What are the Parliamentary Committees?
A good deal of Parliamentary business is transacted in the committees. Both Houses of Parliament have a similar committee structure, with a few exceptions.
Statement 1 is correct: Their appointment, terms of office, functions and procedure of conducting business are also more or less similar and are regulated as per rules made by the two Houses under Article 118(1) of the Constitution.
Broadly, Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds – Standing Committees and ad hoc Committees
Statement 2 and 3 are incorrect. A Parliamentary Committee can either be a Standing Committees or an Ad hoc Committee. Standing Committees are permanent committees and are constituted for a fixed tenure. The former are elected or appointed every year or periodically and their work goes on, more or less, on a continuous basis.
The latter are appointed on an ad hoc basis as the need arises and they cease to exist as soon as they complete the task assigned to them.

Their significances
Apart from debates on bills and issues discussed and debated on the floor of the House, more detailed and in-depth discussions take place on issues as well as legislation in the parliamentary standing committees.

Explanation:

Here, MPs belonging to all major parties put forward their views without much consideration to the political differences they have.
A considerable amount of legislative work gets done in these smaller units of MPs from both Houses, across political parties.
Their reports are tabled in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. The Houses do not hold a specific debate on the report, but it is often referred to during the discussions on the bills and the key issues.
Committee meetings also provide a forum where members can engage with domain experts as  well as senior-most officials of the concerned ministries.

Explanation:

The Eurasian group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism (EAG) is a FATF-style regional body which comprises 9 countries: Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. EAG is an associate member of the FATF.

What is the FATF?
FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.
India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership. On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.

Explanation:

What is so peculiar about the Rajya Sabha polls?
A third of MPs in the Rajya Sabha (which is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution), from each State, retire once in two years and polls are held to fill up the vacancies.
Only elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies can vote in a Rajya Sabha election.
The legislators send a batch of new members to the Upper House every two years for a six-year term.
In addition, vacancies that arise due to resignation, death or disqualification are filled up through by-polls after which those elected serve out the remainder of their predecessors’ term.
Composition of Rajya Sabha
A bloc of MPs belonging to one or more parties can elect a member of their choice if they have the requisite numbers.
This is to avoid the principle of majority, which would mean that only candidates put up by ruling parties in the respective States will be elected.
The Delhi and Puducherry Assemblies elect members to the Rajya Sabha to represent the two UTs.
What is the election process?
Polling for a Rajya Sabha election will be held only if the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies.
Since the strength of each party in the Assembly is known, it is not difficult to estimate the number of seats a party would win in the Rajya Sabha poll.
In many states, parties avoid a contest by fielding candidates only in respect to their strength. Where an extra candidate enters the fray, voting becomes necessary.
Candidates fielded by political parties have to be proposed by at least 10 members of the Assembly or 10% of the party’s strength in the House, whichever is less.
For independents, there should be 10 proposers, all of whom should be members of the Assembly.
Voting procedure
Voting is by single transferable vote, as the election is held on the principle of proportional representation.
A single transferable vote means electors can vote for any number of candidates in order of their preference.
A candidate requires a specified number of first preference votes to win. Each first choice vote has a value of 100 in the first round.
To qualify, a candidate needs one point more than the quotient obtained by dividing the total value of the number of seats for which elections are taking place plus one.
Example: If there are four seats and 180 MLAs voting, the qualifying number will be 180/5= 36 votes or value of 3,600.

Why do not the Rajya Sabha polls have a secret ballot?
The Rajya Sabha polls have a system of the open ballot, but it is a limited form of openness.
As a measure to check rampant cross-voting, which was taken to mean that the vote had been purchased by corrupt means.
There is a system of each party MLA showing his or her marked ballots to the party’s authorised agent (called Whip), before they are put into the ballot box.
Showing a marked ballot to anyone other than one’s own party’s authorised agent will render the vote invalid.
Not showing the ballot to the authorised agent will also mean that the vote cannot be counted.
And independent candidates are barred from showing their ballots to anyone.
Is there any NOTA option in voting?
The ECI issued two circulars, on January 24, 2014, and November 12, 2015, giving Rajya Sabha members the option to press the NOTA button in the Upper House polls.
However, in 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the provision, holding that the ‘none of the above’ option is only for general elections.
It cannot be applied to indirect elections based on proportional representation.

Sukapha was a 13th-century ruler who founded the Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries. Contemporary scholars trace his roots to Burma.
He reached Brahmaputra valley in Assam from upper Burma in the 13th century with around 9,000 followers.
Sukapha is said to have left a place called Maulung ( in Yunnan, China ) in AD 1215 with eight nobles and 9,000 men, women and children — mostly men.
In 1235, Sukapha and his people settled in Charaideo in upper Assam after wandering about for years, defeating those who protested his advance and temporarily staying at different locations.
It was in Charaideo (in Assam) that Sukapha established his first small principality, sowing the seeds of further expansion of the Ahom kingdom.
Who are the Ahoms today?
The founders of the Ahom kingdom had their own language and followed their own religion.
Over the centuries, the Ahoms accepted the Hindu religion and the Assamese language, scholars say.
The Ahoms embraced the language, religion and rituals of the communities living here — they did not impose theirs on those living here.
Today, the Ahom community is estimated to number between 4 million and 5 million.
Why is Sukapha important in Assamese culture?
Sukapha’s significance — especially in today’s Assam — lies in his successful efforts towards the assimilation of different communities and tribes.
He developed very amicable relationships with the tribal communities living here — especially the Sutias, the Morans and the Kacharis.
Intermarriage also increased assimilation processes. He is widely referred to as the architect of “Bor Asom” or “greater Assam”.
Historical works, known as buranjis, were also written, first in the Ahom language and then in Assamese.

Explanation : The Hind Mazdoor sabha was founded in Howrah in west bengal on 29 December 1948, by socialists, Forward Bloc followers and independent unionists. It was founded by Basawon Singh, Ashok Mehta, R.S. Ruikar, Maniben Kara, Shibnath Banerjee, R.A. Khedgikar, T.S. Ramanujam, V.S. Mathur, G.G. Mehta. R.S. Ruikar was elected president and Ashok Mehta general secretary. HMS absorbed the Royist Indian Federation of Labour and the Hind Mazdoor Panchayat, which was formed in 1948 by socialists leaving the increasingly communist dominated AITUC.