A village in Gujarat's Saurashtra belt became a node in India's national greening push on Friday, August 14, 2026, when Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel personally participated in a tree plantation drive at Varsada village, Amreli district — planting saplings as part of PM-inspired campaign 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' and calling on villagers to take collective responsibility for nurturing nature.

5,000 Saplings, One Village, One Drive

The event was organised in collaboration with Sadbhavna Trust, a Gujarat-based social organisation, with a target of planting around 5,000 trees at the Varsada site. CM Patel took part in the plantation himself before addressing residents, urging them to plant as many trees as possible and to collectively own the responsibility of their upkeep — not just the ceremony of planting.

The post from the Chief Minister's Office of Gujarat described the drive as a response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' initiative, framing the act of planting a tree as a tribute to one's mother — a campaign designed to give environmental action a personal, emotional anchor.

'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' — The Campaign Behind the Drive

PM Modi launched the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' — 'One Tree in Mother's Name' — campaign in 2024 to drive mass public participation in tree plantation across India. The idea was deliberately intimate: every citizen plants one tree, dedicates it to their mother, and takes responsibility for its survival. By tethering ecology to emotion, the campaign aimed to move beyond government targets and into personal commitment.

Gujarat has been among the states that have actively translated this national slogan into district-level action, with state leadership participating directly in ground events to signal institutional seriousness alongside community appeal.

Amreli's Rural Communities at the Centre

Amreli, a predominantly agricultural district in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, is home to farming communities whose livelihoods are directly tied to ecological health — groundwater levels, soil quality, and climate resilience all shaped by green cover. Bringing the plantation drive to a village like Varsada rather than an urban park signals an intent to root the campaign in the communities that feel environmental change most acutely.

The involvement of Sadbhavna Trust in mobilising the logistics points to the state's model of leveraging civil-society partnerships to scale such drives beyond what government machinery alone can sustain.

The saplings are in the ground — whether the trees stand a decade from now will depend on exactly the community ownership CM Patel called for on Friday.