Decision making

On 13 August, the managers of Annapurna Farm received an email signed by three working groups constituted by the Governing Board – the Funds and Assets Management Committee, L’Avenir d’Auroville (Auroville’s Town Development Council) and the Farm Service – stating: “It has been decided to allocate 100 acres of Auroville land at Annapurna for the IIT [Indian Institute of Technology, eds.]

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.

Chali reflects on the fractures within Auroville and on the possibilities of restoration.

A petition calling upon local authorities and decision-makers to save Annapurna Farm from conversion to an IIT campus in an ‘unjust transformation’ had received 13,780 signatures in support by 30 August.

On 11 February it was announced that Auroville’s Residents' Assembly (RA) has approved the revised mandate of the Residents’ Assembly Service. 359 residents of Auroville voted online and in-person, with 355 votes in favour and 4 against.

Recently longtime Aurovilian Divakar circulated a paper entitled ‘Auroville and its destinies’ in which he suggested a possible way forward which seeks to integrate the present reality as a way of continuing our collective progress.

On 6th January, 2012, Michael Bonke, along with Toine van Megen and Harald Kraft, made a presentation to the Auroville community about Auroville’s future energy and drinking water needs [published in AVToday # 271, February 2012].

In April this year, concerned residents of Auroville circulated a petition requesting a halt of the excavation of the Matrimandir Lake to evaluate an alternative design proposal and start an integrated development process.

Working in Auroville has its own specialty. As novice honorary volunteers, drawn to the idea of Auroville and with stars in our eyes, several years can go by slightly tinted.

A total of 343 registered residents participated in an Emergency Residents Assembly Decision (RAD) called by the Working Committee to decide if a so-called Provisional RAD process is to be used until a new RAD process is in place, which, it is hoped, will manifest within 9 months.

Tatiana Sineeva joined Auroville in 2014. Here she talks about her background, her work teaching Hatha Yoga, her discovery of Auroville, her educational experience at Deepanam school and her work as a member of Auroville’s Residents’ Assembly Service.

The term ‘community’ is used in a very loose way in Auroville. Sometimes it refers to the settlement where people live, sometimes to national sub-groups, sometimes to the residents as a whole, and sometimes to an idealistic or occult aspect of Auroville.

One of the strongest messages to emerge out of the Retreat discussions was the need to re-examine our present organizational structure, to make it more reflective of our core values and ideals and to strengthen the role of the Residents’ Assembly.

The Auroville Retreat, which took place on 12th and 13th March, brought together members of the International Advisory Council (IAC), the Governing Board (GB) and around 160 Aurovilians to examine the present state of Auroville and to draft an action plan for the near future.

Roger Toll left Auroville in 1979 after eight years of living at Matrimandir and Certitude. Today he is a magazine editor and writer living in the United States.

Judith came to Auroville in 1971. After helping with the Matrimandir excavations, she moved to Kottakarai, where she did afforestation and orchard work – and began a family.

One name keeps coming back over the years, in connection with the Galaxy: Roger Anger, the well-known French architect. Soon after leaving the Beaux Arts, he constructed some buildings which were architecturally remarkable and which immediately associated him with the avant-garde.