PM Modi flagged off first ‘Vande Bharat’ train in South India

PM Modi flagged off first ‘Vande Bharat’ train in South India

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express Train on the Mysuru-Chennai route at Krantiveera Sangolli Railway station in Bengaluru. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi also flagged off the ‘Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan’ train which is operated by Karnataka’s Muzrai Department under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ train policy of Railways.
• Its 5th Vande Bharat Express Train in India.It is unique in terms of speed and other modern technological facilities, which will help reduce travel time giving a new experience to passengers.
• PM Modi will also unveil the 108-feer bronze statue of the city’s founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda called the ‘Statue of Prosperity’.

Indian Army launches ‘Veerangana Sewa Kendra’ for Veer Naris

• Indian Army launched a single window facility “Veerangana Sewa Kendra” (VSK) for the welfare and grievances redressal of army wives. 
• The “Veerangana Sewa Kendra” project was inaugurated by the President Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) at the premises of the Directorate of Indian Army Veterans (DIAV) premises located at Delhi Cantt.
• Veer Naris will have multiple means for approaching the VSK through telephone, SMS, WhatsApp, Post, E-mail, and walk-ins to seek assistance.

Mother Tongue Survey of India Is Ready

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has successfully completed a mother tongue survey with field videography of 576 languages and dialects across the country. 
• According to the annual report of the home ministry for 2021-22, it has been planned to set up a web archive at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to preserve and analyse the original flavour of each indigenous mother tongue.
• The Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI) project is implemented by the Central Government to conduct surveys of mother tongues that are returned consistently across 2 or more Census decades. It also records the linguistic features of select languages.
• 43.6 per cent of the population (52.8 crore people) declared Hindi to be their mother tongue, making the most widely spoken mother tongue in India. The second highest spoken mother tongue is Bengali. 9.7 crore people or 8 per cent of the population speak the language.

Bihari Puraskar to Noted writers Madhu Kankaria and Dr. Madhav Hada

• Noted writers Madhu Kankariya and Dr Madhav Hada were awarded the 31st and 32nd Bihari Puraskar, respectively. 
• Kankariya was awarded the Puraskar for her 2018 novel ‘Hum yahanthe’ while Hada was awarded for his 2015 literary criticism book ‘Pachrang Chola Pahar Sakhi Ri’. 
• The awards to the writers were given by Indravardhan Trivedi, vice-chancellor of Mohan Lal Sukhadia University in Udaipur during a program at the university premises.
• The Bihari Puraskar is given every year for an outstanding work published in the last 10 years by a Rajasthani author in Hindi or Rajasthani.
• The Bihari Puraskar is one of the three literary awards instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991. It is named after the famous poet Bihari, the award for Rajasthani authors carries a cash prize of ₹2.5 lakh, a plaque and a citation.