Blog
Latest News & Updates
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...
Reg. “Greetings from Auroville on the auspicious occasion of Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary”
Dear Auroville International friends, Dear AVI Board, AVI Centres, and AVI Liaisons everywhere in the world -- Thank you for the continued support you have been offering to Auroville since its inception! I am writing this email to you in my personal capacity. For...
A note to those concerned with Auroville and Auroville International
by Rod Hemsell AT PRESENT THE SITUATION THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPING SINCE LAST DECEMBER HAS REACHED A POINT OF CRISIS DIFFICULT FOR MANY TO COMPREHEND. The government appointed administration (AVFO) has taken over virtually the entire administrative structure of...
Freezing of City Services budget: Update from the BCC
Dear Auroville Community, Our team has been dedicated to serving Auroville by administering funds for our community services. We have been in charge of collecting income, and disbursing budgets and Maintenances. Many of us were BCC members throughout the Covid...
Reports to GB from RA selected groups
Dear Residents, Below is a communication with related attachments that has been sent to the Governing Board, copy to the IAC.With best wishes, Your Working CommitteeAravinda, Bharathy, Chali, Hemant, Mael, Sauro, Valli Sub: Next meeting of the Governing Board To...
TDC letter to Dr Seetharaman
Dear Dr. G. Seetharaman, The allegations made by you on 12th July of residents obstructing so-called 'government works' are not based on the reality of what took place, or the relevant legal frameworks. As members of the Town Development Council (TDC) selected and...
Joint letter from WCom, FAMC and Council sent to Land Board
Dear Community, We share with you a joint letter from WCom, FAMC and Council sent to Land Board on July 4th, regarding an irregular Office Order issued by the office of the Secretary. Kind regards,Auroville Council ______________________________________________ Dear...
Duly appointed RA groups and services
By AV Council (AVC) , 28 Jun 2022 / 01:27 pm Dear Community, We are all shocked by the continued and aggressive attempts at appropriating many of Auroville's executive and managerial positions, including the memberships of some of our groups (eg: WCom, ATDC, FAMC,...
Genesis of the Auroville Foundation Act
Genesis of the Auroville Foundation Act Talk by Alain Bernard on January 2010 This talk tells the story of the genesis of a very important event for Auroville as this Act, voted by the Indian Parliament in 1988, gave a legal status to Auroville. It is still the basis...
The Charter of Auroville
AUROVILLE CHARTER Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and...
Competing Narratives
COMPETING NARRATIVES by Rod Hemsell There is a popular pattern of critical thinking in philosophy today, initiated especially by French intellectuals in the 1970s, that reduces all points of view expressed publicly through language to “narratives” determined primarily...
Standing Orders and Office Orders
Standing orders are usually seen to be used in Banks and Post Offices in the Indian Union, and usually have something to do with money. In the Auroville context, even though the name is highly irregular, a Standing Order may be seen as an Administrative Order. An...
Update on investigation into AV communication channels
In the last month, the Secretariat of the Auroville Foundation (AVFO) took administrative control of most of the Auroville communication channels (Auronet, Massbulletin, the Compat forum* and Auroville email services), citing a “police complaint” based on claims of...
Stop the need for court cases
Yes, please stop the need for court cases by Jasmin on June 22, 2022 To the urgent pleas to stop the court cases (which as we all know are a drain on the community on many levels): This is what the vast, overwhelming majority of us all would wish for, including those...
Grievance Cell
On 16th June, the ex-Working Committe & self-appointed ‘interim members’ (ex-WCom)announced to the community that a ‘Grievance Cell’ was being created in order to respond to “several unofficial complaints from the silent majority of Auroville residents [that]...
A grievance from R.
This letter was adressed by a long term Aurovilian to the group of Aurovilians and non Aurovilians who are trying to take over Auroville. They have informed the community of the opening of a grievance cell that is supposed to collect the grievance of those who are...
From the Working Committee, update June 14th 2022
Update from the Bona Fide Working Committee of the Residents Assembly adressed to the Community on June 14th 2022: Dear friends, We want to update you on a few on-going topics. 1. Regular meetings of Auroville Council, FAMC and Working Committee continue The Working...
Auroville Council to the Community June 14th 2022
Following the attempt of take over by the Secretary of the Governing Board of the FAMC and ATDC by nominating her own members thus bypassing all Auroville due processes, the Auroville Council has sent a clarification to the Community. Clarification regarding...
