Working Committee

Expressing that “one of the essential values of Auroville is collaboration – a spirit of shared responsibility and transparent communication”, the FO Working Committee has introduced a new initiative aimed at improving dialogue between Auroville residents and working groups.

On 14 August Dr. Karan Singh, who has been Chairman of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation for more than 20 years, briefly visited Auroville.

Four years into this crisis, I find myself searching for clarity on how we move forward. Yesterday, I came across a series of writings by Shannon Willis on Soft Rebellion that articulated what many of us have been intuitively practicing all along.

In the previous issue of Auroville Today we published the major considerations and decisions of the Governing Board as reported in the minutes of its 67th Governing Board meeting held in Auroville on 31 May 2024.

The RA-WCom has shared with the community an update about recent activities and hearings in the Supreme Court in New Delhi and in the Madras High Court.

On November 11th, an article in the Times of India mentioned that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (All India Anna Dravidian Progressive Federation - AIADMK), currently the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, which has great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry, demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's primary domestic crime-investigating agency, into the alleged irregularities in land exchanges at Auroville.

The RA-WCom shared with the community a legal opinion regarding the current status of the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly. The opinion, after considering the various facts of the matter, concluded that “there is and can only be one Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly, and no body of persons without the mandate of the Residents’ Assembly can claim to be the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly”.

The Auroville Foundation Act 1988 contains a special section on the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly. It states that:

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.

There have been many requests for clarity on the background and status of the numerous court cases that are pending in various courts in India, including in the Supreme Court of India, regarding the present situation in Auroville.

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.

The Residents’ Assembly Service (RAS) informed the community of the results of an Emergency Residents' Assembly Decision-making process, initiated through a petition signed by more than 300 members of the Residents’ Assembly (RA), (1) to approve or disapprove that the Working Committee selected by the RA will coordinate the functions of the Funds and Assets Management Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-FAMC) until such time as the circumstances allow for the selection and functioning of a new FAMC of the RA; and (2) to extend the emergency functions granted to the Working Committee on 14.08.2023, for a period of six months.

In early February, before the High Court passed its interim order, an Emergency Residents' Assembly Decision (RAD) had been initiated through a petition signed by more than 300 members of the Residents’ Assembly (RA) to approve or disapprove the following resolution:

On January 23rd, the Madras High Court ordered an interim stay of the two new regulations approved by the Governing Board and published by the Secretary, Auroville Foundation, in the Gazette of India, e.g. the Auroville Foundation (Admission and Termination of Persons in the Register of Residents) Regulations 2023, and the Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations 2024.

On January 12th, 2024, the GB published the Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024, in part III of the Gazette of India.

As the Framework for Selection of Working Committee Regulations appear to be in contravention of the Auroville Foundation Act which states in section 19.2 that “The manner of choosing the members of the Working Committee and their term of office shall be such as may be decided by the Residents Assembly”, concerned residents have collected signatures on a petition requesting the Residents’ Assembly Service (RAS) to open an Emergency Residents' Assembly Decision (E-RAD) “regarding the Governing Board’s questionable attempt to interfere with the selection process of WCom members.”

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).

The RA Working Committee clarified that reports in the press that there were deliberate attempts by Auroville residents to engage in illegal activities relating to possession of statues were false.

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

The new selection process started in May with a call for nominations/self-nominations for candidates for the following Working Groups: Auroville Council, Auroville Town Development Council, Entry Board, Funds and Assets Management Committee and Working Committee.

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.

On February 24th, Sanjeev Aggarwal passed away at the age of 70 in JIPMER, after a cardiac arrest. Sanjeev came to Auroville at the end of 1981, cutting short a successful career as a High Court lawyer in New Delhi.

What Aurovilians are asking for is a town planning process that upholds and reflects the ideals of ‘the city the earth needs’.

This issue is almost entirely devoted to the tumultuous events of the last weeks which saw bulldozers removing trees planted by Auroville foresters and Auroville habitations in the Youth Centre, to clear a path for the Right of Way of the Crown, which is intended to connect the four zones of the city.

On the afternoon of 22nd November, the first open community meeting on the multiversity concept was held. After the origin of the draft Parliamentary Act and the present stance of the Working Committee and SAIIER were presented (see accompanying interview), the floor was opened for questions, clarifications and comments, as a means of deciding “where we go from here”.

Partha was one of the first local youngsters to join Auroville. After teaching in Auroville’s schools, he’s now part of the Working Committee, and runs Neem Tree Café.

The Working Committee has stated that all residents and volunteers who will be out of Auroville for more than 2 months, even if traveling to other parts of India, need to inform the Residents’ Service so that current information about who is in and out of Auroville is always available.

Aurosugan coordinated Auroville's COVID response in the second wave, drawing on his experience in health care administration at the Aravind Eye Hospital, working together with the Auroville support team.

Though Auroville has done a lot of welfare work for the villages, more attention is needed in building healthy and collaborative relationships with the village leaders and elders.

The Working Committee has appointed a core team of five Aurovilians to prepare the celebrations of Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary 15-08-2022.

In its May report to the community, the Working Committee informed that the appointment of the Chairman and members of the Governing Board, vacant since November 2020, and the appointment of the members of the International Advisory Council, vacant since September 2017, is still awaited.

That’s me - the baby sitting on the edge of the windowsill – one of the first children to live in Auroville. I was born in Kampala, Uganda, and I came to Pondicherry with Shyama, my mother, and my two brothers in 1965 when I was one-and-a-half years old.

The Working Committee reported that the minutes of the last meeting of the former Governing Board, held on line on November 7th, 2020, have still not been received for information to the community.

How has the pandemic impacted our economy? How to make it more equitable and resilient in the future? These are just two of the questions explored in a recent discussion between people from different sectors of the community.

In the last few months, the world has been turned upside-down. Half the world’s population has been in lockdown, the global economy has collapsed, millions have lost their jobs and thousands have died, all as a result of a new and very infectious corona virus: COVID-19.

The COVID Task Force, along with the Working Committee, has been the group that has been coordinating Auroville’s response to the lockdown. What has their work involved?

Dear Aurovilians, I was particularly happy to read the cover article by Guy Ryckaert in the February edition of Auroville Today in which he has stressed the fact that the Mother looked upon Auroville as the spiritual workshop for the development of overmenhood.

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.

Auroville is under attack, both from the outside and the inside. It started in February 2019 with the publication of the book Auroville – A Dream Hijacked, authored by Dr.

The photo shows the President (left) with Governing Board member Prof. Mohanty at the Matrimandir entrance.

The Working Committee said that garbage dumping is taking place in and around Auroville by some Aurovilians/Auroville units and restaurants.

In a presentation to the Residents Assembly on 23rd August, the Working Committee reported that while there is agreement that private development within the Master Plan is one of the most serious challenges facing Auroville, there is no consensus on the possible solution.

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.