Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Friday, 5 June 2026 — World Environment Day — called on every citizen to participate in the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' (Plant a Tree in Your Mother's Name) campaign, responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's national appeal. The drive runs from 5 June through 15 August 2026, linking Environment Day with Independence Day.

Context

Reddy posted in Telugu and Hindi, urging every Indian to take part: 'అమ్మ పేరు మీద ఒక మొక్క నాటుదాం' ('Let us plant a tree in our mother's name'). He framed his appeal explicitly as a response to Prime Minister Modi's call, amplifying the campaign through his own platform as BJP Telangana state president. The post was accompanied by a video.

World Environment Day, observed globally on 5 June each year, serves as the anchor date for the campaign's launch. The 10-week window ending on 15 August is designed to coincide with India's monsoon season, when soil conditions are most favourable for saplings to take root.

Policy Backdrop

Prime Minister Modi launched the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign on World Environment Day 2024, positioning it as a people-led afforestation movement. The initiative asks citizens to plant a tree as a tribute to their mothers, attaching personal sentiment to an environmental goal. The campaign has since been revived annually as part of India's broader green-cover expansion effort.

The drive sits within a longer arc of government-led plantation campaigns that have run since 2014, combining mass public mobilisation with official climate commitments. India has pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent through additional forest and tree cover, as part of its nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement.

Stakeholders and Impact

The appeal targets the general public directly, asking individuals rather than institutions to act. By routing the message through a senior minister who is also a state party president, the campaign gains simultaneous reach across both the government machinery and the party's grassroots network in Telangana.

State governments and district administrations are expected to mobilise plantation events through the campaign window. Cumulative plantation numbers are typically compiled and reported around 15 August, providing a measurable output for the drive.

What's Next

With the campaign now formally under way, follow-up data on sapling counts and state-wise participation is expected closer to Independence Day. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is expected to release aggregate figures after 15 August 2026, offering a gauge of how widely the public responded to the Prime Minister's call.

Reddy's post signals that the BJP's state units are expected to actively drive participation on the ground, making Telangana a visible contributor to the national tally — and setting a template for how the party blends environmental messaging with civic outreach ahead of the Independence Day cycle.