Landmarks

Passing of the AV Foundation Act (November 1988, No 1)

The Auroville Foundation Act was passed in both Houses of Parliament in September 1988. Shiv Shanker, the Minister for Human Resources, in introducing it said “Auroville is to be looked upon as a vision which has a great potentiality, and this can be of tremendous service to our country and to the world.” Alain Bernard, who witnessed the passing of the Act, remarked, “What is always moving when you see it happening, and it happened very powerfully this time, is when you see the Force operating.” Later, Kireet Joshi, who drafted the Act, explained, “I think this Act has some very unique features, which you will not find in any Act in the country. If you read between the lines, you will find that the whole Act is so formulated that it would facilitate what Mother has called ‘divine anarchy’.”

The Auroville economy: a small step forward (May 1989, No 6)

A proposal from the Economy Study group was accepted by the community for an experimental six months. Yearly budgets will be drawn up for all collective responsibilities for which money is needed; all Aurovilians and Auroville units will be asked to contribute to a Central Fund which will distribute to these budgets; the individuals will have the right to determine to which budget their contribution will go and the units will determine how much and to which budget they will contribute each month; and an Auroville Economy Group will be formed, consisting of representatives of all sectors of the Auroville economy, to take responsibility for the execution of this first step.

The Matrimandir Chamber opens (October 1991, No 33)

“What happens to a person when he steps into a huge 12-sided room of white marble with 12 columns disappearing into the roof, and a ray of light shining down into the centre? What happened to me at first was an unexpected sense of all the people who had in some way contributed to Matrimandir by wanting it to be. Everything that had said, ‘Yes, it must be’, everyone who did it was there making it real now. … (A week later the crystal was put in place.) Again, another order of magnitude is the energy field, a centre reflecting only light. Whatever or however one may reflect on the symbolism, the effect on the body is profound. The feeling is one of clarification, even of purification that happens directly … August 1991 is over, but what happened seems to be the beginning of another time. The room is open.”

The city’s inner dimension (June-July 2001, No 149-150)

(From a speech given by Dr Kireet Joshi introducing the seminar ‘City in the making’)

“Auroville is the most precious gift that the earth possesses. It has momentous potentialities and each of us who live here have to bear a new kind of torch that is still in the making. … By living together, Sri Aurobindo wrote, such a collectivity will increase the force of the truth, but at the same time each individual will contribute his or her incapacities, and therefore the force of the incapacities will also be concentrated. In the past this concentration of incapacities has exceeded the concentration of the truth force, and as a result such group attempts have been a failure. This can only be prevented, Sri Aurobindo says, if the Divine will has taken a decision to protect it and develop the experiment. This has happened in the Ashram and in Auroville … I think Mother felt the need to create a body, a collectivity, which would serve the purpose of receiving the light of the divine body, and would organise itself into higher and higher modes of living so that the work of the supramental manifestation could move faster and faster. In other words, the most important foundation of Auroville is the supramental consciousness.”

A step towards Auroville unity? (October 2003, No 177)

The first building in the city’s administrative sector becomes operational.

The Auroville Centre for Urban Research, alias the Town Hall, has been functioning for some months now. Although the formal inauguration awaits the relocation of Auroville Fund and the Financial Service from their offices in Pour Tous, other major groups like Auroville’s Future, the Land Service, the Housing group, Development Council, the FAMC and the Working Committee and Council have taken up residence. … Roger gave Anupama (the architect) some guidelines for the overall design of this sector. “This is the only part of the city which must have a direct visual contact with the Matrimandir, he explained, as it is important that the decision-makers should have the Matrimandir – the force of cohesion and the essence of Auroville – always before them.”

President Abdul Kalam visits (November 2004, No 190)

On 1 November the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, paid a visit to Auroville. The President said:

“I have come here as a pilgrim, for you have a large mission, a mission which came from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. When I heard your presentations how the barren land was transformed into a beautiful place I was moved and also by your concern for the water and the seawater ingress. Somebody once said that everything starts from the inner side, and if the inner side is OK, everything is OK. For what do you want to be? My answer to this question from a child was ‘to be a better human being’. And Auroville probably is the place which creates better human beings.”

