DAANVEER Initiative | ILO Convention No. 193 | Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026 | Cauvery River | PM CARES Fund 

DAANVEER Initiative

Polity 

In News

• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj launched the DAANVEER initiative to digitize Gram Panchayats.

DAANVEER

• It is a digital citizen-participation platform launched by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in July 2026. 
• Tagline – Give Back to Your Village.
• Objective – it enables citizens and the Indian diaspora to voluntarily fund and give pre-approved digital infrastructure packages directly to rural Gram Panchayats.

Key Points 

• Mechanism: Donors use the Meri Panchayat app to buy standardized IT hardware bundles, ensuring no direct cash handling and 100% trace-to-installation transparency.
• Core Objective: Bridges the rural digital divide by equipping local panchayats with necessary computing infrastructure.
• Governance Alignment: Integrates with digital local-body frameworks like e-GramSwaraj to support decentralised governance under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act.

ILO Convention No. 193

International

Context

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) officially adopted Convention No. 193, titled “Decent Work in the Platform Economy,” on June 12, 2026. 
• This landmark agreement represents the world’s first legally binding international treaty specifically designed to protect app-based gig and platform workers worldwide.

About

• Rights: Guarantees fair pay, social security, health protections, and algorithmic transparency.
• Classification: Mandates employment status based on actual work conditions, not platform definitions.
• India’s Stance: The government abstained to prioritize its own Code on Social Security (2020) framework.

International Labour Organisation (ILO)

• • It is a specialised agency of the United Nations.
  • It was established in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League of Nations, and became the first affiliated specialised agency of the United Nations in 1946.
  • Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland.

• India is a founder member of the ILO.

• Aim: To promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.

Flagship Reports of ILO:

1. Global Wage Report; 
2. World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO);
3. World Social Protection Report;
4. World of Work Report

Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026

Environment

Context

• Yale University released the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2026, ranking India 176th out of 177 countries. 

Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

• Published by – It is a biennial global index developed by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy in collaboration with the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University.
• Objective – It measures how effectively countries protect environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

Key Findings (EPI 2026)

• Estonia is the top ranked country with 74.79.

Findings Related to India (2026)

• India is 176th out of 177 countries with a score of 22.46.

• Earlier, India ranked 141st in 2016, 177th in 2018, 168th in 2020, 180th in 2022 and 176th in 2024.

Cauvery River

Geography

Context

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay formalised this request by writing an official letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 
• He urged the Union government to deny statutory or administrative clearances for Karnataka’s Mekedatu balancing reservoir project unless it strictly aligns with the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) final award and the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment

Cauvery River

• The Cauvery is an inter-State river in southern India and one of the major east-flowing peninsular rivers that drains into the Bay of Bengal. 
• It originates at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri Hills of the Western Ghats in Kodagu (Coorg) district, Karnataka. 
• The Cauvery basin extends across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, covering an area of about 81,155 sq. km. 
• The river has a total length of about 800 km. 

Major Tributaries 

• Left-bank tributaries: Harangi, Hemavati, Shimsha and Arkavati. 
• Right-bank tributaries: Lakshmantirtha, Kabbani, Suvarnavati, Bhavani, Noyil and Amaravati.

PM CARES Fund 

Polity

In News

• The PM CARES Fund has not made public any audited financial statements since its last disclosure for Financial Year 2022-23.

Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund vs Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund