Issue Nº418 – News in brief

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M. K. Stalin has promised in the Puducherry election campaign that “Auroville, an international city caught in the grip of RSS, will be implemented according to the dream of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.”

On April 3rd, 2024, Shri M. Chakrapani, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu representing the Vanur constituency of the Villupuram district, sent a widely circulated letter to the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation alleging Auroville mismanagement over the last two years. Mentioning that he represents more than 100 villages, the majority of which rely on Auroville as a source of livelihood, he stated that Auroville’s continued development and sustainability is a matter of great pride for all of them. He criticised Auroville’s current governance, in particular in removing local Aurovilian Tamils from working groups and replacing them by other Tamil appointees which, at best, he wrote, is “a tokenistic formality”. Among other things, he objected to the harassment of Aurovilian Tamils who have taken issue with recent decisions; expressed concern about barriers being imposed on visa renewal of foreigners; and expressed his disapproval that a significant number of local Tamil workers involved in key Auroville industries and activities have been dismissed without adequate justification, little notice period and without sufficient compensation. Mr. Chakrapani also mentioned that he had received numerous complaints concerning possible corruption in cases involving land purchases. Mr. Chakrapani concluded his letter stating that he fears that if the alleged malpractices, such as the abuse of power, corruption, and harassment of Tamil Auroville residents and foreigners, are not remedied soon, the tide may turn and that the Secretary may lose the goodwill and support of the villages and the population of Auroville, resulting in increased public protest against the current administration.

On April 9th the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) sent an email to the Budget Coordination Committee (BCC) demanding that the BCC restore access to the budgets and Financial Service accounts of the working groups and services that have been selected or appointed by the Residents’ Assembly (RA), and to ensure that the maintenances of the RA members and Services are restored through the Auroville City Services Budget. Reference was made to the recent court orders confirming the role of the RA and its Working Committee in carrying out functions as stipulated in the Auroville Foundation Act 1988. The working groups and services are the RA-WCom, the RA-WCom Resource Persons, the RA Service (RAS), the Entry Board (aka Admissions Committee), the Auroville Council and the Town Planning and Development Council.

By letter dated April 9, 2024, the RA-WCom requested the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation to hand over the management and credentials of the domain auroville.org.in and its associated Google workspace to the RA-WCom, which both were set up by members of the Residents' Assembly to enable the Residents' Assembly to fulfil its duties of day-to-day management of Auroville. The RA-WCom stated that it has faced challenges in communicating with all residents of Auroville following the forceful takeover of the domain auroville.org.in. The Secretary was also requested to provide access and passwords of the email IDs workingcom@auroville.org.in and wcoffice@auroville.org.in and of other RA groups and services, and also to prevent the illegal use of those IDs by any other parties. Lastly, it requested that all blocks preventing the uninterrupted and timely communications between auroville.org.in email IDs and non auroville.org.in e-mails be removed.

The RA-Working Committee and the RA-Town Development Committee sent a joint note to the community advising to disregard notices sent by the GB-FAMC with the request to vacate at the earliest the Auroville assets they are stewarding to make way for roads or ‘lines of force’. The members of these working groups observed that it is not in the direct purview of the GB-FAMC to take on matters of planning and development and that the ATDC constituted by the GB under Section 16 of the Auroville Foundation (AVF) Act, which had been directing such work, has been declared invalid by the Madras High Court judgment of 15th March 2024. The two working groups do not recognise the decisions taken by the GB-FAMC or by the GB-ATDC.

The Auroville Council reminded the community that in December 2022, following instructions from the Auroville Foundation Office (AVFO), the Auroville News & Notes (N&N) began censoring the content received from a portion of the Residents’ Assembly. Attempts to convince the N&N managers to continue publishing the announcements of the working groups selected by the RA were ignored, which led the Auroville Council to officially dismiss the managers and replace them with a new team. However, the old managers ignored their dismissal and continued publishing their censored newsletter, receiving funds to do so from the BCC approved by the AVFO. To solve the problem a second Auroville News & Notes called the "RA edition" is now being published, which publishes all announcements that are submitted regardless of the submitter’s position on the current conflict. The Council wrote that this transition to the RA edition “has not been easy with no financial support from the Central Fund and with the need for secrecy so as not to attract unwanted reprisal for the people involved.” Today, the RA News & Notes is sent to more than 3000 people weekly and is also printed and distributed to most public places. The Council, having noticed that many residents continue to send their announcements to the censored newsletter – often without awareness that there are now two versions of News & Notes – has invited residents to send their content to the RA edition of the News & Notes (newsandnotes@auroville.services) and not to legitimise the censored newsletter.

The RA-WCom has invited residents for a General Meeting in Kalabhumi on April 30th, regarding formulating draft regulations about the constitution and function of the Town Development Council (TDC). The RA-WCom wrote that, following the Madras High Court judgement of March 15th, a new TDC can be constituted only after new regulations are made, approved by the Governing Board and published in the Gazette of India. The former RA TDC, in consultation with the Working Committee, have taken the initiative to draft a preliminary set of regulations to be presented to the GB for its approval.

On April 17th, the SAIIER board informed TLC (The Learning Community) that SAIIER has decided to withdraw all financial support for TLC (facilitators’ maintenances and running budget), to reclaim all assets accumulated over the years, and that the TLC Base Camp has to be vacated by July 2024. TLC has been functioning for 16 years.

SAIIER stated that it is responsible for ensuring that its sub-units align with and work toward the ideals of Auroville; that they serve the current and evolving needs of the community; and that their use of collective resources is reasonable and fair in the context of an overall shared economy. “Since the school split, seven years ago, the enrolment of Auroville children in TLC has been decreasing, in the case of both new students and continuing students. We have reviewed the data of not only the number of students, but also how long they stayed before moving to other schools and in some cases moving out of Auroville. SAIIER has supported TLC over the years in the hope this trend will change. However, the enrolment for the coming year 2024-25 is the lowest since the opening of the school, with only six Auroville students. After meeting with parents, facilitators and TLC management, and given the current situation and the current financial constraints, the SAIIER Board has decided that TLC as it currently functions will be closed at the end of this academic year (July 2024),” wrote SAIIER.

The TLC facilitators have taken the closure as an opportunity for TLC to go on a different journey, stating that “Discontinuing under the SAIIER umbrella will enable us to continue our active research in Integral Education without having to justify or compromise on our visions, goals and their implementation, which clearly do not fit with the definitions of a school as set down by SAIIER.” They are in communication with the GB-FAMC to move TLC to another umbrella under the Auroville Foundation.

The Auroville Foundation has advertised for 30 fellowships positions: Social-Media (4), General Management (2), IT (6), Medicine and Health Management (2), Agriculture / Forestry / Environmental Engineers (2), Economists (2), Educational Researchers (2), Civil Engineers / Structural engineers (2), Marketing (2), performing artist for music / dance / drama / other art forms (4), and Security Officers (2).

Qualifications are to have a graduation degree in the particular domain, a minimum 2 years of experience, must be physically fit and available for at least one year in Auroville and should be committed to the ideals of the Auroville and abide by the code of conduct during the Fellowship period. The Fellows will be assigned to various units of Auroville during the engagement period. He/she will be required to put in at least 8 hours of work each day studying the existing system, suggesting innovative solutions, and implementing the solutions approved to improve the process of the unit to improve its output. The Auroville Foundation will provide the selected fellows with accommodation, food, and internal movement facility along with a basic stipend.

Auroville farmers reported that despite the recent setbacks, they sent 3,128 kilos of 46 different vegetables, 3,301 kilos of 24 sorts of fruit, 19,764 eggs, 6,327 litres of milk, 846 kilos of various sorts of rice and 327 kg of polished and unpolished varagu (the latter procured from the bioregion and processed in Auroville) to FoodLink in March to be distributed to the Auroville community. The farmers hope in their next month report to include produce from Auroville farms distributed through other channels, “some of which spreads the blessings from our farms to Puducherry and beyond.”

Those who would like to explore the whole world of food in Auroville, which includes not only how it is grown but its cultural meaning in this international township, are invited to visit the website https://foodpathsauroville.com and download a free digital book from https://tinyurl.com/3kxm9kx8

On the occasion of the 86th birth anniversary of the late Dr G Nammalvar, who was an Indian green crusader, agricultural scientist, environmental activist and organic farming expert, Aurovilian Bernard Declercq was presented with the Vanagam Award for Lifetime Achievement in honour of his consistent efforts, along with those of his wife Deepika, to reforest the barren land of Auroville’s Pebble Garden. The Nammalvar Ecological Foundation for Global Food Security and Farm Research created this special award to acknowledge and recognise Bernard’s silent and decades-long contribution towards re-greening the planet.

Elle, the Indian edition of the worldwide lifestyle magazine of French origin called Elle, has awarded the ELLE Sustainability Award 2024 to Aurovilian Uma Prajapati for her work in the field of sustainability in the last 20 years. “As the founder of Upasana, Uma has transformed the fashion landscape by seamlessly weaving ethics and aesthetics into every facet of her work … she is an unwavering advocate for sustainable practices … her empowering spirit towards countless artisans and workers along the supply chain has been recognised through the ELLE Sustainable Style Vision Award.”

In March 2024 it was announced that Suhasini Laxman Iyer had won the Indian Institute of Architects IIA National Awards 2022 in the category Residential Projects for the Humanscapes Habitat buildings. Architect Mona Doctor-Pingel won two awards, one in the category Women Architect in the Forefront for her Studio Naqsbandi, the other in the category Mercantile Retail for her Cottage showroom. Auroville architects Ganesh Bala Iyer and Neha Dige won the award in the category Conservation and Restoration and Preservation and Adaptive Reuse for André and Prema’s old house in Auromodèle, originally designed by Roger Anger.

Auroras Eye Films (an Auroville unit) recently produced a documentary celebrating 30 years of the Auroville Choir. The film can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XnNMpv63U4

YouthLink informed the community that it would like to create a Vocational Training Centre to provide for a safe environment where Auroville youth and youth coming to Auroville can explore and develop various skills, and contribute to positive change without the need to leave the community. The Centre is envisaged as a campus that nurtures individuals through interpersonal bonding. A rough curriculum will be ready by July 2024. For more information contact youthlink@auroville.org.in.