Issue Nº405 – News in brief

The IVP, a programme that will take volunteers on a journey of discovery through Auroville, is being resumed. This five day programme is a unique opportunity for volunteers to experience the diverse realities of Auroville and to meet fellow volunteers & Aurovilians. It will include a review of Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s works, an introduction to Auroville, its history, its vision of the future, tours of various Auroville units and farms, and cultural, ecological and educational visits.

Savitri Bhavan has launched a project called ‘The Dream Divine Series’. The goal of the project is to make Newcomers understand the Aims and Ideals of Auroville, learn about the life and works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, and the Integral Yoga.

The FO FAMC also reports that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has not certified the accounts for the year 2021-2022 for Auroville units/ trusts and consolidated accounts of Auroville Foundation because they are not in the Ministry of Education approved format.

Meanwhile work is in progress to review units which have performed poorly over many years to strengthen them or close their activities.

The FO FAMC announced that the Auroville Foundation is keen to follow up the Digital India initiatives within Auroville also. To facilitate the move from cash to digital transactions quickly and effectively, all executives and managers who have yet to adopt digital payments are required now to register with the TalamPay (including point-of-sale UPI QRcodes) developed internally in Auroville by Talam.

On 23th March, on the occasion of Roger Anger’s centenary, L’avenir d’Auroville / ATDC and the 150th Sri Aurobindo year programme group welcomed people to India Space, Bharat Nivas, for a commemorative event in honour of Roger’s work and legacy for Auroville.

The announcement said that “His centenary dovetails perfectly with Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary and India’s 75th year of independence, with his seminal contribution towards a conscious urbanism that will stand out for all time, both for Auroville and India, but also for the world.”

After the lighting of a candle in Roger’s memory by his wife, Jacqueline Lacoste, many elder Aurovilians and friends shared memories and anecdotes of their encounters with, or long years of association, with the man. Anupama, who worked with Roger and is the present Head of Urban Design of the FO ATDC, has also created a video in homage to Roger.

On 16th March there was a General Meeting in Unity Pavilion. Around 300 residents attended. The RA FAMC made a call for resource persons to assist them as they are having difficulties managing their work as they have only a three person team. The RAS also needs new team members and/or resource persons.

There was a large show of support for keeping the AV Council room available for the RA working groups, with many more people saying that they would sign up to help. Finally, there was a call made by an Aurovilian, based on a discussion he had during a recent delegation to Delhi. The request is for all Aurovilians to write a one page letter on what brought them to Auroville, why, and what their contribution has been to building the City. The intention of this is to be able to share these accounts with relevant persons in Delhi, as these people would be more sensitive to personal approaches that are both heartfelt and give information about the practical and financial contribution Aurovilians have made.

The FO ATDC announced that “In order to move forward with the development of Auroville City as per the Master Plan and considering that non-ownership is a core value of life in Auroville, going forward all rights for development of the Auroville lands will follow land use as defined in the Master Plan and by the ATDC, and endorsed by FAMC. Individual rights over land or other assets, as has been practiced till now, will change now to community ownership as per the planning parameters by ATDC and caretaker agreements worked out by FAMC and its subgroups”.

This implies, they explained, that land stewardships given or as understood in the past, especially in the City Master Plan area, “no longer hold validity in the context it was practiced. L’avenir d’Auroville / ATDC is the authorized body that will decide on the land use of all Auroville lands. City Center and the lands in the City Master Plan area will immediately be directly under the joint work team of ATDC and FAMC.”

The RA Auroville Council and Working Committee announced they were relieving the editors of the News and Notes of their responsibility and looking for replacements as the editors were not “giving a fair representation to the voice of the community”. They clarified that “the News and Notes is a community-led and community-financed platform for sharing information, and we wish to uphold the role and authority of the Residents’ Assembly as enshrined in the Auroville Foundation Act (1988)”.

Recently, Consul Generals from France, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Bangladesh and Thailand visited Auroville. At the Unity Pavilion, they were given an overview of Auroville, its founding vision based on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and its aims and activities, in a presentation and talk by the Secretary, Auroville Foundation.

The Honorary Consuls of Spain, South Korea, Seychelles and Switzerland joined online. Tamil Nadu Governor and Chairman of Auroville’s Governing Board, Shri R.N Ravi, in a recorded message called upon the visiting Consul Generals to encourage people, and especially the youth of their countries, to explore Auroville and also to participate as volunteers.

