Issue Nº413 – News in brief

The study on Auroville’s organization, made by Professor Raag Yadava and his team, can be downloaded from https://aurorepo.in/id/eprint/254/

The report on Auroville’s Singing Festival, published in our previous issue, mentioned that “the festival was a diverse offering, not only in terms of performers and musical genres, but also in languages, including four Indian dialects, major European languages, Mandarin and Hebrew.” The offering was in four Indian languages, not dialects. We apologize for the mistake

The 5th Tamil Nadu Young Thinkers Meet was organised between 3rd and 5th November in Auroville’s Savitri Bhavan. The community was not informed of this closed event.

According to the programme, speakers from Auroville included the Secretary, Dr Jayanti Ravi; the recently appointed Deputy Secretary, Smt K Swarnambika; and Dr Mollika Ganguly, a recently appointed staff member of the AVFO. Other notable speakers included a spiritual teacher, Swami Mitrananda, as well as political figures, such as the Chief Minister of Puducherry, Thiru N Rangaswamy. According to testimonies, about 50 young people from ABVP (a student organisation affiliated with the RSS) attended the meeting. The programme included a visit to AuroOrchard, one of Auroville’s largest farms, which was attended by many participants.

The AVFO recently changed the wording on visa Letters of Recommendation (LoR). The previous wording stated that “Auroville was founded by ‘The Mother’ of Sri Aurobindo Ashram on 28th February 1968”. Now, it reads that Auroville is “functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education, Government of India”. Mentions of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have been removed.

The November 2023 issue of the bimonthly journal Voice of Auroville is now available from voiceofauroville@auroville.services. The journal, endorsed by the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly of the Auroville Foundation, aims at informing well-wishers and friends of Auroville in India and abroad on the current unfolding events with factual updates and articles. The content aims at conveying perspectives from the majority of Auroville’s residents. This issue carries articles about Integral Education in Auroville, a sampling of Auroville schools, has a summary of events in Auroville in September and October, and has two myth-busting narratives, shedding light on misinformation about Auroville. The myths that are being countered are that those ‘opposed to development’ have never offered alternatives; and that the 3,500 current residents are blocking 46,500 new residents from joining

Some months ago, a new magazine was announced by AWARE Auroville called Auroville Timeless, which aims to bring the reader “closer to the vibrant and ever-evolving world of Auroville”, while “exploring the profound journey of fostering harmony and understanding among individuals from diverse backgrounds”. Topics covered in the July issue included collective housing; the International Zone; and nurturing human unity. For more information contact timeless@auroville.org.in.

Stand For Auroville Unity, the community-aligned campaign that was launched in December 2021 after the events at the Youth Center, Bliss Forest and Darkali, had faced technical issues with its website over the last few months. On 31st October, the Stand For Auroville Unity team published a new website containing information about the current situation, as well as useful resources to understand the crisis. You can access the new website here: https://standforauroville.org/

On 2nd November 2023, the AVFO Working Committee held a closed meeting at Unity Pavilion. The invitation, sent only to selected “friends”, explained “in the recent months, people have become confused by some of the stories and fears that have been spread … we want to take the opportunity to hear your views and questions and try to answer them as best we can.”

Around 20 people attended the meeting. Topics reportedly discussed included the problem of democracy, housing issues, the Prosperity proposal, and issues implementing the Crown Road.

On 18th November, a meeting was organised by Community Connect for the four working groups that work with the AVF – the WC, the FAMC, the ATDC and an alternative RAS – to make presentations and answer questions from community members. An attendee noted that 40 people were present and the information shared included that there are 22 court cases involving the community today (3 initiated by the Foundation, 10 by individual Aurovilians); 90 people have still not filled out their application for the Register of Residents; 90% of visas are granted for the length of time requested; HUDCO has proposed to finance a building with 300 rooms and 1000 beds for volunteers; while four new big housing projects are ready to be implemented, to be financed from loans: Line of Progress, Line of Goodwill, Habitat and New Birth (individual family houses); and the reason that maintenances in the Greenbelt have been cut is that the Tamil Nadu Forest department said that for our acreage they would only employ 12 people while we had over 100 workers and Aurovilians receiving support.

The Entry Service clarified that certain statements made by the AVFO Working Committee at the open meeting (see above) were incorrect. It was said that the Entry Board is maintaining a ‘blacklist’, of Applicants / Newcomers, and that emails asking for clarification were not being answered. The Entry Service denied both the statements. They clarified they do not maintain a blacklist of individuals and their actions are guided solely by the policy approved by the community in 2017. All candidates are requested to fulfill the criteria of working full time, living in Auroville, and being motivated by and understanding of the Charter and raison d'etre of Auroville. It was also stated in that meeting that the Entry Service hasn't been answering emails. But since August 2022 the Entry Service lost access to its Inbox and drive on ‘auroville.org.in’. They have not received any official or unofficial explanation regarding the disconnection but provided an alternative email at which they can be contacted.  

Several Right To Information (RTI) requests addressed to the Auroville Foundation have gone to appeal due to incomplete or no answers from the Auroville Foundation’s Central Public Information Officer (CPIO). The Information Commissioner in all these instances expressed “severe displeasure” over the conduct of the CPIO for not responding, giving incomplete replies or responding outside of the stipulated time frame. Concerning the Governing Board minutes, the IC also observed that the CPIO was obliged to ensure it is published for the public through the internet in an easily accessible electronic format.

