The Destruction of Auroville (1)

On the Takeover of Auroville by the Government of India

The Destruction of Auroville - 1

An Auroville resident recently wrote, in a tone of desperation:

“Full-on siege. They don't even try to give any reason any more. We starve you till you leave. We need a dharna* not only about scandalous land exchanges but about this too!!! Do we have a full picture of how many Aurovilians have been deprived of maintenances? Working Groups, foresters, farmers, teachers, senior citizens, students/children of AV, and now this?!?”

Reference was being made in this outcry primarily to a notice received by an Aurovilian who grew up in Auroville and who has worked in a wide variety of capacities for decades, which reads:

“Dear Members, This is to inform you that BCC and FAMC decided to Stop your maintenance from 01 December 2023 as it is not following under approved City Service budget.”

And she was not the only community member to receive the notice that continuation of their livelihood was being denied.

Secondarily, but perhaps more crucially for the phase of the “takeover” of Auroville by the Government of India that is now underway, reference was also made to the on-going actual and planned land exchanges that are disrupting the very foundations of life in Auroville. The first and largest organic farm in Auroville established by the Mother during her life, which she named AuroOrchard, is currently being dismantled and traded for land not yet purchased but needed for development within the “city area” of the Master Plan. As described in a letter of the Working Committee, Auroville's official administrative body, on Nov. 26, in a similar tone of despair:

RA WCom: AuroOrchard Land Exchange: Urgent Alert!

Dear community,

This is an important message.

On 11th November we received the sudden news of a registration made in Vanur the day before for an exchange of 10 acres of AuroOrchard with a private land developer's several plots in the Masterplan area, including 25 meters of the crown road next to Mahalakshmi Home.

This was done without informing or consulting Gerard, who was put in charge of this farm by the Mother in 1968 and has been looking after it since then, still living there and taking care of it with a team of Aurovilians.

The Mother sanctioned the purchase of this land in 1965 for Auroville and contributed funds to the Sri Aurobindo Society for the purchase. She has blessed this land, given its name 'AuroOrchard' and the mission to grow food for Auroville. It is one of the biggest, most productive and dynamic farms of Auroville, with a scope for greater productivity with ongoing improvements and additional resources in the future. …

The exchange deed shows only about 1% of the market value for AuroOrchard's land, based on some old records and outdated government guidelines, similarly to what was done recently by the Foundation Office for 1.5 acres of Murthy’s stone workshop next to the toll gate on the Highway. This begs the obvious question: “Who is benefitting from these deals?”

To give a perspective, the financial loss in this single forced exchange, to procure less than 25 metres of the land for the Crown Road, would be more than the entire budget of the road, possibly up to 3 times, while there are still other larger private plots to be procured for this road to be completed!

Rushing to start the Crown Road in 2021 without the most basic and preliminary requirement of first acquiring all the necessary lands, is now causing Auroville grave losses of precious assets. It has more than tripled the land prices in the city area of Auroville, and has proven to be severely disruptive for the community.

We are in favor of land consolidation for the Master Plan area, including its city center and greenbelt, but this needs to be done with care, consciousness and in a way that reflects the ethos of Auroville.

We are currently appealing to higher authorities to reverse this land exchange, which is severely detrimental to Auroville as a whole. We encourage all residents to question this latest land exchange by the Office of the Secretary and its Land Officers, who have crossed unprecedented boundaries and could be causing irreversible loss to Auroville.

We call for the community to unite in a prayer to protect the lands of Auroville.

Sincerely,

Your Residents' Assembly Working Committee

Representatives of the illegitimate “Working Groups” appointed by the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, after she removed the legitimately elected members from their posts, have responded in predictable ways. As would be expected, on the basis of the many articles during the past two years that have featured examples of the oppositional and contradictory nature of this alter and fraudulent body, whose dubious fabrications have been reported extensively in various media, as well as by me in this series, on this occasion said:

“Once again we are being flooded with hyped fake news in an attempt to rake up frenzy with misleading statements. As one Aurovilian has already noted, the land exchange of Auro Orchard was already in the works since years, initiated by the very people now leading a protest. … For the exchange that has now become crucial for Auroville, the Foundation will set aside 10 + 6 acres of unused and uncultivated land. This leaves approximately 31 acres for Auro Orchard to develop. ...If not for the National Green Tribunal ruling against cutting trees...”

