The concept of Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (A Tree in the Name of Mother) is a national mass plantation campaign launched by the Government of India to combine environmental responsibility with a tribute to motherhood. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the initiative on World Environment Day, June 5, 2024, by planting a Peepal tree at Buddha Jayanti Park in Delhi. The campaign was created to address serious challenges like deforestation, rising pollution, and land degradation by encouraging individual action and increasing the country's green cover. It solves the problem by shifting the focus from large-scale corporate drives to a people's movement, linking the nurturing role of a mother to the sustenance provided by Mother Earth.
The mechanism is a voluntary, nationwide drive where citizens are urged to plant a tree as a symbolic gesture of love and respect for their mother or a mother figure. The campaign is overseen by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), which reported the plantation of over 102.82 crore seedlings on the MeriLife portal as of December 16, 2024. To facilitate participation, an official app was launched, allowing users to plant, dedicate, tag the location, and monitor the growth of their tree, with features for carbon credit tracking. The campaign is intrinsically connected to India's broader commitment to sustainable development and the national goal of achieving Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2070. While the core concept remains unchanged, a version called Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 was launched in Uttar Pradesh in July 2025, emphasizing the need to nurture the saplings and foster a long-term emotional connection with the planted tree.