The work done in Auroville of clearing the Crown right-of-way is done legally under the authority of the ATDC (Auroville Town Development Council, composed of Aurovilians) and the Auroville Foundation. The work follows the Auroville Master Plan formulated and agreed upon unanimously by the Residents Assembly of Auroville in 1999, accepted and gazetted by the Government of India in 2010 and reconfirmed by the Auroville community via its working groups in 2012. In 2009, the work of clearing the Crown had started without any opposition.
No, it certainly does not come out of the blue.
The Master Plan was agreed by the Residents Assembly in 1999 and reconfirmed by the Working Groups in 2012. The work on the Crown RoW started in 2009 and was stopped by the Youth Center residents and the Darkali residents. Nearly 12 years later, in an attempt to unblock the situation, since July 2021, the ATDC (Auroville Town Development Council, composed of Aurovilians) and the Auroville Foundation have held more than 50 meetings over 6 months with the stewards who were squatting the area demarcated for the Crown, but no negotiation came to fruition.
On November 2nd 2021, the new Governing Board visited Auroville, took note of the slow development of Auroville and gave directions for the continuing of the work on clearing the right-of-ways as per the Master Plan.
When the work started on the 4th of December, we had completed 12 years of intense “community process”.
During the events of December 4th and December 9th, no residents of Auroville or of the bio-region were hurt. Some melee and ruckus happened: some Aurovilians obstructing the proceeding of legal work by placing themselves in front of the clearing equipment were removed by either the police (on December 4th) or by volunteers from the bio-region (on December 9th). There was some pull and push but nobody was hurt. The Police present on the 4th acted professionally though some police officers were insulted and one inspector’s shirt and collar, torn by a senior Auroville resident.
We must never forget that the people from the bioregion gave their land to the project of Auroville very early on for Mother’s vision; they are baffled that after 53 years, 3300 people are holding 3300 acres hostage, and very much interested to participate in unblocking its development, for growth in the development of Auroville means a growth also for the bioregion.
It is very important to understand that Auroville has not been thus far developed without the help and physical labour of the people from the bioregion. Matrimandir, Sunship, Citadines and every single structure standing in Auroville today, could not have been built without the use of “outside forces”. Drawing a thick boundary between “them” and “us” will only result in further division and a receding collaboration between those in Auroville and those around. It is also imperative to recall that Aurovilians are not owners of the Auroville project.
A few days before the Youth Center clearing, local village heads met with the Secretary and offered full support for the work ahead. It is on this basis that the volunteers to make a human cordon on December 9th were called.
Quoted from the petition- “... sudden bulldozing of buildings and forest that have been built up as part of the community for 50 years.”
There is nothing sudden in the removal of trees and buildings in the area called Youth Center/Bliss. Please see question: Is this all coming out of the blue?
Further, on December 6th, the Youth Centre residents agreed to remove the buildings by themselves only to change their minds yet again the following day. The trees of Bliss forest and of Youth Center were intentionally planted on the Crown right-of-way 20 years ago, and the water catchment of Darkali dug, shortly after the approval of the Master Plan. This means there was intentional encroachment and malintent with regards to the building of the city from the get-go. Even recently there is evidence that this water catchment area in Darkali has been enlarged using a JCB while the discussions regarding the clearing the Crown right-of-way was ongoing, showing clear malintent and ulterior motives.
Quoted from the petition- “The aggressive events of the last few days override these long-standing participatory processes, and stand against the community’s commitment to realising human unity.”
In fact, the Residents Assembly unanimously agreed on the Master Plan in Auroville and it was reconfirmed by some of the same residents protesting today in 2012. The Residents Assembly may have been very sleepy over the last decade and failed its responsibility in a coherent implementation of the Master Plan but it is false to say that its processes have not been respected.
Quoted from the petition- “ … midnight bulldozing of structures without warning to sleeping residents… ”
No structures were bulldozed at midnight. The work of clearing the Crown RoW started on December 4th in the morning, some residents of Auroville came with their small children to sit on the clearing machines and earthmovers. In doing so, they prevented the legally sanctioned work from going forward. (This type of obstruction is a legal offense).
The area where the work happened at night is called Bliss; there are no structures there, but rather mainly small trees and bushes. To prevent further blocking of the work and to complete scheduled work, the job of clearing was restarted during the night. The zone was cordoned off by some police officers to prevent people from entering the working area and disrupt the work again. However, still some residents again managed to put themselves in front of the machines. The author of the petition confuses and mixes here the 2 events - the clearing of the area called Bliss that partly happened at night on December 4th and the dismantling of some temporary and illegal buildings of Youth Center that happened on December 9th in the morning.
