Shivraj plants saplings at ICAR-NBSS&LUP, invites public
Synopsis
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted a sapling at ICAR-NBSS&LUP in Nagpur as part of his daily tree-planting commitment, urging citizens to become 'Vriksh Mitra' by giving a missed call to 8929629475 under the #OnePlantADay campaign.
Key Takeaways
Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted a sapling at ICAR-NBSS&LUP, Nagpur on 26 September 2026 as part of a daily pledge.
The event was attended by agricultural scientists and colleagues at the institute.
Citizens can register as 'Vriksh Mitra' by giving a missed call to 8929629475 .
A dedicated portal — shivrajsinghchouhan.co.in/engage/plant-with-shivraj — supports the campaign.
The drive runs under the hashtag #OnePlantADay , echoing India's afforestation tradition dating to Van Mahotsav (1950) .
One sapling at a time — and he is asking the rest of the country to join him. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan continued his daily tree-planting pledge on Saturday, 26 September 2026, this time at the campus of ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) in Nagpur, planting a sapling alongside agricultural scientists and colleagues at the institute.
An ICAR campus in Nagpur as the day's planting ground
ICAR-NBSS&LUP is one of India's premier institutions for soil resource mapping and land-use planning, operating under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and headquartered in Nagpur. Chouhan's choice of venue — a scientific institution dedicated to understanding the very land on which trees must grow — was pointed. Soil health and tree cover are deeply linked: root systems bind topsoil, reduce erosion, and replenish organic matter. Planting at a soil-science campus puts that connection on display.
The 'Vriksh Mitra' call-to-action
The minister used the post to push public participation beyond symbolism. He invited citizens to click a dedicated link — shivrajsinghchouhan.co.in/engage/plant-with-shivraj — and to give a missed call to 8929629475 to register as a 'Vriksh Mitra' (tree friend). The hashtag #OnePlantADay anchors the campaign, framing individual action as a scalable, daily habit rather than a one-off gesture.
India's institutional tradition of mass afforestation stretches back to Van Mahotsav, the annual tree-planting festival launched in 1950. Chouhan's personal pledge-and-invite model updates that tradition for the social-media era: every missed call is a data point, every registrant a potential multiplier.
Why a daily pledge from the Agriculture Minister matters
Senior BJP leaders have increasingly tied personal environmental messaging to the party's climate and green-economy positioning. For Chouhan — former four-term Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and now the Union minister overseeing both agriculture and rural development — a daily, public tree-planting routine signals that afforestation is not a forest ministry silo but an agricultural and rural priority as well. Tree cover on farm boundaries and wasteland directly affects smallholder livelihoods, shade, fodder, and water retention. The uptake of the Vriksh Mitra registration will be the real test of whether the campaign converts likes into saplings in the ground.
Point of View
He subtly frames tree cover as an agrarian issue under his ministry's mandate, not just a forestry concern. The 'Vriksh Mitra' missed-call hook attempts to convert passive social-media audiences into a verifiable volunteer base — a model that, if it scales, could generate useful political capital ahead of state election cycles. Whether citizen registrations translate into documented saplings on the ground will determine if this daily pledge becomes a credible afforestation data point or remains a well-photographed routine.
NationPress
26 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Shivraj Singh Chouhan's #OnePlantADay campaign?
#OnePlantADay is a daily tree-planting initiative by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in which he plants a sapling every day and invites citizens to join as 'Vriksh Mitra' through a missed-call registration.
How can I become a 'Vriksh Mitra' in Shivraj's tree campaign?
Give a missed call to 8929629475 or visit shivrajsinghchouhan.co.in/engage/plant-with-shivraj to register as a Vriksh Mitra (tree friend) and join the campaign.
Where did Shivraj Chouhan plant a tree on 26 September 2026?
He planted a sapling at the campus of ICAR-NBSS&LUP (National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning) in Nagpur, Maharashtra .
What is ICAR-NBSS&LUP in Nagpur?
ICAR-NBSS&LUP is the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, an institute under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research headquartered in Nagpur, focused on soil resource mapping and land-use planning.
What is India's Van Mahotsav and how is it related to this campaign?
Van Mahotsav is India's annual tree-planting festival launched in 1950 to promote afforestation; Chouhan's daily pledge and citizen outreach continue in that tradition, updating it for digital-era participation.
