A sandalwood sapling planted by a Chief Minister can carry more weight than it looks. Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Sunday, 2 August 2026 inaugurated the state-level Van Mahotsav at Doodhtlai Forest Range, Udaipur, kicking off a ₹33 crore Chandan Van (Sandalwood Forest) Project with a symbolic planting — and then walked Udaipur's busy market lanes, stopping to check on elderly residents and greet children.

A ₹33 crore bet on sandalwood in the Aravallis

The centrepiece of the day was the Chandan Van Pariyojana, a sandalwood plantation drive to be executed within the Doodhtlai Forest Range. Sandalwood is among India's most commercially and ecologically valuable tree species, and a dedicated state-level project of this scale signals Rajasthan's intent to diversify its forest cover beyond conventional species. The CM also launched a drone seeding process at the site and inspected the forest area through binoculars from a watch tower — a nod to the government's push to blend technology with traditional forestry.

Before the main ceremony, Sharma toured an exhibition on sandalwood trees, forest produce, and the state's Panch Gaurav identity pillars.

₹6 crore to 600 self-help groups across 13 districts

The event was not only about trees. Sharma handed over symbolic cheques worth a combined ₹6 crore as livelihood incentive grants to 600 self-help groups (SHGs) spread across 13 districts, under the Rajasthan Forestry and Biodiversity Project. The grants are designed to tie local communities — particularly women in SHGs — directly to the health of their surrounding forests, giving them a financial stake in conservation outcomes.

'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' and Mission Hariyalo Rajasthan

From the dais, Sharma urged every resident of Rajasthan to plant as many saplings as possible this monsoon season under the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' (One Tree in Mother's Name) campaign — a nationally-driven plantation drive — and to contribute actively to Mission Hariyalo Rajasthan, the state's flagship afforestation programme. The monsoon window is critical: survival rates of newly planted saplings are highest during the July–September wet season, making the timing of the Van Mahotsav deliberate.

After the formal programme, the Chief Minister's unscripted walk through Udaipur's market — pausing for conversations with senior citizens and ruffling children's hair — added a distinctly human frame to what was otherwise a policy-heavy afternoon.

Van Mahotsav itself is no new invention: the annual tree-planting festival was launched nationally in 1950 by K.M. Munshi, and Rajasthan has held state-level editions periodically ever since. What changes each cycle is the ambition — and a ₹33 crore sandalwood corridor, backed by drone seeding and SHG livelihood grants, marks a clear step up in that ambition.

The real test arrives in the months ahead: whether the saplings planted today — by machine, by hand, and by the Chief Minister himself — survive long enough to become the forest Rajasthan is promising its people.