How does it affect us when a plant is slowly killed by pollution? Will that affect our health and, more importantly, that of our planet?

Students from some of the city's schools and colleges will find answers to such questions through the coming year as part of a project initiated by a multinational company with interests in pharmaceuticals, health and personal care products.

Monday saw the pilot program titled "Himalaya and You," involving 10 schools and five colleges launched at Yavanika on Nrupathunga Road.

Awareness Programme
The project will see Himalaya Drug Company (HDC) collaborate with The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) here. According to Ravi Prasad, president and chief executive officer of HDC, this was an "awareness programme aimed at providing students knowledge and directing them towards creating a better understanding of environment-health linkages so that they could lead the drive towards a sustainable future." As the HDC is city-based, the company would start a pilot project here and then expand it to other cities, Mr. Prasad said.

Pollution
The HDC, which had tied up with farmers who grew medicinal plants, was aware of how pollution affected living things. "Every month, we used to reject eight out of 10 crops as they had too much of arsenic, mercury and lead.These, in turn, were present because the fields had excessive pesticides."

The HDC had started adopting villages to inculcate eco-friendly practices and to get "pure" raw material for its herbal products. The company had also decided to involve children and teach them to live healthier lives, he added.

Three modules
Dhenuka Srinivasan from TERI said the project with students would have three modules - researching nature, solutions for pollutions and nature nurture.

The first module would run from August to October 2004 and have the students test water quality, go on field visits and so on.

In the second, to run from November 2004 to January 2005, they would conduct street plays and grow herbal gardens. And in the third (june to july 2005), they would have banner painting competitions and print newsletters.

On Monday, former cricketer Syed Kirmani distributed medicinal plants to the participating schools and colleges. Madhav Gadgil from the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science spoke on "Biodiversity and Youth-India's Wealth."

Swati Ramanathan, co-founder of Janaagraha, was also present. For details, contact TERI on Ph: 25356590.