Issue Nº301 – News in brief

The BCC has asked community feedback on the police patrolling in Auroville in view of the high costs of security. For the financial year 2013-14, the Auroville Security Budget was Rs. 30.5 lakhs, which is the second highest budget allocated by the City Services. In addition, the BCC has been paying Rs.17,000 per month towards refreshments for the patrolling police personnel in Auroville.

The Land Resource Management team reported that in the period of March to May 2014 it had been doing 25 land surveys and dealt with a number of boundary disputes and plot fencing issues, land disputes, a land encroachment including the manhandling of the steward, land access issues and a number of court cases dealing with land issues.

The Budget Coordination Committee (BCC) has agreed that Varuna, Auroville, an Auroville unit that operates two wind generators owned by the Auroville Foundation, will cover the electricity bills of all grid-connected residents receiving a City-Services maintenance and those who pay the full monthly contribution of Rs. 2,850 to the Central Fund. During the next three months the details of this new phase of the electricity-in-kind scheme will be worked out. Varuna Auroville is already paying the electricity bills of all Auroville services and, from August 1 onwards, will pay for the electricity bills of all Auroville guesthouses and home stays.

The electricity-in-kind scheme intends to become an integral part of an overall in-kind economy for Auroville whereby Auroville residents give their time and energy to Auroville while Auroville provides for shelter, food, water, energy, education, health, clothing, mobility and other minimum needs for each resident.

Auromodè Atelier has close due to the high competition for ready-made garments for export, as a result of which the unit has been badly performing for the last three years.

Following the successful Auroville Festival in Delhi in 2012, the Governing Board, in their meeting of November 2013, has approved a similar event to be held in Chennai as many state government officials are unaware that Auroville is in Tamil Nadu and what it actually does. The name for the festival will be “What is this Auroville?” It is to take place in the second half of January 2015.

“What is this Auroville?” is planned to include an inauguration ceremony, a cultural evening, a conference, and special general and individual events. Some of the themes that this festival will focus on are: Auroville as a place of research and experimentation, of never ending education, as a multicultural center for the development of human unity and as a working city. The duration of the Festival may be from a couple of days to a week.

Chandigarh filmmaker Gaurav Chhabra is currently undertaking a 6 months artist’s residency at Kala Kendra. He is developing an illustrated storybook about Sri Aurobindo, and will be joined in this task by Egyptian artist Tarek Kamal. A publisher is already on board, and the creators are aiming for publication in 2015. They also hope to produce the storybook as large panels that can travel around India as an art exhibition.

The New Era Secondary School (NESS) has been granted approval from the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) for the introduction of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Computer Science to the curriculum with effect from April 1st, 2014. This will benefit the 13 students from the 11th Grade that are currently following the Science Stream programme and answer to the great demand for a science education from families in Auroville and surrounding villages. The Pyramids building, which so far was the place for teaching arts for Last School, has been transferred to NESS and is being upgraded to a top class science laboratory for NESS.

Kalya, a Tamil Aurovilian and executive of Progress Landscape and also working for the Town Development Council, has offered 3.5 acres of land situated in the Greenbelt to Auroville.

The Funds and Assets Management Committee, which is mandated to review the financial viability of proposed public buildings and housing projects, has stated that henceforth all projects in excess of Rs. 1 crore will need to submit a bill-of-quantities (BoQ). Regarding fees, the FAMC recommends that architect fees should not exceed 3.5% of the BoQ; and that a project holder may receive compensation in equal value to an Aurovilian maintenance (ie full-time is approximately Rs.12,000/-; part-time is approximately Rs. 6,000/- per month). This compensation is not to be linked to the BoQ value but only to the amount of work involved. Engineering fees are also to be based on the BoQ and should not exceed the Public Works Department rate. This fee is over and above architect and project holder fees. Exceptions will have to be explained to the FAMC.

After a period of 30 years, Last School has finally moved from the Last School compound near Aspiration into new premises between Kalabhumi and Future School. A community concentration and invocation took place on July 28th.

In the fourth week of June, 2014, the thermometer reached 41 degree Celsius for three consecutive days. The UV Index, adopted and standardized by the UN’s World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization in 1994, was at its highest at 11 (extreme risk). During three weeks of June and the first week of July, the UV index had already reached 9 and 10 (very high risk). These measurements were taken in Pune, Karnataka. Auroville does not yet have a monitoring UV Index system (costs: Rs 7 lakhs or about US $ 10,000).

High UV radiation may lead to skin cancer and cataract. According to the World Bank, in India cataract has been reported to be responsible for 80% of bilaterally blindness in the country, compared to 50 percent worldwide. India also reported an earlier onset age of cataracts (younger than 60 years) and a high prevalence of cataracts among women. Five states – Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan – and the union territory of Pondicherry account for more than 70 percent of India’s cases of cataract blindness.

High levels of UV radiation may also suppress cell-mediated immunity and thereby enhance the risk of infectious diseases and limit the efficacy of vaccinations.

In Australia, schools and parents are made aware about UV radiation. Under Australian law, hats are compulsory in most Australia schools as part of the SunSmart Policy. Skin cancer is one of the biggest killers of Australian adults and the damage starts in childhood so they make the kids very aware of slip (on a t-shirt), slop (on some sunscreen), slap (on a hat) and wrap (your eyes in sunglasses.) during late spring, summer and early autumn.