Issue Nº400 – News in brief

The case around the Ami/Abri/Evergreen contested was listed in Court on Thursday, 20th of October. The judgment is expected to be given on the 2nd of November. In the meantime, Friend of Auroville Michael Bonke, whose land is opposite Evergreen and a portion of which has also been claimed by the local businessman, had his documents updated and clarified. This has a positive impact on the Auroville land under contention at Ami/Abri/Evergreen. However, the community has to await the outcome of the full course of justice before any changes can be made on the ground, and the current status quo that no work can be carried out in the disputed area until the court order continues.

The Auroville project, the city designed by Roger Anger, occupies the first room of the “Visionaries” exhibition at the Lisbon Triennale. It includes a rich corpus of drawings, photos, and films of different stages of its conception and manifestation, and highlights the experiential dimension of this adventure.

YouthLink are aware of how difficult it can be to keep up with the ever growing world of technology. Consequently, they are offering house visits to the elderly to help solve their tech issues.

The Auroville Institute of Applied Technology at Aurobrindavan campus is now taking admission of students who have passed 10+2 or equivalent for its Bachelor degree courses (B.Voc.) in Software Development & Machine learning, Production technology, Green Energy and Electric Systems. The B.Voc. courses are affiliated to the Pondicherry University, and are more skill-oriented than the regular B.Tec. or B.E courses.

On 1st October the Dreamweaving team invited the community for a documentary screening and panel discussion on the recent ‘Dreamweaving the Crown’. At the conclusion, the Auroville Community Gathering Team, which had organized the event, invited the community to sign a letter of support for the process, stating that “we hope that this process can be used in further planning and implementation of the Crown in Auroville”.

On 7th October Pour Tous Purchasing Service completed a year of transitioning to becoming an Auroville service. This was the consequence of an RAD decision taken in 2019 by a majority vote to make PTPS a service managed by a management board and new executives. The management invited the community to an opening community market on 29th October to participate in the festive re-opening in Kuilapalayam.

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has increased rates for almost all services provided to its various subscribers. The increase ranges from a few percent to over 50% for certain categories.

As the income of Varuna remains unchanged, it has become unavoidable to make adjustments to the Varuna electricity scheme. Consequently, the monthly free allowance to residents on both the high tension and low tension supply in the city has been reduced by 10%.

On 30th September and 1st October, a JCB accompanied by an engineer from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and a survey team started clearing a 2.5m wide path between the trees through Existence forest towards Bliss forest. This bulldozing of understory forest regeneration is the first step in creating cycle paths that have been proposed by Dr Anupama Kundoo, and is being implemented by the CPWD on instructions from the Auroville Foundation Office (AVFO) Secretary. Neither the stewards nor the Forest Group had been informed.

Residents showed up on site, with RA TDC members questioning the clearing since the National Green Tribunal order clearly states that Environmental Clearance and Detailed Development Plans need to be ready before any development can take place, including right of ways.

The ATDC appointed by the Office of the Secretary responded to this intervention by announcing that the work is in required compliance, and that “It's a legal offense to obstruct this work in progress. Anyone obstructing this work is doing so at their own risk and necessary actions may be initiated with the videos and photos of the people involved”.

The Foundation appointed FAMC explained that the Crown work continues under the supervision of CPWD and L’avenir d’Auroville, and is planned to be finished as per schedule. The road re-laying work has restarted on the stretch of road passing by the Youth Centre where the old paving blocks were taken up. The reason for the delay in the work is that L’Avenir d’Auroville and CPWD decided to go for a precast concrete road to ensure it will last much longer, with almost zero maintenance. The Foundation FAMC claims this has resulted in a better design than before, both technically and aesthetically. The installation of these much larger pre-cast panels will go faster than the laying of the originally intended pavers, thus making up for any lost time.

