Current Affairs – 4/12/2019
Lok Sabha passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Bill, 2019.
About
The Bill provides for recognising the property rights of residents of certain unauthorised colonies in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Bill provides that the central government may regularise transactions of immovable properties held by residents of certain unauthorised colonies, through notification.
The Bill defines a resident as a person with physical possession of property on the basis of a registered sale deed or certain other documents. The definition includes legal heirs of residents but does not include any tenant, licensee, or persons permitted to use the property.
An unauthorised colony is defined as a colony or development comprising of an adjoining area, where no permission has been obtained for the approval of layout or building plans. Further, the Delhi Development Authority must have had notified the colony for regularisation.
The residents will be required to pay certain charges to obtain such ownership. These charges may be notified by the central government.
Significance
The bill provides for a legal framework to grant ownership rights to nearly 40 lakh people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi.
The bill will allow registration of properties and provide certain relief to the residents of 1731 unauthorised colonies in the city from registration charges and stamp duty.
A new study by researchers at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), antibiotic prescription rate high in private sector
About
The study is the first ever estimate of outpatient antibiotic prescription rates and patterns in the private sector.
It has been published this in PLOS One titled — “Outpatient antibiotic prescription rate and pattern in the private sector in India”.
The authors used the 12-month period (May 2013-April 2014) medical audit data set.
Key highlights of the report
The private sector clocked high levels of antibiotic prescription rates (412 per 1,000 persons per year).
The highest rate was seen among children aged 0–4 years (636 per 1,000 persons) and the lowest in the age group 10–19 years (280 per 1,000 persons).
Percentage of prescriptions for wide-spectrum antibiotics like cephalosporins and quinolones (38.2% and 16.3%) was significantly higher than the U.S. (14.0% and 12.7%) and Greece (32.9% and 0.5%).
India is considered to be one of the top users of antibiotics and there is a growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.
Per capita antibiotic consumption in the retail sector has increased by around 22% in five years from 2012 to 2016.
Of the 519 million antibiotic prescriptions, the majority were dispensed for the diseases of the respiratory system (55%).
World AIDS Day 2019 is being observed on the 1st of December with this year theme of “Communities make the difference.”
About
World AIDS Day is observed on the 1st of December, every year, since 1988. World AIDS Day was the first global health day to be celebrated.
AIDS is the abbreviation for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. It is a chronic illness, which can also be potentially life-threatening. The disease is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV which affects the human immune system.
According to the WHO, at the end of 2018, about 37.9 million people were living with HIV. Data suggests that about 75 million people have been infected with the virus until now, out of which 32 million lives have been lost because of HIV.