In the Matrimandir visitors’ book, he wrote “Matrimandir is a beautiful divine creation. When I spent a few minutes in the concentration chamber, I felt time is infinite”.

The Auroville tsunami rehabilitation effort (January 2005, No 192)

The first wave of the tsunami hit the Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu coast at 8am on 26 December 2004. Seven thousand people died on the spot. By 9:30 a team from Auroville swung into action. A first emergency meeting was called in the house of two Aurovilians and it was immediately decided to set up a camp for people affected by the tidal waves … The camp was manned by more than 60 Tamil youth from the villages within Auroville, as well as many Aurovilians. By 2pm 750 people were fed and 350 food packages distributed … All through the afternoon refugees kept streaming in and another 1200 people were fed in the evening. … By the fourth day it became clear to Aurovilians that they had to shift from immediate relief measures to long-term solutions for the affected villages. The Auroville Tsunami Relief Committee was established with Aurovilians Hemant and Joss as main coordinators. … It was found that [in the immediate region] approximately 500 houses had been destroyed and 62 deaths registered. … A member of the coordination team emphasises, “This is a catastrophe of unparalleled dimensions … If we receive sufficient funds, we will not only look after the rebuilding of the 12 coastal villages we have taken charge of, but we will include all those reaching up to Marakkanam.”

Youth for Unity (April 2005, No 195)

Exploring new values through inter-cultural and inter-religious exchange.

The international conference ‘Youth for Human Unity’ was a collaboration between CIRHU and UNESCO and was part of UNESCO’s worldwide inter-religious dialogue programme. The main aim of the event was to create dialogue between the major religions and young people of the SAARC region. The official delegates came from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Singapore and Australia and spent five days discussing issues like spirituality and religion, education, art and culture and integral development. … The feedback regarding the organisation and impact of the conference and Auroville was overwhelmingly positive. All the delegates felt more open to the others and better equipped and more willing to bring change to their communities. They also had a deeper understanding not only of the obstacles to human unity – “war, cynicism, emphasis only on external growth, not being unified within” enumerated one delegate – but of the means to achieving it. “We need to work on two levels; on the material level there should be education for all. On the spiritual level, we should work on the evolution of consciousness. That’s the key. Once that’s achieved, unity will come automatically.”

Matrimandir completed (February 2008, No 227)

This month Auroville is 40 years old. This birthday coincides with the completion of the Matrimandir, which had been under construction for almost as long. Auroville Today celebrated by publishing for the first time an issue in colour so that it could show both the soaring lines and the beauty in detail of the Matrimandir. “The Matrimandir,” wrote the Mother, “will be the soul of Auroville. The sooner it is there, the better it will be for everybody and especially for the Aurovilians.”

Dalai Lama inaugurates Pavilion of Tibetan Culture (February 2009, No 240)

Speaking to a crowd of more than 3000 people, the Dalai Lama expressed his happiness that he was once again back in Auroville, this time to inaugurate the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture.

“I feel it is a great honour. Every visit I come here I see more development, more progress. Sri Aurobindo’s and The Mother’s vision are being executed whole-heartedly, and that is very good. I want to express my deep appreciation and thank all of you who carry Their vision.

“I also want to thank you for the development of the Tibetan Pavilion … Tibetan culture, the culture of compassion and nonviolence, will be shown here and preserved. … although material development with the help of technology and science is rapidly increasing, it is by itself insufficient and no guarantee for a peaceful human existence. We need some special effort to bring inner peace and a spirit of dialogue. For that reason, Tibetan culture, a more compassionate culture, is something useful to preserve.”