Clarification regarding questionable appointments of FAMC and ATDC by the office of the Secretary
Clarification regarding questionable appointments of FAMC and ATDC by the office of the Secretary BY the Workibg Committee and the Auroville Council Dear Community, We know that the situation in Auroville is very confusing at the moment. The developments of recent...
A grievance from A.
This letter was adressed by a long term Aurovilian to the group of Aurovilians and non Aurovilians who are trying to take over Auroville. They have informed the community of the opening of a grievance cell that is supposed to collect the grievance of those who are...
A Meeting for Unity
While the group of Aurovilians (supported by the Secretary of the Governing Board) are spreading on medias and in Auroville false narratives aiming at division and fear among the community, a group of Tamil Aurovilians has organised a gathering inviting the whole...
A writ petition by the Working Committee
A writ petition* was filled by the Working Committee of Residents Assembly represented by Hemant L. member of the bona fide Working Committee of the Residents assembly today 13th June 2022 at High Court in Chennai. Our prayer to the honorable High Court is to forbear...
On Auroville emails situation
Email situation in Auroville By Auroville Council (AVC)* , 08 Jun 2022 / 01:22 pm [*The Auroville Council is the working group mandated by the Residents Assdembly to maintain and harmonize the various mandates of the working groups of Auroville and to see that the...
Clarification on WC and RoR by the Auroville Council
Auronet (https://auroville.org.in)Clarification on Working Committe and Register of Residents By Auroville Council (AVC)* , 08 Jun 2022 / 01:24 pm[*The Auroville Council is the working group mandated by the Residents Assdembly to maintain and harmonize the various...
Working Committee letter to Secretary on visas
A letter has been sent on June 7th 2022 by the bona fide Working Committee of the Resident assembly to the secretary of the Governing Board in response to the misleading reports made recently by the Office of the Secretary in regards to visas. This letter has been...
Auroville takeover
Rod made a compilation of his articles about the 'Government Takeover" which he thinks is The Case, stated in the postscript paragraph, which can and must qualify for a high court judgment. "This event is a "political takeover" by the GOI, using the same Act set up by...
Update from the Working Committee, June 3rd 2022
Following the different concerning and alarming events of these last days , The bona fide Working Committee has sent an urgent update to the community: Urgent updates from the Working Committee dt. 3rd June 2022 Dear friends, We want to share a few updates. On...
Land Board Report May 2022
Land Board Report for the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council, May 2022 Overview of Auroville Lands Auroville lands have been purchased by voluntary sale by the owners over the years. Negotiations are carried out by the land board and purchases are...
Auroville: The Dream and the Nightmare
Article written by Michel Danino last year (current member of the International Advisory Council) Auroville: The Dream and the Nightmare For Auroville to be fulfilled, it needs no power-hungry schemers, fraudsters and calumniators, no self-appointed spiritual...
Important information about the Working Committee
There is some contradicting information being spread about the Working Committee, and who is entitled to select it. Below are some clarifications: Who can constitute the Working Committee? The term of office (how long members are in the Working Committee) as...
Intranet (Auronet) restrictions for selected Aurovilians
A few days after the secretariat of the the Office of the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation gained control of Auronet (Auroville Intranet forum), a number of users reported having their access either barred or limited. It appears that all the users who reported...
Doubling Auroville
Doubling Auroville by Rod Hemsell A few weeks ago in an article titled Truth or the Abyss I emphasized this disjunctive proposition, stated by the Mother around 1968, as a paradigm for putting in perspective many situations and choices that confronted humanity in the...
Working Committee on Register of Residents
[The Working Committee of the Resident Assembly is adressing a letter to the Community regards to a request that has been done by the Auroville Foundation Office. To understand the context of this letter please see the event:...
Dreamweaving, communication to the community
DREAMWEAVING THE CROWNDear Community, now that the report of the Dreamweaving the Crown has been published and the process that the various team members of both the Dreamweaving and Citizens’ Assembly committed to has come to an end, the Dreamweaving team wanted to...
Attempt of take over of the FAMC
The Secretary of The Auroville Foundation is trying to take over the FAMC (Funds and Assets Management Committee of Auroville). The FAMC is the group nominated by the Residents Assembly to take care of all matters related to funds and assets of Auroville. Message...