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Latest News & Updates
Open letter to the Chairman and GB
After the meeting requested by the chairman*, residents along with the Working Committee have sent a letter to to the Chairman and Members of the Governing Board dated 25th November 2022.The open letter has received 477 verified signatures (the verification process...
On Planning Auroville
Archivist and scholar on the Mother, Gilles Guigan, has created a compilation on planning. He writes on some misconceptions which need to be corrected’, and lists some common misconceptions regarding the history of the City and its plan. On Planning Auroville - Some...
On Mother wishes for Auroville
Archivist and scholar on the Mother, Gilles Guigan, has created a compilation on Mother’s wishes for Auroville and its residents on some of the more subtle aspects of Auroville, such as how to deal with rules and people bringing in ‘undesirable’ traits. Some glimpses...
Legal update
Tindivanam Court - Abri/Ami/Evergreen land grab. The case was listed for Friday 18th November, but the judge was on leave. The judgment has been adjourned until Monday 28th November. Madras High Court - ATDC Office Order: The petition challenging the ATDC Office Order...
Letter to the GB chairman, a spontaneous collaboration
Another letter sent to the chairman of the Governing Board following the meeting of Nov. 7th [read the event] Auroville, 11 November 2022 To: The Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, Shri R. N. Ravi Respected Sir, After the speech you gave us on the 7th of November,...
Letter to the GB chairman, Divine materialism
Another letter sent to the chairman of the Governing Board following the meeting of Nov. 7th [read the event] Shri RN RaviHon’ble Governor of Tamil NaduChairman, Auroville FoundationRaj Bhavan Chennai Olivier BarotRevelationAuroville 11.11.2022 Your Excellency, As we...
A letter to the chairman of the GB, all life is yoga
Another letter sent to the chairman of the Governing Board following the meeting of Nov. 7th [read the event] Dear Sir, Since the beginning of the present crisis in Auroville I have not been one to speak out much.I have, however, listened, deeply and attentively, to...
To R N Ravi, Auroville is unique
This letter was sent to the chairman of the Governing Board by a pionneer, long term Aurovilian, after the meeting of Nov. 7th [Read the event] His letter hilight his experience of a previous attempt of takeover of Auroville and his testimony of the very essence of...
Letter to the T.N Governor, Our forests are very unique
Another letter sent to the chairman of the Governing Board following the meeting of Nov. 7th [read the event] Dear Honourable Thiru R.N. Ravi, Governor of Tamil Nadu and chairman of the Governing Board, “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit...
Letter to R N Ravi, a new collective consciousness
Following the meeting of Nov 7th where the chairman of the Governing Board requested the community to attend for a discussion that didnt happen, here is another answer from an Aurovilian to the chairman [Link to the event] To: The Chairman of the Auroville...
Assets of Auroville to be demolished
A number of assets have been built over the years in areas that are deemed reserved for other purposes as per the Master Plan. In many cases, the constructions pre-date the plan and were unintentionally built in areas that may interfere with elements of the City....
Legal update Nov 2022
Upcoming dates 10.11.2022 — National Green Tribunal hearing with regard to the Joint Committee report January 2023 — Supreme Court appeal regarding National Green Tribunal Ruling To be announced — Madras High Court hearing on the FAMC case; Hearing of AVFO appeal of...
An answer to the Chairman’s, being a willing servitor
After having for the first time since his nomination accepted to meet the bonafide Working Committee of the Residents Assembly, the chairman of the Governing Board, one of the 3 governing bodies of Auroville had requested the community to come for a meeting where a...
RA TDC updates and direction
This is a brief recap of what we presented at the recent Working Group General Meeting that was held on the 17th of October, including a response to some feedback at the end. Firefighting: Navigating, reporting & responding to emergency situationsThere are a...
RA TDC : Safety issues with the unsecured Crown road
Dear Residents, Volunteers and Guests, We would like to warn you about severe safety issues at the moment on the Auroville roads. The roads are dangerous due to unsecured construction sites. In the last few months, a builder under contract with the CPWD and the...
RA WCom : About the RoR update
Dear all, Many residents have reported being contacted through email by the Office of the Secretary over the past few days, in regards to the updating of the Register of Residents (RoR). An email was apparently sent to those who have not yet confirmed the entries they...
