Issue Nº391 – News in brief

Aurosylle and Tim gave an informative introduction to wildlife in Auroville during a live and online event on 21st January in Bharat Nivas. Of special interest is that prior to 1972, Auroville had a count of 25 bird species. Today there are over 130 different types, with new species arriving each year, such as the Ultramarine Flycatcher which normally lives in Nepal and the Western Ghats.

Savitri Bhavan hosted an Auroville art retrospective 2021 from 17 December till 14 January. Works by Sathya, Shinso, Audrey, Hufreesh, Xinpeng, Abhijit, Sangara and Birgitta were displayed.

In December last year, the Pondicherry Art Akademy showed 180 paintings by 90 artists from 19 states of India at Kala Kendra. The Akademy aims to help budding artists by showcasing their work along with those of eminent artists, and also to encourage women artists. It also holds art competitions for school children. The selection for this exhibition was made from 548 entries.

Auroville International Argentina has started AuroSur, News from Auroville which will appear every two months. For info contact www.escuchaintegral.com

On January 13, the Auroville Council published its note to the Auroville Town Development Committee (ATDC) stating “As you have misinterpreted the minutes of the Governing Board and at the same time intend to ignore the Residents Assembly’s processes, although you are constituted by the RA, we must on these grounds alone place your office appointments and legitimacy in question.”

On January 21st, the Auroville Foundation instructed Outreach Media to vacate its office and surrender all its material and immaterial assets to the Auroville Foundation. The instruction was refused. The Funds and Assets Management Committee objected to the instruction, stating that only the FAMC is authorized to take such decisions.

The Working Committee announced that Hemant, Jürgen and Christine have resigned from the Core Group of Sri Aurobindo’s 150th Birth Anniversary team.

About 30 non-Indian Aurovilians who had joined efforts to stop bulldozers destroying the Crown Road stretch through the Bliss and Darkali forests, have received visits from officers of the Regional Registration Office, requesting to see their passport and Residential Permit, asking if they had been joining the ‘agitation’

Shri Balkrishna Doshi, the eminent architect and ex-member of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2022, one of the world’s highest honours for architecture.

On January 7th, a form was circulated to be signed by foreigners needing a visa recommendation from the Secretary, Auroville Foundation, which stated amongst others that the signatory agreed to 'Abide by the Master Plan of Auroville, based on the Galaxy Plan conceived by the Mother and gazetted by the Government of India, based on which the Auroville City will be developed and built", and 'I hereby state that I will in no way or form, obstruct of hinder its manifestation. In the event of breaching this agreement of understanding, the Auroville Foundation can take any action as may be deemed necessary'. The Working Committee subsequently clarified that this was a pilot/draft to get a pulse of what will be the most appropriate version and that the declarations signed by about 20 people so far stand cancelled.

In a well-attended meeting of the Residents' Assembly (RA) held on January 2nd, a proposed decision to be made by the RA (RAD) was formulated:

To pause all clearing, infrastructure laying and permanent construction work on the Right of Ways of Crown, Radials and Outer Ring in order to enable the community to define a way forward for Auroville's development, following collective processes, the 'Master Plan: Perspective 2025' framework, and other relevant regulations.

This formulation was approved by 397 persons while 24 residents were against it. On January 4th, the Universal Township Group launched a petition to invalidate both the RAD and the Residents’ Assembly Service (RAS) team who were described as 'dysfunctional' and 'driven by personal opinion'. 115 people signed the petition, though later some withdrew. The next day, a counter petition to support the work of RAS was launched. Within a day it received over three hundred signatories. The RAS started the decision making process on January 9th. It lasted till January 25th. On January 26th, the RAS announced that the RA had decided to accept the proposal. 899 valid votes had been submitted. 803 Aurovilians supported the proposal, 96 Aurovilians did not.

Six senior Aurovilians presented to the Board their account of the last two months, challenging some of the narratives of failure and stagnation, and how differences within Auroville have deepened since the current Secretary arrived.

Three members of the Working Committee discovered that the other four members had submitted a presentation to the Board bypassing them, which, they say, had “errors of judgement and facts and was undermining the role of the Residents' Assembly”. Their views and corrections were shared with the Board.

The Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation held a meeting at Auroville on January 18th. Members of the International Advisory Council submitted their views on-line. From newspaper reports the Auroville residents learned that the Board had unanimously reaffirmed its stand to continue with expeditious implementation of the Auroville Township as per the Master Plan.