On Auroville 2022 to 2025

-Appendix: “ An old Open letter dated 26-01-1987:

Greetings to all, Recently I have been looking at my old journals, having our present situation in mind and I found many interesting moments of questioning that are almost identical to the present, yet stand at different degrees of the spectrum of our relationship with the Central Government. Here I would like to share an open letter which I had circulated in 1987; at the time, the Government expressed its strong wish that Auroville must negotiate with the SAS and find a mutually acceptable compromise, so it could withdraw from its temporary role and only assist at a remove. It said that this agreement should be arrived at as early as the end of that year, so that the Central Government would not have to extend its involvement in the affairs of Auroville and be assured of a basic harmony on site and a wholesome development thereafter. Now this attitude demonstrated by the Central Government in 1987 is in keeping with the initial purpose of its legal intervention in the affairs of Auroville – which was NOT to be permanent.

*Open letter regarding the Organisation of Auroville and its relationship to the Central Government of India.

- 26.1.1987, Auroville -

“It seems we are being asked to come up with some practical, workable proposals concerning the next few years of Auroville ‟s evolution.

It is understandable that the Government of India does not wish to remain perpetually entangled with Auroville and that on the other hand, having committed itself so concretely for several years, it cannot just pull out without certain guarantees. Auroville too does need guarantees that it will not have to return to the previous sterile state of conflict with its would-be owners. But it also needs to find its own ways to evolve, to discover them with the least interference from any of the machineries that are based in the ordinary world and society. We chose to ask the Government‟s help and, given the general conditions at present, it appears that we still need that help for some time to come. So perhaps, rather than making big declarations and taking foolish stands, or else passively going under the crushing weight of inadequate and rigid organisational formations, we could suggest some simple and effective means by which both the Government and Auroville will feel their respective duties are un-compromised and their respective responsibilities are clear.

81