The Chairman visits Auroville

The Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu and Chairman of the Governing Board, Shri R N Ravi, visited Auroville on 18th and 19th of October, 2022. He was welcomed by the Collector, Mr. D Mohan of Villupuram. Along with the Secretary, Dr Jayanti Ravi and a few members of the Foundation supported Working Committee, he met Aurovilians at their places of work and interacted with them.

For the first time, the Working Committee selected by the Residents' Assembly also had a 2-hour meeting with him. In this meeting, the RA Working Committee presented some of Auroville's efforts over the past decade towards developing the city, emphasizing the fact that while there is still a lot to do, much has already been done and expertise is largely present within the community. They also spoke about the current state of affairs, insisting that for a positive way forward to be found, people need to feel secure and the current state of fear needs to come to an end. Specifically this would involve recognising and respecting the Residents’ Assembly and its committees, stopping the culture of intimidation and coercion, restoring all community platforms for information sharing and communication, and including Auroville experts and community in planning processes.

The Chairman listened with focus and attention, asked questions throughout and shared his views on several aspects of Auroville, its current reality and its aim of being a gnostic and spiritualised society.

The RA Working Committee felt this was an important first step in establishing contact with the Governing Board through its Chairman, and hope that it will open the way to a better understanding of the residents' perspective.