LUCKNOW, March 30 -- Even though Urdu has remained the state's second official language since 1989, the UP government's Urdu proficiency examination appears to have evoked little interest over the years.

As the number of candidates taking the exam has remained negligible (in single digit over the past few years), the state government has been left with no option but to surrender the already minuscule budget earmarked for the proficiency examination.

Only five candidates took the examination in 2024-2025 and three in 2023-2024. The state language department has surrendered Rs.1.05 lakh against the budgetary provision of Rs.2.50 lakh made for conducting the examination in 2024-2025. It had surrendered Rs.1.41 lakh of the budgeted sum of R...