Quoted from the petition-“... reports of police manhandling of residents, including temporary detention in police vehicles …”
Some residents illegally obstructing the work, and refusing to respect the warnings of the police officers present that night to remain out of the working area were restrained by the police for a few hours. The protestors entered the working area and again forced the work to be stopped. These protestors were removed by the police in a professional way with zero “manhandling”. In fact the police did not react in the same vein when one police officer was “manhandled” and his shirt and collar torn by a senior Auroville resident. The police were also subject to verbal insults.
It is important to note that Aurovilians are not above the Indian law and cannot break the law and be indulged while doing so. The Mother has stated clearly the Aurovilians must respect the laws of India, 50 years ago.
Quoted from the petition - “... reports of large groups of people from outside the community being paid to enforce the clearance in an intimidatory manner…”
Some residents of Auroville and volunteer workers from the bio-region were called to make a human cordon to prevent obstruction of work and to support the clearing machines and earthmovers. The machines for the work were legally sent by the ATDC (Auroville Town Development Council, composed of Aurovilians) and the Auroville Foundation to start the work at the Youth Center on December 9th.
The workers from the bio-region removed people who were throwing themselves at the JCB and climbing on the equipment, made a human cordon and directed the work of the JCB to ensure that this time the work could be completed uninterrupted.
Quoted from the petition - “... silencing of freedom of speech through various measures …”
There has been no silencing or censoring of free speech; everybody has allowed to express themselves on the internal forums of Auroville and on social media or in the press, even though some residents have tried to spread lies and propaganda for the concealment of ulterior motives. The petition under question here is good proof of it.
Quoted from the petition - “Despite the residents’ peaceful protests, efforts to negotiate and compromises, their request to postpone the development work on the Crown ‘right of way’ until further notice from the Residents Assembly has been ignored.”
Please check the historic timeline (link) on this website to understand that it is now for 53 years that this basic development has been stalled while it was accepted several times unanimously by the Residents Assembly.
Quoted from the petition - “The current events blatantly ignore the community’s established and legally-upheld processes of collaborative decision-making in the Residents Assembly.”
Please check other Q&A on this website to better understand the processes mentioned. All the processes have been respected and only a small but very vocal part of the Residents Assembly is very attached to its privileges and status-quo. Its sense of entitlement and ownership has led to the current state of affairs and the current events related to development of the city of Auroville.
The vast majority of hard-working Aurovilians are long-awaiting this development and do not have the will, energy or resources to keep showing up to say the same thing over and over again “we want the city to be developed in accordance with the Master Plan.
This small group of residents of Auroville are mainly Westerners or privileged and independently wealthy Indias, who are holding onto large mansions, large tracts of forests, large properties and businesses outside Auroville (this is highly questionable for Aurovilians who are supposed to work for Auroville). This loud but small group seems to have forgotten their gratitude and appreciation for Mother India who has allowed them to reside on her soil and participate in the experiment of Auroville.
Most of the information provided in the petition is either exaggerated or blatantly false, appealing to the emotions of people around sensational topics like “human rights”, “climate change” and “environment”, but not stating facts in their comprehensive complexities and historical perspectives.
If you have signed this petition thinking you have helped Auroville, read the above carefully and reconsider your stand.
Yes, an agreement was reached on December 6th between the Youth Center and the Auroville Foundation to dismantle their buildings themselves and then later reneged upon.
On the 7th, early morning, the Youth Center officially informed the Auroville community via a mass bulletin email sent to all residents stating that:
“Dear Community,
On behalf of the YC team, from tomorrow morning (7th December) 6:30 am your presence is requested at the Youth Center, to assist in the dismantling and re-location of the 3 main communal structures. We hope we can take this step together towards unity in our community, above all polarities.
This follows a very intense meeting at the Youth Center this evening 6th December. This decision was very hard to take, but was collectively arrived at in an aspiration to work towards peace and progressive harmony and to ensure an outcome which reflects the values of Auroville. Please see the below letter sent to the secretary, following various meetings today.”
A few hours later the Youth Center, under the pressure of some older Aurovilians, decided to renege on their agreement.
On December 9th, the work restarted and the buildings were dismantled by the JCBs.
Yes, an agreement was reached on December 9th between the stewards of Darkali, the Aurovilians supporting Darkali and the Auroville Foundation. The stewards committed to not oppose the work, the protestors also agreed to not block the work.
However, on the 10th morning, the work restarted for a few hours, only to be stopped again by some protestors who decided to sit in front of the clearing equipment and earthmovers.