The Auroville Retreat (April 2015, No 309)

The Auroville Retreat brought together members of the International Advisory Council, the Governing Board and around 160 Aurovilians to examine the present state of Auroville and to draft an action plan for the near future. It was the culmination of two months of intense work, involving around 300 Aurovilians and 35 thematic work sessions. The original idea was to focus simply on governance. … This was expanded to include five key areas of Auroville’s life: governance, land and planning, growth, education and the economy. However, when it was noticed that youth and the bioregion were under-represented in the preparation groups, these two areas were also added. … On the second day, steps were taken towards the concrete implementations of milestones. (On the final day) each area group presented their chosen milestone with its terms of reference to the plenary. The day ended with Dr Karan Singh giving an uplifting speech. Noting that Auroville is at a crossroads and needs a major change – “it either breaks through or breaks down” – he observed he had never seen Aurovilians in a better mood and felt there was a new energy to move forward. And he promised that once the Governing Board received the concrete proposals drafted in the Retreat, “we will do whatever it takes to see that the breakthrough occurs.”

The Prime Minister hails Auroville (March 2018, No 344)

On 25 February, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, paid a visit to Pondicherry and to Auroville to participate in Auroville’s golden jubilee celebrations.

In a speech in Bharat Nivas he said:

“I am happy to be here today on the occasion of the golden jubilee week of Auroville. Sri Aurobindo’s vision of India’s spiritual leadership continues to inspire us, even today. Indeed, Auroville is a manifestation of that vision. Over the last five decades, it has emerged as a hub of social, cultural, educational, economic and spiritual innovation …

“The very fact that Auroville has brought together such huge diversity of people and ideas makes dialogue and debate natural … India has always allowed mutual respect and co-existence of different religions and cultures. India is home to the age-old tradition of Gurukul, where learning is not confined to classrooms; where life is a living laboratory. Auroville too has developed as a place of unending and life-long education …

“Be it unending education, environment regeneration, renewable energy, organic agriculture, appropriate building technologies, water management, or waste management, Auroville has been a pioneer. May Auroville continue to come up with ideas to empower the ordinary citizens of this country.

“May people from far and wide bring with them new ideas. May Auroville become the centre where these ideas are synthesized. May Auroville serve as a beacon to the world. May it be the guardian which calls for breaking down narrow walls of the mind. May it continue to invite everyone to celebrate the possibilities of humanity’s oneness.

“May the spirit of Maharishi Aurobindo and the Divine Mother continue to guide Auroville to the eventual fulfillment of its lofty founding vision.”

COVID-19: a wake-up call (June-July 2020, No 371-372)

How has Auroville dealt with this unique stress test?

On the whole, it has done very well: typically, we seem to derive strength from adversity. Those strengths include the extraordinary dedication and spirit of service displayed by those in our essential services (food, energy, economy, waste disposal etc.) to keep the community functioning efficiently; the long hours spent by Security, Health, the COVID Task Force and the Working Committee in dealing with the authorities and ensuring that that the tough lockdown conditions were adhered to; a huge upsurge in volunteerism from people of all ages; and, in spite of the rigours of the lockdown, a pervasive good humour and willingness to observe the unfamiliar practices of social distancing, mask-wearing and sanitising by the residents. Support was provided for the older and more vulnerable members of our population through a new food delivery service and psychological counselling, while Auroville Village Action Group provided emergency aid to the most vulnerable in the nearby villages.

However, the stress test also revealed weaknesses.

Perhaps the most obvious consequence of the lockdown … was its disastrous effect upon our economy. The lockdown has jolted us out of our habitual grooves, and now we have the opportunity to experience Auroville anew and to examine the economy, governance system, institutions etc. we have created, as well as the lifestyles we have grown accustomed to.

… unless there is a change in our consciousness, meaning the beginning of a realisation of our essential oneness, we are liable to look back on it, just as we did on Cyclone Thane and The Retreat, as yet another opportunity missed.