TDC : Premature statement regarding court outcome
The outcome of the court challenging the validity of the Governing Board’s ‘ATDC’ has still not been published. Despite this, premature statements have been made by a few residents and appointees of the Secretary, Auroville Foundation. The matter is still to be...
What’s happening on the crown road?
The AVFO issued several orders to violently destroy living spaces and precious forest areas that stood in the way of its dogmatic vision of the CR project. This was done with mob-like tactics such as hiring goons to intimidate peaceful protesters, or working secretly...
The present Governing Board
The actions of the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation office are supported by the Governing Board and contrary to the Auroville Foundation Act and to the spirit in which it has been written and voted by the Parlement of India and against the Charter of Auroville...
What is the new City Services budget and will it be implemented?
Dear Community,The BCC had been engaged for months in preparing a new “City Services” budget, after 2 years dedicated to financially surviving the Covid lockdown.What was our budgeting process this year?We felt it was a good time to raise awareness in the community...
Statement from Housing Board
Statement from Housing Board Further to our communication last month regarding our supposed removal from our positions as Housing Board members, we would like to let the community know that we are still functioning, although only in a very limited sense due to being...
Nomination of the Members of the Governing Board
The Auroville foundation is composed of 3 governing bodies: The Residents Assembly, the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council. See chart explaining the organisation of Auroville, Auroville Foundation explained In The Foundation Act 1988 that aims at...
Legal update Oct. 2022
Upcoming dates 20.10.2022 — Supreme Court appeal regarding National Green Tribunal Ruling 10.11.2022 — National Green Tribunal hearing with regard to the Joint Committee report To be announced — Madras High Court hearing on the FAMC case To be announced — Hearing of...
Auroville Bio-regional Development Activities
ABDA is a listing of over 30 Auroville projects and services that are involved in rural development for the immediate villages surrounding Auroville and further afield in Tamil Nadu and India. The aim of this exhibition is to throw light on this work and reveal a...
Clarifications re Ami/Abri/Evergreen land issue and ‘shadow groups’
Dear community, We would like to update you about the unfolding of events at Evergreen, and inform you about the efforts that have taken place so far to safeguard this important plot of Auroville land. We, as the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly, are doing...
Galaxy & Master Plan evolution – Brief Summary by Gilles Guigan
Mid-August 1964, the 400 delegates present at the first World Conference of the SAS passed a resolution to develop a new township near Pondicherry for those disciples who want to live and work close to the Mother and the Ashram without having to be accepted as...
Building Auroville: A personal perspective
Informing the volatile events in our Community is a belief in some quarters that the dream of Auroville is not being fulfilled with sufficient urgency. Fixing on milestones, such as the 50,000 population target and the implementation of Roger’s “Galaxy” model, it is...
THE AUROVILLE FOUNDATION ACT AND THE MOTHER’S GUIDELINES
A comparative study with regards to the “Auroville Prosperity” in kind system established by the Mother on the basis of minimum needs. Read the study
Abri/Ami/Evergreen land grab update
Mr PKS, who has been encroaching Abri/Ami/Evergreen land, promised to stop clearing Evergreen Forest land until the Court hearing on the 22nd September. However, Mr PKS did not submit the necessary documents to the Courts and the hearing was subsequently postponed...
DESTRUCTION OF A FOREST (AUROVILLE LAND+PRIVATE LAND) 30. 09 & 01. 10. 2022
DESTRUCTION OF A FOREST (AUROVILLE LAND+PRIVATE LAND) 30. 09 & 01. 10. 2022 by Satprem Maïni, Director of the Auroville Earth Institute destruction of a forest-by Satprem-04/10 link to the event:...
Unauthorized clearing in Existence / Bliss Forest
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning a JCB accompanied by an engineer from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and a survey team started clearing a 2.5m wide path between the trees through Existence forest towards Bliss forest. This bulldozing of understory...
Legal update October 1st 2022
AVFO’s legal arguments in plain English - WCom, ORM, and ATDC cases As the number of court cases increase, many have found it difficult to dive into the relevant legal documents and are therefore unable to appreciate the arguments made. However, it becomes extremely...
On visits linked to the RoR & the assessment of house tax purposes
Dear Residents, You may have recently received two massbulletins sent from [email protected] regarding the RoR and House tax, signed by ‘the Working Committee’. These were not written by the Working Committee selected by the RA. For future reference, all...
