NEWS 15-03-2020. NEWS FOR 16-MAR (MONDAY) 1. Parliament passed the Direct Tax Vivad Se Viswas Bill, 2020. The bill aims to reduce the number of litigations that are associated with direct tax payments. The Direct Tax Vivad Se Viswas concept was introduced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman during the Union Budget 2020-21. 2. The WHO has said that Europe is now the epicenter for the global coronavirus pandemic. 3. Union Cabinet has approved a proposal for the construction of 780 km of green highways at a cost of 7,660 crore rupees. It will improve the connectivity between the rural & the urban areas.4. The Mohan Bagan Athletic Club and the Athletico the Kolkata football club have won the two major championships of Indian Football which are I-Leauge and ISL respectively. 5. Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya has successfully scaled Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain peak in Australia. What is Sir Creek? Sir Creek is a 96-km long water strip in the marshlands of Rann of Kutch. It was earlier called Ban Ganga. Later it was named after Sir Creek, a British representative to India. The Creek opens into Arabian Sea. What is Sir Creek issue? The issue between India and Pakistan over Sir Creek is the interpretation of boundary between Sindh and Kutch. The region was under the jurisdiction of Bombay Presidency during British rule. After independence, Kutch came under India and Sindh under Pakistan. But Pakistan claims entire creek as per the agreement signed between Rao Maharaj of Kutch and Government of Sindh in 1914. India’s claims : India does not agree to the claims of Pakistan as when the issue arose, in 1908, the entire region of the Creek was under Bombay Presidency. India also cited an International Maritime Law, the Thalweg Doctrine to prove its point. Thalweg Doctrine -The Doctrine states that river boundaries between two states or countries shall be divided in the middle of the water body, if the body is navigable through out the year. < < Back