Top 5 Current Affairs: 9 December 2017

National Trachoma Survey Report 2014-17 released: India declared free from Trachoma

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda on 8 December 2017 released the National Trachoma Survey Report 2014-17.

While releasing the report, the Ministry declared that India is now free from ‘Infective Trachoma’, a contagious bacterial infection of the eye. With this, India met the goal of trachoma elimination as specified by the WHO under its GET2020 program.

The survey findings indicate that the active trachoma infection has been eliminated among children in all the survey districts with overall prevalence of only 0.7 per cent.

This is much below the elimination criteria of infective trachoma as defined by the WHO. As per WHO, Trachoma is considered eliminated if the prevalence of active infection among children below 10 years is less than 5 per cent.

International Anti-Corruption Day 2017 observed globally

The International Anti-Corruption Day was observed across the globe on 9 December 2017 with the theme 'United against corruption for development, peace and security'.

This year United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have developed a joint global campaign, focusing on how corruption affects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development.

The 2017 joint international campaign focuses on corruption as one of the biggest impediments to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Now, SC/STs in Delhi can apply for Employment Loan through mobile app

The Delhi Government on  9 November 2017 launched a mobile application through which Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes, minorities, and handicapped persons can apply for employment loans.

The app will help applicants to apply for the loan with Delhi SC/ST/OBC/Minorities and Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (DSFDC) without any hassle.

The Government also said that the inefficient officers, who do not process the loans on time, will be forced to take compulsory retirement.

Supreme Court agrees to examine adultery provision in IPC

The Supreme Court of India has decided to look into whether the Indian Penal Code (IPC) provision of adultery, which treats only the man as an offender and the married woman as a ‘victim,’ is patronising and commodifies women.

Section 497 of IPC states that “Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery and shall be punished.”

It was argued that this penal section was framed at a time when women were considered as a man’s property. Therefore, the court decided to inspect the aspects of the provision.

International Civil Aviation Day observed globally

International Civil Aviation Day was observed on 7 December 2017 with the theme ‘Working Together to Ensure No Country is Left Behind’.

The main aim of the day is to help generate and reinforce worldwide awareness of the importance of international civil aviation to the social and economic development of States and of the unique role of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in helping States to cooperate and realize a truly global rapid transit network at the service of all mankind.

The current theme was selected by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) council for a period of four years from 2015 to 2018.