Mothers are perhaps the best teachers. So, who better to help spread the green message among children? Union minister of environment, forest, and climate change (MoEFCC) Bhupender Yadav, was in Kolkata recently to sow the seeds of this teaching that is at the heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign.
Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam, flagged during the Environment Day celebrations, urges people of the country and across the world to plant trees in the name of their mothers to celebrate both motherhood and the environment. The campaign also calls on mothers to post photographs of sowing the saplings along with their children on social media to spread awareness.
Yadav told My Kolkata on the sidelines of a programme in Kolkata on Sunday that his ministry would focus on taking forward the Prime Minister’s initiative. “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign flagged off by the Prime Minister recently will definitely be the main focus of my ministry,” said Yadav, who launched a first-of-its kind portal that aims to document all animal species in the country to mark the Zoological Survey of India’s 109th foundation day.
The programme, where Yadav was the chief guest, saw children and their mothers sowing saplings of big flowering and fruit trees before vowing to look after their growth.
Prime Minister’s Modi’s latest ‘Mann ki Baat’ address where he spoke about the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam was shown live at the programme in Kolkata that Yadav was attending.
“Mission LiFE and maintaining balance within development and preservation of nature are my other priorities,” said Yadav.
Mission LiFE, Lifestyle for Environment is another of the Prime Minister’s pet projects. He had launched it in November 2021 on the sidelines of the Glasgow climate summit.
Minister Yadav iterated that India will be pushing for increased financial support for climate issues from developed countries in the coming months and at COP 29 to be held at Baku, Azerbaijan. “I am quite aware of the financial agendas linked to climate change, as I chaired a key meeting on the issue; and will push for the needful,” said the minister.
“All these environment campaigns, and their publicity, are welcome but they seem to be in conflict with the ground reality as environmental issues are gradually getting cornered in the face of so-called development drives across the country,” said Biswajit Mukherjee, former chief law officer of the West Bengal environment department and a winner of a Union government environment award.
An environment activist from Delhi reminded that India has been positioned among the bottom five countries in the recently released global list of nations based on environmental performances.