In memoriam - Navroz Kersasp Mody

Navroz Mody, environmental activist, died in Pondicherry on 20 December 2024. He was 79. Born and raised in Bombay, Navroz was the only son of Kersasp and Rati Mody. He attended the Cathedral School, where he was a great sportsman, Head Boy in 1964, and Palmer House Captain. He was awarded the Macdonald Medal for Leadership in 1963. From 1965 to 1969, Navroz studied at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA, under the mentorship of Hans Penner, noted scholar of comparative religion. Returning to India, he worked as Regional Editor for Oxford University Press from 1971-1980. Among his editorial projects were the late volumes of the Handbook of Birds of India and Pakistan by Salim Ali, the renowned ornithologist and natural historian. Their friendship inspired Navroz’s developing passion for environmental conservation. During the 1970s, with Shyam Chainani and others, Navroz became a founding member of the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG). For decades, through speaking, writing, and legal advocacy, he worked with BEAG to impact policy and effect change. At his death, he remained Honorable Secretary.

In 1980, Navroz moved to Pondicherry to start his own business, Southend Typographics, and in December 1983, he joined the Auroville community. He developed a grant-funded project to enhance water and crop management for small farmers in the Palani Hills watershed. He played an integral role in the Palani Hills Conservation Council and was instrumental in legal battles to protect the region, including the landmark victory over Pleasant Stay Hotel in 1995. During the 1990s, Navroz worked with the global organisation Greenpeace, helping to pursue legal action against the companies responsible for the gas leak disaster in Bhopal. In Kodaikanal, Navroz was instrumental in exposing mercury contamination and seeking justice for affected workers. In Auroville, he was known as a “fearless soldier” for environmental justice. Navroz was a member of the team that worked on the Auroville Master Plan. Based on his extensive experience in environmental issues, he focused on the co-development area (now called "outside the Master Plan") and the Auroville Greenbelt. Navroz showed that planning and natural growth in designing a Master Plan are not contradictory but complementary approaches. In 1999, he became a member of the official representative team for the Master Plan. In 2022, after the destruction of the Youth Center and Bliss forest, he was one of two Aurovilians who petitioned the National Green Tribunal Southern Bench to preserve Auroville’s forests and green spaces, uphold participatory planning and stress the need for obtaining environmental clearance for the Master Plan area.

Navroz was also an artist. And in recent times, he was instrumental in starting the Ecology Action Lab at Aurobrindavan to encourage citizen science in Auroville.

Navroz will be remembered for his fearlessness, kindness, passion, generosity, concern for others, and capacity to articulate issues. For his family and friends, his indelible spirit remains.

Navroz’s remains were cremated on 26 December at the Auroville cremation grounds.