World Environment Day: Environment ministry urges people to plant trees, launches #selfiewithsapling campaign

Representational Image. Courtesy: The Indian Express

On the eve of the World Environment Day 2019, the BJP government has launched the #selfiewithsapling initiative to encourage the people of India to plant more trees for a better tomorrow.

Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar took to Twitter to announce that former cricketer Kapil Dev and Bollywood celebrity Jackie Shroff will participate and plant a sapling in the programme organised by the government at Paryavaran Bhawan at 10:30 am on June 5 2019. Several other similar programs will be held in next 2-3 days where many more people will take part in the program, said the minister.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1135806146336481280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Encouraging citizens to participate, he urged them to plant saplings on the World Environment Day and click selfies with it and post it on the micro-blogging site with the hashtag #selfiewithsapling.

Since its inception in 1974, World Environment Day is celebrated on the 5th of June each year to raise awareness and improve actions towards protecting the environment. The event has evolved to become a global platform for public outreach which is celebrated with great zeal in over 100 countries. The theme for every World Environment Day is decided on something that draws attention to a particularly pressing environmental concern.

The theme for World Environment Day 2019 is “Air pollution”. In 2018, the theme was “Beat Plastic Pollution” and India served as the global host nation for the 43rd edition of the event.

Ahead of this year’s World Environment Day, the Environment Ministry had released a music video featuring Akshay Kumar and other Bollywood actors and dedicated to the #BeatAirPollution campaign.

The Ministry along with Bhamla Foundation supported by the UN has released the theme song titled ‘Hawa Aane De‘.

The music video made in accordance with this year’s environment day’s theme- ‘Air Pollution’ along with Akshay Kumar also features Rajkummar Rao, Vicky Kaushal, Kapil Sharma, Shiamak Davar, Shann, Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan.

The 3.32-minute which begins with a shot of Akshay jogging with a mask incorporates clips of factories spewing smoke, fire and people holding banners urging to stop air pollution, living up to the theme of the World Environment Day 2019

Bollywood Singer, Shaan took to Twitter to share the song on Thursday.

https://twitter.com/singer_shaan/status/1134326427350962177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Last year, we had reported how a Padma awardee recipient, Ramaiah Daripalli, a resident of Reddipalle village in Khammam district of Telangana had claimed that the number of saplings he planted would have easily crossed 10 million or almost one-tree for every third citizen of the state of Telangana.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia