Paramilitary academy inaugurated by the AVFO

On 28 August 2025, the Gujarat-based Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) and the AVFO inaugurated the “RRU-Auroville Security Training Academy (RASTA)” at Bharat Nivas. According to media reports, the academy aims to provide “security education” combining “technical mastery with Auroville’s spiritual wisdom” and will offer certification courses in firefighting, cyber security, drone operations, and basic military training. The Secretary described the academy as embodying “youth empowerment, community safety, and national resilience”. The media report claimed that the academy will run programmes for “600+ students across Auroville schools”. On 1 September, the RA WC sent a letter to the GB expressing “deep concern” about the initiative, stating it was launched “without consultation with, or consent from, Auroville’s Residents’ Assembly”. Some of their main concerns were that associating Auroville with military-style training contradicts the Charter as Auroville’s ethos is “non-political, non-sectarian, and non-militaristic”; that the 15-day timeline left no room for mandated consultation with the Residents’ Assembly; and that framing the academy as a vehicle to “fuel the local economy” reduces Auroville to a commercial enterprise.