A roller-coaster ride

Auroville Today: What has it been like to serve as Secretary?

Mohan V. Chunkath: It has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride, for every day there were new things to look after and tackle. It was exciting, but different from what I had expected. I thought that I would be contributing more towards some of the interesting work which is being done in Auroville. I knew Auroville as an incubator, promoter and implementer of Mohan Verghese Chunkath solutions, building technologies and farm irrigation systems, and was aware of the significant contributions it has been making to sustainable development, not only within Auroville but also outside with the State Government and the Central Government. But I could contribute less than I had hoped for. I found that there is a lot of plain administrative work, which of course is to be expected, but with Auroville being a non-hierarchical structure, straightforward administration proved to be an interesting challenge. The work here is far more complex than in a normal bureaucratic set-up. I was fortunate that I had a lot of collaboration from the different working groups and from Aurovilians in general. 

Could you elaborate on that ‘complexity’?

I was exposed to many different visions that exist within the community. It felt at times as if there were several sub-communities living in the same geographical area. Many of Auroville’s working groups have gone in different directions which have created a divide. For example, the Green Group is very clear that no trees should be cut; the sustainable architecture group has a view on Auroville roads; there are different views on town planning; and all stances are very rigid. Auroville seems to have splintered into different groups with different ideals, each with their own priorities; and there are many ‘free’ spirits who do not wish to have rigid rules. What all have in common is that none is ready to subsume their views and compromise to reach a shared larger vision. And the Auroville working groups, which all work very hard, don’t have enough time to look at long-term planning and decision-making to take Auroville to the next level. The result is that there is no meeting of minds on what the super-ordinate goals are. So while most Auroville residents seem to have a strong commitment to the ideals of Auroville and its deeper purpose, the manifestation of the ideals needs to be based on a shared vision and plan of action by which the Auroville township can become a reality.

Auroville must go back to its roots, and do a lot of introspection on what Sri Aurobindo and the Mother said. This is very, very necessary, for unless you are able to harmonize different viewpoints, you cannot make decisions. Today, Auroville lacks decision-making ability. It is necessary to look into that: how can issues that have floundered due to lack of decision-making get resolved. In my opinion, you can only do that by looking at the larger overall goals and ideals, use those to resolve these differences, and so find a solution acceptable to all. Auroville is an intentional aspirational community, and that’s where you have to move to. 

You feel that the spiritual aspect isn’t emphasised enough?

I have been wondering if Auroville is failing to expose people to Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s vision. Auroville leaves the inner development to the individual, and rightly so, but many of them never get around to it. I’m not passing any value judgment, but for an intentional spiritual community, I think Auroville is probably not sufficiently progressing along the lines of what is required. I am not saying that people must have read all the books: but there has to be a yearning for inner life. There should be a search, a continuous interest, rather than getting caught up in the daily humdrum like everywhere else in the world. I was actually expecting that Aurovilians would be distinctly different; but I found that this was not the case. Of course, you can say that my expectations were unrealistic, for people are people, but yet I felt that there should be something more noticeably different. For by joining this unique project, people are supposed to have subscribed to Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s teaching. But if not enough people subscribe to this in a large way, I think there is a bit of a problem. After all, the Auroville township is meant to be a place where the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother can manifest, a “laboratory of evolution” in the form of a township.

You also mentioned the complexity of your administrative work... 

I think people do not realise that the staff at the Auroville Foundation office is far too small for the extensive tasks it is supposed to execute. The Foundation has only a Secretary, an Under Secretary and two staff members. We need more people, more specialised people, a legal cell, a finance cell, people specialised in land matters. Too much depends on too few individuals, and there is little “institutional memory”.

Can you give an example of where having insufficient staff affected the work?

I have been quite disturbed by some of the events in Auroville, such as some guesthouse management issues we had to deal with, major issues with a building construction project and various land related issues. It might have been different if we had had a stronger presence at the Foundation office so that we could have been more directly involved rather than leaving it entirely to the Auroville working and project groups concerned. 

And in the last months, we have seen an avalanche of land cases, with people suddenly claiming lands Auroville has long had in its possession.

Yes, the neighbouring villagers have become more litigious, more assertive and more knowledgeable and therefore they take steps which earlier they were hesitant to do. The monetary stakes are very high these days, as land prices have skyrocketed. Old land deals are being studied to see if mistakes have been made and if people can claim ownership of the whole or a part. The Auroville Foundation is now involved in many more court cases about land ownership.

The position of the Secretary is a solitary one. How was your experience dealing with working groups who face you with a common stand? For you didn’t have the benefit of having your own sounding board.

The Governing Board constituted in its meeting in September last year an Oversight Committee consisting of senior Aurovilians, with a task to do test checks of construction projects in Auroville. I was planning to ask the Board to expand its role to also look into the working of various projects and units and the functioning of various working groups. This group became a ‘think tank’ for me to brainstorm difficult issues. My experience with them has been positive, and I would recommend the various working groups to interact with them to formulate their long term plans, for that is one area where the working groups have little experience.

The Secretary of the Auroville Foundation has been appointed Estate Officer of the Auroville Foundation under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, which authorizes him to take action against all those who are encroaching on Auroville Foundation owned land, without having to go to court. How has this worked out?

This appointment has not become fully effective. We did a few test cases where Auroville land was encroached, but there were delays in getting the local administration to implement the orders given as Estate Officer. The notification of this appointment in the Gazette of India happened in July 2016, and the Act states that it extends to the whole of India. But our legal team has mentioned the need for an additional notification in the Gazette of Tamil Nadu. This has to be pursued. For otherwise there will be no other option than going to court, and then the issues may take years to get resolved. 

