Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 09 March 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Banks seek travel ban on Vijay Mallya

The Supreme Court agreed to urgently hear a plea by a consortium of banks, led by SBI, for a restraint order to prevent liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who owes them over Rs. 9,000 crore, from the leaving the country.
A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, ordered that the case be listed for hearing on March 9 after Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi sought an urgent audience. The action followed a Karnataka HC decision refusing to grant them an ex-parte interim order against Mr. Mallya, the U.K.-based Diageo Plc and United Spirits Limited.
The banks told the Supreme Court that the threat to their financial interests were so immediate and grave that the High Court should have passed the interim order without first hearing the embattled industrialist and others, including the debtor firm Kingfisher Airlines Limited.
The banks want the Supreme Court to pass an interim order to freeze Mr. Mallya’s passport or direct him not to leave the jurisdiction of this country without the court’s permission.
The banks had moved the DRT in the backdrop of Mr. Mallya’s recent resignation from the chairmanship of United Spirits. Diageo Plc, the current owner of the liquor company, has agreed to pay Mr. Mallya $75 million (roughly Rs 515 crore) in severance package.

SC says government should take every measure to provide voting right to soldiers

The Supreme Court stood up for the constitutional right of soldiers to vote, noting that they risked their lives to protect the borders, from the icy Siachen glacier to the remote and harsh terrains of Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.
The Centre should pull all stops to ensure that the soldiers’ voices are heard loud and clear during election results, the court said.
SC directed the Centre to finalise a fool-proof mechanism to ensure that their postal ballots reached authorities in time so that these soldier do not feel left out in the country’s democratic process.

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Plan to reduce refugee crisis tentatively agreed

EU and Turkish leaders sought to turn into a lasting accord a plan on easing Europe’s refugee crisis hailed as a game-changer by Ankara and Brussels but swiftly criticised by the UN’s refugee chief.
The day after agreeing the tentative plan following late night talks in Brussels, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to discuss how it could work in a crucial meeting with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
The EU is wooing Turkey — used by over one million migrants in the last year as a springboard for reaching the bloc — as the key player in helping ease Europe’s worst migrant crisis since World War II.
A key pillar of the mooted deal was the unexpected offer by Ankara to take back every irregular migrant that crosses from Turkey to the islands of EU member Greece.
In return, the EU would then resettle one Syrian living in Turkey on its territory for every Syrian migrant it takes back from Greece.
The hope is that the plan will eliminate incentives for migrants to come to Greece by boat, but it ran into swift opposition from the head of the UN refugee agency Filippo Grandi.
Turkey and Greece signed a protocol over the readmission of migrants in 2002 but it has rarely been activated and its use could transform the refugee crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who has been the strongest proponent of a deal with Turkey — gave cautious support. “It is a breakthrough if it becomes reality,” she told reporters.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker also called the plan a “real game changer,” insisting that it was “legally feasible.”
Turkey is the main launching point migrants making the dangerous crossing over the Aegean Sea to the Greek islands. It hosts 2.7 million refugees from the five-year civil war in neighbouring Syria, more than any other country.
For Turkey, perhaps the biggest gain was the European Union’s agreement to bring forward to June visa-free travel to the bloc’s Schengen passport-free area for Turkey’s 75 million people, provided that Ankara honours its promises.

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:: Business and ECONOMY ::

Banks looking to change strategy to keep talented employees

State-run lenders like Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank are planning to offer stock options to staff in a bid to retain top talent.
This assumes significance in the backdrop of the imminent entry of 21 new niche banks which have been granted licences by the RBI to begin operations, as well as the prospect of a clutch of mid-management professionals reaching retirement age soon.
The lender, which is planning to increase the employee strength to 21,500 by March 31, 2019 from the 15,500 at present, is not only working out a scheme for career progression but also mulling an employee stock option plan (ESOP) to incentivise them.
The board had already approved the ESOP. Now, the bank will write to the government for its approval.
State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, had floated the idea of ESOP for its employees some time ago. However, the proposal is still awaiting government’s approval.
Most banks plan to offer stock options to their employees in the rank of assistant general manager and above.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said recently that the government was actively discussing the proposal for Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for public sector bank employees.
Public sector banks are facing headwinds on the human resources front as many mid-management officers are retiring over the next five years, prompting the central bank to term it a ‘retirement decade.’
In addition, the 21 new banks, which have received differentiated licences from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will try to poach employees from existing banks.
In August-September last year, RBI has granted licences to 11 payment banks and 10 small finance banks to start operations.
While these banks were given 18 months’ time to roll out services, most of these entities are expected to start operations in 2016.
At a lower level, public sector institutions pay better than their counterparts. But while progressively going up, there is a gap that really becomes unmanageable.

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:: Sports ::

BCCI says despite problems India-Pak match will happen

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said the India-Pakistan World Twenty20 Cricket match at Dharamsala will be held as per schedule (on March 19) and that “the State government was on board.”
After an hour-long meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at North Block, Tournament Director M.V. Sridhar said the Himachal Pradesh government was on board for the cricket match.
The statement assumes significance as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had opposed the match and even told a visiting Pakistani team a day ago that the State government would not provide any security to the cricket team.