Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG)

Abishek, a youth from Annai Nagar village, recently spent 18 months volunteering in Germany, as part of the Weltwärtsprogramme.

Auroville Village Action’s Women’s Day inspires inclusion Imagine a scene bursting with vibrant energy, a gathering of over 500 women and 50 children, all united by a common goal.

In 2023, Auroville’s Village Action Group (AVAG) celebrated 40 years. In this issue of Auroville Today we publish excerpts of the December 2023 newsletter of AVAG, highlighting the transformation AVAG has achieved in the life of women from the surrounding villages.

The aroma of freshly baked cakes and the joyous chatter of women learning new skills recently filled the air at AVAG. Over three days, 70 local women from nearby villages participated in an intensive training programme in making millet-based cakes and cookies, organized by Gelato Factory in collaboration with AVAG, the Auroville unit Gastronomica, and COWE (Centre of Women Entrepreneurship).

A recent British Academy report on the U.K. post-pandemic situation concluded that “We are in a COVID decade: the social, economic and cultural effects of the pandemic will cast a long shadow into the future... there are a set of deeper impacts on health and wellbeing, communities and cohesion, and skills, employment and the economy which will have profound effects upon the U.K. for many years to come”.

In the last two years, six Aurovilians (two individuals and a family of four), took their lives because of personal issues including being heavily indebted.

The word ‘pivot’ became the marketing buzzword of 2020 in many parts of the world. It captured the agility of businesses that could quickly change direction and move towards practical solutions to address the COVID pandemic.

In April and May 2021, India witnessed a surge in COVID-19 infections, with the country seeing over 3,50,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 daily, one of the highest one-day tallies anywhere in the world and the number of deaths was also increasing every day.

Auroville’s Institute of Integral Health Santé and the Auroville Village Action Group have issued the booklet “Nal Valvu” (Good and meaningful life), which aims at raising awareness about COVID-19 – how it spreads, how to manage the risk of infection, what Community transmission and herd immunity are, and how the Covishield vaccine effects immunity.

When Eco Femme founders Kathy and Jessamijn started the initiative ten years ago, they couldn’t imagine that their dreams would find such fertile ground.

In Auroville, the prevalence and the meaning of face masks has shifted radically in recent months. From something that was previously worn to protect two-wheeler motorists from dust and pollution, the mask has now become ubiquitous as a signifier of a public health disaster.

I have been in Auroville for 20 years since the age of 10. I worked as a teacher in Future School, a writer for the Auroville Today and Auroville Village Action Group, and served a term in the Working Committee.

My name is QurratulAin Contractor and I am 27 years old. I come from Mumbai and have been living and working in Auroville since April, 2016.

The vocational training school, the Auroville Institute of Applied Technology, has now been running for over 15 years. What does it do? How successful has it been and what challenges is it facing today?

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.

The community has no policy regarding how to handle tourism. Recently, visiting students studied the situation and made some recommendations.

On 5th December, Auroville Consulting launched the Solar Village Search Engine to help fund its Solar Village Initiative, which aims to power 100 villages in Tamil Nadu with solar by the year 2030.

On the initiative of the Auroville units Restorative Auroville, Prisma, Auroville Village Action and Aikyam School, Auroville hosted a Walk of Hope for Peace and Human Unity to spread the message of oneness, inclusion and respect among Aurovilians and the village communities around Auroville on January 28th and 29th.

Auroville Village Action celebrated the 21st edition of the Annual Women’s Solidarity Festival. The event was attended by over 5000 women from the bioregion, over 500 children, guests from Auroville and volunteers from the Paalam youth group in the bioregion and other village youths.

Through an organization called ‘Art Therapy without Borders’ and with other numerous partners in this adventure, Krupa uses art therapy as a remedial experience.

Economic growth cannot be the only raison d’être of our economy.

Recently, exchange visits took place between Auroville and the neighbouring village of Annainagar. Ain Contractor, a volunteer with Auroville Village Action, describes the event.

A volunteer at Village Action (AVAG) shares her experience of this year’s Women’s Solidarity Festival

Alain Bernard first came to Auroville in 1972. Since then, he has been involved in many key areas, including the economy, education, the Press and, most recently, Village Action and the Sustainable Livelihood Institute.

For many years, Shankar has been active in combating alcoholism in the area through his work with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) [see Auroville Today, # 306].

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment oversees the interest of the Scheduled Castes, and intervenes in critical sectors through various schemes.

Alain Bernard, a trustee of Auroville Village Action, introduces the Sustainable Livelihood Institute (SLI) project, a joint project of Auroville and the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The Bioregion Action Group and YouthLink are both outcomes of the Auroville Retreat. Together with Auroville Village Action they are in the process of implementing a project called ‘Paalam’, meaning ‘Bridge’ in Tamil.

The heavy rains took many areas in South India by surprise. Chennai and Cuddalore were flooded and many small villages in our bioregion were also severely affected, some almost washed away.

On 20th November, The Hindu newspaper reported that an initiative had been launched to make Puducherry and Auroville the world’s first ‘Fair Trade Twin Towns’.

At the end of June, the Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) received a 1 Crore grant from Motherson Sumi Systems Limited through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, for a project that aims to increase access to education for poor girls.

Four long-term Aurovilians involved in village development and commerce talk about Auroville and India.

Six years ago, Auroville Village Action (AVAG) organized its first Women’s Solidarity Festival. Thousands of women from AVAG’s Women’s Self-Help Groups came together in an event that was described as unique, path-breaking and intensely motivating for all participants.

“Compared to many villages in Tamil Nadu, Alankuppam is well-off,” says Moris from Auroville’s Village Action (AVAG), pointing at its clean, pothole-free roads.

Tamil Nadu today is ranked among India’s most ‘developed’ states. Increasingly urbanised, it has a growing service sector in the cities, and is a proud leader in healthcare and information technology.

Last School, that hotbed of a bright new wave of young Aurovilians destined, come the year 2001, to take our citadel by storm, was the site, in this pleasant month of December, of two events worth noting: India Week, and the third annual Last School Fair.