By Jose Kalapura
Patna, July 20, 2026: Patna Jesuit Father Robert Athickal, 73, an internationally known environmental activist, died July 19, 2026, of cardiac-related problems.
He had been admitted to Patna’s Holy Family Hospital for several days, but his health worsened despite medication.
Athickal founded Tarumitra (Friends of Trees), a student environmental movement, in 1988 with a group of school students in Patna, eastern India. For more than three decades, he campaigned for a greener environment through activities, workshops, camps and campaigns.
Tarumitra conducted more than 1,000 one-day camps and more than 300 residential workshops for students and teachers during the first four years.
“Students have the enthusiasm for activities. We are only directing them for the environmental cause,” he said.
In a few years, Tarumitra units were started in more than 1,600 schools and colleges not only in Patna and Bihar, but also in 22 other states of India. In 37 years (2025), its membership was more than 300,000.
Athickal directed Tarumitra for 31 years (1988–2019). Credit goes to him for setting up the Tarumitra Ashram (bio-reserve) on a 10-acre plot donated by the Patna Jesuit Society at Digha, Patna, capital of Bihar.
Then-Gov. A. R. Kidwai laid the foundation stone of the bio-reserve in 1996. It now has varieties of trees (about 450), plants and herbs of Bihar.
Tarumitra started Nature Clubs in high schools and colleges in Patna. Similar clubs were founded in about 800 institutions elsewhere in India.
Tarumitra students held protests and demonstrations against destruction of nature, for planting trees and for developing garbage dumps into roadside gardens called “Oxygen Belts.” At one time, Tarumitra maintained about 38 Oxygen Belts in urban Patna.
“Our aim is to protect the environment, fight pollution, save the Earth through planting trees, and above all, to create eco-consciousness in the students and the public at large,” Athickal told Matters India in 2017.
To spread eco-consciousness, Athickal kept good contact with the media. Since 1989, Tarumitra activities have been reported in local, national and international print and visual media.
Tarumitra tried to spread awareness among school students through a series of environmental education textbooks for schools and by publishing and circulating a newsletter called “Tarumitra Times.”
Athickal took the environmental movement to the international forum. The international action gained a boost when Tarumitra was accorded Special Consultative Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2005.
Thereafter, Tarumitra’s student representatives and staff were invited to countries including Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, Italy, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Burma, Nepal, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia and the United States.
Since then, Tarumitra has been engaged in the United Nations Environment Programme and worked for its Millennium Development Goals.
Yugratna, a girl student from St. Fidelis College, Lucknow, was one among 1,200 student representatives at the UN Summit in Norway where 100 world leaders were present, reported “Hindustan Times,” Patna, September 23, 2009.
Athickal developed his own eco-spirituality, which was based on the Upanishadic concept of “vasudhaiva kutumbakam” (the whole world is our family).
Explaining it, he said that while “kutumbakam” implies acceptance of people of different races, religions and cultural backgrounds, for Tarumitra “kutumbakam” also includes all earthly realities like trees, plants, animals, fish and birds as part of one family—similar to Pope Francis’ description of the Earth as “Our Common Home.”
Spreading eco-consciousness among the clergy and religious of India through talks, workshops and seminars was a significant achievement of Athickal. Today many religious congregations have ministries in eco-spirituality.
Athickal also had the charm and charisma to enlist the collaboration of many religious sisters from diverse congregations to volunteer at the Ashram or to organize Tarumitra activities in their regions.
It is a big loss for the Jesuit society and the green movement that Father Athickal is no longer with us. But his legacy will continue through Tarumitra.
(Jesuit Father Jose Kalapura is a member of the Patna Jesuit Province, the same province to which Father Robert Athickal belonged.)