The twin institutions of the Rapinat Herbarium, Tiruchirapalli and the Anglade Institute of Natural History, Shem-baganur, under the same Jesuit management, are a unique facility in India. The Anglade Institute is situated at the former Sacred Heart College which from 1895 to 1980 was a Jesuit scholasticate. In the early years of the College, the Jesuit staff and students were largely Europeans who were thrilled by the richness and variety of nature on the surrounding hills, and set themselves to collect and study the flora, fauna and anthropology. Their fanning out across the hills in search of collections was well known and earned for them the titles of 'insect-gatherers', 'moss-gatherers', 'butterfly-squad' and 'bird-squad'. The current natural history wealth of the collections of the Institute is entirely the fruit of the purposeful spare time hobby of several of the staff and students. The arrival of Fr. A. Anglade S.J. (1873 -1953) as Professor of philosophy in 1909 (who remained incredibly productive almost until his death in 1953) was a landmark in the natural history edifice to today. Himself a genius, with a clear bent towards the positive sciences, the imprints of which can be seen everywhere in the campus, he contributed even more in enthusing young people into the study of nature, and provided excellent guidance. The entire Institute has appropriately been named after him subsequently and now functions as an Environmental Centre.

 Making use of the fine natural history infrastructure of the Institute (Museum, Herbarium, Library, Arboretum, Orchidarium, Fernery ...), members of staff have been conducting a gratis, round-the year, 3-day programme on Environmental Awareness Generation for students and village-folk. This programme has handled over 40,000 trainees from Tamil Nadu since its inception in 1984, and demand for the course is still increasing. Besides the grass-roots programme, there is also a 5-day Leadership programme for the benefit of environmental workers from the Southern States. These programmes have won international acclaim. A recent comment from South Africa was "...truly amazed at the intake figures ... I don't think anywhere else in the world (not in South Africa, not in Europe, not in America) is a programme involving such staggering numbers going on ..." (T.V. Jacobs, Transkei University). Another comment comes from the United Kingdom: " ... a glimmer of hope to those elsewhere struggling for greater environmental awareness ..." (N.V.C. Polunin, Editor, Environmental Conservation).

Environmental Awareness Programmes Though India has enough and more of laws to protect the environment, the rate of environmental deterioration and the loss of natural resources accelerate by the day. The root cause of this is all round lack of awareness: immed-iately in the executives who implement the laws, and mediately in the people at large. The present programme was built around the infrastructure and expertise locally available: the watershed concept, the indispensable role of the primary vegetation in the maintenance of the balance of the ecosystem, and the possibility of eco-restoration were core themes. Initially, the target group was primarily students, who will be the planners, decision-makers and executives of tomorrow; from experience, we came to prefer school students (generally, pre-final year, 16 years of age) especially from rural areas. More recently, we are taking in more villagefolk, mostly farmers, who are the effective custodians of the environment. Structure of the Programme (Day 1) Indoor Exposure to the natural history heritage of the hills as preserved in the museum, gardens and library. It is axiomatic that no prior knowledge of botany, zoology, biology ... is expected: life is the subject, not only in the classroom but as it is lived by the people, especially the native tribals. Every exhibit is a challenge. For instance, 'here is the Nilgiri Tahr [mountain goat] found only on the south Indian hills in the entire planet (endemic) : even 40 years ago, one could have seen them galloping around here but their numbers have been decimated and the populations retreated to the Anaimalais over 100 km away; 'Would you like to invite it to its former home?' 'Yes', the youngsters roar! 'Make it possible for them to return; protect the forests and give them a home'. The youngsters are challenged, and are determined to do something, and immediately. In the evening a keynote talk places the local conditions against the global situation. The 'eco-lab' has copious visuals with current information on environment, local and global.  (Day 2) Outdoor exposure: Armed with relevant information, the trainees are ready to go into the field for a firsthand experience of the environment. They are taken to some predetermined spots: an undisturbed, pristine forest, a totally degraded and eroded land nearby that was part of the forest in recent memory, an extensive commercial plantation also occupied by forests till recently ... These irreversible, macro-level, alterations have been made by powerful commercial establishments. an afternoon trip on foot across the local village brings home the micro-level degradation: polluting of drinking water, receding forest border from fuel wood removal, spread of weeds, setting fire to grasslands for the ashes.  (Day 3) Evaluation, action programmes: Three hours of work in the seedling nursery is vital, since tree plating is nearly always the immediate job of eco-restoration the trainees can undertake on return home. A review session evaluates the programme, and chalks out practical action plans. They have realised that as future leaders of their community they have an obligation, especially since the poor tax-payer had paid for their training expenses, a loan that should be returned in the form of service. The message goes home effectively, and the trainees leave full of enthusiasm. Results and outlook for the future We consider the handling of [more than 40,000] trainees [since 1984] from across the region is an environmental 'Fixed Deposit' that can be availed in the future. Uninterrupted bookings, months in advance, is an indication of [the programme's] wide usefulness. Our consistent preference for the rural, and of the the poorer, institutions and groups has been an eye-opener: these have responded far more generously, especially in the follow-up programmes. We are convinced that the future is safe in their hands. The response [from Impact Assessment programmes] has been truly reassuring. In spite of the excellent results obtained, we are quite consious that ... ours is only a successful pilot model, which can and should indeed be replicated across the country. The main contribution of the Anglade Insitute should be the [5-day] leadership programmes throughout the year as now obtains with the grassroots programmme.