Village relations

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.

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).

Induja, a young Auroville architect, talks about how she came to Auroville, the work which inspires her and her hopes for the future.

Long-term Aurovilians Gillian, Roy, Angad and Adil met in Adil’s house in late September. Angad and Adil are working potters, Roy a former potter and Gillian, Roy’s partner, ran a crafts workshop and has been active in promoting village clean up and cycle path initiatives.

Arun Kumar (age 24) and V. Vignesh (age 22) are both Kottakarai village youth who grew up in and around Auroville. Here they share some of their experiences and perceptions of Auroville the community, the project and the Dream.

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”.

Prashant Hedao is a landscape architect and environmental planner with a Masters in Landscape Architecture and a Ph.D in Geography. He is also a consultant with the WHO's GIS Centre for Health.

Sixteen years have gone by since two young women, Bridget Horkan and Kathy Walkling, took a big step to bridge the gap between Auroville  and the neighbouring village of Edayanchavadi.

The following is a selection of reminiscences about Kottakarai community in the 1970s by its members. These were first published in the 2020 Fall-Winter issue of AVI-USA Connect magazine.

“Vaccination lag in rural India points to a looming crisis” runs the May 19 front page article of The Hindu, one of India’s national newspapers.

Janet Fearn was one of the very first people to settle in Auroville. In 1997, along with her friend, Philip Melville, she decided to create a programme for Newcomers which would tell them about the early history of Auroville.

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.

Joy of Impermanence (JOI) is an umbrella project that aims to create new communities in Auroville based on impermanence and sustainability.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have brought large scale unemployment, poverty and hunger to the rural villages and urban slums of India.

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

Ranging in activity from restaurants to consulting, fashion, construction and more, Auroville has over 250 commercial units. Many of them have developed a reputation for excellence that extends beyond the community, often becoming a first introduction to Auroville for those far away.

Across more than one issue, Auroville Today aims to highlight our employees and their valuable contributions to Auroville’s daily functioning.

Jagadeshwari hails from Annai Nagar, a small village on the northern side of Auroville, where she works as an administrator and facilitator in Thamarai after-school (an Auroville outreach project).

It’s generally Auroville’s attractive products or tangible outputs that have gained the most attention for the community’s units and services over the years.

Tsunamika, the colourful cloth doll representing post-tsunami renewal, returns in a new avatar. She has now grown into the voice of the oceans, urging us to protect our seas and, ultimately, ourselves.

On June 12th, Auroville bade farewell to Mohan Verghese Chunkath who had been serving as Secretary of the Auroville Foundation since June 2016.

For many years Paul Vincent has been involved with trying to protect the land of Auroville. Here he gives his views on the present situation in which private developments in the Auroville area are mushrooming, and suggests what can be done about it.

A recent survey of students in the villages surrounding Auroville found that 73 per cent of college graduates are still unemployed within one or two years of graduation.

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?

It’s that time of year again. Aurovilian eyes are burning, heads are aching, throats and noses are sore, and so many of us feel exhausted and nauseous.

For six days in early January there was a collaborative planning workshop or charrette involving over 60 Aurovilians and visiting experts. The stated aim of Auroville - A Way Forward was to “bring the purpose of Auroville into our life, built environment and organization’.

Some of the organizers and participants reflect upon the recent workshop. Friederike, a member of AVI Germany, was instrumental in bringing the visiting experts while Auroville International helped fund the event.

Thamarai, which means 'lotus' in Tamil, is an Auroville educational and health project in the bioregion. There were challenges in 2016 when the Thamarai centre had to shut down in Edayanchavady.

Looking at some of the old issues of Auroville Today, it’s fascinating to see how some of the articles could have been written just last week.

The garbage heaps on the fields and along the roads leading into Auroville are increasing. What’s being done about it?

Survey markings in the Greenbelt installed by a consultant working for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) revealed that plans were afoot to build a four-lane National Highway through the Auroville Green Belt for a length of 3.5 kilometers, crossing the Forecomers, Pitchandikulam and Aurogreen areas.

Cristo has worked for many years on developing collaborations with the local villages. Why does he do it? What are the challenges and the satisfactions?

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.

An Auroville school uses various educational methods to engage children from the local area.

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.

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.

In December, a group of post-graduate planning students from Queen’s University, Canada, visited Auroville under the auspices of the Auroville Integral Sustainability Institute.

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.

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

Auroville recently hosted a two-day festival to celebrate Tamil heritage and culture, a first of this scale and vision. The brainchild of Balu from Mohanam Cultural Centre, and Meenakshi from Auroville’s Tamil Heritage Centre and Ilaignarkal School, the festival brought together artisans, performers, farmers, VIPs and visitors for festivities on Auroville land.

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

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.

Auroville, a melting pot of arts, culture, science and society, has been involved in many educational outreach initiatives since the 1980’s.

In 1969, the Mother allocated Rs. 5,000 to start a dispensary in a thatched hut in Douceur, mainly to serve the villagers from nearby Kuilapalayam.

Bridget, currently the only Irish Aurovilian, has been involved in many activities. These range from town planning to village work to helping to take care of Pitanga Cultural Centre.

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.