adding 100 Muslim students would be provided seats in the college from the next academic year.

State Information and Public Relations Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said Urdu langauage and papers had played a prominent role during Independence and post-independence.

He said the government had implemented the Arogya Sree Medical Health Insurance scheme for the welfare of working journalists.

Andhra Pradssh Press Academy Chairman D Amar said the academy had taken up several welfare schemes for the benefit of journalists.

Speaking on the occasion, Andhra Pradsesh Urdu Academy Chairman Mohd Rahimuddin Ansari said the academy would bring out Urdu-Telugu dictionary shortly.

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