Issue Nº416 – News in brief

On January 23rd, the Madras High Court ordered an interim stay of the two new regulations approved by the Governing Board and published by the Secretary, Auroville Foundation, in the Gazette of India, e.g. the Auroville Foundation (Admission and Termination of Persons in the Register of Residents) Regulations 2023, and the Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations 2024.

In the new Admission and Termination Regulations, an “Admissions and Terminations Scrutinising Committee” (ATSC) would be constituted with all members nominated by the Governing Board. Its task would be to scrutinise all applications for admission as volunteers, newcomers or residents; decide each case on merit; and, after completing the process of consultation with the Residents’ Assembly, convey its decision to the Secretary. The ATSC would also scrutinise all complaints for violation of the Auroville Admission or Auroville Residence Criteria, and decide each case on merit. The Secretary had been given the final power to either accept or reject the decision of the ATSC. The Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations 2024 specify that the Governing Board shall constitute a Selection Process Committee (SPC) which will to review the existing selection process and conduct the selection of the Working Committee members. Following the publication of these regulations, the Auroville Foundation Office called for self-nominations for SPC membership. The first bench of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy considered that the subordinate legislation [the regulations, eds.] may supplement the statute [the Auroville Foundation Act, eds.], but cannot supplant it and found that, prima facie, the impugned regulations erode the powers of the Residents’ Assembly.

The bench passed interim orders. “Until further orders, the admission or termination of the persons in the register of residents of the Auroville Foundation shall not be finalised nor a person shall be admitted or terminated from the register resorting to the impugned regulations”; and “Until further orders, functioning of the Working Committee under Section 20 of the Act shall not be interfered with by the Committee constituted under the impugned Regulations and the Working Committee shall be one as constituted under Section 20(3) of the Act.”

The cases are listed for next hearing on 25th March 2024

In early February, before the High Court passed its interim order, an Emergency Residents' Assembly Decision (RAD) had been initiated through a petition signed by more than 300 members of the Residents’ Assembly (RA) to approve or disapprove the following resolution:

The Residents' Assembly resolves that the Working Committee shall be selected by the Residents' Assembly in the manner it chooses, as stated in the Foundation Act, 1988. Further, we state that the Notification published in the Gazette of India on the 12th of January, 2024, by the Secretary of the Governing Board concerning the selection of the Working Committee members, does not follow the letter of the Foundation Act nor its spirit. In addition, this Notification violates the whole spirit of Auroville’s Charter which the Auroville Foundation Act set out to protect and promote.

A total of 647 valid votes were submitted online and in person. 99.2% (642) participants voted in favour of the above resolution, 0.3% (2) participants rejected it, 0.5% (3) participants didn't know. Therefore, the RA approved the above resolution.

Nearly a hundred students from across India participated in week long exposure tours to Auroville in early February organised by the Ministry of Education under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) programme. The emphasis of the tours was on providing exposure of the youth to Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of integral education and its implementation in Auroville.

On 27th February, in a ceremony in Delhi, The Auroville Foundation and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to foster cross-cultural understanding and promote artistic exchanges and to advance the teachings and vision of Sri Aurobindo. The ceremony was attended by Jayanti S. Ravi, secretary of Auroville Foundation, Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary of IGNCA and David Frawley, writer, astrologer, and member of the Auroville International Advisory Council.

Concerned residents have initiated a call for an Emergency Residents’ Assembly decision on (1) extending the emergency functions of the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) and (2) authorising the RA-WCom to do the work of the Funds and Assets Management Committee (RA-FAMC) of the Residents’ Assembly. The residents stated that in August 2023 the Residents’ Assembly had approved the giving of emergency functions to the RA-WCom for a six months’ period, which has now expired; the reasons for extending this period are the same as then, e.g. because the Residents’ Assembly finds itself in an emergency situation in which it needs the ability to counter the threats to its role as an authority of the Auroville Foundation.

The reason for the RA-WCom to take over the work of the RA-FAMC is that since July 2022, the RA-FAMC selected by the community has been unable to carry out its functions, when the Governing Board seized control of Auroville‘s funds and assets by appointing a parallel GB-FAMC.

This solution is a temporary measure and will be used only until the RA-FAMC can again take up its rightful and statutory role according to the Auroville Foundation Rules, 1997. The petition was signed by 357 people, which exceeds the 300 signatures that are required, and was sent to the Residents' Assembly Service, which will verify the signatures before launching the Emergency RAD on behalf of the Residents' Assembly.

On 19th January, 5 out of 6 Aurovilian members of the Auroville Safety & Security Team (AVSST) received an email from the BCC informing them that the Foundation appointed BCC & FAMC “are unable to support maintenance on your current positions”. No grounds on which this decision was made were provided. Due to this decision, AVSST has to unfortunately announce that it will no longer be able to serve the community on an emergency basis from 1st February 2024 onward and its 24/7 emergency number (9443090107) will not be available until further notice.

A group of concerned residents have warned all Aurovilians that the Auroville email addresses ending with the suffix "@auroville.org.in" are not secure and can be read, and that certain email addresses are blocked since the email administration was taken over under the office of the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation and is managed by unknown persons. They also point out that most email addresses ending with the suffix @auroville.org.in cannot receive communications from the Residents’ Assembly (RA) working groups that have been selected through due process by the RA as mentioned in the Auroville Foundation Act, nor can the Resident Assembly Service (RAS) reach them for online voting.

The RA-Wcom has requested all those who have had or are having issues getting a letter of recommendation for new visas or for extensions of existing visas to contact them. The issue mentioned were (1) requested a letter but have not received it and one’s visa has expired; (2) received a letter with a negative remark; (3) received a letter for less duration than for what one is eligible for (e.g. one year instead of 5 years); and (4) any other issues one has faced in the application process for a visa recommendation letter or for the visa application process itself.

Auroville’s birthday was celebrated, as usual, with the Dawn fire at the Amphitheatre. On 29th February, the Golden Day, there was a morning meditation at the Amphitheatre, and an evening programme of a musical offering from Kim Cunio and Heather Lee, accompanied by musician friends from Svaram and beyond.

Sports and fitness enthusiasts from far and near participated in the 14th edition of the Auroville Marathon that was held in various distance categories on Sunday 18th February. This year, over 3,000 runners, including over 650 women, registered for the “Run for the Joy of Running” marathon, a non-commercial event in which no prize money is involved and the runs are not timed.

As usual, February has experienced a plethora of cultural and other events. These included performances by the Auroville Choir, an international conference on the revival and promotion of Sanskrit, a four day gathering in Unity Pavilion entitled Toward a Collective Awakening: Experiments in Evolution conceived as a follow-up to the Summit held in Auroville in February 2023 to facilitate consciousness change at a collective, The Auroville Festival – a weeklong festival including discussions on diverse topics and daily cultural performances – the Shakti Kumbh event in Unity Pavilion entitled Regenerative Renaissance of Mother India: Revitalising Bharata Shakti, three conferences on the relationship between spiritual and social life organised by the Pavillon de France, yoga activities, chanting and sound meditation in the Matrimandir Amphitheatre, a chanting and bhajan performance at SAWCHU, and a week of events in Mother’s Flower Garden. There was also a festival in the European Pavilion, as well as the Endangered Crafts Mela, shadow puppet theatre at the Youth Centre, and a poetry evening in CRIPA on the theme of ‘The Sunlit Path’.

The Auroville International centres also held their annual meeting in the Tibetan Pavilion.