Current Affairs 1st July 2017

Current Affairs 1st July 2017 - Important Points

• 5.6 million children at risk of waterborne diseases rainy season hits communities affected by - Lake Chad crisis
• PAN card won't be invalid if not linked with Aadhaar by 1st July stated by - IT Department
• Web application for free legal services to prisoners launched by - NALSA
• Carved skulls fragments discovered at a Stone Age temple in - Turkey
• Housing Scheme 2017 with 13000 flats launched by - DDA

Current Affairs 1st July 2017 - Details

5.6 million children at risk of waterborne diseases rainy season hits communities affected by - Lake Chad crisis

The UNICEF warned in June 2017 that more than 5.6 million children are at higher risk of waterborne diseases as the rainy season begins in conflict-affected areas of countries around Lake Chad.
Unhygiene water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene conditions can lead to cholera outbreaks and to Hepatitis E which is a deadly disease for pregnant women and their babies, while standing water pools can attract malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Muddy roads and flooding in the region can severely limit humanitarian access to remote areas for several weeks, just as the needs of children and families are sharply on the rise because of heightened insecurity across the region.

More about Lake Chad Crisis

• Lake Chad is a large, shallow and endorheic lake in Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries.
• Lake Chad is very important natural source economically as it provides water to more than 68 million people living in the four countries (Niger, Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria) surrounding it.
• More than 2.3 million people across four countries are completely displaced due to violence from Boko Haram militants who have kidnapped, raped, plundered and terrorized their way across the Northern Nigerian State of Borno and into neighboring regions.
• Many of the displaced people live with no access health related services, to food, or even basic amenities like toilets.
• According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the soaring food insecurity has left 7.1 million people with no access to food.
• As a result 515000 suffering from severe malnutrition.

PAN card won't be invalid if not linked with Aadhaar by 1st July stated by - IT Department

The Income Tax (IT) Department clarified on 30th June 2017 that PAN-Aadhaar linking will become mandatory from 1st July 2017, however, it is not mandatory to link before 1st July.

If one is not able to link Aadhaar and PAN before 1st July, then the PAN will not become invalid automatically. Rather, after 1st July 2017, the linking will become mandatory and the Union Government will be declaring a date after which the PAN which is not linked to Aadhaar will become invalid.

Process to link PAN

• IT Department in May 2017 made it easier for taxpayers to link their PAN with Aadhaar by launching an e-facility:You can link Aadhar with PAN on the Income Tax website: You can visit www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and click on the link on 'Link Aadhaar'.
• Provide the Details: PAN Number, Aadhaar number and enter name exactly as given in Aadhaar Card and submit it.

Web application for free legal services to prisoners launched by - NALSA

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) launched a web application for free legal services to prisoners and the Legal Services Management System on 29th June 2017.
NALSA is entrusted with the responsibility to provide legal aid inter-alia to all the persons in custody.
Justice Dipak Misra, Judge at Supreme Court of India and Executive Chairman of NALSA launched this application.

Key highlights of the web application

• The State Legal Services Authorities and District Legal Services Authorities can feed the data for each individual prison inmate in the jails within their jurisdiction through this web application, in regard to their being represented through a counsel in the court.
• All the above information can be generated State wise, District wise and also with respect to each jail.
• The reports can also be generated by the period of imprisonment, that will in turn generate information with regard to prisoners eligible for bail under Section 436-A Cr.P.C.
• It will be universally useful for all the relevant authorities to monitor the legal aid grant provided to the prisoners in order to ensure that no prisoner goes unrepresented in the court.
• It will help in making the legal services system more transparent.

Carved skulls fragments discovered at a Stone Age temple in - Turkey

Unprecedented carved skulls have been discovered by a group of archaeologists at a Stone Age temple, called Gobekli Tepe, in Turkey. The deeply chiselled human craniums are the first of their kind in the area.
Three Neolithic skull fragments that were discovered show evidence of a unique type of post-mortem skull modification at the given site. Archaeologists believe that this finding is extremely important and means that this society, like many others in this part of the world at the time, was a skull cult that revered the human skull after death. The research was published on 28th June 2017 in the journal Science Advances.

Housing Scheme 2017 with 13000 flats launched by - DDA

The Delhi Development Authority's much-awaited new housing scheme that includes construction and delivery of around 13000 houses was launched on 30th June 2017.
The scheme has been linked with the Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna, which means that people fulfilling the criteria will get a subsidy in the interest while taking a bank loan.
Important Details
There are both online and offline modes to apply for interested candidates.
The first step involves collection of a brochure costing between Rs 150- 200 from the DDA sales counter located at Vikas Sadan in New Delhi.
The forms and brochures will be available at the select bank branches in Delhi from 30th June to 9th August.
Flats will be alloted through lottery option where winners can further sell off their property without any restrictions from DDA.