Union Home Minister Amit Shah participated in a mass tree-plantation drive at the Sarkhej ward of Gandhinagar's Vejalpur constituency, Gujarat, on Sunday, 12 July 2026, planting saplings as part of the Saamuuhik Vriksharopan (collective tree-plantation) campaign under the national #Ek_Ped_Maa_Ke_Naam initiative.

Context

Shah posted in a mix of Hindi and Gujarati, writing: 'Vriksharopan Viksit Bharat 2047na harit sankalpno majboot paayo chhe' — 'Tree plantation is the strong foundation of the green resolve of Viksit Bharat 2047.' He added that expanding Green Intelligence alongside Artificial Intelligence, and green infrastructure alongside digital infrastructure, is the only path to sustainable and balanced development.

The event took place in Sarkhej ward, a municipal zone within Ahmedabad's metropolitan fringe that borders Gandhinagar district and has been the site of recurring urban afforestation drives by both state and central leaders.

Policy Backdrop

The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (One Tree in Mother's Name) campaign was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on World Environment Day 2024, calling on citizens across India to plant and dedicate a tree to their mothers. The campaign has since been adopted by central ministers, state governments, and municipal bodies as a recurring mobilisation framework for urban and rural greening.

Viksit Bharat 2047 — India's official long-term development vision targeting developed-nation status by the centenary of independence — contains explicit chapters on sustainable and green growth, positioning environmental targets alongside economic and technological modernisation goals. Shah's remarks on Sunday directly invoke this framework, pairing AI-driven development with what he termed 'Green Intelligence.'

Urban forestry efforts are also supported through the central Nagar Van Yojana, which funds city forests and green corridors in municipalities across the country, with Gujarat among the participating states.

Stakeholders and Impact

The immediate beneficiaries of plantation drives in Sarkhej ward are urban residents of the Vejalpur Vidhan Sabha constituency, who gain green cover, improved air quality, and reduced urban heat-island effect. Gujarat municipal bodies are responsible for the upkeep and survival monitoring of planted saplings.

Shah's framing of 'Green Intelligence' alongside AI signals a policy direction that could see technology-enabled tools — such as satellite-based or sensor-driven tree-survival monitoring — integrated into municipal forestry budgets. Successive BJP-led administrations at the Centre and in Gujarat have promoted high-visibility plantation drives that combine citizen participation with technology-linked accountability mechanisms.

What's Next

Attention will turn to whether Gujarat's municipal corporations announce concrete urban forestry targets aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047 milestones, and whether AI-based tree-survival monitoring tools are incorporated into future plantation campaigns. The Nagar Van Yojana's progress in Gujarat will serve as a practical measure of how the 'green infrastructure' ambition Shah articulated translates into on-ground outcomes.