Shivraj Singh Chouhan Plants Sapling at Lucknow's ICAR-ISRI
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
One sapling at a time — Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan carried forward his daily tree-plantation pledge on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, planting a sapling at the campus of ICAR-Indian Sugarcane Research Institute (ISRI) in Lucknow, alongside Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister S.P. Shahi and other colleagues.
Posting on X under the hashtag #OnePlantADay, Chouhan wrote: 'प्रकृति के संरक्षण और पर्यावरण संतुलन बनाए रखने के लिए पेड़-पौधे अत्यंत आवश्यक हैं' — 'Trees and plants are absolutely essential for conserving nature and maintaining environmental balance.' He urged citizens to plant saplings and fulfil their duty towards nature.
The ICAR-ISRI campus as a green symbol
ICAR-ISRI is one of India's premier agricultural research institutions, headquartered in Lucknow and specialising in sugarcane variety development, production efficiency, and sustainability. Choosing its campus for a plantation event reinforces a layered message: that agricultural science and ecological stewardship belong in the same conversation. The presence of both a Union minister and the state's agriculture minister underlines a coordinated federal push on green cover.
A daily vow, a national conversation
Chouhan's #OnePlantADay commitment is part of a sustained personal campaign he has championed, using each planting as a public nudge for wider citizen participation. India has run organised afforestation pushes since the launch of the Van Mahotsav drive in 1950, but the social-media-driven, individual-pledge format marks a newer chapter — turning a government message into a participatory habit.
The broader pattern is clear: senior ministers regularly join plantation events at research institutes and public spaces, reinforcing government messaging on increasing green cover amid India's climate commitments. What distinguishes Chouhan's approach is the daily cadence — making the act routine rather than ceremonial.
India's race to expand its forest and tree cover, pledged under its Nationally Determined Contributions at COP26, depends as much on millions of individual saplings as on large-scale forest policy. One plant a day, multiplied across a population, is how targets become landscapes.