How to protect the lands for Auroville

What is Auroville? A dream, an ideal of human unity, a utopian society, a nature conservancy? One is hard put to define it, but what is certain is that when people think of Auroville, they think of it as a place – an area in South India, once barren – where something unique is happening. For most of us living here, and for the many who visit regularly, it is home. We love it for its quietness, its refusal of consumerism, its burgeoning city, for the people that populate it – many of whom are striving to be their better self – and for its forests. Around the bend of a dirt road you may catch the sight of a hare; or witness the battle of a snake and a mongoose under the green canopy that harbors a multitude of birds. When night comes the jackals howl and the owls hoot. Auroville is a magic land full of crooks and crannies that hide wonders.

Pondicherry: a megacity in the making

This ideal place is under threat. It is no longer unrealistic to believe that in a not too far future Auroville could become a suburb of Pondicherry. The numbers speak for themselves. The municipalities of Pondicherry and Ozhukarai, bordering the south of Auroville, had a population of 150,000, according to the 1971 census; in the 2011 census it reached 540,000. Likewise, Tamil Nadu that had registered a population of about 41 million in the 1971 census reached more than 72 million in 2011. In that period the population of Tamil Nadu increased by 75%, below the national average of 114%, but the Pondicherry and Ozhukarai municipalities increased by a staggering 260%. (For comparison,in the same period, the US population increased by 57% and France by 22%). Figures of the population after 2011 are not available, but they, without doubt, would only show a continuous increase. The next Indian census will take place in 2021.

For those who remember the sleepy provincial town that was Pondicherry in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the city’s expansion boggles the mind. The consequences of this population explosion are obvious: there is an increasing need for land to accommodate the new residents. This has a direct effect on Auroville.

Located only 12 km from Pondicherry, Auroville is feeling the winds of expansion gushing in, entering areas that Aurovilians thought were out of bounds. To date there are more than 60 private and unsolicited construction projects within the Auroville area, while the villages within the Master Plan area are expanding at breakneck speed.

Purchasing the lands

Though started in 1968, Auroville has not yet purchased all the lands needed to manifest the Township. Auroville’s Master Plan, often referred to as the Galaxy, is a perfect circle with a diameter of 2.5 kilometers. At the centre is the City area, which is surrounded by a Green Belt. Out of the 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) needed, Auroville owns 437 hectares (1,080acres) in the city area and 425 hectares (1,050 acres) in the Green Belt. While the city centre is 87% owned, the Green Belt, at 72%, is largely in the hands of third parties.

Purchasing the needed land requires funds far beyond Auroville’s current means. The real estate pressure has pushed up the prices to levels that often match those of western industrialized nations, bringing the total amount required to an estimated 250 million USD.

There are many reasons for the slow pace at which the lands have been purchased. The most obvious has been a chronic lack of funds. The Government of India, notwithstanding its passing of the Auroville Foundation Act, has never donated any funds for land purchase. Auroville depends on private donations to purchase the land and the generosity of the donors has not yet matched the needs.

Today, due to the increasing real estate pressure, the Auroville Land Board, the Auroville working group in charge of land purchase, finds itself often competing with bidders wealthier than itself. Sometimes the process becomes frustrating, as when some acreage, which Auroville refused to purchase in the past as it found the asking price too high, is again up for sale, how many times the original price. Other problems that hinder smooth purchases are family-ownership disputes, doubtful or even false land deeds, and sometimes dubious succession claims, which compromise ongoing negotiations and may even overturn a completed deal.

Protecting the Master Plan area

Since the early 2000’s, Auroville planners have been seeking a solution to the ever-increasing number of unwanted developments within the Master Plan area. They have requested the help of the State of Tamil Nadu to protect the lands needed to manifest the City of Dawn.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Auroville’s nodal ministry, approved the Master Plan of Auroville in 2001 and has published it in the Gazette of India. But this approval only offers genuine protection once the State of Tamil Nadu, in which Auroville is located for the most part, transcribes it into State regulations. For in India, all matters related to land are the prerogative of the states, not of the Central Government.

What Tamil Nadu can offer is governed by its Town and Country Planning Act, which says that the State representative, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), can constitute administrative entities over areas where it desires to create a planned development. The creation of such an administrative entity would offer Auroville statutory protection, defining what can and cannot be built within the Master Plan area.

A New Town Development Authority for Auroville?

The administrative entity best suitable for Auroville is a New Town Development Authority (NTDA). An NTDA’s task is to promulgate a planned development over a territory, prepare a New Town Development Plan, and get it approved by the Tamil Nadu Government. Once approved, the Plan becomes mandatory on all those who live in the area. Any building construction will need permission from the NTDA which approves what can and cannot be built in accordance with the approved development plan.