The few Auroville residents who have agreed to cooperate with this new regime are now sounding like real estate developers anywhere in the world. Why should farmers need a budget, they are farmers after all? And in fact they go on authorizing cutting down trees, despite the NGT ruling. As reported by the Auroville residents who manage the AuroOrchard farm, the acreage being traded actually includes: Mixed orchards - 3 acres, Tamarind orchard - 1 acre, Cashew orchard - 5 acres, the old Banyan, a godown, cowshed, and a central borewell and irrigation junction which forms the heart of the farm. Acreage now under cultivation, large trees, 1500 fruit bearing trees, and buildings in use are being taken over by the new “owners” as this article is being written. Moreover, several other properties are being traded that have been cultivated and developed as valuable agricultural, reforestation, and ecological sites which are environmentally and economically important to the life of Auroville. And these projects are the product of decades of devoted work by Auroville residents. One of these sites, called Pebble Garden, which is located in a particularly challenging area of Auroville with respect to soil infertility and habitability, has received national recognition for its success as a site of reclamation and extraordinary ecological diversity, with the cultivation of more than 70 species of plants and trees, and the establishment of a rare species seed bank. As the person responsible for the project, Deepika Kundaji, who has been recognized for her wonderful work by the Government of India with the Nari Shakti Puraskar award, the highest civilian honour for women in India, has recently stated:

"We have been caring for this garden since 2001. Plot 164/3 needs to be preserved as an integral part of Aurobrindavan/Pebble Garden as it has been for the past 29 years. It is in active use and is an integral part of Pebble Garden. For years we had to protect this plot against encroaching and soil mining. It is now fully fenced with barbed wire and well protected. The whole plot has been planted. There is a water harvesting pond. There are important and rare big trees of Pterocarpus indicus and other species. Over the years several people have given their voluntary labour for eco-restoration work on this plot, including Nammalvar, the leader of the organic movement in Tamil Nadu. The allocation of this plot for materials storage and the proposed access through the main part of Pebble Garden will destroy the entire place, ruin the very existence and purpose of Pebble Garden and our commitment here."

In September, members of the 'Auroville Forest Group' reported that:

“As of the 1st June, all City Service support for our service was stopped. That meant that the budget that goes towards paying 60 employed forest workers and watchmen, which help to develop and protect the 1260 acres that the Forest Group manages for the community, was cut without prior notice. These are the men and women who have helped the Auroville forest and green infrastructure grow and flourish and have helped protect the land from encroachment and from erosion and thus improving living conditions and securing our water. Many have worked their entire working life, dedicated to this. The financial impact on these employees, and the families they support, is severe, along with the social impact concerning their relation to Auroville.”

And in a recent video recorded meeting of the government-appointed administrative groups, a finance manager referred to those Auroville residents, whose reforestation and ecological restoration work has also won awards and been celebrated both nationally and internationally, as “not a forest group but Greenbelters, whose forest management work could be done by twelve people.” The 'Farm Group' whose budget has been similarly cut, were said now to be responsible for their own maintenance because “after all they are farmers and our financial priorities are to build the city.” It was clear that for these people, in accordance with the directives of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, the forests, farms, and lives of residents are no longer priorities; importance is now given exclusively to the building of roads, infrastructure, and housing for a non-existent population of 1,500 new residents that may someday vindicate this urban fantasy. As I have explained in previous articles, the government-appointed Governing Board is made up largely of high-ranking government officials, in blatant violation of the Auroville Foundation Act of 1988, as is their appointment, in turn, of the local administrative groups that represent them. That these appointments are in violation of the Auroville Act was confirmed by a ruling of the Madras High Court in August of 2022. However, that ruling was stayed on appeal and has remained on hold for the past 15 months. Such a blatant violation of the law and manipulation of the judicial system could only be achieved by a corrupt government.