New Secretary’s address to the community (August 2021, No 385)

Dr Jayanti S Ravi assumed office as Secretary of the Auroville Foundation in July 2021. In her first address to the community she said, “… the skill that I, in my career spanning 30 years, have been able to perform or deliver is the ability to straddle different points of view, different stakeholders, and actually facilitate the process of making things happen.

“I do look forward to this as an exciting possibility where, with all of you together, I would be very happy to offer my services, to work in a very sincere manner towards seeing all your aspirations, dreams, come true. … We are all trying to manifest what (the Mother) dreamt of, a unique experimental city where you synthesise matter and spirit, and work through and towards human unity, where we are all trying to synthesise the diversity that we have.

“I look at myself as a master plumber who can help you remove some of the obstacles, the things that possibly clog our aspiration to make things happen.

“I want to appeal to all of us to re-dedicate ourselves to really make the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, and the vision, the dream, of Mother manifest itself as beautifully, as quickly, and as firmly as possible here in Auroville to serve as a beacon for the entire world and mankind.”

The new Governing Board meets (December 2021, No 389)

On 2 November, the new Governing Board met for the first time in Auroville. It was subsequently reported in the Indian press that the Governing Board wanted a time-bound implementation of the Master Plan, and they discussed ways to carry forward goals in sectors ranging across housing, infrastructure and greening initiatives in Auroville.

In the late afternoon, four members of the Board – Shri Ravindra Narayana Ravi (Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu), Shri Aravindan Neelakandan, Professor Goutam Ghosal, and Professor Sarraju, accompanied by Dr J Ravi, Secretary of the Auroville Foundation – attended an open meeting with the community.

The Governing Board was asked how they planned to work with the new International Advisory Council. The Chairman replied that … “within the ambit of the Act, we will definitely take all their views into account and your views, and will move forward with them.” However, he emphasised that it is the Governing Board that has the overall responsibility for the management of Auroville.

He felt that people outside are losing faith in Auroville. “The dream of The Mother is being questioned; the experiment that she started is a failed experiment as it appears today.” He feels that Auroville must become a “strong magnet” to attract people from all over the world. “That magnet we have to create and we will do that with the help of you all. Not that we are here to create, you will create. We are here as a catalyst, that is what our role is. We will give the resources and we will be a catalyst.”

Youth Centre buildings destroyed (January 2022, No 390)

The last weeks saw bulldozers removing trees planted by Auroville foresters and Auroville habitations in the Youth Centre to clear a path for the Right of Way of the Crown, which is intended to connect the four zones of the city. This action was opposed and decried by some who saw it as an assault, not only on the environment, but also on the fabric of our unity. One Aurovilian wrote, “Although I am very sad about the destruction of our trees and our Youth Centre, and am heartbroken to see the clearcutting of forest, I am most sad about the destruction of our Auroville values. Values such as caring for our neighbours, integrity, compassion and goodwill. To see actions such as violence, verbal and physical abuse, the use of the police and hired locals to enforce our decisions, all condoned in the name of progress, is a clear indication for me that our dearest values have been abandoned.”

Others however, while not necessarily applauding the methods, were happy to feel that, after 53 years, an important step was being taken towards the materialisation of the city.

The Dreamweaving concludes (May 2022, No 394)

The ‘Dreamweaving the Crown’ is part of a process which attempts to bring down to the ground the Galaxy and the Master Plan in the form of a Detailed Development Plan (DDP).

Recently, the Dreamweaving the Crown exercise finished. Approximately 70 people – Dreamweaving architects, their peers, multidisciplinary experts, focus groups and randomly selected members of the Residents Assembly – took part at various stages of the exercise, which began with a Crown walk at the end of December and concluded with an exhibition and presentation to the larger community in early April … As mentioned in the brief, the report – representing the diverse voices of Auroville – will also be sent to Vastu Shilpa Consultants to support, inform, and inspire their detailed development work on the city.

