50th Anniversary – Auroville

From clunky prototypes to a thriving EV ecosystem, Auroville’s journey mirrors India’s evolving electric vehicle landscape – driven by innovation, resilience, and a vision for sustainable transport.

Many view the disruption caused by the lockdown in Auroville as an opportunity to radically transform our economy, governance, food provision systems etc. and a number of proposals to achieve this have already been made.

There was a presentation on Universal Basic Income and the Sustainable Development Goals by Hilde Latour, a Basic Income activist from the Netherlands.

“Nobody wants to talk to me”, said the journalist, annoyance clouding his voice. He had come to write an article about Auroville and had asked the staff of OutreachMedia to find people to whom he could talk.

Special events are celebrated in all parts of the world. Have you ever been in a big city, like Paris or London, when they are celebrating something like Christmas or the New Year?

As the Auroville community concludes its 50th anniversary year, the Auroville Earth Institute is looking ahead towards its own 30th anniversary milestone in August.

In its 27-year life span, the Life Education Centre has been through different phases since its establishment as a centre to meet the needs of neglected children.

How can you encompass something as complex and as multi-layered as Auroville? You can’t, of course. But it may be easier to capture something of this extraordinary adventure through images than through words.

On November 14, 2018, Governing Board member Dr. Anirban Ganguly offered an Auroville memento to the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, who in February 2018 honoured Auroville with a message on the occasion of Auroville’s 50th anniversary, in which he speaks of Auroville as reflecting “our quest for achieving oneness in diversity.”

Recently, discrimination has been a hot topic in Auroville. It was brought to the forefront by two Tamil members of the Working Committee who felt they had been ‘discriminated’ against by not being allowed to meet the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on his recent visit.

Auroville Botanical Garden’s Educational Programmes are teaching local students the importance of conserving our local biodiversity.

Feelings of discrimination surfaced after two Tamil members of the Working Committee were not given proximity passes for the Prime Minister’s visit on February 24th.

Tourism in Auroville has increased considerably over the years. What is its impact upon the community? Does it help or harm us? Should it be controlled and, if so, how?

A number of women from the villages that surround Auroville and come to Auroville for work feel that the Tamil Aurovilian women are somehow different from them and there is a lack of connection.

On the occasion of Auroville’s 50th anniversary, the postal authorities of France and The Netherlands have also issued a special postal stamp.

Meenakshi, our acclaimed Tamil poet, has just brought out a bi-lingual collection of her poetry to coincide with Auroville’s 50th birthday. Pebble contains one or two poems that have been anthologised elsewhere – like the lovely “I am the golden flame” – but many are new, at least to this reviewer.

The manifestation of the Hive, which was sanctified with a Bhoomi Puja on February 26th, has been suspended.

Beginning in 2014, Aurovilians began to envision and plan for the big celebrations. Here is how they did it.

Preparations for the two hours had its share of surprises and challenges.

The highlight of this year's 50th anniversary bonfire was undoubtedly the moving water ceremony. Srimoyi, a member of the Matrimandir Events Team, describes on behalf of the team how it came about.

Dev Mohanty describes the trials and satisfactions of live streaming Auroville’s 50th events.

Sangamam in Tamil means ‘confluence’ or ‘a group of people coming together’ and this was very much the spirit of this year’s gathering on the 4th of March that brought together around 8000 people from Auroville, its beautiful bioregion, and many friends and guests from around the world.

Fabienne of Outreach Media, Doris of Auroville Video, Serena, an independent Aurovilian filmmaker and Valentina, who is editing the material, talk about the challenges and successes of covering the birthday events.

I am happy to be here today on the occasion of the golden jubilee week of Auroville. Sri Aurobindo’s vision of India’s spiritual leadership continues to inspire us, even today.

That the visit of Sri Narendra Modi would cause a lot of commotion was to be expected. Just how much became clear by the middle of January, when the Aurovilians found out that access to many roads was blocked, diverting them to dusty bypasses.

YouthLink celebrated Auroville’s 50th Anniversary by launching two of its projects, the Hive and the Joy of Impermanence.

The Sea Trashion show draws a crowd and the RE-CENTRE begins.

Amongst the memorable events of Auroville’s Golden Jubilee celebrations was the visit of Dr. Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and Representative of UNESCO, Delhi Office.

Paulette has been a particularly energetic contributor to the 50th anniversary celebrations. She has put up two photographic exhibitions and released a book.

The Meditation and Water Ceremony

For six days, progressive researchers held a conference in Auroville

On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Hon’ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind honoured Auroville with this message, which captures the essence of the vision of Auroville as reflecting “our quest for achieving oneness in diversity

In March, 2015, we interviewed three Aurovilians, Gérard Maréchal, Janaka and François Gauthier, who had journeyed to Auroville in the first caravan in 1969, to learn more about the caravan story.

Bindu reflects upon Auroville as a social experiment.

On 29th of December, the 50th anniversary planning team gave an update to the community on planned events. Among other events, there will be a water ceremony after the early morning meditation on 28th February 2018, in the Amphitheatre.

The Government of India has made a special grant to the amount of Rs 10 crores for fixed assets expenditure for Auroville’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Vikas Vickers of AVI UK has selected 50 poems by 21 poets as a gift and tribute to Auroville on its 50th birthday. This collection is the only the second collection of Auroville poetry, and the first in over 30 years.

From comments on Auronet and casual conversations, it is evident that quite a number of Aurovilians are not looking forward to the 50th birthday celebrations.

On February 28th 2018, Auroville will celebrate the anniversary of its 50th year. The occasion presents an unprecedented opportunity to honour the birth and vision of Auroville, to increase the recognition of its relevance for India and the world, to attract people of all ages from India and abroad to visit Auroville and participate in the events, and to document and share its journey of 50 years.

Auroville’s Galaxy Plan is marked by so-called ‘Lines of Force’, long building structures. The Line of Goodwill is a project to build the longest Line of Force of the Galaxy Plan, which extends from the outer ring road near the Visitors Centre parking to the edge of the planned Matrimandir Lake.