NEW DELHI: The Urdu service of the United News of India news agency has been lauded for its efforts to promote the language.

Union Ministers Oscar Fernandes, K Rahman Khan, Srikant Jena and Manish Tewari were speaking after launching the Urdu website of the UNI Urdu service, which remains the only national news agency to have an Urdu service.

The ministers and other eminent speakers resolved to give full backing to the news agency's efforts to popularise the Urdu language.

The UNI Urdu news service was launched two decades ago for bringing Urdu newspapers into the mainstream, becoming the first in the world to launch a service in that language.

UNI Urdu news service was launched in 1992. The agency disseminates its news services in three languages--English, Hindi and Urdu.