At the Secretary’s invitation, a group of diverse Aurovilians met with Jay Naidoo around the Peace Table. The atmosphere was peaceful. Among the points mentioned were that Aurovilians needed to be assured of safety and security, verbal violence in speech is not acceptable, that everything possible should be done to solve the situation of the young Aurovilian who received a Leave India notice, and that rebuilding harmony between the GB, IAC and RA is vital for Auroville’s progress.

On February 18th, the Chairman and International Secretary of Auroville International met with the Secretary. They appreciated the opportunity to discuss and exchange on several important issues. The Secretary affirmed that there is freedom of expression in Auroville, which they had said was very important for their work. On this line they requested her, among other things, to arrange for everyone to be able to use free and uncensored e-mail traffic; to allow the editors of News and Notes to be inclusive and include the reports of the RA groups; to ensure that Auronet is free from harsh censorship; and to ensure better communication and flow of information to the whole community, built upon Auroville and worldwide recognized standards such as due process, proportionality, sincerity and substantiation of allegations.

These minutes were only released recently. In the minutes of the 60th meeting, held on 12th July 2022, it was noted that the Board approved a proposal in principle for the construction of studio flats for 1,000 individuals to attract people from various countries to enhance the spiritual activities of the community. The Board suggested that certain activities should be carried out weekly in Auroville, either online or off-line. They include spiritual programmes to “promote the Sri Aurobindo philosophy and The Mother vision to acquire more piece (sic) and knowledge for the purpose to stay in Auroville”.

The Board also approved getting Environmental Clearance for the township according to the Green Tribunal judgement, with the support of ABC Techno Labs, Chennai.

The minutes of the 61st meeting, held on 8th November 2022, noted, among other things, that the Auroville Foundation Regulations 2020 need to be reviewed and updated/amended, and requested the Organisation and Governance Committee of the Governing Board to finalized the draft regulation, in consultation with some senior residents of Auroville. While drafting, they should pay attention, among other things, to criteria for people to be allowed to stay in Auroville, and formulate a Code of Conduct for residents in line with Auroville’s ideals, including the Charter and Mother’s guidelines.

The Governing Board also advised that programmes should be organized every quarter for Newcomers and residents, to “ensure that all aspects of the Integral Yoga are continually nurtured in Auroville”, and noted that all healthy residents should take up meaningful work for the collective for a minimum of five hours a day.

An Aurovilian arborist is concerned by tree roots being severed during work on the Crown Right of Way. He points out that trees with roots severed one metre from the stem are much easier to push over, and advises that is usually better to dig under tree roots instead of severing them to install cables and pipes.

Following on from his previous report, an Aurovilian has shared a further technical report detailing the progress of the road work. He points out that the concrete slabs delivered to the site so far do not fit together properly, meaning that the contractor has been forced to take remedial action. Moreover, the small amount of road that has been laid is already in a poor condition and, according to the Aurovilian, will not withstand everyday use. He is calling for all work on the Crown to be paused for the moment, and for two professional audits to be implemented, one technical and one financial.

On 14th March a ‘miscellaneous petition’ was heard at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Chennai. The court order, posted on the following weekend, noted the concern of the applicants that the AVFO “is cutting trees even outside the stretch of crown road work/beyond the recommendation of the Joint Committee.” The counsel appearing for the AVFO subsequently stated that the AVFO will not go beyond what is recommended in the Joint Committee report. The RA WC noted that “the NGT has clearly reminded the AVFO to respect the original ruling and the existing Joint Committee report, so only the marked and listed trees within the designated 9.1m in Darkali can be cut.”

The next hearing on this matter is scheduled for the 5th of April to decide whether or not to reconvene the Joint Committee and order them to complete the survey of trees and water bodies on the planned Crown trajectory.

The FO ATDC announced it would begin assisting the CPWD team in clearing the Crown path, including the cutting of trees, on 9th March in accordance with the authorization given by the Joint Commission as per the National Green tribunal directive. A number of men with chainsaws entered Darkali and began cutting trees, in spite of protests from some residents who the FO working groups claimed were obstructing the work. However, the RA WC and ATDC pointed out that the people who ‘obstructed’ the work were not the people who “have been holding up” development for decades, and that it was bound to meet with resistance as the vast majority of Aurovilians think that the Crown Road should pass through Darkali with a minimum of damage.

In fact, while the FO ATDC claimed that the work would be done in strict accordance with the report of the Joint Committee of the Green Tribunal, it was reported that trees were cut outside the width specified by the Joint Committee, and that up that 50 extra trees were unnecessarily cut. In all, it is reported that almost 200 trees were cut in Darkali.