Renowned Hindi author Ganga Prasad Vimal and his two family members were killed in a road accident in southern Sri Lanka, police said on Wednesday.

The 80-year-old author was travelling along with his family in a van, which crashed into a container truck from behind on the Southern Expressway in Kurundugahahathapma area on Monday night, they said.

Vimal and two of his family members were killed on the spot while a local driver died on the way to hospital. Two more persons sustained injuries.

AIRPetroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today unveiled India's first long distance CNG bus fitted with CNG cylinders at a function in New Delhi. It can travel around one thousand kilometre in a single fill. Talking to reporters, Mr Pradhan said, this is a revolutionary step which help reduce vehicular pollution. He said, the first long range interstate CNG bus will ply from Delhi to Dehradun. Mr Pradhan said, such type of buses will soon ply between Delhi to Jaipur, Chandigarh and Agra.

The project has been executed by Indraprastha Gas Limited, the largest CNG distribution company in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil a statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow this afternoon. Mr Modi will unveil the 25-feet bronze statue at Lok Bhawan, the secretariat of Uttar Pradesh government. Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of Atal Bihari Medical University.

Apart from the unveiling of statue by Mr Modi, many other functions have also been organised to mark the birth anniversary of Vajpayee. These include blood donation camps, fruit distribution and cleanliness drive all over the state. Sushashan Day will also be observed on this occasion in many districts. In Lucknow, a Kavi Sammelan has also been organised. 

Commonwealth Games champions Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala clinched gold medals at the 63rd National Shooting Championships in Bhopal yesterday. The 17-year-old Bhaker, representing Haryana, clinched four gold medals (individual and team events in senior and junior) in the women's 10 meter air pistol. She shot 243 to emerge triumphant in the eight-woman final. She then shot 588 to top qualifications and equal the record set by Annu Raj Singh in the South Asian Games.

Her state-mate Anish, also 17, won individual gold medal in the senior men's 25 meter rapid fire pistol event to stamp his dominance. Bhanwala shot 28 in the rapid fire final to leave behind Bhavesh Shekhawat of Rajasthan who ended with 26 while Chandigarh's Vijayveer Sidhu came third with 22 hits.

Devanshi Dhama bagged the silver in the senior women's 10 meter air pistol event while Yashaswini Singh Deshwal won the bronze medal in the same event. Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini have already secured quotas for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In Jharkhand, Grand Alliance leader Hemant Soren will take oath as Chief Minister on the 29th of this month. He said this last night in Ranchi after meeting Governor Draupadi Murmu to stake claim to form a new government in the state.

Earlier, the Governor had invited Mr Soren to form the government. Mr Soren was formally elected the JMM legislature party leader yesterday. He was projected as the chief ministerial candidate by the JMM, Congress and RJD Alliance that gained majority in the recently concluded Assembly polls. Congress and RJD have submitted a letter in support of Hemant Soren to the Governor. 

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that NDA government is bringing Digital Radio in 2024. Addressing the annual Akashvani awards function in New Delhi yesterday, Mr Javadekar said, the audio of digital radio will be more clear and its reach will be higher. The Minister said, All India Radio is an institution which is a part of people's lives, be it music, news or entertainment.

Prasar Bharati Chairman Dr A Surya Prakash said, AIR news commands huge credibility. He said, Akashvani has one of the largest news gathering and dissemination apparatus in the world.

Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said, Prasar Bharti is looking forward to a change in the format of these awards so that it brings out the hidden talent of the people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Atal Bhujal Yojana in New Delhi today. The Central Government scheme will promote Panchayat led ground water management and behavioural changes with primary focus on demand side management. Union Cabinet approved the 6,000 crore rupees scheme at a meeting yesterday.  Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said, the scheme will be implemented over a period of 5 years in identified areas in Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He said, the scheme will boost the income of farmers.

AIR correspondent reports that ground water contributes to nearly 65 per cent of total irrigated area of the country and nearly 85 per cent of the rural drinking water supply. The limited ground water resources in the country are under threat due to the increasing demands of growing population, urbanization and industrialization. Atal Bhujal Yojana has two major components. One is strengthening institutional arrangements for sustainable ground water management in the States including improving monitoring networks, capacity building and strengthening of Water User Associations. Second is incentivising the States for achievements in improved groundwater management practices. The scheme will result in efficient use of available ground water resources with emphasis on demand side measures like micro-irrigation, crop diversification and electricity feeder separation. It will also contribute towards the goal of doubling the farmers' income.

In a unique initiative to battle rising air pollution in cities, an ‘Oxygen Parlour’ has been opened at Nashik railway station to provide an experience of breathing clean air to the commuters.

The initiative comes with the efforts of Airo Guard in collaboration with the Indian Railways.

The co-founder of Airo Guard, Amit Amritkar said that the concept of Oxygen Parlour is based on the recommendation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

“In 1989, NASA had conducted a study in which they identified some plants that better absorb the five most harmful pollutants from the air. We have planted most of those plants here,” Amritkar told ANI on Monday.

Senior diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s Ambassador to the US, has been appointed as the new foreign secretary, Personnel Ministry said in an order issued on Monday.

A 1984-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Shringla will take over the charge of the foreign secretary on January 29 after incumbent Vijay Keshav Gokhale’s “two-year term” ends a day before, the order said.

According to the order by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the appointment has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban has achieved its target of creating Urban India Open Defecation Free.

Urban areas of 35 states and Union Territories have become ODF. In all, 4,320 cities out of 4,372 have declared themselves ODF, of which 4,167 cities have been certified through third-party verification.

This has been achieved by the construction of nearly 65.81 lakh individual household toilets against Mission target of 59 lakhs and 5.89 lakh seats of public toilets against Mission target of 5.08 lakh seats.