Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday, June 7, 2026, planted saplings alongside students at Mama Coaching centre in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, continuing his self-declared daily tree-planting commitment under the #OnePlantADay initiative. The minister also renewed his call to citizens to join the Shiv Vriksh Mitra programme by giving a missed call to 8929629475.

Context

Chouhan posted in Hindi on X (formerly Twitter), describing the plantation drive as part of his ongoing daily resolve. 'प्रतिदिन पौधरोपण के संकल्प के क्रम में' — 'in continuation of my daily tree-planting pledge' — he wrote, adding a personal note to the students: 'My children, may you always be happy, study with dedication, and move forward. My affection and blessings are always with you.' The event at Mama Coaching brought together young students preparing for competitive examinations in Vidisha, a district in Madhya Pradesh with which Chouhan has long-standing political ties as a former four-term Chief Minister of the state.

Policy Backdrop

The gesture aligns with India's broader afforestation commitments. The National Mission for a Green India, approved in 2014 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, targets a 10 million hectare increase in forest and tree cover across the country. India has also pledged under the Bonn Challenge to restore 21 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, making ground-level mobilisation drives such as Shiv Vriksh Mitra operationally relevant beyond their symbolic value. Indian ministers and public figures have increasingly used personal social-media posts to model daily environmental actions that reinforce these national targets, blending individual gesture with policy messaging.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary audience for the Shiv Vriksh Mitra missed-call campaign is rural and semi-urban citizens who may not engage with formal government portals but respond to accessible, low-barrier participation mechanisms. School students and rural youth — the demographic present at the Mama Coaching event — are a key constituency for long-term behavioural change on environmental issues. By conducting the plantation drive at a coaching centre, Chouhan's outreach fuses civic education with environmental action, potentially widening the volunteer base for state-level plantation campaigns ahead of the monsoon season, when large-scale tree-planting drives are typically organised across Madhya Pradesh and other states.

What's Next

Progress on state afforestation targets will be closely watched as the 2026 monsoon season approaches, the period when India's plantation campaigns reach their peak. Any references to tree-planting drives or green-India targets in forthcoming Union Budget deliberations could further signal how the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry plans to institutionalise citizen-led environmental initiatives. Chouhan's continued daily posting under #OnePlantADay suggests a sustained personal-branding and policy-awareness campaign that may be used to build momentum for a larger, formally announced programme.