Eleven Dreamweaving teams participated. Although their backgrounds and orientations differed, and they focused on different aspects of the Crown, certain commonalities began to emerge during the process. One common theme was integration and synthesis – particularly of the Galaxy vision with the ground and bioclimatic realities. Another common theme was the need for diversity, for the Crown to provide a variety of different experiences as it passes through different zones and environments. Finally, there was a shared emphasis upon the need for the Crown to be human-centred: for pedestrians and cyclists to be prioritised, for the provision of plazas and safe, communal spaces, and for shading/ weather protection at all times of the year.

The Chairman addresses the residents (December 2022, No 401)

In December, the Chairman of the Governing Board Shri RN Ravi addressed the residents in a community meeting. Among other things, he said, “The first thing that Mother’s Charter makes very clear, that to be in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. And in plain and simple language, it means one has to be a bhakti, with total surrender to the Divine Consciousness, one must be a bhakta, a devotee, that is a sadhak, who comes over here with a desire for further evolution to the higher level of consciousness. And that it’s a place of constant education and progress.

“Now, it pains me, when I moved around, the sadhana element of it, we find it is GROSSLY deficient, grossly deficient. You may find my statement very provocative, but I want to provoke because after all, we are here not for the brand Auroville but for the soul of Auroville. If the soul is not there, brand has no matter …

“I would suggest now that Auroville has to have a set of guidelines, agreed norms how to conduct its affairs, in terms of who should be allowed to come, who should be in Auroville, what are some common minimum activities which are consistent or necessary for being a sadhak in this process of our forward journey. Those norms … MUST be there.

“Because it is now not acceptable … to let the status quo continue. … Auroville has to be spiritually strengthened, and of course materially reinforced as well … Auroville needs a shock, an external shock to bring it to its sense, bring it to its trail.”

Leave India Notice (March 2023, No 404)

The community was deeply shocked to learn that a young Aurovilian and member of the Residents’ Assembly Working Committee had been served with a Leave India Notice on 15 February. No official explanation has been given. … The Auroville International (AVI) Board sent a letter to the Governing Board … noting that the Notice raises “suspicion … that this serious measure is a retaliation for [this individual’s] commitment to the governance of the Auroville community.” The RA Working Committee reports that they are actively looking into the situation and are hopeful that compassion and reason will prevail, for “We have faith in the goodwill of Mother India.”

Auroville’s population declines (December 2024, No 425)

Our crisis has had a direct impact on our demographics. This year has some unusual changes, the most notable being that the Auroville population declined by 68 people from 3368 in 2023 to 3300 in 2024. Concurrently with this reduction in overall size, the other notable change has been the decline in the foreign national populations. The French, for instance, whilst still the second largest population after the Indians, are down thirty-six people to 403, Germany, in third place, reduced its number by twelve to 227, Italians six down to 165, Americans seven less to an exact 100. The international character of Auroville has been heralded as another metric of our communal story, so this decline is noteworthy.

In opposition to the decline of the foreign population, the other continuing trend is the growth of the Indian residents. For the first time ever in Auroville’s history, they crossed the halfway mark to become 51.5% of Auroville’s total population, a jump of 2%.

Auroville Foundation issues residence criteria standing order (January 2025, No 426)

On 25 November 2024, the AVFO Officer on Special Duty, Dr G Seetharaman, issued a new Standing Order detailing residence criteria and a code of conduct for all Residents, Newcomers, volunteers and permanent guests in Auroville, which came into effect immediately.

