Helping the development of Bommayarpalayam Village

Auroville Today: What is the origin of this initiative?

Cristo: It was a result of the work that we did some years ago on preparing the Greenbelt Master Plan with our expert planning consultants, David and Achava Stein. During that exercise it emerged that the water issue is a crucial one for both Auroville and the bio-region, and this can only be solved through collaborating with our neighbors. Then, very recently, the Bommayapalayam Panchayat sent a letter to us in the TDC, requesting Auroville’s help with their planning and development, and mentioning as an example the need for pure drinking water. So we decided to start collaborating with this village because they have a Panchayat President who is friendly and open to us working together. TDC has worked very hard on pushing this forward, particularly the local Aurovilians who work with us, Vinai, Padmanaban, Boobalan and Anand, as well as Paul Vincent. Recently we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Panchayat setting out the areas in which we can cooperate in furtherance of our common interests and objectives [see box]. By the way, while there are three villages in this Panchayat, initially we will focus primarily on Bommayapalayam.

How will it work?

Originally their idea was to create a society under the Society Act in which two or three Aurovilians would be members. However, we are very grateful to Mr Bala Baskar who pointed out drawbacks to this approach and suggested instead we should form a committee under the Panchayat Act. This is now being done. The Committee will be composed of representatives of the village youth association, sports association, womens’ association, farmers, businesspeople, fishermen, etc. It will also include two Aurovilians born in that village, who will be chosen by the villagers. They will be attending the Committee meeting along with representatives of TDC.

Although we have made it clear there will be no financial assistance from Auroville, we will provide technical and planning support and we can help them access government schemes. There are many schemes under the Tamil Nadu and Central governments which provide grants for things like sanitation, water, roads etc. One such scheme is sanitation for family homes. In Auroville, we already have units with some experience in this field. Our task will consist in seeking technical assistance from these units, supporting access to funding from relevant government schemes, and once we have made this connection, we go back to the village and say here is a possible solution, but it is the villagers themselves who have to decide if they want to pursue this. We have emphasized that we are not in the business of philanthropy; the village also has to do its part. 

Another possible area for future collaboration is that of organic food. I explained to the villagers that Auroville sources organic food from hundreds of miles away, so we would be a good market for organic produce if their farmers decided to grow it. We will put the Auroville Farm Group in contact with the local farmers to explore this option.

But, firstly, we need to know what the needs of the villagers are. To understand this, an urban planner specialized in village development will be employed. He will be stationed in the village for six months, during which time he will assess the present situation and look at development needs. We expect that within six months we will have all the information that we need and then we hope to come up with a village development plan.

If this is successful, we would like to extend the experiment to all the villages in our area. We hope that similar committees would be created in all these villages, that the planner would go to each village for six months and that, finally, perhaps, a village development council would be formed made up of representatives from all the village committees.

This work is crucial as an answer to three important questions. Firstly, how does the village want to develop? Secondly, where may the development needs of the village and of Auroville clash, and how can this be avoided? Thirdly, how can the village and Auroville develop together?

Why has it taken us 45 years to come up with this initiative?

This is not a new idea. The first ever meeting of all the Panchayat leaders was around 2000 when we were making the Auroville Master Plan. We saw the Secretary for Rural Development Tamil Nadu and at that time we were told the door was fully open for initiatives like this. However, it needed someone from our side to keep working on this, but this didn’t happen because Auroville did not see it as a priority.

Today the situation is much more challenging. And this is why this Committee has been constituted in such a way that whoever is in charge of the regional development cell in the TDC will have to follow up this work.

A few years ago, a similar experiment was tried in another village. A Development Council composed of villagers and Aurovilians was set up. However, it was a failure. Why do you think this new initiative will be more successful?

I spoke to some of the people involved in that earlier initiative, and they said it didn’t work because it was the wrong model. Also personal interests came to the fore and there was a very complex scenario within the village itself.

I feel the latest initiative will work because, unlike the other experiment, here we are talking of linking government structure to government structure. The TDC is an organization under the Government of India, as is the village Panchayat. While the membership of the two bodies may change, the organizations will continue to exist. So we are not dealing with individuals: it is two institutions which are in discussion. I think this means there is much more likelihood of success. In fact, we have already established a very good collaboration with the Panchayat. And the fact that our Secretary is very supportive is also a very good sign.

What are the next steps?

One of the next steps is to appoint the town planner. The first meeting of the Committee will take place in late April and from the Auroville side we are preparing a programme of presentations. There will be a presentation by the eco-service group on waste management. There will also be a presentation on water by the Centre for Scientific Research, which will highlight the dangers of the present situation.

We have already heard that the individual toilet scheme is definitely being taken up. The village is also interested in starting a small-scale industry in producing mud bricks, so we are preparing the documentation for this in consultation with the Auroville Earth Institute. These are exactly the kinds of collaboration we want to initiate. We are also discussing with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board upgrading the present electrical substation which serves the area.

We will meet with all the Aurovilians born in that village. We will also send all the Auroville workers from that village a personal letter saying that this Committee exists and telling them that if they want to know more, or participate in any way, they can contact us or the Panchayat.

I am very excited by this initiative. Personally, I feel it is a huge responsibility. At the same time, I see it as a return to the original vision of Auroville, which is that of human unity. This is why it crucial that we keep up the collaboration. We must not fail.