journal d'une transition

1369

*To the Members of the Working Committee, the Members of the Auroville Council, Auroville; 04 August 2003, from Kireet Joshi, Chairman; N° AV/CH/43/03:

“Dear Friends,

I write this letter, first of all, to thank you for your letter addressed to the Members of the Governing Board in which you have expressed your appreciation of the work and support that has been extended by the Governing Board to various activities of Auroville. I should like to assure you that the Governing Board will continue its support and extend and seek collaboration in all tasks that are devoted to the promotion of the ideals contained in the Charter of Auroville. During the last few weeks, the Members of the Governing Board have received numerous letters of support from a number of residents of Auroville, and we feel that a climate is being increasingly created under which all the residents of Auroville can be united for united service to the Matrimandir and to the Future of Auroville. In creating this climate, the Members of the Working Committee and the Council have played a significant role, which deserves to be greatly appreciated. In this background, it is to be ensured that harmony in Auroville comes to be established and stabilised more and more securely. Nothing should, therefore, happen or be allowed to happen that would come in the way of solving the problems, not only in regard to Matrimandir, but also in regard to various other fields of Auroville. At this stage, I should like to inform you that the Union Government’s Secretary for Secondary and Higher Education, Shri S.K. Tripathi, has decided to visit Auroville on an official visit soon after the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, i.e. soon after the 22 nd August 2003. As you know, Shri Tripathi had been warmly supporting Auroville. He had recently taken the trouble to make a trip to Paris from Delhi, particularly to take part in the celebration at UNESCO of the 35 th Anniversary of Auroville. He, along with Dr. L.M. Singhvi and myself, had called on the Director General of UNESCO. He participated in the programme of the Inauguration of the Exhibition in Auroville. His addresses on these occasions were full of appreciation of Auroville and its multifarious activities. I should also like to mention that it was under his Chairmanship that the programme of development of SAIIER was approved, as a result of which the allocation of the sum of Rs. 15 crores has been made for SAIIER and other development activities of Auroville for the 10 th Five Year Plan. Again, it was under his Chairmanship that the Grant-in-Aid Committee sanctioned Rs. 45 lakhs for the year 2002-03 exclusively towards the maintenance of the Research Team of SAIIER. I should also like to mention that towards the end of August, a Committee is going to visit SAIIER in order to assess the work being done by SAIIER in the context of the evaluation of the scheme under which SAIIER has been receiving financial assistance since 1984. This visit is also very important, and we all need to prepare ourselves adequately, both in terms of our team spirit and of the quality of our educational research work.