Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday, June 5, 2026 — World Environment Day — called upon the youth of the state to plant trees under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationwide afforestation campaign 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' (One Tree in the Name of Mother), urging them to join what he described as a 'maha-abhiyan' (grand campaign) for environmental protection.

Context

Posting in Hindi on June 5, 2026, CM Saini wrote: 'मैं प्रदेश के युवाओं से आह्वान करता हूँ कि प्रधानमंत्री जी द्वारा शुरू किए गए पर्यावरण संरक्षण के महाअभियान से जुड़ते हुए "एक पेड़ माँ के नाम" अवश्य लगाएँ।' In English: 'I appeal to the youth of the state to definitely plant a tree under the grand environmental protection campaign started by the Prime Minister — 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam'.' The appeal was made on World Environment Day, the globally observed annual event dedicated to raising awareness on ecological protection.

Policy Backdrop

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' campaign on World Environment Day 2024 as a public-participation-driven afforestation drive, encouraging every citizen to plant a tree as a tribute to their mother. The initiative was conceived as a mass movement to supplement India's domestic and international climate commitments, including targets under the Paris Agreement. By anchoring the emotional act of planting to a personal bond — the mother — the campaign sought to deepen individual ownership of environmental action.

BJP-governed states have consistently aligned their state-level messaging and plantation activities with this central initiative, and Haryana has participated in successive rounds of the drive since its launch.

Stakeholders and Impact

The appeal is directed specifically at Haryana's youth population, positioning young citizens as the primary agents of the state's environmental agenda. Large-scale youth participation in tree-plantation drives can contribute meaningfully to green cover targets, particularly in a state where rapid urbanisation and agricultural land use have historically constrained forest expansion.

Broader citizen participation also supports India's nationally determined contributions under climate frameworks, where afforestation forms a key pillar of the country's carbon-sink strategy. District-level coordination and follow-up on sapling survival rates remain critical to translating such appeals into measurable ecological outcomes.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether the Haryana government rolls out coordinated district-level plantation events tied to the national drive, and to official tallies of saplings planted across the state. Sustained monitoring of sapling survival — beyond the plantation event itself — will determine the campaign's long-term environmental impact. CM Saini's appeal on World Environment Day signals that the state intends to keep the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' campaign active as a recurring civic mobilisation, not a one-time exercise.