Auroville Council

On 19 March, three Residents’ Assembly appointed working groups, the RA-WCom, L’Avenir d’Auroville (RA-TDC) and the Auroville Council, sent a joint letter to the Matrimandir Team and the Auroville Town Development Council constituted by the Governing Board, warning about non-compliance consequences with Indian law, which requires obtaining necessary quarrying permits for ordinary earth excavation and approvals and environmental clearances for the creation of water bodies of the magnitude of the Matrimandir Lake.

The Auroville Visitors Centre is Auroville’s reception and information disseminating centre for the often thousands of tourists and visitors coming to Auroville daily.

At a Residents’ Assembly meeting, the Council explained that this revision of the RAS mandate has been long overdue. The existing 2007 mandate framed the RAS more as a decision-making body, whereas their actual role is to facilitate processes for the Residents' Assembly and working groups.

On July 6th, a community gathering and potluck dinner took place at the Certitude sportsground. The event was organized by the RA-WCom and the Auroville Council.

The Budget Coordination Committee of the AVFO (BCC) is continuing its programme of stringent maintenance cuts with an estimated 170 Aurovilians now affected.

Auroville’s communal fabric is having a difficult time of late with the Residents’ Assembly’s voice being ignored. The recent Selection Process showed that our collective spirit is still in good health.

Sathiya, a second-generation Aurovilian, speaks about her upbringing and her unwavering commitment to Auroville's ethos despite external pressures.

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.

Nominations are being invited for the 2024 selection process for the Auroville Council, Admission Committee and Working Committee. Nominations will close on 1st April, and the entire process should be finished by late April.

In order to prioritise the upcoming decision making events of the Residents’ Assembly, the Auroville Council organised a poll asking Aurovilians to express their priorities from a list of ten topics. 132 submissions were received online, by mail or on paper.

Last October, YouthLink conducted a sexual harassment awareness campaign and recently followed up on that initiative by bringing together all the services within Auroville working on matters related to sexual harassment to create Safety & Boundaries Awareness (SBA).

Organisation research Responding to a call from the Auroville Council, a group gathered every week from mid November onwards to try to answer a “call for organisation”.

On February 11th, Eva passed away in her apartment in Citadines after a brain haemorrhage. She had just celebrated her 77th birthday on February 8th with her fraternal family in Citadines community, full of joy and deeply happy.

Matriprasad passed away at the age of 65 in his apartment in Prayatna. His body was found around noon on 26 January; he had earlier informed his colleagues that he felt unwell and wouldn’t come to work for a few days.

Peter reflects on many months of keeping the council office in the Town Hall available for the Auroville Council.

The Auroville Council confirmed the outcome of the decision-making process of the Residents' Assembly concluded on May 8th regarding de-selecting members of the Working Committee. 92% of the 864 residents who participated voted in favour of removing four members of the Working Committee, 8% rejected it.

Confronted with many requests for various decisions of the Residents’ Assembly, the Auroville Council organized a poll to help it and the Residents’ Assembly Service determine which topics for Residents’ Assembly Decisions (RADs) the community felt to be the most important at this moment in time.

In the last three years, the Auroville Council has had to deal with many situations where a unit, a service, an Auroville activity or a school had to ask an Aurovilian to discontinue his or her work.

The Auroville Council has published draft guidelines for the publication of documents and views on the Auronet, the Intranet portal of Auroville.

There is a proposal to establish a ‘Silver Fund’. Anybody who is 70 + years old and has been on the Auroville Master list for a minimum of 25 years can request financial support from the Silver Fund.

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.

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?

The Auroville Council and the Auroville Safety and Security Team issued a public warning against careless driving which is on the rise since the speed breakers on Auroville roads were removed for the visit of the Prime Minister.

Stray dogs constitute a public health hazard, sometimes acting aggressively towards people and other pets and disturbing the peace at night by barking.

In order to address the issues and feelings related to discrimination in Auroville, the Auroville Council decided to form a subgroup. Together with members from the community, it plans a year-long focus on this theme through events, courses and multicultural happenings “that celebrate our unity in diversity and enable us to hear and understand each other on a deeper level.”

The Auroville Council and the Working Committee have completed the selection of an Entry Board. Under the new entry policy, the Board will oversee the Newcomer process and participate in deciding whether or not a Newcomer becomes an Aurovilian.

Koodam, Auroville’s conflict resolution referral platform, recently published the “Koodam Impact Analysis Research Report,” presenting an overview of Koodam’s growth and development since 2013 and assessing the impact of its work.

On October 23rd, at the end of a three-day selection process, the community selected a new eight-member team for the Town Development Council (TDC) Interface Team.

Nominations have been invited from the community for three new members of the Working Committee, three for the Council and two for the Funds and Assets Management Committee.

On Sunday May 28th, the Residents’ Assembly Service announced that a proposed new method of town planning had been approved by 81% of the 243 registered residents who participated in the vote.

By a vote of 214 ‘yes’ against 23 ‘no’, the Residents Assembly approved that affected individuals can appeal against decisions of some working groups

By a majority vote of 214 ‘yes’ against 23 ‘no’, the Residents Assembly has approved an appeal process. Individuals can now ask an Appeal Body to review and possibly change a working group’s decision.

On three days in October, replacement members for the Working Committee (2) and Auroville Council (4) were selected, as well as a complete new Funds and Assets Management Committee (FAMC) of 9 people.

The Auroville Council and Working Committee, concerned that feedback on those who wish to join the community cannot be based on personal feelings of likes and dislikes, and only on truth and accuracy of experience, have decided to henceforth use a “feedback form”.

On Wednesday April 20th, the Residents’ Assembly Service announced the results of a vote called by the Auroville Council on a new Entry Policy and a new mandate for the Funds and Assets Management Committee (FAMC).

A three-day selection process for new members for the Working Committee and Auroville Council took place from December 4-6th. It wasn’t to everybody’s liking.

After a delay of more than a year, the Auroville community has finally managed to select the members of a new Working Committee.

The Auroville Council announced that attempts to create a ‘Code of conduct and eligibility criteria’ for members of working groups has failed due to limited community participation and widely diverging opinions on the topic.