Shivraj plants sapling daily, invites India to join #OnePlantADay
Synopsis
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted a sapling at Bhopal's Smart City Park on 7 November 2026, continuing a daily tree-plantation pledge and urging citizens to join the #OnePlantADay movement by giving a missed call to become a 'Vriksh Mitra'.
Key Takeaways
Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted a sapling at Smart City Park, Bhopal on 7 November 2026 as part of a daily tree-plantation pledge.
Citizens can join the #OnePlantADay campaign by giving a missed call to 8929629475 and enrolling as a Vriksh Mitra (Friend of Trees).
A dedicated campaign portal at shivrajsinghchouhan.co.in/engage/plant-with-shivraj enables wider participation.
Van Mahotsav , India's national afforestation drive, has run since 1950 ; the National Mission for a Green India (2014) anchors current policy on expanding green cover.
Chouhan led large-scale plantation drives during his four terms as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh , making citizen-led greening a hallmark of his public image.
Bhopal's Smart City Park setting underlines the growing push to integrate afforestation into India's urban infrastructure agenda.
One sapling at a time — and he wants you to plant the next one. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan carried forward his daily tree-plantation pledge on Saturday, 7 November 2026, planting a sapling at the Smart City Park in Bhopal and calling on citizens across India to join a grassroots afforestation movement.
Posting on X in Hindi, Chouhan wrote: 'Pratidin paudharopan ke sankalp ke kram mein aaj Bhopal sthit Smart City Park mein paudha ropa.' ('Continuing my daily tree-plantation resolve, I planted a sapling today at the Smart City Park in Bhopal.') He asked followers to click a dedicated campaign link, or to give a missed call to 8929629475 to become a 'Vriksh Mitra' — a 'Friend of Trees' — under the #OnePlantADay banner.
From CM's chair to a daily sapling ritual
The gesture is rooted in a longer personal commitment. During his four terms as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan made large-scale afforestation drives a signature of his administration, blending official policy with public mobilisation. That same style — symbolic personal action paired with an open invitation to citizens — now travels with him to the Union Cabinet.
The broader national architecture backing such efforts is well established. Van Mahotsav, India's annual tree-plantation festival, has run since 1950. The National Mission for a Green India, approved in 2014 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, set out to expand and improve the quality of forest and tree cover across the country. Individual leadership actions, researchers note, consistently amplify public uptake of such programmes when they are sustained and visible rather than one-off.
Smart Cities, green cover, and the urban urgency
Bhopal's Smart City Park is a deliberate setting. Urban green spaces sit at the intersection of India's Smart Cities Mission and its climate commitments — a pointed reminder that afforestation is no longer just a forest-department concern but an urban infrastructure priority. With Indian cities facing rising heat-island effects and declining per-capita green cover, a Cabinet minister planting in a city park sends a signal about where the next frontier of greening lies.
Chouhan's daily ritual, backed by a phone-based enrolment system and a dedicated campaign portal, is designed for replication at scale — turning a minister's morning habit into a movement anyone with a missed call can join.
The question now is whether a missed call and a hashtag can seed something bigger than a single sapling.
Point of View
Visible environmental action reinforces that identity in an urban register. The Vriksh Mitra missed-call mechanism echoes the low-barrier citizen-engagement playbook the BJP has used effectively in welfare scheme outreach. Whether the campaign generates measurable green-cover data — the kind the next Forest Survey of India could cite — will determine whether it outlasts the hashtag.
NationPress
7 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the #OnePlantADay campaign by Shivraj Singh Chouhan?
#OnePlantADay is a citizen afforestation initiative led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in which he plants a sapling every day and invites the public to do the same through a campaign portal and a missed-call enrolment system.
How can I become a Vriksh Mitra under the Shivraj plantation campaign?
You can become a Vriksh Mitra — a Friend of Trees — by giving a missed call to 8929629475 or by visiting the campaign link shared by Minister Chouhan on his official portal.
Where did Shivraj Singh Chouhan plant a sapling on 7 November 2026?
He planted a sapling at the Smart City Park in Bhopal , the capital of Madhya Pradesh, as part of his continuing daily pledge.
What is Van Mahotsav and how does it relate to this campaign?
Van Mahotsav is India's annual tree-plantation festival, launched in 1950 to promote afforestation awareness. Chouhan's daily plantation effort draws on this long tradition of citizen-led greening that successive governments have supported.
What is India's National Mission for a Green India?
The National Mission for a Green India was approved in 2014 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims to expand and improve forest and tree cover across the country, providing the policy backdrop for campaigns like #OnePlantADay.
