Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday, 12 July called on nearly 17,000 Vriksh Mitras — tree-planting volunteers drawn from across India — to transform environment protection into a structured national mass movement. Speaking at the Environment Protection Resolve Programme and Vriksh Mitra Samvad at Pusa Complex, New Delhi, Chouhan outlined a detailed roadmap to formalise and scale the campaign.

A Five-Tier Organisational Structure

Chouhan proposed establishing Vriksh Mitra Parivar committees at the national, state, district, block, and village levels, with the overarching network to be formally registered. He also called for identifying fixed plantation sites within panchayats and urban local bodies. Under the proposal, every auspicious occasion and government scheme — including Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and Lakhpati Didi Yojana — would commence only after planting a tree at the designated site.

Trees at Every Milestone

The minister urged every family to plant a tree on personal milestones such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries, the birth of children, and in memory of parents — converting these moments into what he termed 'Tree Festivals'. The intent, he said, is to gradually embed tree-planting as a household tradition rather than a one-off gesture.

The Hariyali Amavasya Deadline

Each Vriksh Mitra has been asked to plant at least one tree per year and recruit at least five new participants into the campaign. Crucially, every such pledge is to be announced publicly through a social media post, creating a verifiable chain of commitment. Chouhan set 12 August (Hariyali Amavasya) as the target date by which a strong national network should be in place — giving the movement a concrete, near-term deadline.

The Urgency Behind the Push

Chouhan framed the initiative not merely as an environmental cause but as a crisis of human survival. Citing global developments and scientific evidence, he warned that rising sea levels, increasing heat, polluted air, deteriorating water quality, and rapidly disappearing biodiversity pose direct threats to future generations. He cautioned that without concrete action now, projections for 2050 and beyond could be deeply alarming.

What Comes Next

The roadmap draws on suggestions gathered directly from Vriksh Mitras through dialogue, lending it a consultative legitimacy. With formal registration of the Vriksh Mitra Parivar structure on the agenda and a network-building deadline of 12 August, the campaign is moving from intent to institutional form. Whether the five-tier structure translates into measurable plantation outcomes will be the real test of the initiative's ambition.