The idea to seek an NTDA for Auroville has not been welcomed by all Auroville residents for a variety of reasons. One is the fear that such an Authority might hamper instead of promote the development of Auroville as it would create an additional bureaucratic layer consisting of people who, in majority, would not be related to Auroville. Some residents are concerned that the Auroville Master Plan would be tampered with and insist that the NTDA should integrally accept it and not change it in making its own Plan. Others, to the contrary, fear that the NTDA would be used to impose certain aspects of the Master Plan, with which they do not fully or partially agree.

To try to find an alternative statutory solution, the Working Committee and the Auroville Council established a study group in 2016, whose role it was to study all legal venues, including requesting the nomination of Auroville to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

Also studied was an amendment to the Town and Country Planning Act by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly that would create a special legal framework for Auroville allowing it to develop independently. This option was recognised as desirable but has not been followed up as it stands little chance to be carried out by the Assembly in the present political context. In the end, the study group’s recommendations reflected the assessment of prior experts; buy the land and try to obtain an NTDA tailored for Auroville.

Discussing the NTDA with the Tamil Nadu Government.

In a series of meetings with the Tamil Nadu State authorities, members of the study group were impressed by the understanding and the goodwill that were expressed towards Auroville and its ideals. The authorities showed a willingness to accommodate Auroville in its desire to retain a say in the planning and development of the Master Plan area in accordance with the Master Plan approved by the HRD Ministry. They showed an understanding of the special nature of Auroville in its spiritual endeavor and its socio-economic values, and expressed great willingness to help with the planning of Auroville, within the measure of the law. Comforted by these reassurances the members of the study group concluded that an NTDA is the most appropriate statutory solution. But it should be well-negotiated: the notification establishing the NTDA should explicitly recognize the Auroville Master Plan and its socio-economic ideals, Auroville’s right to manifest it and specify the collaboration of Auroville with the DTCP in preparing the New Town Development Plan.

Would an NTDA really protect Auroville?

The opponents of an NTDA for Auroville point out that even if an ideal NTDA would manifest, it would not fully protect Auroville. For example, private individuals who own land within the Auroville Master Plan area, in a zone earmarked for high-density residences, could not be refused permission to construct such a high-rise. Similarly, a permit to develop a commercial activity couldn’t be refused to a private landowner in the artisanal zone.

The opponents also point out that an NTDA will put Auroville at the mercy of the NTDA authorities, who may not understand Auroville. They also question if an NTDA would indeed be more successful in stopping unauthorized developments than Auroville is today, given the possibilities of power abuse.

The Land Protection Group, while acknowledging these concerns, maintains its recommendation to seek a well-negotiated NTDA for the Auroville area. Such an NTDA would show the endorsement of the State of Tamil Nadu for Auroville and its Master Plan. The possibility that private landowners in the city area would benefit from the NTDA is limited, as Auroville already owns 87% of the area. But an NTDA would be of great benefit to the Green Belt, by keeping it as an agricultural and forested area.

The need of an aggressive land purchase policy

What is novel in the Land Protection Group’s proposal is its conclusion that without an aggressive land purchase strategy the NTDA will not suffice in protecting the lands in the Master Plan area. The land purchase strategy proposed is twofold: one part is to define what is most appropriate and urgent to buy and discontinue opportunistic buying [purchasing a piece of land because it comes up for sale and there is money available, eds.] and aggressively seeking-out strategically earmarked plots. The other part pertains to the need to raise the funds needed to purchase these strategic pieces of land.

What are these strategic plots of land? For the Land Protection Group, they are the plots needed to consolidate the city area as an integrated campus. Considered equally strategic are lands that by their nature and location have an intrinsic productive capacity, i.e. farm land, forest land or lands that need urgent protection for environmental conservation and water preservation. Also, lands that could slow down or prevent further private development should be identified and receive the utmost priority.

In order to overcome the chronic shortage of funds the Land Protection Group proposes to intensify “wealth generation”. The group advocates to sell unnecessary land assets, monetise underused assets and invest in business ventures on viable land assets. They also encourage and support land fund raising efforts. A first target of 20 million USD would be of great help to consolidate and protect the City area and the neighbouring Green Belt, says the group.

Outcome

Pondicherry and the surrounding villages will not slow their growth. India foresees a population expansion of 300 million by 2050, and the real estate pressure on Auroville will increase accordingly. If Auroville wants to remain relevant as a unified and integrated geographical entity, it must act assertively. The proposal of the Land Protection Group will not unify the community as it raises issues that remain sensitive, such as Government interference, land sales, and creating collaborative business opportunities on Auroville land. But it has the merit of offering a thought-out solution that blends both statutory and community-generated solutions, which will offer Auroville the protection it needs.