Even before you joined as Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, you had been asked about your views on requesting the Tamil Nadu Government to constitute a New Town Development Authority (NTDA) for the Auroville area. This issue is still being debated in Auroville. What are your views today?

My views have not changed. An NTDA is the only way to get some degree of protection from unwanted development on private lands within the Master Plan area. Right now, there is absolutely no protection. And as Auroville does not have the funds to buy all the lands in the Master Plan area, there is no other option than statutory protection. We can endlessly argue about the merits or demerits, but there is no other alternative. By not doing anything, you are inviting more and more developers, who will do whatever the local body permits. With an NTDA you have a chance to block non-permissible activities. Moreover, the NTDA as being considered by the Government of Tamil Nadu is for a large area around and including Auroville. This would also protect the immediate environs of Auroville, and not only the Auroville Master Plan area.

You have often expressed concern about the town planning aspect of Auroville.

The concern is about the lack of consensus. There is no common vision on future development. Perhaps as a result there has been a watering down of Auroville’s Town Development Council (TDC). Within a year, most of its members resigned and today it has not even a full membership. But the TDC has to be a strongly mandated body which drives the planning, development and building of the township. The TDC should come up with a 3-year work plan that includes clear deliverables, a budget and a human resources plan. The TDC then needs to specify what it can do itself and where outside consultants need to come in, budget the required funds, and the Governing Board should give its feedback. There must be an open evaluation every year of how far it has progressed towards the goal of developing the Auroville township.

Speaking about budgets: For about one third of its total income, Auroville depends on a yearly grant from the Government of India. This GOI grant has not increased in the last years. What are your views on this?

I think that a community which aims at self-government should not depend too much on a government grant. Auroville should decrease that dependency and take active steps to move towards self-sufficiency. This implies that Auroville should re-prioritize its needs. 

So far, the four main beneficiaries of the GOI grant [SAIIER, TDC, Bharat Nivas and Administration. eds.] determine where they spend ‘their’ portion of the grant. This is now changing with the involvement of the GOI Grant Group [a subgroup of the Working Committee and Funds and Assets Management Committee, eds.] which has started discussing proposed allocations. This is necessary. GOI grants have to be allocated in a rational manner, not just because something is desirable for a particular group. For example, the concept of ‘shared’ or multi-purpose spaces is not sufficiently developed. There could be better utilisation of existing buildings and facilities while GOI grants may be used mainly for capital expenditure on common infrastructure facilities.

The Auroville population consists of about two thirds of foreigners who need a visa to live in and work for Auroville. What has been your experience in this area? 

We have fared very well. I would say that we have broken the ice, both in Chennai and Delhi, with the authorities being increasingly cooperative. The Visa Policy for Auroville is stable: the visa situation for Auroville residents, volunteers and tourists is now clear and unambiguous. The Government has even agreed to bring perceived visa violations by an Auroville resident to the notice of the Auroville Foundation Secretary who can provide clarifications, instead of serving the resident a Leave India notice or refusing him or her re-entry when returning to India. This has been a joint endeavour in which the cooperation of the Working Committee and François Gautier has been essential.

During your term of office the issue of discrimination came to the fore. Do you feel the issue has been sufficiently dealt with?

No, the issue is not over and it has to be dealt with sensitively – though perhaps ‘discrimination’ is too strong a word. It came up in the context of people’s participation in working groups. Some people felt they were excluded from governance-related work in Auroville, and that this was not done in a fair and transparent way; others feel they have less voice, despite the fact that their numbers in terms of percentage of the population are larger and that the same opportunities have not always been given. Of course, the question of a person’s ability to do the work is also there. I wouldn’t go as far as proposing proportional representation, but Auroville has to re-study its selection process. There is room for correction and for the self-governance mechanism to improve. I acknowledge it is a difficult problem which cannot be expected to be resolved easily. 

This issue was brought to the attention of the Governing Board which, exceptionally, delegated two of its members to look into the issue. Today we see more of an active involvement of Board members in Auroville issues. What are your views on this?

I welcome a bigger involvement of the Governing Board in Auroville. The Board started that when it kicked off the Retreat, but this has not continued. The Board should have enquired how Auroville has developed in each of the areas discussed in the Retreat, what the plans and impediments are and then entered into a dialogue with the Aurovilians. But this didn’t happen.

A regular stronger input from the Board is desirable. Just a sporadic intervention is not enough. There has to be some impetus, some questioning of where Auroville is, and if it is going in the right direction. That questioning can’t be completely left to the community, as it has shown that it doesn’t have that kind of direction. But the Board should not aim at telling Auroville what it has to do; it should begin a conversation and play a supervisory, progress reviewing and guiding role. 

I foresee that the Board will become more assertive. The community needs to do some introspection on how to deal with this. It should not be a reactive kind of thing, but rather how to best to work with the Board. For example, the Board may be asked to break deadlocks, such as obtaining the Government’s permission for the sale of outlying lands, or to intervene when an Auroville development is blocked. 

And the position of the Secretary in this?

I recommend that the Secretary becomes a Member-Secretary of the Board, while continuing being accountable to the Chairman of the Board as is specified in the Auroville Foundation Act. At present the Secretary is not a board member. I think this is not ideal. 

Do you have any regrets for having taken up this post?

No. It was a very interesting and an extraordinary experience. Nothing I’ve ever done compares with it, it was unique. I depart holding Auroville very dear to my heart.