The Chief Minister's Office of Chhattisgarh on 5 June 2026 — World Environment Day — shared a statement from Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai lauding the state's performance under the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (One Tree in Mother's Name) campaign, calling it a major inspiration for the environment, rural life, and future generations. In his statement, CM Sai said: 'Better work has been done in Chhattisgarh under the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign. This achievement is a great inspiration for our environment, rural life, and the coming generations.'

Context

Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam — translated as 'One Tree in Mother's Name' — is a national afforestation campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 June 2024, on World Environment Day, to encourage citizens across India to plant trees as a tribute to their mothers. The campaign was designed to harness citizen participation in expanding India's green cover while attaching an emotional and cultural resonance to the act of tree planting. Chhattisgarh is among India's most forested states, with forests covering roughly 44 per cent of its geographical area. The state's dense forest tracts, substantial tribal population, and rural economy make it a natural fit for centrally driven afforestation programmes.

Policy Backdrop

The campaign sits within a broader federal push on climate action and green cover expansion that has gathered pace since 2024. Under the BJP-led government at the Centre and in Chhattisgarh — where CM Sai was sworn in after the party's victory in the December 2023 assembly elections — state-level implementation of national environmental schemes has been a visible policy priority. Afforestation efforts in Chhattisgarh typically intersect with compensatory afforestation funds managed under the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) framework, as well as state forest action plans that link tree planting to rural livelihood and tribal welfare goals. The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign adds a mass-participation layer to these institutional mechanisms.

Stakeholders and Impact

Rural communities and tribal populations in Chhattisgarh stand to benefit most directly from sustained afforestation. Trees planted near villages and on degraded land can improve soil health, groundwater recharge, and access to non-timber forest produce — all critical to livelihoods in the state's interior regions. CM Sai's framing of the campaign's results as an inspiration for 'coming generations' signals an intent to position the drive not merely as an ecological exercise but as a long-term investment in the state's environmental and social capital. The World Environment Day timing of the announcement amplifies its symbolic weight at both the state and national level.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether Chhattisgarh releases granular data — plantation targets met, survival rates of saplings, districts covered — to substantiate the progress highlighted by the Chief Minister. Integration of campaign outcomes with the state's forest action plans and CAMPA fund utilisation reports would provide a fuller picture of the drive's on-ground impact. Observers will also watch whether the state scales up its targets ahead of the next planting season, using the campaign's momentum to deepen rural and community forest cover.