The Destruction of Auroville (6)

...sincerity and Truth

In the previous installment of this article, titled What Price “Democracy”?, two lines of argument were pursued: 1) the perfidious ways in which the Auroville Foundation (AF) – Governing Board and Secretary – have consistently distorted and perverted the words and ideas of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, for purposes that are in fact the opposite of what the words actually intend, and 2) the direct involvement of the Ministry of Education in the government's takeover of Auroville, (see the article at https://rodhemsell.substack.com/p/the-destruction-of-auroville-5). I would like to pursue the same arguments here in greater detail.

To start with the distortions of Truth, an aspect of the AF's character which appears prominently today before the court in the recently promulgated regulations on 'Selection of the Working Committee,' which we find displayed in Appendix 1 of that document, Part II, On Organization, in these statements of the Mother:

“Auroville should be at the service of Truth, beyond all social, political, and religious convictions. Auroville is the effort towards peace, in sincerity and Truth” (The Mother on Auroville, September 20,1966).

“The problem is always the same: those given the responsibility should be people with a… universal consciousness, of course, otherwise… Wherever there is a personal consciousness, it means someone incapable of governing – we can see how governments are, it’s frightful!” ( Mother’s Agenda, September 17, 1959).

No explanation has been given for the inclusion of these quotations in this regulation document. They have been selected from comments she made years before the founding of Auroville and they are what one could call “more philosophical” in the their broad generality, and not relevant to the actual situation in Auroville. Are those who read them in these regulations supposed to infer that the regulations were formulated “at the service of Truth” or by a “universal consciousness”? The case before the court says that certain powers vested in the Residents' Assembly by the Auroville Foundation Act have been illegally removed from the residents, by these regulations, and vested in the GB and Secretary of the AF. The deliberate parading of Auroville in the media, and the projection of Sri Aurobindo as a symbol of Hindu Nationalism, certainly do not suggest that this takeover of Auroville, and the exclusion of the rights of its residents, are beyond “all social, political, and religious convictions.” The brutal destruction of forests and the random sale of farm lands, including the major organic farm that has supplied fruits and vegetables in Auroville since the Mother first purchased it, without consideration for either the lives and care that have been invested in them for decades or the importance that was given to them by the Mother herself, do not indicate that this authoritarian administration is making an “effort towards peace, in sincerity and Truth.” It appears rather to be “frightful”! Here, it is clear that the Mother's words have been taken out of context and used to bolster actions that have an opposite intention and effect.

But let us move on to quotations that we find in this document from the writings of Sri Aurobindo.

“A supramental or gnostic race of beings would not be a race made according to a single type, moulded in a single fixed pattern; for the law of the supermind is unity fulfilled in diversity, and therefore there would be an infinite diversity in the manifestation of the gnostic consciousness although that consciousness would still be one in its basis, in its constitution, in its all revealing and all-uniting order” (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, The Life Divine, 'The Gnostic Being', p.1006).

“The attempt to govern life by an increasing light of thought rather than allow the rough and imperfect actualities of life to govern and to limit the mind is a distinct sign of advance in human progress. But the true turning-point will come with the farther step which initiates the attempt to govern life by that of which thought itself is only a sign and an instrument, the soul, the inner being, and to make our ways of living a freer opportunity for the growing height and breadth of its need of self-fulfilment. That is the real, the profounder sense which we shall have to learn to attach to the idea of self-determination as the effective principle of liberty” (Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, p. 626).

These quotations from Sri Aurobindo are highly philosophical as well as having been written decades before Auroville was conceived by the Mother. The chapter titled 'The Gnostic Being' comes almost at the end of The Life Divine and is on a subject that the author himself said was virtually impossible for the human mind to conceive or grasp. So how are these quotations relevant in the context of a Gazetted Regulation that seeks to limit the activities of the Residents' Assembly of Auroville rather than to further “self-determination as the effective principle of liberty”? Was it simply the whim of an undergraduate mentality that decided it might be impressive to include some spiritual statements in the document? Or was it because the AF wanted to give the false impression that its document and its actions represent the ideas of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and mirror the principles that their writings express? Even though the Mother and Sri Aurobindo have explained in volumes of writing that the 'gnostic society' can only be achieved through a long and highly specialized evolutionary endeavor by humanity, and they have insisted that the behavior of governments generally do not support such elevated aims, but rather tend to be based more on “the rough and imperfect actualities of life,” yet the AF blatantly claims, in its draft Regulations:

“Whereas the collective of residents in Auroville was meant by its founders to be a society of spiritual seekers, or a Sangh, or a Gnostic Society, as defined by Sri Aurobindo ... Whereas the Governing Board, in the course of its statutorily mandated responsibility for the internal management of the affairs of Auroville, the well-being, continued, undeterred and successful development of Auroville in the light of the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo... hereby makes the following regulations.”