Update regarding Evergreen encroachment from the Working Committee
Dear community, On Friday 23rd September, following the violent events at Evergreen, a delegation of Aurovilians met with the Collector. One of the Aurovilians present reported that the Collector immediately called the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) to pass an order...
Update on land-related matters from the Working Committee
Update on land-related matters from the Working Committee Dear community, We would like to update you on matters related to land-grabbing and land exchange issues. Situation at Evergreen / Abri / Ami Since the beginning of September, the land-grabbing situation at the...
Auroville Residents Appeal to UNESCO reg 30th Sept Event in Paris
Auroville Residents Appeal to UNESCO reg 30th Sept Event in Paris The Secretary of one of the 3 governing bodies of Auroville Foundation has planned to organize an event at Unesco Paris this month. Since the appointment of the present Secretary of the Auroville...
The inflection point
THE INFLECTION POINT by Rod Hemsell In numerous video recordings presented as formal addresses to Auroville, broadcast subsequently to the public on youtube, as well as in other public lectures and private presentations, the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, Dr....
Legal update Sept. 18th 2022
Upcoming dates: 19.09.2022 — Madras High Court hearing on the ATDC, in front of a new judge 23.09.2022 — Hearing of AVFO appeal of the Madras High Court judgment of 12th August 20.10.2022 — Supreme Court appeal regarding National Green Tribunal Ruling 10.11.2022 —...
Regarding the upcoming event at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris
On the 30th September, an event is planned at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, organised in collaboration with the Auroville Foundation. Residents have not been made aware of this event via any official communication platforms. A tentative program of the event was...
Regarding dialogue with Mr Raghu
On the 26th August, Mr. Raghu Ananthanarayan received a formal letter from the Secretary of the AVFO, stating that the GB is requesting a process for deeper dialogue in Auroville, and requesting him to facilitate this process,“enabling the stakeholders of Auroville to...
Update on Supreme Court over NGT Appeal
Appellant: Auroville Foundation Respondents: Navroz, Sandeep and all other parties who were in the NGT case except Auroville Foundation AVF claim that respondents cut trees to build their own houses and are large landowners owning land on the project area (i.e crown,...
BCC take over
On Friday, Aug 26th evening, the BCC (Budget City Service) received an email from AVFO’s ‘FAMC’ informing them that it was "time to transition to the new team". The communication thanked the BCC members for their service "much appreciated by the community" and asked...
How to contact Auroville Working Groups
Reminder of how to contact the RA-appointed groups With the ongoing take-over of all inboxes, we remind you here of the alternative email addresses for each of the RA-appointed working groups. Please remember that you can only contact these groups via your...
Legal Update
Legal update Madras High Court: Foundation appeal on the judgment of 12/08/2022 On 26 August 2022, an appeal bench of the Madras High Court gave an interim order that temporarily suspended the ruling that a single High Court judge sitting on 12 August had...
On illegitimate appointees
On 2nd September the Working Committee sent an update to the community reminding them ‘not to engage with or recognize’ any of the illegitimate members of the ‘Working Groups’ appointed by the AVFO. The relevant community members were named in the communication below....
Concerning inappropriate quotes on Auronet
An Aurovilian supporter of the Secretary, working at the housing service has been publishing since months on the Auroville forum Auronet (taken over by the Foundation office) articles that clearly show his allegeance to the Secretary and support her actions. Lately he...
Interpreting the Appeal of the Secretary
Interpreting the Appeal as a New Construction of the Auroville Foundation Act by Rod Hemsell The Foundation's appeal to set aside the order passed by the MHC on 12-8-22 consists primarily in an elaborate argument beginning on page 2 (bold 12) in which it...
Joint statement from the working groups of the RA on the current legal situation, the Emergency RAD and a response to the false information sent by [email protected]
Dear friends, The voice and central role of Aurovilians in the governance of Auroville has been recognised in the Madras High Court. The Court in its judgment dated 12.8.2022 has reaffirmed that “under the Auroville Foundation, Auroville will be administered by the...
TDC re Crown NGT report
Dear Community, The Joint Committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal will finalise its report on trees and waterways / catchment areas in the path of the Crown in the coming days. Our team wants to re-state that irrespective of what the report suggests or...
WCom to AV International
This morning, Monday 8 August ’22, the Working Committee sent the below mail to all AVI Centres in response to a mail that was sent to AVI by the AVFO-appointed WC. Dear friends, As many of you in the AVI family are well aware, the current situation in Auroville is...