Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav announced on Friday, June 5, 2026 that he will launch the statewide 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0' (One Tree in Mother's Name 2.0) campaign from Bhopal, coinciding with World Environment Day.

Context

Posting on X, Dr. Mohan Yadav wrote: 'Aaj Vishwa Paryavaran Divas ke avsar par Bhopal se pradeshvyapi Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 Abhiyan ka shubharambh karunga' — 'Today, on the occasion of World Environment Day, I will inaugurate the statewide Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 campaign from Bhopal.' The announcement marks a second phase of a campaign that was first rolled out in 2024 to mark the same global observance.

World Environment Day is an annual global event observed on June 5, established by the United Nations in 1972 to encourage awareness and action on pressing environmental challenges. Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, serves as the ceremonial launch point for major statewide government initiatives.

Policy Backdrop

The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign encourages citizens to plant saplings and dedicate them to their mothers, combining personal sentiment with environmental action to drive mass public participation. The initiative has been adopted across multiple Indian states as part of broader national afforestation efforts.

Madhya Pradesh has a documented history of large-scale tree plantation drives under successive governments. The 2.0 designation signals a continuation and likely scaling of the first phase, though specific targets and operational details of the new phase have not yet been disclosed. The campaign aligns with India's commitments under the Paris Agreement to expand forest and tree cover.

Stakeholders and Impact

The drive is aimed at residents across all districts of Madhya Pradesh, with environmental volunteers, local bodies, and school and college students typically forming the backbone of such plantation campaigns. By anchoring the act of planting to a personal relationship — the bond with one's mother — the campaign is designed to improve both participation rates and the long-term care of saplings.

Afforestation campaigns of this scale carry implications for the state's green cover metrics, local biodiversity, and community-level climate resilience. Independent observers have noted that sapling survival rates, rather than planting numbers alone, are the more meaningful measure of such programmes' success.

What's Next

Following the Bhopal launch on June 5, the campaign is expected to roll out across all districts of Madhya Pradesh. Observers will watch for official figures on participation, the number of saplings targeted, and whether the 2.0 phase introduces new institutional mechanisms to track sapling survival and integrate results with central government afforestation data. The initiative's scale and outcomes could also inform how other BJP-governed states design their own World Environment Day programmes in subsequent years.