Meghwal Leads Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam Drive at IIAC in Delhi

The Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Law and Justice held a tree plantation drive at the India International Arbitration Centre in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, on 1 October 2026, the eve of Gandhi Jayanti. The drive was organised under the theme Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam and formed part of two larger programmes, Special Campaign 6 and Swachhata Hi Seva 2026.

Who was present

Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State with Independent Charge for Law and Justice, led the plantation. He was joined by Dr Rajiv Mani, Secretary of the Legislative Department and of the Department of Legal Affairs, who is also Chairperson of the arbitration centre, and by senior officers of the department and of the centre. All of them planted saplings on the centre's campus. Navin Kumar Singh, the Chief Executive Officer of the centre, thanked the minister, the secretary and the other guests for taking part.

What the minister said

The minister's theme was that cleanliness is not only about streets and public places. It has to begin, he argued, with a clean mind, pure thought and a sense of duty towards society, a point he summed up in the phrase mann ki swachhta. He described Swachhata Hi Seva as a people's movement in which every individual has a part, and said that Gandhi's birth anniversary on 2 October reminds the country that cleanliness, discipline and service were central to Bapu's idea of a free and self-reliant India.

The Champaran reference

Recalling Mahatma Gandhi's stay in Champaran in 1917, the minister pointed out how Gandhi began work on sanitation and hygiene there, how that effort grew into a wider mass movement, and how it helped address the grievances of indigo farmers. The lesson from Champaran, he said, is that cleanliness is a mission of empathy and shared responsibility and not merely a campaign.

Arbitration centre in view

The minister said he expected the centre to grow, through the combined effort of all those involved, into a global, efficient and credible seat for arbitration, reflecting the same transparency, discipline and service that the cleanliness movement stands for. Dr Rajiv Mani said cleanliness has two sides, that of our surroundings and that of the mind, and that neither is complete without the other. He added that institutions owe a duty to adopt sustainable practices and to contribute to the aims of the Swachh Bharat Mission, and that the centre is committed to making India a preferred seat for international arbitration. The programme closed with a pledge to keep up cleanliness work and promote a greener environment.