In their September report the Foundation appointed FAMC stated that they wished to address a perceived “systemic fault and … imbalance towards the building of the City the Earth Needs” which, they claim, exists because forests and farms receive a higher number of maintenances than the ATDC. They stated that “the current imbalance is heavily loaded against development in general in the city center of the Master Plan”. The Forest Group as well as a member of the RA Working Committee contested this statement, pointing out that a great deal of additional money beyond the maintenances of the FAMC members is allocated to city development, and that, anyway, the development of the Green Belt and the parks is an integral aspect of the overall city. Furthermore, the Forest group stated that “nobody in the Forest Group is against development and the persistent narrative that greenwork is by its nature anti-development is incorrect and misleading”.

The Foundation appointed FAMC have also announced they are in the process of consolidating GST submission across all units and services registered with Auroville Foundation, and requests all units and services executives to keep in mind the new changes for GST filing.

In their September report, this FAMC clarified that the FAMC has been set up in the Foundation Act to coordinate the funds and assets of Auroville held in trust for all. “In view of this, the thrust of FAMC is to move forward on compliance, accountability and transparency in all areas pertaining to funds, assets, utilization and coordination with necessary human resources for the best results. Without cooperation, all new and ongoing work cannot progress with harmony and progress stalls for Auroville as a whole.”

The Foundation appointed TDC/L’Avenir announced they are in the process of designing the new Sunshine Housing Project, a low-density project in the Gaia/Grace area, and invited people to apply to join the project. They also announced the start of a new collective project “Food court and market plaza” at the Southern Secondary Service Node (near Gas Service). Food courts, markets, information kiosk, public toilets, children’s play area etc are being planned. A number of Auroville units are interested in participating. A mobility plan is being put in place and a petrol vehicle parking node is also being planned here with a possibility to switch over to e-vehicles within the same node.

In addition, they reported they have completed the base draft guidelines for certain areas, like the Crown and Crown buildings, the Line of Goodwill in sector 5, and development of collective transport, cycle and walking paths in the parks and within the City Centre, and are working on Detailed Development Plans with the help of CPWD’s architecture and engineering team.

They also said they are working with the Working Committee and the FAMC to make big systemic shifts wherever needed for Auroville to move to its next stage in its collective life. Stewardship models are being revisited, feedback processes are being redefined, and building violations are no longer just accepted as an unavoidable part of a city with no enforcement power, but are being dealt with systematically.

The Foundation appointed Housing Service announced that from now on house sitting arrangements will be made exclusively between Aurovilians-Aurovilians and Aurovilians-newcomers. SAVI volunteers it will no longer be possible to take advantage of this opportunity.

The RA approved Housing Board has also been removed from their positions, and have been locked out of the Housing Google accounts as well as the Housing Service office. They are concerned that the new group largely lack experience and is overstepping its mandate by allocating Auroville assets without following the guidelines of the Housing Policy.

The RA approved Housing Board, like other RA approved groups removed by Office Orders, say they are continuing to serve the community to the best of their ability. However, they understand that it is not possible to ask the community not to approach the new team as many day-to-day issues are urgent and have to be dealt with. But they advise the community to approach them with care and ask for all decisions to be given in writing.

The Foundation FAMC has announced that all units, services, activities have to stop receiving cash payment. Blue book or digital payments are the two modalities that have to be adopted now.

On 14th October, the RA Budget Coordination Committee (BCC) announced that they “no longer have any control or oversight over Auroville’s City Services budget” as their access to the Financial Services has been removed. They explained that they are no longer able to access Auroville Service accounts or execute transfers for both services or individuals (for visa and passport refunds, for example). This could have very concerning consequences for the financial stability of the Auroville community, as full control of the budgetary system is now in the hands of a small group of inexperienced people.

The Foundation FAMC responded that over the last several months they had invited former BCC members to collaborate and work together to prepare an annual work plan, streamline budget collection for timely submissions, and submit budget details for a joint review on priorities for more productive and effective services support with proper accountability and transparency.