Only a misguided and corrupt government would deport a resident of Auroville, as was done to one of Auroville's leading architects at the end of October this year, who for more than 30 years has built award-winning compressed-earth constructions both in Auroville and elsewhere in India and the world. His expulsion was clearly in retribution for his persistent technical and professional criticism of the unprofessional and sub-standard way in which development has so far been executed by the government-appointed engineers under this administration, without consulting the residents of Auroville, whose expertise and care are essential, and whose consultation is required by the Auroville Act. On October 20, regarding his institute in Auroville, he wrote:

“All accounts of the Auroville Earth Institute have been suspended.

Our SBI account was put on hold on 13th September and 3 days ago they have suspended all the accounts of the Auroville Earth Institute at the Financial Service. We have funds but cannot use them.

How can we function without funds?

How can we pay our workers’ salaries, Aurovilian maintenances, the bonus for Diwali and other expenses, including those for training courses, ongoing research, etc.?

There is an exponential increase of their attacks against us since the beginning of October, with one per week, and for the last week almost every day.”

The illegitimate new administration of Auroville has disingenuously claimed for the past two years that its takeover was justified by a pattern of obstruction and delay in the execution of the planned construction of the city, as envisioned by the Mother, by the residents of Auroville. And yet the Mother's guidelines for the development and quality of life that she envisioned for Auroville have been consistently disregarded by this administration. On the “visa recommendation form” for residents of Auroville, they have now openly declared their presumed authority to commit these atrocities by replacing the words:

“Auroville was founded by 'The Mother' of Sri Aurobindo Ashram on the 28th February 1968 as an International Cultural Township project located in Tamil Nadu."

with the words:

“Auroville Foundation is functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education, Government of India."

It appears abundantly clear that what has been referred to as obstruction and delay by this administration is in fact a bold commitment to the preservation of the values, lives, and habitats of the residents who have truly devoted themselves to the Mother's vision. Because that vision, and its designated site, have now not only been taken over, but are being deliberately undermined and decimated, it has become imperative to openly and forcefully acknowledge and oppose the extent to which the purpose for which Auroville was created, and the ideals and achievements for which it is known throughout the world, are literally being destroyed by this government.

An Auroville resident has posted a notice online to this immediate effect: “I will open an account at the financial service with the name ‘Prosperity’ for all those who want to contribute financially towards those who are denied a basic maintenance. I will put my maintenance on this account as seed money so it may grow. I will share the account number for all those who want to contribute.” An international supporter has similarly responded: “I suggest we set about to get money flowing where it is needed. I feel compelled to make an international effort to set up a channel like we did for the legal work.” A ground-swell of letters, petitions of support, and collective expressions is needed, like the vote by 1100 residents in favor of the court's ruling against the violations of the Auroville Foundation Act by the Governing Board and its Secretary, and the petition signed by 750 Auroville residents against the deportation of Satprem Maini. (Auroville is a small community of 2450 adult residents and 10% constitutes a quorum.)

It may of course be said that “Nothing that happens in the human world is true. And yet some things are more false than others. Sri Aurobindo wrote that everything is divine but some things are more divine than others. If we think about the many immaterial planes between the Divine Mother and the material world, and the many material planes between the natural world and the Divine Mother, whatever happens is like dust in the wind.” But it is also true that Her Force of Nature is capable of creating storms and floods that transform the landscapes of communities and nations.

* dharna – a Hindi word meaning “hunger strike” - but it is of course unlikely that such action would deter this government which has repeatedly shown its disregard for what the Mother intended Auroville to be, as well as for the dedicated actions of its residents.

Dec 1, 2023