Residents Open Letter to the Auroville Foundation Office
Dear Mr. Srinivasaragavan and members of the Auroville Foundation Office,
Thank you for inviting us to the planned meetings at the Sri Aurobindo auditorium.
We appreciate the intention of offering a ‘platform for Residents of the Auroville Community to participate, to express their wish to work in any area of activity, any concerns, inputs, and suggestions, etc.’, and for the Foundation office’s working groups to ‘share recent developments, and information with the Residents and respond to their doubts and questions.’
A number of us have been attending previous similar meetings, and the experience has been predominantly of a one-way communication from the Foundation Office and its working groups with residents’ questions being bypassed or inadequately answered.
A true fraternal exchange between the pillars of the Auroville Foundation involves giving the Resident’s Assembly its rightful place and function, as envisaged by the Mother for Auroville and enshrined in the Auroville Foundation Act,1988.
Drastic and far-reaching decisions, that ideally includes mutual collaboration and joint planning between pillars of the Foundation, have been taken by the Office of the Secretary in many domains (including areas that are the explicit responsibility of the Residents’ Assembly.)
Informing the residents after such steps have been taken (and in some cases even gazetted) obviously does not replace the participatory process and consultation that was supposed to have preceded them.
It is this serious over-reach by the Foundation Office, and numerous actions going against Auroville’s very principles, ethos and ideals, that has regrettably forced Aurovilians to seek justice by approaching the Indian Courts.
And since a number of matters are now sub judice, it does not seem appropriate to discuss these in the proposed format, unless the talks are based on a genuine openness of the Foundation Office to listen, incorporate residents’ inputs and modify or retract its decisions, which may allow the cases to be settled out of court.
We look forward to the time when respect and mutuality between the pillars of Auroville will be duly restored, and a truthful and trusting collaboration becomes possible once again.
We all owe this to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on whose vision Auroville is based, and whose Presence, Protection and living guidance we invoke for the future of this unique experiment which ‘no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world’, working together to manifest ‘the city the Earth needs’, also called by Mother ‘the city at the service of Truth’.
In sincere dedication
Concerned residents of Auroville
7.2.2024
A collaborative process would include the Auroville Foundation office issuing pending visas in a timely manner without the many conditions attached, dropping criminal charges placed on Aurovilians, halting and reversing non-consensual land exchanges, ceasing the takeover of city services, restoring the maintenances of farm and forest workers and other people in services, paying the employees’ gratuity, and refraining from selling our health care system to the highest bidders.
A show of good faith would be acknowledging and addressing these concerns and would be seen as a meaningful step from the AVFO to attempt to heal and restore the peace and harmony that it insists as the agenda for the upcoming meetings.
May Mother’s Light and Grace guide us all.
Auroville Community Nostr Relay
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2024-02-07 15:15:16
Author Public Key
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2024-02-07 15:15:16Event JSON
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"content": "Residents Open Letter to the Auroville Foundation Office\n\nDear Mr. Srinivasaragavan and members of the Auroville Foundation Office,\n\nThank you for inviting us to the planned meetings at the Sri Aurobindo auditorium.\n\nWe appreciate the intention of offering a ‘platform for Residents of the Auroville Community to participate, to express their wish to work in any area of activity, any concerns, inputs, and suggestions, etc.’, and for the Foundation office’s working groups to ‘share recent developments, and information with the Residents and respond to their doubts and questions.’\n\nA number of us have been attending previous similar meetings, and the experience has been predominantly of a one-way communication from the Foundation Office and its working groups with residents’ questions being bypassed or inadequately answered.\n\nA true fraternal exchange between the pillars of the Auroville Foundation involves giving the Resident’s Assembly its rightful place and function, as envisaged by the Mother for Auroville and enshrined in the Auroville Foundation Act,1988.\n\nDrastic and far-reaching decisions, that ideally includes mutual collaboration and joint planning between pillars of the Foundation, have been taken by the Office of the Secretary in many domains (including areas that are the explicit responsibility of the Residents’ Assembly.)\n\nInforming the residents after such steps have been taken (and in some cases even gazetted) obviously does not replace the participatory process and consultation that was supposed to have preceded them.\n\nIt is this serious over-reach by the Foundation Office, and numerous actions going against Auroville’s very principles, ethos and ideals, that has regrettably forced Aurovilians to seek justice by approaching the Indian Courts.\n\nAnd since a number of matters are now sub judice, it does not seem appropriate to discuss these in the proposed format, unless the talks are based on a genuine openness of the Foundation Office to listen, incorporate residents’ inputs and modify or retract its decisions, which may allow the cases to be settled out of court.\n\nWe look forward to the time when respect and mutuality between the pillars of Auroville will be duly restored, and a truthful and trusting collaboration becomes possible once again.\n\nWe all owe this to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on whose vision Auroville is based, and whose Presence, Protection and living guidance we invoke for the future of this unique experiment which ‘no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world’, working together to manifest ‘the city the Earth needs’, also called by Mother ‘the city at the service of Truth’.\n\nIn sincere dedication\n\nConcerned residents of Auroville\n\n7.2.2024\n\n\nA collaborative process would include the Auroville Foundation office issuing pending visas in a timely manner without the many conditions attached, dropping criminal charges placed on Aurovilians, halting and reversing non-consensual land exchanges, ceasing the takeover of city services, restoring the maintenances of farm and forest workers and other people in services, paying the employees’ gratuity, and refraining from selling our health care system to the highest bidders. \n\nA show of good faith would be acknowledging and addressing these concerns and would be seen as a meaningful step from the AVFO to attempt to heal and restore the peace and harmony that it insists as the agenda for the upcoming meetings. \n\nMay Mother’s Light and Grace guide us all.",
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