“As it became clear that no cooperation was forthcoming, the (Foundation) FAMC has restructured the role of BCC and new modalities are being framed. New team members are brought into play for a transition to the changed needs of Auroville.”

The RA BCC pointed out that, in fact, they had completed a new services budget but did not know if it would be implemented. They also called on the community to financially support Aurovilians who have been placed on bridging maintenances by the Foundation appointed FAMC. After December they will no longer receive any support from the City Services Fund. To date, 20 people have been placed on a 3-month bridging maintenance. Most of the affected people are actively working full time for the RA-endorsed working groups.

A small group of people have been given letters or recommendation for very short time periods (for example, 3 months instead of 5 years) seemingly for holding opposing views to the Foundation Office. In several instances, family members of those expressing disagreement with the Office have also been targeted. Since the Auroville Visa Policy as published by the Ministry of Home Affairs does not provide for 3-month visa extensions, these visas could not be processed and some Aurovilians have been forced to leave on Exit Visas.

A much larger group of people have been given one year letters instead of the expected five years. In most cases, the letters of recommendations are given just a few days ahead of the visa expiring, in spite of the required paperwork being handed in several months in advance. In other cases the visas expired months before, and the residents are still awaiting their letter of recommendations without news.

This has created fear and uncertainty amongst the section of the community reliant on visas to stay in Auroville. Travel plans cannot be made with any clarity as it is not known when the letter and therefore the subsequent visa will arrive. Additionally, one year visas are over time significantly more costly than five year visas, creating a new financial pressure. These practices have upended several decades of visa stability for foreign Aurovilians, stability essential for building the international community as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

On September 28th, the Foundation appointed Working Committee announced that a house-to-house survey of Auroville would take place over the following two weeks. They explained that the survey was necessary for the update of the Register of Residents, and for updating information held by the Bommayapalayam panchayat for house tax purposes. The RA appointed Working Committee contested that a house-to-house survey was necessary for the latter purpose.

So far, teams have visited a number of communities. In many cases, information about the house itself was not sought or given, but only personal identification (such as passport/aadhar card/place of work) was requested.

The four main working groups of the Residents’ Assembly (Working Committee, Auroville Council, Town Development Council, and the Funds and Assets Management Committee selected by the Residents' Assembly) met with residents at a well attended meeting on 17th October to update them on the current situation and their work, and to answer questions.

On 2nd October, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan visited Auroville. The Minister met only with the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation and Foundation endorsed working groups. Each group presented short overviews of their work and the help that was needed, both financial and practical, to complete the infrastructure for the city and other issues.

His response was positive. The Auroville Foundation reported that he had “assured the Auroville Foundation of the Government of India’s support to expedite the development of pending works and completing the Auroville project as per the original vision of its founder, The Mother”.

The Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu and Chairman of the Governing Board, Shri R N Ravi, visited Auroville on 18th and 19th of October, 2022. He was welcomed by the Collector, Mr. D Mohan of Villupuram. Along with the Secretary, Dr Jayanti Ravi and a few members of the Foundation supported Working Committee, he met Aurovilians at their places of work and interacted with them.

For the first time, the Working Committee selected by the Residents' Assembly also had a 2-hour meeting with him. In this meeting, the RA Working Committee presented some of Auroville's efforts over the past decade towards developing the city, emphasizing the fact that while there is still a lot to do, much has already been done and expertise is largely present within the community. They also spoke about the current state of affairs, insisting that for a positive way forward to be found, people need to feel secure and the current state of fear needs to come to an end. Specifically this would involve recognising and respecting the Residents’ Assembly and its committees, stopping the culture of intimidation and coercion, restoring all community platforms for information sharing and communication, and including Auroville experts and community in planning processes.

The Chairman listened with focus and attention, asked questions throughout and shared his views on several aspects of Auroville, its current reality and its aim of being a gnostic and spiritualised society.

The RA Working Committee felt this was an important first step in establishing contact with the Governing Board through its Chairman, and hope that it will open the way to a better understanding of the residents' perspective.