It is notable that every page of the draft regulations of the AF was reviewed and signed off by AR L Sundaresan, the legal representative of the AF assigned by the GOI. In his statement to the AF we read:

To The Auroville Foundation,

Auroville Foundation Bhavan,

Auroville, Tamil Nadu- 605 101

Date:06/04/2023

Sub:- Opinion on the Regulations pertaining to the Auroville Foundation

I have perused and gone through the regulations pertaining to the Auroville Foundation i.e. its General Administration and structure, (Admission and Termination of Persons in the Register of Residents, Code of Conduct for Trusts, Units and Activities of Auroville) Regulations 2023 which was shown to me by the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation.

Upon perusal of the same, it is opined that the said regulations are in consonance and in accordance with powers of the Central Government under Section of the Auroville Foundation Act, as well as the powers of general administration and superintendence of the Governing Board enshrined under s.11,16, l7(e ), 26 and 32 of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988 and also in accordance with the vision and dream of the Mother to build Auroville as a city of residents who have come voluntarily for spiritual progress and for building this city.

If there are any challenges made to any of these regulations/ proviso in the future before any court of law/forum, it can be appropriately defended.

SIGNED, AR L SUNDARESAN ADDITIONAL SOLICI'TOR GENERAL OF INDIA¹

In order to make this statement, did he actually read and understand anything about “the vision and dream of the Mother to build Auroville”? Or has he merely accepted the impression gathered from the quotations in Appendix1 and assumed that the drafters knew what they were talking about? And by entering those quotations into law, did he, and they, believe that this assumption would actually enable them to defend decisions on “admission and termination” concerning the qualifications of applicants to join Auroville, or to be selected to the Working Committee? These vagueries of the regulation documents alone would suggest that the entire exercise is fraudulent, and that the resulting Regulations notified by the AF should be tossed out simply on these grounds.

It is perhaps to the credit of the Ministry of Education that the claims made in the preamble to the AF's draft regulations were not retained in the revisions made by the Ministry, which brings us to the second line of argument: the involvement of the MoE and its inputs into finalizing the regulations. As I pointed out previously, there is a document obtained by the Right To Information Act 2005 (RTI), which is broadly titled 'Consolidated Brief on Auroville' and contains several sections, totaling about 65 pages, in which we find ample evidence of the Ministry's controlling hand in the process and many statements that may be surprising. In the section titled 'Observations of this Ministry on the proposed Auroville Foundation (General Administration and Structure, Admission and Termination of persons in the Register of Residents, Code of Conduct of Trusts, Units and Activities of Auroville) Regulations, 2023,' for example:

1. The Secretary, Auroville Foundation has sought approval of this Ministry on the draft Auroville Foundation (General Administration and Structure, Admission and Termination of persons in the Register of Residents, Code of Conduct of Trusts, Units and Activities of Auroville) Regulations, 2023.

2. The Regulations, 2023 is being proposed in supersession of the Auroville Foundation (Admission and termination of Persons in the register of residents) Regulations, 2020 which was made by invoking the powers under Section 32(2)(h) of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988 (54 of 1988).

And under a subsection of this Ministry document titled 'Accordingly the following course of action is advised' we read,

“Coming to the proposed regulations for Code of Conduct of Trusts, Units and Activities of Auroville, the powers drawn to frame such regulations may be categorically stated. It is observed that no role has been assigned to the Working Committee (WC) for creation or constitution of such Trusts which is not in consonance with sub-section 4 of Section 20 of the Act that clearly envisages such a role for the WC. The regulations may be suitably reframed to align provisions with the Act.

The matter of stewardship could be addressed in a consolidated manner by amending Rules in addition to framing new regulations. Section 17 (d) of the Act requires the Governing Board to monitor and review the activities of Auroville and to secure proper management of the properties vested in the Foundation and other properties relatable to Auroville. In exercise of general regulation making powers under Section 32 (1) of the Act, the GB may frame regulations specifying the manner and modalities for securing properties which have been unduly occupied/possessed by outsiders or residents while laying down conditions for levying penalties in such cases. Meanwhile, the Rules may be amended to define undue possession in the context of Auroville and prescribe penalties for Residents who exert property rights or ownership over land that legally vests with the Foundation.”

