Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav participated in a tree plantation event at Apex Bank premises, Bhopal, on World Environment Day, 5 June 2026, planting a mango sapling under the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 Abhiyan (Plant a Tree in Your Mother's Name 2.0 campaign). The event marked the launch of a fortnight-long environmental drive that will run through World Yoga Day on 21 June.

Context

Posting on X, Chief Minister Yadav urged citizens to plant trees to keep dharti maata ka aangan hara-bhara ('Mother Earth's courtyard green and lush'). He announced that the fortnight beginning World Environment Day and concluding on World Yoga Day would serve as the campaign window for this year's plantation push. The Chief Minister planted a mango sapling at the Apex Bank campus to personally inaugurate the drive.

Policy Backdrop

The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign was originally launched at the national level in 2024 on World Environment Day, encouraging citizens across India to plant trees in honour of their mothers. The 2.0 edition builds on that foundation, channelling the initiative through Madhya Pradesh's cooperative network. All cooperative societies across the state have been enlisted to collectively plant 1 lakh (100,000) saplings during the fortnight, a model that leverages existing rural institutional infrastructure for environmental goals.

Madhya Pradesh has historically used its cooperative sector — anchored by institutions such as Apex Bank, Bhopal — for programmes spanning agriculture, rural credit, and community development. Aligning afforestation targets with cooperatives reflects a broader state strategy of embedding environmental mandates within established administrative channels.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the drive are Madhya Pradesh's rural communities, whose local cooperative societies will coordinate plantation activities on the ground. The campaign also carries a cultural dimension: framing tree planting as an act of devotion to one's mother resonates with the agrarian ethos of the state's population. If the 1 lakh sapling target is met across all cooperative societies by 21 June, it would represent one of the state's larger single-fortnight plantation efforts in recent years.

Environmental advocates have noted that survival rates — not just planting numbers — are the true measure of such drives. The cooperative society model, which involves local members with a stake in the land, may offer better follow-through on sapling care compared to one-off plantation events.

What's Next

The campaign will run until World Yoga Day, 21 June 2026, with cooperative societies across Madhya Pradesh expected to report plantation numbers as the fortnight progresses. The state government is likely to assess participation and survival data as part of any broader review of the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 initiative. Whether the campaign will be extended or expanded beyond the fortnight window will depend on the scale of cooperative society participation and official targets met by the closing date.