A testimony to stubborn persistence

Watching YouTube is often vexing. Downloading is slow, the wheel appears time and again and much fun fades in the waiting. Auroville’s telephone-based internet of 700-odd lines is limited in capacity and unsuitable for high speed internet access. “The official requirement is 2 Mbps [Megabits per second], but if you live far away from a BSNL telephone exchange, the reality is 256 Kbps [Kilobits per second],” says Chandresh. “The lack of a reliable and fast intranet is a major constraint.”

Together with JV Avadhanulu, popularly known as JV, he set out to do something about it. That was seven years ago. The path was uphill, he says, not only because of dealing with agencies outside Auroville, but also within Auroville where various working groups showed a tepid interest at best. In March this year JV declared he had had enough and left Auroville, to collaborate from a distance. Chandresh continued. Today, their work, now supported by Anandprasad, Manu, and Dyuman, is bearing fruit – a testimony to stubborn persistence.

High-speed internet connectivity is not easily available in India, particularly for those without funds. But Auroville is listed amongst the Institutes of Higher Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Would it be possible for Auroville to become a member of the National Knowledge Network (NKN), the state-of-the-art, multi-gigabit, pan-India fibre-optics network supported by the Government of India, offering speeds up to 1 Gbps [GigaBit per second]?

NKN, says its website, “goes to the core of India’s quest for building quality institutions. NKN is to enable scientists, researchers and students from different backgrounds and diverse geographies to work closely in the advancement of societal development in critical and emerging fields of knowledge.” For that reason, NKN created a unified high-speed optical fibre cable (OFC) backbone, connecting all institutions of higher learning in the country.

A long shot for Auroville? Certainly – but worth a try. After lengthy deliberations, it was agreed that Auroville can be considered a campus and that it could, and should, apply. ICITI [Integrated Communication and Information Technology Infrastructure] was started, a research platform to study which infrastructure would be required, where the cable network could best be laid, and how to make contacts with the NKN.

The Governing Board gave ICITI the green light and funds were solicited to purchase network equipment and fibre optic cables. Rs 21 lakhs (US $ 33,000) was received from the Auroville Foundation, Aurovilians and Auroville units, and equipment was donated to the value of Rs 16 lakhs. In the beginning of 2014, Mr. N. Bala Baskar, the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, requested the Government of India to connect Auroville to the NKN “in order to enable the community to partake in the researches envisaged under the NKN and catalyze wider collaboration within India and abroad.” The request was approved in November when the Minister of Human Resource Development sanctioned a 100Mbps OFC network connection on a trial basis for two years. “We are elated,” says a beaming Chandresh.

The ICITI project is being rolled out by Aurinoco Systems, an Auroville activity to build the Auroville-wide network. By the end of 2014, the first optical cable went underground. A Network Centre was set up in the Auroville Foundation building, connecting all the services in the Town Hall, SAIIER and the Auroville Foundation. Optical cables now also connect Auroville’s Centre for Scientific Research, Future School, Transition School, Last School, Dehashakti and TLC, The Learning Community.

This is just the beginning. To efficiently utilize the NKN facility and data link, community institutions such CRIPA, Kala Bhumi, Arka, Santé (the new Integral Health Center), PTDC, the Auroville Water Service, the Library, the Solar Kitchen, Deepanam School, Bharat Nivas, Savitri Bhavan, the Unity Pavilion, the Auroville Language Laboratory, and many more need to be connected. A lot of trench digging – along the planned roads where feasible and along existing pathways in other places – will happen to realize the NKN backbone in Auroville. To finish it, another Rs 40 lakhs will be required, which is expected from the Government of India grant. That would bring Auroville’s total investment to about 77 lakhs, which is reasonable, considering that the optical cable connection from Pondicherry to Auroville’s Network Centre has been borne by the NKN at the cost of Rs 27 lakhs. “And if you consider that an independent 100 Mbps network would cost Auroville Rs 60 lakhs per year, you can only conclude that the NKN connection is an act of Grace,” says Chandresh.

More grace could be expected if Auroville’s usage exceeds 100 Mbps. “In that case, the speed may be increased from 100Mbps to 1 Gbps. But if we don’t utilize it well, Auroville may be disconnected after the trial period of 2 years,” warned JV. But Chandresh is not concerned. “The possibilities are enormous,” he says. “Auroville Radio and Auroville TV can be streamed. Performances at Bharat Nivas, meetings at the Unity Pavilion, exhibitions at Pitanga, concerts at CRIPA – they all can be videoed and watched online in the comfort of one’s home.” In a not-too-distant future, the usage can include voice over intranet, and e-governance services such as those providing access to municipal databases. Auroville International Centres can have online discussions with Auroville working groups about the development of the International Zone. Auroville can benefit from tele-medicine and get connected to research in healing. Last but certainly not least, the connectivity will open the doors to online education, not only from external sources, but also from Auroville to the outside world. ICITI, then, will be a platform for boundary-less collaboration to expand the presence of Auroville beyond the geographical area of the City.

Auroville’s commercial units too can benefit. Aurinoco Systems plans to set up a Community Communication Center (CCC) that will get a commercial fibre optic access from either BSNL or RailTel to which all commercial units can be connected, against payment. Those who do not require superfast internet can continue to use the existing modem based system.

It is not yet clear if individual homes can be connected. “Auroville is considered a campus, and like other university campuses in India, connection may also be provided to the homes of researchers and students. We await the Memorandum of Understanding from the NKN which will clarify these issues,” says Chandresh. “But we foresee that each entity or home in Auroville will soon have fibre optic access to the internet.”

When will the connection be operational? “Before the winter monsoon” says Chandresh confidently. That would bring the number of NKN-connected Indian institutions to 1407. Welcome to the club.