One of the greatest assaults on Auroville in recent days has been the extensive sale through land exchange of valuable properties. And we have read in minutes of the meetings of the GB that this strategy was approved by the Ministry. Its origin seems to have been in these deliberations and communications which began in June 2023. A closely related development has been the greatly expanded administrative framework of the AF in Auroville, with the assignment of some 26 professional officers and 10 office staff, with expertise in areas such as accounting, technology, engineering, planning, land use and agriculture. It is perhaps this burgeoning bureaucratic structure that is responsible for many of the decisions and actions that seem to have nothing to do with the meaning and purpose of Auroville. And the overall expansion of the management structure seems to have proceeded from this “advice” of the Ministry:

“For strengthening the Secretariat and capacity building of the Administrative and Finance verticals, the audit report recommended sanctioning/creating 8 posts and posting additional officers, as required. The recommendation to engage eight people on contractual basis was approved by Hon’ble Minister of Education. The vacancies have been advertised by AF recently with interviews underway in June 2023.”

And in the section of the Brief titled Way Forward we read a kind of summary of the Ministry's involvement:

“The Ministry is adopting a two-pronged strategy to improve long-term governance of Auroville; (i) Redesigning and strengthening the regulatory architecture under the Auroville Foundation Act and (ii) Augmenting administrative capacity of the Foundation to deliver better governance and supervision.

1. The overall statutory and regulatory framework underpinning Auroville Foundation is under comprehensive review to align regulations in line with the statute so as to fill the administrative/governance vacuum which has overtime appeared in critical areas including maintenance of Register of Residents, constitution of Working Committee and conduct of Trusts, Units and income generating activities in Auroville. Clarification has been provided by the Ministry in Aug 2022 as to the status of Funds and Asset Management Committee, a crucial body under AF.

2. Draft regulations dealing with the above aspects have been shared by AF with the Ministry for approval on April 18, 2023. Two rounds of consultation have been held with AF in May and June 2023 to improve the regulations. Besides, the Ministry has engaged services of legal professionals to holistically examine the draft regulations so as to ensure they are in consonance with the letter and intent of the Act.

3. Ministry officials, including officers at senior-most levels, have been regularly interacting with representatives of various Committees in Auroville to create convergence and foster reconciliation between differing viewpoints on future development of the township.”

Near the end of the year, as the formulation of the regulations were being finalized, we find this memo to the AF from the Ministry, which perhaps can suffice in order for us to conceptualize more realistically its role and its point of view towards Auroville:

“Key points of difference in the firmed-up regulations vis-à-vis the initial version shared by this Ministry with AF in Oct 2023

A. Bifurcation of advisory and administrative roles vested in Admission and Terminations Committee into 2 separate bodies viz. i) Admissions and Terminations Registry (ATR) which will purely function as an administrative unit to provide Secretarial assistance for all activities related to Admission and Termination and ii) Admissions and Terminations Scrutinizing Committee (ATSC) which will scrutinize all applications/complaints related to admission or termination and render advice to the Secretary, AF after applying its mind. B. Removal of residents for matters related to National security or as deemed fit by the Central Government to be given effect by the Governing Board instead of Secretary, AF. This will be in-line with Section 11(1)(3) of the Act which stipulates that "The general superintendence, direction and management of the affairs of the Foundation shall vest in the Governing Board which may exercise all the powers and discharge all the functions which may be exercised or discharged by the Foundation". C. Newcomer to be allowed maximum stay of two years including extension period of one year. This will provide newcomer sufficient window to commit to the ideals of Auroville.”

It is disconcerting for many who have come to respect the general level of integrity, as well as professionalism, that we have encountered in members of the Indian Government over the years, and yet the communications to which I have been referring have emanated primarily from the Ministry of Education, UNESCO division, and the direct involvement of the Minister of Education, along with the Secretary of Higher Education, and the Home Secretary, are well documented. Perhaps the question asked by the Additional Solicitor General in the recent hearing on the new Regulations – Why hasn't the Government of India been named in the writ petition? - is worth considering.

1. fl-2-13/2021-UU (RTI). Correspondence.pdf. Communications between the Auroville Foundation and the MoE