The Chief Minister's Office of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, June 6, 2026, announced the launch of the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign for 2026-27, calling on citizens to participate in this tree-planting initiative dedicated to mothers as an act of nature conservation. The post, shared on the official CMO handle, declared: 'एक पेड़ मां के नाम अभियान 2026-27 की शुरुआत' ('The launch of the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign 2026-27'), urging the public to 'ensure their contribution in this sacred work of nature conservation.'

Context

Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam — literally 'One Tree in the Name of Mother' — is a public afforestation initiative that encourages citizens to plant saplings as a tribute to their mothers, weaving cultural sentiment into an environmental message. The campaign has been run across Indian states as a way to broaden grassroots participation in plantation drives beyond institutional targets. Chhattisgarh's announcement of the 2026-27 edition marks the continuation of this recurring effort.

Policy Backdrop

India has maintained a tradition of seasonal afforestation campaigns since Van Mahotsav was instituted in 1950, with state forest departments conducting annual plantation drives aligned to the monsoon calendar. These drives support the national target of bringing forest and tree cover to 33 percent of the country's geographical area, a goal embedded in the National Forest Policy and reinforced by India's commitments under international climate frameworks. Chhattisgarh is among India's more forested states, and its forest department routinely runs large-scale plantation programmes during the June-to-September monsoon season.

Stakeholders and Impact

The campaign's primary audience is Chhattisgarh's general public, who are invited to plant and dedicate a sapling to their mothers, creating a personal stake in the survival of the tree. The state's forest department is the principal implementing body, coordinating sapling distribution and tracking plantation sites. By anchoring the environmental ask in a familial and cultural gesture, the campaign aims to improve both participation rates and long-term sapling care by individual households and communities.

What's Next

With the monsoon season approaching, the campaign is timed to take advantage of optimal planting conditions across Chhattisgarh. Observers will watch for reported participation figures, district-level targets, and whether this cycle is integrated with any broader state afforestation calendar or central government green-cover schemes. The longevity and measurable impact of such campaigns increasingly depend on systematic sapling survival monitoring — a metric that state governments are under growing pressure to publish as climate accountability rises on the policy agenda.