Union Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi participated in a tree-plantation event at H. Shivalingappa High School in Sagara, Karnataka, on Saturday, 6 June 2026, as part of World Environment Day observances, planting saplings alongside students of the school's Vanasuma Eco Club under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (One Tree in Mother's Name) campaign.

Context

Joshi posted on X in Kannada, describing the event as being held 'ಪರಿಸರ ಸಂರಕ್ಷಣೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಹಸಿರು ಭವಿಷ್ಯದ ಸಂಕಲ್ಪದೊಂದಿಗೆ' — 'with a resolve for environmental protection and a green future.' The plantation was conducted with students of the Vanasuma Eco Club at H. Shivalingappa High School in Sagara, a town in Shivamogga district, Karnataka.

The event brought together BJP legislators, former ministers, and district administration officials alongside schoolchildren, reflecting the campaign's emphasis on community and youth participation in afforestation.

Policy Backdrop

The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on World Environment Day 2024 to promote large-scale citizen-led afforestation across India. The campaign's emotional framing — planting a tree in honour of one's mother — is designed to build personal investment in sapling survival and long-term care.

India has a long tradition of organised plantation drives, including the Van Mahotsav initiative dating to 1950. The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign layers a citizen-participation model atop this institutional history, with BJP leaders at the state and national level regularly anchoring school and community events to widen its reach.

Stakeholders and Impact

Among those present at the Sagara event were BJP MP B. Y. Raghavendra, BJP MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, MLA and former minister Araga Jnanendra, former MLA Haratalu Halappa, and Legislative Council member D. S. Arun, along with district administration officials. The presence of multiple elected representatives at a school-level event underscores the political priority attached to the campaign in Karnataka.

School students and the Vanasuma Eco Club were the primary participants, making the drive an educational exercise as much as an environmental one. Karnataka's existing joint forest management and urban greening programmes provide an institutional framework within which such plantation events are expected to be followed up.

What's Next

The broader test for the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam initiative will be sapling survival rates during and after the 2026 monsoon season, a metric that distinguishes meaningful afforestation from ceremonial planting. Parliamentary scrutiny of scheme funding and monitoring mechanisms is also anticipated. As World Environment Day events conclude, state governments are expected to compile and submit plantation data to the Centre as part of national reporting on India's climate commitments.