For many years, foresters have been planting trees, sometimes precious trees in areas reserved for city construction and development. The same thing happened in the Youth Center, where some building and tree planting was done on purpose in areas reserved for the future Crown. This indicates clearly a will of non-collaboration and a lack of sincerity and honesty with respect to the community-agreed Auroville Master Plan. The violation of community processes lies herein.
What are the reasons behind these actions? We can see now clearly that it was done to postpone, to create problems and to stop, if possible, any future city development.
When did it start? This misconception started many years ago, probably soon after signing the Auroville Master Plan, or a little later if we judge by the age of the trees.
This was an exercise of careful long-term planning.
Why did the same members of the green people who had earlier agreed to the Auroville Master Plan act in this way?
One interpretation is that when they were in need of certain powers to protect their huge areas of forest from outside encroachers, they were ready to sign any kind of agreement, even with the Indian administration, but they didn’t have the least intention to implement these agreements in the long term, in the areas designated for the City development.
On both the 4th Dec., at Bliss and 9th Dec., at Youth Centre video evidence shows the coordinated use of little children to obstruct work. This form of "activism", if it can be called that, recklessly combining children with heavy machinery, created very dangerous situations. The use of minors in protest is not only a punishable offense in India but also requires sensitivity and tact to safely deal with. At Youth Centre, while others were moving away from the JCB and falling structures to witness peacefully from a safe distance, at least 2 separate parents of very small children ages 3 and 5 respectively, can be seen intentionally and repeatedly positioning themselves closer to an operating JCB, just near a building, as it was being demolished.
This counter-intuitive action to move closer to the JCBs and buildings with these tiny tots characterises the intent to obstruct, with total negligence and disregard for the endangerment of the little ones. In these sensitive and dangerous instances, the parents were repeatedly verbally warned and also required several attempts to effectively physically block.
No, Auroville is a City from its very inception.
However there has been immense afforestation work on the land since 1968, mainly to prevent further topsoil erosion and to improve soil quality. The species that were planted were foreign, fast-growing, and served their purpose very well.
There are many areas planted with trees in Auroville, around 1,100 acres, roughly a third of the land owned by the Auroville Foundation. A lot of this lies in lands outside the Master Plan area (outlying lands), some in the Green Belt (area around the city 3 times its size) and some within the city area in designated green areas (50% of the city center will be green). Some of these pockets planted with trees, unfortunately, falls on areas allocated for buildings and roads, and some of this was done accidentally and some intentionally (some other answers in this page will elaborate on this point).
If Auroville were to be considered a deemed forest, one very pertinent question to ask is, who has given the Forest Group of Auroville the permission to cut trees and wood from this “deemed forest”? What happens to the cut trees and wood? The sales revenue from this tree wood for the Financial Year 2020-21 alone was listed as 13.5 lakhs. Is this really the correct amount? Under whose purview is all this happening?
Auroville owns roughly 3300 acres. Out of this:
- 1100 acres are in the city area
- 1100 acres in the green belt
- 1100 acres are outside the Master Plan area
Out of these:
- 1357 acres is land planted with trees. Presently 48 stewards take care of this.
- 1241 out of 1357 acres of land planted with trees are stewarded by westerners.
- 396 acres is farm land. Presently 16 or 17 farmers steward it, most of the farm lands (which require hard labor) are stewarded by Tamil Aurovilians.
In Darkali alone, which is within the city, there are 4 western stewards in 36.38 acres of fenced and land planted with trees.
A few concepts introduced by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo are regularly misinterpreted and among these is Human Unity.
“Human Unity” seems to be understood as : to be empathetic with each other, to be kind and gentle with each other, to live peacefully and harmoniously with each other, to respect each other’s feelings and emotions, to show solidarity, to give space for each other’s emotions, to always agree with each other etc.
While these are all good qualities, they can be considered, at best, as natural results of living in a higher Unity consciousness or in Oneness with the Divine, but it is not the “thing” in itself. A thing that looks entirely disharmonious or unpleasant to the human senses can emanate from the highest consciousness too - it is not from the mind or the emotions that one understands, or lives out “actual Human Unity”.
To live in Human Unity is a state of consciousness of the highest order, a spiritual realisation of immense value and intense inner work, and it implies “realising the truth of the Spirit; to acquire oneself the consciousness of Unity; by becoming conscious of the eternal Oneness; to realise the Consciousness of the one; is equivalent to a new birth, a birth into a higher sphere of existence.” as stated by The Mother in several messages in the Sixties.
Unfortunately in Auroville, a more superficial understanding of Human Unity has kept the deeper experience from being actualized in the collective so far, and a need for external superficial “harmony” has kept the disagreements bottled up, avoiding real scrutiny on both individual and collective levels. The current events may be seen as a necessary push to discover a deeper and an actual Human Unity.