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CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYST WEEK-2 (JANUARY, 2020) CONTENTS Section - A: MAINS CURRENT AFFAIRS Area of GS Topics in News Page No. ECONOMY Mobilization of Resources 06 ENVIRONMENT & The nominal GDP worry (lowest since 1975-76) 09 ECOLOGY What carbon numbers mean for climate target 11 GOVERNANCE Electoral Reforms 13 INTERNATIONAL Changing contours of India’s Soft Power Diplomacy 17 RELATIONS POLITY Iran abandons the 2015 nuclear deal 19 Section - B: PRELIMS CURRENT AFFAIRS Area of GS Topics in News Page No. First Silk Processing Plant in Gujarat 23 ECONOMY Northeast Gas Grid Project 24 2636 EV Charging Stations sanctioned under FAME-II 26 Asia Pacifi c Drosophila Research Conference 27 Bhitarkanika census fi nds an increase of 15 saltwater 28 crocodiles from last year Delhi gets its fi rst smog tower: What is it and how does ENVIRONMENT & 29 ECOLOGY it work? India Climate Report 2019 30 MECOS 3: Global Marine Ecosystem Meet in Kochi 31 Kerala to curb alien plants’ growth in NBR 32 KVIC opened fi rst silk processing plant in Gujarat to GEOGRAPHY 34 boost production of signature Patola Saree National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) 35 GOVERNANCE SC on Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 36 Bibi Ka Maqbara 37 HISTORY What is the historical signifi cance of Nankana Sahib in 38 Pakistan? Cyber Safe Women 39 POLITY Tulu Language 41 Centralised Access Control System (CACS) &Training 42 SCIENCE & Module of e-BCAS TECHNOLOGY Project NETRA 43 ********** SECTION: A (MAINS) CURRENT AFFAIRS CURRENT AFFAIRS WEEKLY WEEK - 2 (JANUARY, 2020) MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES CONTEXT Government of India has taken steps in the form of disinvestment, relaxing FDI norms, bringing new tax laws and rules and borrowings to mobilize resources for the development of the country. Recently, passenger fares in Railways were hiked on the recommendation of Bibek Debroy committee for mobilisation of resources for major railway projects and restructuring of railway ministry and railway board. BACKGROUND India, though a country with suffi cient reserves, due to policy bottlenecks, is importing coal and Resource Mobilization is the identifi cation, iron. This is increasing our Current Account organization and utilization of the available Defi cit. material resources within the country (including India is also facing technological obstacles to fi nancial resources) to further its objectives of exploit some of its the natural resources. development missions and plans. India is also suffering from the domestic factors Every country has economic resources within its like political factors, resistance from tribal people territory known as domestic resources. But often to development and exploitation of resources, they might not be available for collective use. The inter-state confl icts, disputes with neighboring percentage of resources used when compared countries, etc. to the potential is often very low. For a country to grow, identifi cation and mobilization of its Mobilization of Human Resources resources is necessary. It should be available for easy use and for central and state level planning. Organizing human potential for ready use is necessary • Types of Resources of India: There are two for growth of India. In-fact, as country of 125 crore types of resources: people, India now is eyeing more on its human resource potential. The demographic dividend is also ! Natural Resources – Coal, Petroleum, Natural in favour of India. Gas, Water, Spectrum etc. Mobilization of human resources highlights the ! Human Resources – The labour force and need to empower human resources. intellectual capacity of a nation. Weaker sections like women, children, SC, ST, OBC etc should be brought into mainstream. ANALYSIS There should be right employment opportunities for human resources, and when there is lack Why is Resource Mobilization so of skill the job demands, there should be skill Important? development programs. It is helpful in maintaining Organizational Utilize the demographic dividend. Sustainability. India is currently levering on its technologists – It keeps a check and guarantees continuation of the engineers, doctors and scientists. organization’s (government or non-government) service provision. Mobilization of Financial Resources It paves the way for improvement of the available If a country needs to grow, more goods and services and products. services should be produced. The production can It supports the expansion of the organization’s be done by government sector, private sector or in products and services. PPP mode. But for that, the economic resources of a country should be mobilised. It is crucial to any organizations existence, as any organization, be it in the public sector or private In India, despite having good savings rate, sector, must continually generate new business to domestic investment is less. Indians are investing maintain a perpetual presence. in less productive assets like gold and consumer durable. If India needs to grow, there should be The proper utilization of these resources leads more investments in agriculture, manufacturing or to generation of economic resources –savings, services. investment capital, tax, etc. In India, tax collected is very less. The tax base has Mobilization of Natural Resources to be widened. www.iasscore.in 7 CURRENT AFFAIRS WEEK - 2 (JANUARY, 2020) WEEKLY Four factors of production- land, labour, capital and expenditure. organization – should come together. There should be an atmosphere for growth and investment. Lack of National and sub-regional development banks with rural Organizations do not “spontaneously emerge” but require the mobilization of resources. penetration: ! In modern capitalistic society, these resources are Though India is enjoying the presence of big national and international banks but the more “free fl owing” and are easier to mobilize than fi nancial inclusion at rural level has been a in more traditional societies. Many factors impact myth. the development of the organization. ! Moreover, 2008 fi nancial crisis brought Initial Resource Mix: There are various resource national development banks back onto the needs in a starting organization (technology, labor, policy agenda, as countries sought sources capital, organizational structure, societal support, of long-term fi nancing to stimulate economic legitimacy, etc.). But the right mix of resources is recoveries, and there is greater international not always available. acceptance of such banks. However, poorer The most important resource of an organization is and smaller developing countries may face its people. greater obstacles in setting up such banks, due More savings and more productive investment. to funding and technical constraints. How does public and Private sector mobilize Illicit fi nancial fl ows from developing domestic resources? countries: ! Illicit fi nancial fl ows involve resources that have Public sector mobilises resources in two ways: been obtained, transferred or used illegally or ! Taxation illicitly. ! Public revenue generation for investment in ! A common concern with regard to illicit social services and infrastructure. fi nancial fl ows from developing countries is the Private sector mobilises resources in following identifi cation of fl ows considered potentially ways: damaging to economic development. ! ! The private sector mobilizes the savings In developing economies, vital development resources are being lost because of the ease with of households and fi rms through which capital fl ight can fl ourish in the context fi nancial intermediaries, which allocate of a burgeoning yet opaque international these resources to investment in productive fi nancial system [and] closely related to activities. this is the idea that illicit capital fl ows from Issues with mobilisation of resources developing economies are indicative of deeper structural problems of political governance in Issues with mobilisation of resources include all those these countries. issues and problems highlighted in – mobilization ! Concerns over illicit fi nancial fl ows therefore of natural resources, human resources and fi nancial refl ect a range of relevant policy concerns, yet resources. Some of them are discussed here: underlying analytical frameworks and empirical Limited Domestic public resources: methodologies continue to be the subject of debate. Illicit fi nancial fl ows need not be illegal ! It makes least developed countries (LDCs) if relevant legal frameworks do not adequately highly dependent on external resources refl ect wider public social and economic which limit their policy space and create some interests or do not cover such fl ows. dependency. ! Their economic vulnerability is further International tax cooperation: exacerbated by indebtedness. ! The combating of illicit fi nancial fl ows has been a core driver of international tax cooperation in Weak Domestic taxation and fi scal recent years. policies: ! In general, international tax cooperation ! The fi scal discipline is hardly seen in developing assumes particular importance in a world countries. They often resort to defi cit fi nancing