Government of India

Auroville exists in more than one dimension – there is the occult as well as the material dimension – which makes it difficult to assess what really is most important or influential in terms of the community’s development.

To: Shri R.N. Ravi, Chairman, Governing Board, Auroville Foundation. Subject: The MoU with IIT Madras & Land Use Concerns Dear Shri R.N. Ravi ji,

On 17 April, long-term Aurovilian Frederick Schulze Buxloh was informed that his application for visa extension had been denied. The decision sparked widespread concern, leading to a petition addressed to Indian authorities that garnered over 4000 signatures.

“Auroville will be a place of unending education”, says its Charter. The entirety of Auroville is envisioned by The Mother as an evolving educational campus encompassing all facets of life.

In March 2024, an Aurovilian filed two writ petitions at the Madras High Court. The first petition prayed the court to restrain the Auroville Foundation from land exchanges without following the procedures laid down in the Auroville Foundation Rules 1997 and the General Financial Rules 2017.

Claude and Abha have been living in Auroville since 1974 and 1978 respectively. For the last 45 years, Abha has been running the handicraft unit Shradhanjali while Claude has become a scholar who has authored several books and articles on Tibet, China, India and on Indo-French relations.

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.

The newspaper The Hindu reported on August 7th that the Minister of State for Education, Shri Sukanta Majumdar, replying in Parliament to a set of questions about Auroville, had said that the Central Government has referred a range of complaints, including dubious land exchanges, encroachment, cybercrime and money laundering in Auroville, to the appropriate bodies / agencies.

Supported by its rich biodiversity, India has since ancient times developed its own indigenous systems of medicine. Medicinal plants are found in all of its 15 ecosystems, giving rise to its unique alternative medical systems: Ayurveda, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Unani, each of which depends primarily on plant based formulations for its medicines.

The Working Committee constituted by the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) has shared with the community extensive information regarding land exchanges and transactions that have taken place in the last two years.

The earliest mention of Auroville was in the monthly issue of the Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS) Information Letter of March 1965, where its General Secretary Navajata wrote: “You will be glad to know that the Mother has taken up the model township project.

Issued by two members of the International Advisory Council and supported by eight International personalities

The AVFO recently changed the wording on visa Letters of Recommendation (LoR). The previous wording stated that “Auroville was founded by ‘The Mother’ of Sri Aurobindo Ashram on 28th February 1968”.

Many foreign residents of Auroville experience often long delays in obtaining the mandatory Letter of Recommendation (LoR) for their visa. Awaiting the letter, Aurovilians and Newcomers abroad have to find employment and housing; those in Auroville are facing penalties imposed by the registration authorities if their application for visa extension is received after the date of expiry of their current visa.

Mr. Srinivasmurty was a member of the Auroville Foundation administration for the last 28 years, serving many different Secretaries and fulfilling different roles.

It is no secret that there are divisions within the community at present.

Dr. Debashish Banerji is the Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of Indian Philosophies and Cultures and the Doshi Professor of Asian Art at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco, where he also chairs the Department of East-West Psychology.

Claude Arpi is a French-born Aurovilian living in Auroville for the past 49 years. He is well-known as a historian and tibetologist. He is the author of several books on Tibet and on Indo-French relations, and was instrumental in the creation of the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture in Auroville.

One of the disagreements concerns The Mother’s approval of the Master Plan. Some people, including the Secretary, believe that Mother’s vision for Auroville is laid down in the Master Plan – one person even stated that she had approved it.

Recently, Suryamayi Clarence-Smith, who was born and brought up in Auroville, completed a Ph.D in International Development in the University of Sussex, the world-ranking institution in the field.

Nothing happens by chance and we are therefore entitled to wonder what is the meaning of the crisis which has been shaking Auroville for some time.

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.

The Government of India has submitted a draft resolution for the upcoming General Conference of UNESCO. Appreciating that the Government of India passed, in 1988, the Auroville Foundation Act for the purpose of protecting and encouraging the development of Auroville; that Auroville International Centres have been established in many countries of the world; recognizing that Auroville has developed into a centre of expertise in a wide range of fields, benefiting India and noting its success in sharing its experience and helping the development of its neighboring rural population; acknowledging that Auroville is inviting all nations of the world to participate in its development, especially of its International Zone, which is designated as an educational campus hosting cultural pavilions of all nations or groups of nations, expressing the genius of each culture; noting that 28 February 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Auroville; and recognizing that Auroville is a successful and unique model project, proving the capacity of an international community, after almost 50 years of existence, to continue to live up to its initial founding ideas of peace and international harmony and which are also UNESCO’s own values and principles, as well as some of its major priorities, the resolution invites the Director-General of UNESCO to reinforce the association of UNESCO with Auroville and organize commemorative activities for its 50th anniversary and to re-invite the Member States on the special occasion of Auroville’s 50th anniversary, to participate in Auroville’s further development.

The Humanscapes project is designed to accommodate Aurovilians and interns between the ages of 20 - 40 years. The first phase, which is approaching completion, will provide 36 beds in apartments varying from studio size to shared groupings and larger family apartments.

Auroville Consulting is acquiring a considerable reputation in India for its work with State, Central government and international agencies, as well as academic institutions but it is also contributing its expertise to Auroville.

Dr. Anirban Ganguly is director of the Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation in New Delhi. He is a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education and also a member of the Policy Research Department and co-convener of the Library & Documentation Department of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Sri Aurobindo spoke of free speech as being “an essential requisite for promoting and guarding the true well-being of the people”. The issue of free speech and expression in Auroville has simmered away beneath the surface for many years.

On the evening of 8th November, the Government of India announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes would no longer be legal tender from midnight.

In a few weeks, the new farewell facility will officially open. Suzie, who is a long-term member of the Farewell Group, describes their work, the importance of the new facility, and her own evolving relationship to death.

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.

Kavitha was one of four Aurovilians who recently attended the Global Eco-village Networks’ (GEN) 20+ Summit, held in Findhorn, Scotland. There she represented Auroville as well as Youth Link.

Michael Bonke is a long-time friend of Auroville who has been instrumental in initiating and funding major projects in the community. One of the aims of Varuna, a company he set up and runs with a team of Aurovilians, is “to build and operate a small desalination plant which can supply water to Auroville, for the future Matrimandir Lake and the nearby villages”.

On 23rd January, 2010, for the French Pavilion, Alain Bernard gave a talk on the background and passing of the Auroville Foundation Act. Here is an edited version of the translation of that talk.

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.

The Chairman of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, Dr. Karan Singh, in two open letters to the Aurovilians, communicated the Board's concern about the slow progress of land purchase.

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.

After months of speculation and incertitude, the Auroville Foundation Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament in early September. There is no doubt of the historic importance of this bill in terms of Auroville’s growth.