The Standing Order outlines “General principles of life in Auroville” and contains a detailed code of conduct, as mandatory requirements rather than guidelines, with the stated threat of “termination of status” if the ‘rules’ are breached. The rules include all those residing in Auroville must attend the Auroville Spiritual and Material Refresher programme organised by the Human Resources Service; residents are expected to participate in the building of the city and shall in no way obstruct or hinder the manifestation of the township of Auroville, being built in accordance with the Master Plan; all inhabitants shall act in strict compliance of the decisions of the statutory working groups, approved by the Governing Board; residents shall be engaged in work for the collective, through an Auroville unit or service, at least 6 hours per day, 6 days per week, or, 5 hours per day, 7 days per week or as may be decided from time to time by the Funds and Assets Management Committee, in accordance with the Mother’s teachings and guidelines; residents shall live full time in Auroville. For any absence, information must be given to the Human Resources Service upon departure and upon return. In case of leaving Auroville for longer than two weeks, long-term or frequent absence, such as for family, medical or educational reasons, this must be applied for and approved by the Human Resources Service.

Two judgments of the Supreme Court of India (April 2025, No 429)

The Supreme Court issued, on 17 March, two judgments on appeals made by the Secretary, Auroville Foundation – one against the NGT ruling of 28 April 2022 regarding environmental clearances, and another against the Madras High Court order of 15 March 2024 on the Town Development Council matter.

The Supreme Court has accepted the Auroville Foundation’s appeals in both cases. Regarding environmental clearance and the Auroville Master Plan, it stated, according to a notice from the Auroville Foundation, that “the Auroville Master Plan … has statutory force and does not require Environmental Clearance” and the Supreme Court has “set aside the National Green Tribunals directions that had stalled the construction of the Crown Road and other essential projects aligned with the Auroville Master Plan”. In a separate case, the Supreme Court “reaffirmed that the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation has full authority under the Auroville Foundation Act to constitute and reconstitute committees, including the ATDC, for the efficient implementation of the Master Plan”, and “clarified that the Resident’s Assembly’s role is advisory in nature and does not extend to the right to nominate members to committees formed by the Governing Board”.

However, the statutory rights and responsibilities of the Residents’ Assembly as outlined in the Auroville Foundation Act and its rules remain intact.

Auroville’s beach erosion (September 2024, No. 422)

Once upon a time, Auroville had ten beach communities. Now there are only eight left. The most southern ones, about six kilometres north of Pondicherry, are Quiet (home to the Quiet Healing Center), Samarpan, Samutra and Gokulam. These communities suffered badly from beach erosion, losing at least 50 metres of their beachfront land, with the beaches completely disappearing or being vastly reduced in size. Efforts to protect these communities from further sea erosion have largely failed. In 2019, with the help of a 13 lakhs private donation, Quiet built a wall of sand bags to protect its land and buildings, but this gradually disappeared in the following two years. Yet, these communities continue to exist, thanks to a seawall and a groyne.

On 19 August 2024 Auroville learned that Dr Ramana Murthy, the Director of the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), and his team visited Sri Ma and inspected the land loss and the severely eroded beach. They concluded that to stop any further loss of land, a stone wall needs to be immediately constructed along the eroded stretch of the shoreline, for which NCCR will send the design.

Later on, this stretch can be integrated with the Shoreline Management Plan made by the NCCR for the entire Tamil Nadu coast. 

Cyclone Fengal hits Auroville (January 2025, No 426)

On 29 November 2024, Cyclone Fengal developed and intensified into a cyclonic storm about 270 km east-southeast of Puducherry. It made landfall over Puducherry on the night of 30 November, bringing torrential rains, strong winds, and gusts of 3-minute sustained winds of 85 km/h. The cyclone wrought havoc in Auroville, where a weather logger reported that 54 cm of rain had fallen in 24 hours, an all-time record for the community. Hundreds of trees were uprooted, roads were blocked, and the ground floors of Bharat Nivas and of some apartments were flooded. At some time during the night, the Lego block wall that separates section 1 of the Matrimandir Lake from the as yet unfinished and unlined Lake section 2 broke in the middle and at both banks, and water stored in section 1 cascaded into the 10m deep excavation of section 2. The situation was exacerbated when the water in the open water channel around the Matrimandir area also drained into section 2. The Matrimandir executives said that a different type of foundation, which would prevent a shifting of the Lego block walls, would be designed, although there is no plan to rebuild the broken one in situ.