Issue Nº393 – News in brief

“Flexible Institutionalisation in Auroville: A Prefigurative Alternative to Development” by Suryamayi Clarence-Smith and Lara Monticelli was published in a special issue of the magazine Sustainability Science. The article can be accessed at https://aurorepo.in/id/eprint/232

“Lessons from Utopia: Reflections on Peak Transformative Experiences in a University Studio in Auroville, India” by Bem Le Hunte, Katie Ross, Suryamayi Clarence-Smith & Aditi Rosegger. Published in February 2022 as a chapter of the Palgrave Handbook of Learning for Transformation. The article can be accessed at https://aurorepo.in/id/eprint/230/

The Auroville Council has informed the community that although an RAD on a new process to select members of the Working Committee, the Auroville Council, the Auroville Town Development Council, the Funds and Assets Management Committee and the Entry Board will be concluded before the above mentioned RADs on the Working Committee and the ATDC membership, the selection process itself will be held afterwards. The selection process for new members is therefore delayed and will be held at the earliest by the end of May. This means that the terms of office of outgoing members are extended until new members have been appointed.

Confronted with many requests for various decisions of the Residents’ Assembly, the Auroville Council organized a poll to help it and the Residents’ Assembly Service determine which topics for Residents’ Assembly Decisions (RADs) the community felt to be the most important at this moment in time. The poll result showed the top three topics for RADs, in order of priority, as (1) No confidence in the Working Committee given its failure to ‘assist’ and ‘represent’ the Residents’ Assembly as stated in their mandate, and a call for the selection of a new Working Committee; (2) the membership of the Auroville Town Development Council (ATDC - this questions the legitimacy of the present ATDC constituted by the Secretary, via an office order in July 2021, as the members were not selected by the Residents Assembly as is statutorily mandated; and (3) approval of the Internal Exit policy – the last draft version, incorporating two rounds of feedback, was presented by the Exit Policy Task Force in a General Meeting in March 2020, and provides a proposed internal framework for the application and implementation of the Auroville Foundation (Admission and termination of Persons in the register of residents) Regulations, 2020 which came into force on April 4th, 2020.

In one of the zoom seminars organised during the ‘Auroville festival’, the Chairman of the Auroville Foundation and Honourable Governor of Tamil Nadu, R. N. Ravi, gave a speech in which he cited the role of the Government of India as that of a catalyst in the experiment which is yet to realise Auroville’s vision half a century down the line. The Auroville Foundation Act was mentioned as a Government intervention that was a consequence of the community being trapped in desires and egos which, according to the Chairman, is also reflected in the current dissonance in the community. The Chairman stated that even though the evolution of consciousness itself cannot be done by the Government, they “have to and will do the physical aspect of it, because Mother had given the design of what the township should be like.”

The minutes of the 58th meeting of the Governing Board held on January 18th were shared with the community. Amongst other things, the Board decided to establish an Organisation and Governance Committee to look into the organisation, governance and related matters of Auroville. The Board also noted the ongoing Dreamweaving process, but stated that “Ongoing works, including the Crown Road will remain unaffected” and that the outcome of the process will be an input for the Auroville Town Development Council to decide upon.

The President of India awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, to Ms. Tara Jauhar at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on March, 21st, 2022, for her work in literature and education, in particular in propagating the teachings of Sri Aurobindo. Tara Jauhar, in her own words, “grew up with The Mother” in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry before taking up the management of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch and The Mother’s International School in New Delhi. Her correspondence with The Mother was published by her as “Growing up with The Mother”.