NEW DELHI: On World Environment Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign. Prime Minister Modi also planted a peepal tree sapling at Buddha Jayanti Park in Delhi. PM Modi was accompanied by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena during the sapling planting. World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5, commemorates the inaugural day of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience,” focusing on the urgent need to restore and conserve our land resources. Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet is likely to meet today at around 11:30 am in Delhi. The NDA leaders will meet at Prime Minister Modi’s residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg today. The meeting is scheduled to take place at around 3:30 pm. Key leaders like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu are expected to attend the NDA meeting. The INDIA bloc meeting will be held in the national capital around 6 pm. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc are also set to hold meetings on Wednesday to chalk out strategies for future courses of political action. The counting of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was held on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 240 seats, much lower than its 2019 tally of 303. The Congress, on the other hand, registered a strong growth, winning 99 seats. The INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark, posing stiff competition, and defying all predictions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term, but the BJP will need to rely on the support of other parties in his coalition JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar and TDP’s chief Chandrababu Naidu. BJP fell 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark after votes polled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were counted. For the first time, since the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own.
