• The Union government has recently signed an accord with the Assam-based different insurgent groups and civil societies including the National Democratic Front of Bodoland.
• The tripartite agreement was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
• The accord will provide political, economic, executive and land rights to Bodo tribals and also will safeguard their cultural and linguistic identities.
• The Centre and State Government will provide financial assistance of 1,500 crore rupees for the economic development of the community.
• This agreement will maintain the territorial integrity of Assam and will also provide an opportunity for the holistic development of the Bodo community.
• The current agreement proposes to set up a commission under Section 14 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India, which will recommend the inclusion or exclusion of tribal population residing in villages adjoining BTAD areas.
• The commission will include representatives of State Government and other stakeholders.
• It will submit its recommendation within six months from the date of notification.

Background

• It is the third tripartite agreement to end the violence in the region.
• Earlier, the tripartite agreements in 1993 and 2003 were signed leading to the creation of Bodoland Autonomous and Bodoland Territorial Councils.
• All Bodo Student Union and its associated organizations and different factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland had been raising the demand for separate statehood.
• Negotiations were held with Bodo organizations for a comprehensive and final solution to their demands while keeping intact the territorial integrity of Assam.

• Recent archaeological excavations at Nagardhan in Ramtek taluka, near Nagpur, have provided concrete evidence on the life, religious affiliations and trade practices of the Vakataka dynasty that ruled parts of Central and South India between the third and fifth centuries.

Queen Prabhavatigupta

• The Vakataka rulers were known to have forged several matrimonial alliances with other dynasties of their times.
• One of the key alliances was with Prabhavatigupta of the mighty Gupta dynasty, which was then ruling north India.
• The Guptas, researchers say, were way more powerful than the Vakatakas.
• After marrying Vakataka king Rudrasena II, Prabhavatigupta enjoyed the position of Chief Queen.
• When she took over the Vakataka kingdom, after the sudden demise of Rudrasena II, her stature as a woman Vakataka ruler rose significantly.
• This is evident from the fact that the sealings were introduced and issued during her period as a ruler, that too from the capital city of Nagardhan.
• Scholars say Queen Prabhavatigupta was among a handful of women rulers in India to have reigned over any kingdom during ancient times.
• Also, there had been no evidence so far of any successor female ruler within the Vakataka dynasty, the researchers suggest.

Spread of Vaishnavism

• The Vakataka rulers followed the Shaiva sect of Hinduism while the Guptas were staunch Vaishnavites.
• Excavators say that many religious structures indicating affinity to the Vaishnava sect, and found in Ramtek, were built during the reign of Queen Prabhavatigupta.
• While she was married into a family that belonged to the Shaiva sect, the queen’s powers allowed her to choose a deity of worship, that is, Lord Vishnu.
• The researchers believe that the practice of worshipping Narasimha in Maharashtra emerged from Ramtek, and that Queen Prabhavatigupta had a pivotal role in propagation of Vaishnava practices in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
• Some of the temples identified as Keval Narasihma, Rudra Narasimha and the one dedicated to Varaha could be traced to Ramtek, and showcase strong affinity to the incarnations of Lord Vishnu.
• None of these religious structures was, however, present here until the Queen took the throne.
• Queen Prabhavatigupta ruled for about 10 years until her son Pravarasena II succeeded.

• The inaugural session of the India-Brazil Business Forum was held recently in New Delhi.
• India and Brazil share close relationship at the bilateral level as well as plurilateral fora like BRICS, BASIC, G-20, IBSA and International Solar Alliance and in larger multilateral bodies like UN, UNESCO and WIPO.
• Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) has 36 member including not only most advanced countries but also emerging countries like Mexico, Chile and Turkey.
• Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa are key partner countries of OECD and not members of OECD.

• Lala Lajpat Rai is a nationalist from Punjab.
• He was one of the leading members of the Radical group which was critical of the politics of petitions.
• He is a fierce nationalist and his remarkable and heroic role during the Vandemataram movement and Simon go-back agitation inspires every Indian.
• He was also an active member of the Arya Samaj.
• All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was founded in 1920 with Lala Lajpat Rai as its first President.
• In North America, the Ghadr was organised by Lala Hardayal, Ramchandra, Bhawan Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Barkatullah, Bhai Parmanand.

• In November 2019, SEBI had constituted a nine-member committee, under the chairmanship of Ramesh Srinivasan, Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, to review the policy pertaining to related party transactions (RPTs).

Highlights

• Any person or any entity, directly or indirectly (including with their relatives), holding 20 per cent or more of the holding in a listed entity should also be considered as related party,” says a new proposal by a SEBI panel.
• The committee has also proposed a change in the definition to cover any person or entity that directly or indirectly exercises control, irrespective of shareholding. The move is to cover parties that exercise influence on a company.
• The panel also recommends mandatory prior approval from the audit committee of the listed entity for transactions carried out between the listed entity or any of its subsidiaries, with a related party.

• The International Customs Day (ICD) was  on 26th January 2020 with the slogan “Customs fostering Sustainability for People, Prosperity and the Planet”.
• The World Customs Organization (WCO), established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC).
• It is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Customs administrations.
• WCO is the only international organization with competence in Customs matters and can rightly call itself the voice of the international Customs community.
• Today, the WCO represents 183 Customs administrations across the globe that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade.
• It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. It plays leading role in discussion, development, promotion and implementation of modern customs systems and procedures.

• On February 1, Finance Minister will rise in the Lok Sabha to present the Union Budget for the next financial year (2020-21).
• The Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the most fundamental building block of a Budget.
• The nominal GDP is nothing but the value of all goods and services produced in the country at current market prices.
• That’s because without knowing the absolute amount of nominal GDP for the current year, there is no way one can make the Budget for the next year.
• Targets for the fiscal deficit are set in terms of “percentage of nominal GDP”.
• In other words, if the nominal GDP is higher, the government can borrow more money (in absolute terms) from the market to fund its expenditure.
• It is true that real GDP is the variable that is used for comparing the economic growth of countries most of the time.
• The real GDP growth is derived by subtracting the inflation rate (that is the rate at which prices are increasing in an economy) from the nominal GDP growth rate.
• By doing this, real GDP growth provides a better picture of economic growth between countries that may have differing levels of inflation.
• But contrary to public perception, no one targets the real GDP growth rate.
• The real GDP is a derived number.
• The government, through its fiscal policy, targets nominal GDP and the RBI, through its monetary policy, targets inflation rate.
• The interplay of these two variables provides real GDP growth.
• Annual Financial Statement is a document presented to the Parliament every year under Article 112 of the Constitution.
• It shows estimated receipts and expenditures of the Government of India for the coming year in relation to revised estimates for the previous year as also the actual amounts for the year prior to it.

• Mumbai gets India's first and biggest 'Walk-through' aviary at the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo (Byculla Zoo).
• The aviary will house over 100 species of rare, exotic and common birds, living their natural environs.
• Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo also has India's first air-conditioned enclosure for Humboldt Penguins.
• The Zoo also boasts of 17 special enclosures for animals like bears, hyenas, leopards, foxes, Madras Pond Turtles, antelopes, etc.

• Recenlty, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet decided to abolish the state’s Legislative Council.
• After passing the resolution, the government will send it to the Governor for his approval and then send it to Parliament for ratification.
• About,

1. 1/3rd of members are elected by members of the Assembly (MLAs),
2. another 1/3rd by electorates consisting of members of municipalities, district boards and other local authorities in the state,
3. 1/12th  by an electorate consisting of teachers, and
4. 1/12th  by registered graduates.
5. The remaining members are nominated by the Governor from among those who have distinguished themselves in literature, science, art, the cooperative movement, and social service.

• The Legislative Councils are permanent Houses, and like Rajya Sabha, one-third of their members retire every 2 years.
• Apart from Andhra Pradesh (58 members), 5 other states have Legislative Councils, Bihar (58), Karnataka (75), Maharashtra (78), Telangana (40), Uttar Pradesh (100).
• Jammu and Kashmir too had a Council, until the state was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

• On January 27 this year, survivors of the Holocaust and international heads of state will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
• Auschwitz, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, located in southern Poland.
• During the WW-II, the government of Nazi Germany killed approximately 17 million people across Europe in half a dozen camps specifically designated for killings.
• Of these seven killing centers, the camp at Auschwitz, perhaps the most well known, was the largest in size.
• The Red Army of the Soviet Union entered Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, finding hundreds of sick, starving and exhausted prisoners, who had somehow survived.
• In 2005, the UN-designated January 27 as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
• The Auschwitz concentration camp, spread over a large area in the town of Oswiecim, Poland.
• There are 7 countries border Poland, these are Germany, Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Belarus.
• Russia borders Poland through Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast.