• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has recently paid homage to Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay on his Jayanti. 
•  Bankim Chandra Chatterjee is said to have influenced Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Surendranath Dutt.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee / Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838-1894)

• He was born in an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family in Naihati, West Bengal and married at the age of 11.
• He played a crucial role in the literary Renaissance movement through his writings.
• He had a Law degree and was appointed as the Deputy Collector of Jessore in 1858. He retired from the service in 1891.
• He started a monthly literary magazine named Bangadarshan in April 1872.
• Durgeshnandini, his first Bengali romance, was published in 1865.
• His famous novels include Kapalkundala (1866), Mrinalini (1869), Vishbriksha (1873), Chandrasekhar (1877), Rajani (1877), Rajsimha (1881), and Devi Chaudhurani (1884).
• His earliest works were published in a weekly newspaper named Sangbad Prabhakar.
• His first novel in English was titled, Rajmohan's Wife while his first novel in Bengali was named Durgeshnandini.
• Rajmohan’s wife, is said to be the first published novel in English by an Indian.
• The legendary writer penned Vande Mataram on November 7, 1875.
• The verses of Vande Mataram can also be found in his political novel, Anandamath which was published in 1882.
• It was primarily about Sanyasi army fighting the British soldiers.
• The tune of Vande Mataram was later given by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

• Dr. Shankar Rao and his team from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences, Bengaluru, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, have designed the transparent Tribo-Electric NanoGenerators (TENG).

Tribo-Electric NanoGenerators (TENG)

• The TENG makes use of mechanical energy in the form of vibrations present everywhere in different forms to generate electricity.
• The energy harvesting TENG works on the principle of creation of electrostatic charges via instantaneous physical contact of two dissimilar materials followed by generation of potential difference when a mismatch is introduced between the two contacted surfaces through a mechanical force.
• This mechanism drives the electrons to move back and forth between the conducting films coated on the back of the tribo layers.
• The method employed till date to design TENG use expensive fabrication methods like photolithography or reactive ion etching, and additional process like electrode preparation and so on.
• The new design uses Thermoplastic Polyurethanes (TPU) either in the form of electrospun nanofibers or as a flat film using the simpler Doctor’s blade technique, along with Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as tribo layers.  
• The TPU nanofibers are obtained from the electrospinning (ES) technique.
• It is a simple, cost-effective, bio-compatible, transparent nanogenerator.
• The fabricated device TENG could light up 11 LEDs by gentle hand tapping and could be a potential candidate for use in optoelectronics, self-powered devices, and other biomedical applications.

Nanogenerator

• A Nanogenerator is a type of technology that converts mechanical/thermal energy as produced by small-scale physical change into electricity.
• A Nanogenerator has three typical approaches: piezoelectric, triboelectric, and pyroelectric nanogenerators.
• Both the piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators can convert mechanical energy into electricity.
• However, pyroelectric nanogenerators can be used to harvest thermal energy from a time-dependent temperature fluctuation.

• In a major boost to export of exotic fruit, a consignment of fibre and mineral rich ‘Dragon Fruit’, has been recently exported to Dubai.

Dragon Fruit / Kamalam

• Since the fruit has spikes and petals resembling lotus, it is also referred as ‘Kamalam’.
• The dragon fruit contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
• It can help in repairing the cell damage caused by oxidative stress and reduce inflammation, and also improving the digestive system.
• The cultivation requires less water and can be grown in various kinds of soils.
• There are three main varieties of dragon fruit: white flesh with pink skin, red flesh with pink skin, and white flesh with yellow skin.

Dragon Fruit Cultivation in India

• Scientifically referred to as Hylocereusundatus, the dragon fruit is grown in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, the USA and Vietnam.
• Dragon fruit production commenced in India in early 1990s and was grown as home gardens.
• Dragon Fruit has become increasingly popular in recent years in the country as it has been taken up for cultivation by farmers across various states.
• At present, dragon fruit is grown mostly in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi in ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme in July 2020 on All India Radio had mentioned about the dragon fruit farming in the arid Kutch region of Gujarat.
• He had congratulated the farmers of Kutch for the cultivation of fruit for ensuring India’s self-sufficiency in the production.

• Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawaarchand Gehlot has recently launched the website for the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan on the occasion of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
• The day is observed worldwide to strengthen action and cooperation in achieving the goal of a sustainable world free of substance abuse.
• According to the National Comprehensive Survey conducted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, there are more than 60 million drug users in the country of which a large number of users are in the age group of 10 to 17 years.

Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• Nasha Mukt Bharat Annual Action Plan for 2020-21 would focus on 272 most affected districts and launch a three-pronged attack combining efforts of Narcotics Bureau, Outreach/Awareness by Social Justice and Treatment through the Health Dept.

• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is the nodal ministry for Drug Demand Reduction.
• It implements various programs for the drug abuse prevention across the country.
• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has also prepared a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-2023.
• There are more than 500 voluntary organizations across the country, which are assisted financially under the NAPDDR scheme of the Ministry.
• These NGOs have been actively involved in the implementation of drug-free India campaign.
• Volunteers and outreach workers of these institutions/organizations have gone from   door to door, village to village and nearby localities, etc. to educate the people about the ill effects of drug abuse and have assisted the rehabilitation of victims of substance abuse.

Micro Finance Institutions

• Microcredit is delivered through a variety of institutional channels viz.,

1. Scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) (including small finance banks (SFBs) and regional rural banks (RRBs))
2. Cooperative banks,
3. Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)

• Microfinance institutions (MFIs) registered as NBFCs as well as in other forms.

Electoral Trust Scheme

• Electoral Trusts are relatively new in India and are part of the ever-growing electoral restructurings in the country.
• Electoral Trusts Scheme, 2013 was notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• It lays down a procedure for grant of approval to an electoral trust which will receive voluntary contributions and distribute the same to the political parties.
• A political party registered under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 shall be an eligible political party and an electoral trust shall distribute funds only to the eligible political parties.

Black Sea

• The Black Sea, also known as the Euxine Sea, is one of the major water bodies and a famous inland sea of the world.
• This marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
• The Turkish straits system - the Dardanelles, Bosporus and Marmara Sea - forms a transitional zone between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
• The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.

Mission Karma Yogi

• It has been launched with the objective of enhancing governance through Civil Service Capacity Building.
• The Programme also aims to enhance citizen experience for government services and improve availability of competent workforce.
• To effectively roll out this competency driven mission, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely ‘Karmayogi Bharat’, would be set up as a not-for-profit company.
• It will be set up under section 8 of Companies Act, 2013 as a 100% government-owned entity.

Pinaka Rocket

• It is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, which has been indigenously developed.
• It has been developed jointly by Pune based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) with manufacturing support from M/s Economic Explosives Limited, Nagpur.
• The long range artillery systems like Pinaka are used for attacking the adversary targets prior to the close quarter battles which involve smaller range artillery, armoured elements and the infantry.