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https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-case-for-the- organic-harmonious-growth-of-auroville/

article68869792.ece#cxrecs_s

A case for the organic, harmonious growth of

Auroville

There are attempts being made to stifle Auroville’s

freedom and kill the dream that began in 1968

Published - November 15, 2024

FRANÇOIS GAUTIER

‘Auroville is a unique experiment, one of the last Utopias of this world’ | Photo

Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Auroville, based on the vision of India’s great poet, philosopher,

revolutionary and yogi, Sri Aurobindo, was founded in 1968. His

spiritual companion, the Mother of Pondicherry, clearly defined

its charter:

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“Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to

humanity as a whole.... Auroville will be a site of material and

spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human

unity....”

For a decade or so, Auroville developed quietly and organically:

there was no guru, no CEOs, no private property (for instance, my

wife Namrita and I have no children and our house, where I

invested the returns from my articles and books, will go back to

Auroville on our death), no circulation of money (Aurovillians get

a maintenance credited to an account, from which they can

purchase food and pay their electricity bill), and the community,

originating today from 60 countries, periodically elected groups

that looked after finances, administration, forests, land

purchasing, and units and factories.

More than that, the pioneers of Auroville, with little money, no

water and no compost, planted three million trees, making out of

a barren plateau, the greenest place in the plains of Tamil Nadu. It

also gave birth to a hydra-monster: land that was worth barely

₹1,000 an acre in the 1970s is now worth ₹10 crore, and

everybody is rushing in — promoters, restaurants, cafés, guest

houses and hotels that have often no other interest than

commercial gains.

The beginnings of conflict

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For a long time, the Government of India did not interfere in the

affairs of Auroville. But in the early 1980s, there was a conflict

between the Sri Aurobindo Society, a Trust the Mother had

created to buy the lands of Auroville and the Aurovillians, mostly

westerners at that time.

The Society, contrary to what the Charter of Auroville says, felt

they were the ‘owners’ of Auroville and started to impose their

views and ideas. This led to a conflict, the police being finally

called and 16 Aurovillians (mostly French) were imprisoned in the

Tindivanam jail in Tamil Nadu. The Government of India had to

intervene: its then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, as well as Mani

Shankar Aiyar and Arun Singh were particularly helpful and in

1988, an Act of Parliament was passed. Called the Auroville

Foundation Act, 1988, it gave certain powers to the central

government but left the management of Auroville to the

Residents Assembly, constituted by every adult in Auroville and

which is the very foundation stone of the city.

For the 50th anniversary of Auroville, in February 2018, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi visited it and seemed happy with what

he saw.

Many secretaries, generally retired government officials of high

ranking, came and went, making sure that the laws of India were

respected, but none of them ever interfered in the internal affairs

of Auroville.

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The impact of the ‘Galaxy’ plan

Then in 2021, Gujarat-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

officer, Jayanti S. Ravi, who was serving as Principal Secretary in

the Gujarat Health and Family and Welfare Department, was

appointed as Secretary of the Auroville Foundation. Everybody

seemed happy: Ms. Ravi had worked closely with Mr. Modi, she

knew the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and charmed every body at

first glance.

However, Ms. Ravi was convinced that it was her sacred duty to

implement to the letter and with an iron hand the “Galaxy’ plan

of French architect Roger Anger. This plan has some beauty, but

was conceived in the mid-1960s when there was no

environmental consciousness, no water shortage, no ecofriendly

buildings. The Anger plan meant building huge apartment

complexes, which would require millions of tonnes of concrete,

with the harmful effect to monsoon flow and water conservation

that is known today; also massive roads, cutting through

Auroville; and a huge lake, when the water tables of Auroville

have already shrunk by half.

Apart from cutting the forests of Auroville for roads — that lead

nowhere (as all the lands have not been bought) — anybody who

opposed these, especially foreigners, was denied visas or ejected

out of India.

The Land Board was a committee created by the Residents

Assembly of the Auroville Foundation Act — responsible for the

purchase, exchange and maintenance of the lands of Auroville —

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it was working exclusively with funds collected from donors in

India or abroad.

Land exchanges and sales

For the last two years, however, there have been several land

exchanges and sales done without reporting and without

approval from the working groups concerned on behalf of the

Residents Assembly.

Auroville has approached, multiple times, the Tamil Nadu

Governor, R.N. Ravi, who is also Chairman of the Auroville

Foundation, for help in stemming the land sales and exchanges

(as recently as three weeks ago, with this writer present in the

meeting), but Mr. Ravi has chosen not to listen to our pleas, even

though it has been calculated that at least six of these unofficial

land exchanges incurred a loss of around ₹250 crore to Auroville.

Auroville needs all its lands, as we plant trees, and trees are life in

an India which is rapidly getting deforested by promoters and

sharks. Also, Auroville must have a saying in its running. For

instance, there is not a single Aurovillian in the Governing Board,

which has only outsiders, with no grassroots knowledge of

Auroville. At least two senior Aurovillians should be present in

that group. Finally, the government must grant some autonomy

to Auroville.

Auroville is a unique experiment, one of the last Utopias of this

world; a wonder in showing how a barren land can be redeemed

in 40 years. Therefore, in the spirit of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam,

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the World is One Family’, the government of Narendra Modi

should not stifle its freedom and kill the dream.

François Gautier is a journalist, writer, and the author of many

books on India