Gujarat

The Auroville Foundation Office (AVFO) continues to enter into institutional agreements without consulting or informing the Residents' Assembly (RA).

The membership of the Working Committee approved by the Governing Board (GB-WCom) continues to be questioned. An email from the GB-WCom dated January 2, 2025, welcoming Newcomers and Volunteers and inviting them to weekly sessions on “Auroville the Dream”, was signed by six ‘members’, including one member who had publicly announced her resignation a few months ago.

On June 2, 2021, the Working Committee informed the community that Gujarat-cadre IAS officer Dr. Jayanti S. Ravi, who has been serving as Principal Secretary in the Gujarat Health and Family and Welfare Department, has been appointed as Secretary of the Auroville Foundation on deputation.

Auroville’s second Endangered Craft Mela took place in February, and it was a lively event. For one week, the Youth Centre was transformed into a hive of activity, with 50 craftspeople sharing their skills and 250 excited children being inducted into the pleasure of making objects with their hands

The Government of India recently appointed Dr K. Parameswaran, Associate Professor of Law and Dean of External & Alumni Relations of the Gujarat National Law University in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, as Member of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation.

The Journey of Auroville is a project under the special grants from the Government of India for Auroville’s 50th anniversary. Officially started with the Auroville Expo in Delhi, which took place in November 2017 and comprised an exhibition and two conferences at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts and the UNESCO Office, this 50th anniversary commemorative project has evolved into a festival format to reflect the many facets of Auroville’s vision and realities over the past fifty years.

Tapas Bhatt has long been associated with supporting the arts in Auroville and, in particular, with connecting Auroville to the world and the world to Auroville through the arts.

Each day in a different school in a rural, semi-tribal area of Gujarat, village children lined up for their first ever dental checkup. There were tears for a few, but in the end new smiles for all, thanks to a dedicated team of Aurovilians.

On February 15th, long-term Aurovilian and pioneer, Jayant Thakkar, who lived in Promesse, passed away in the Ashram’s nursing home at the age of 94.

Auroville’s Dustudio / BuildAur, in collaboration with three other organizations, has won a bid to facilitate the process of designing and building 250,000 ‘social’ houses in Gujarat.

With the demise of Dr. Kireet Joshi on 14 September 2014, the Aurobindonian firmament has lost one of its brightest stars. Born on 10 August 1931, he studied philosophy and law at the Elphinstone College under the University of Bombay.