Many foreign residents of Auroville experience often long delays in obtaining the mandatory Letter of Recommendation (LoR) for their visa. Awaiting the letter, Aurovilians and Newcomers abroad have to find employment and housing; those in Auroville are facing penalties imposed by the registration authorities if their application for visa extension is received after the date of expiry of their current visa. Some LoRs contain a sentence stating that the person “has been obstructing the work progress as per the Master Plan approved by the Governing Board and gazetted by the Government of India”, which may lead to a refusal to grant the visa or visa extension, and then a request to the individual concerned to leave India.

It is also a concern that a large number of residents have received a recommendation for a substantially shorter period than that for which they were eligible since December 2021. In most of these cases no reason has been given.

The Pour Tous Purchasing Service team announced they are “happy and proud to announce that we have now completed ONE full year in ‘full control’ as far as that is possible or even desirable...” Among their accomplishments they list lowering profit margins way below the required 15% (20% for cooled products) except for unsustainable items; reducing a Rs 575,000 loss in 2022 due to theft etc. to a Rs 50.000 loss; empowering many of the women working there by giving them computer training and greater responsibility; expanding the Auroville, bioregion, local and organic offerings while removing many articles that were unsustainable or bad price-quality; and installing solar panels to power the shop and storeroom. Future plans include providing online shopping and delivery possibilities, and building an onsite water catchment which will double as an aquaponics and free swimming pool for Aurovilians and village neighbours.  

On September 4th, 2023, the appeal bench of the Madras High Court noted in an interim order that the Residents’ Assembly, as a statutory body, cannot be restricted from performing its duties as per the Auroville Foundation Act. This decision effectively nullifies the AVFO’s justification for curtailing residents’ rights to make decisions for Auroville. Subsequently, the Working Committee of the Residents Assembly emphasised that while the legal journey is ongoing, this development serves as a pivotal milestone and they remain committed to ensuring that the Residents’ Assembly’s role is fully recognised and respected. A final verdict from the Court is still awaited on the matter.

On November 21st, India’s Supreme Court heard an appeal filed by the Auroville Foundation office against the ruling of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of April 2022. which emphasized the need for comprehensive town plans and environmental clearance before embarking on any development, while giving conditional clearance for creating the Crown Road. Supreme Court Justice J. Kaul found that all of the events and actions of the NGT are as per its jurisdiction and that there was no cause for any special actions. The next hearing at the Supreme Court has been scheduled for December 7th

Other legal proceedings are ongoing. One of these is with the National Green Tribunal Southern Bench, against actions by the AVFO which are believed to be in contempt of the National Green Tribunal’s ruling of April 2022, according to the lawyer for the Auroville petitioners

On November 29th, the AVFO Working Committee shared a letter received from the Special Officer of the Auroville Foundation which stated that the Foundation has exchanged 10 acres of unutilised land in the Auro Orchard and Hope communities for 15 acres of land owned by a private developer in the city and greenbelt area. Stating that the Hope and Auro Orchard communities together steward 46 acres of land, of which Auro Orchard is only farming 10-15 acres, and that the Hope community has [only] a furniture workshop and three houses, the letter mentioned that the Foundation intends to exchange another 2.5 acres of unutilised land in these communities for the Auro Oceanic resort in the Kottakarai area of Auroville and another 3.5 acres in the near future for privately-owned lands needed for the Matrimandir and the city. This leaves 2 acres for Hope and 28 acres for Auro Orchard. The location of the 6 acres to be exchanged will be done after consultation with the landstewards. The Special Officer stated that the exchanges had been approved by the Governing Board in its 64th meeting.

Earlier, the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom), having learned through its own sources that the land exchange registration had happened on November 11th, and having neither been informed about the exact nature of the exchanges nor about the permission of the Governing Board, as the minutes of the 63rd and any subsequent meetings of the Board have not been shared with the residents, had raised concerns about the exchanges: that The Mother had sanctioned the purchase of this land in 1965; that the deal had been concluded in secrecy and that there was no subsequent information from the office of the Auroville Foundation. The RA-WCom also questioned the financial proprieties of the exchange and wrote that it would appeal to higher authorities to reverse the land exchange.

A resident of Auro Orchard has meanwhile issued his disagreement with the term ‘unutilized land’, and pointed out that many fruit bearing trees have been planted on the lands that have now been exchanged. He also stated that the land to be exchanged included the central borewell of Auro Orchard and irrigation junction, which “forms the heart of the farm as all the water gets directed from here”.

Many objections have been raised to the proposal that a major part of the land of Pebble Garden, a pioneering project in wasteland regeneration and research that is well known throughout India, are proposed to be allocated to Auroroyali, a contractor, as storage space for building materials. This land, located on the outskirts of Auroville, has undergone careful re-afforestation over the years, and is well-known in India for its success in restoring eroded land. 

The RA-WCom has published extensive comments on the minutes of the 62nd meeting of the Governing Board, held in December 2022, which were only made public in October this year. The RA-WCom observed that, as no sufficient prior notices are given to the Residents’ Assembly or its duly appointed Working Committee about the agendas of the Governing Board meetings, it has not been possible to give any meaningful advice or suggestions as envisaged in section 19 of the Auroville Foundation Act. The RA-WCom stated that the Governing Board cannot render such a role, which is specifically envisaged by the Act, redundant by not asking for such advice nor by unreasonably rejecting the advice of the Residents’ Assembly, as the decisions of the Governing Board must subserve the objects of the Act which are, inter alia, to further the development of Auroville and its residents “in accordance with the original Charter of Auroville”. The RA-WCom also observed that since 2021 almost 200 people, who have completed their process to join Auroville, are waiting to be entered into the Register of Residents (RoR). The direction of the Governing Board, recorded in the minutes of its 59th meeting of April 2022, that an update of the RoR be completed by July 2022 has not been adhered to.