ISSUE 12 | DECEMBER 2019
What it does have is a stylish
town hall, plenty of garden
restaurants, schools that look
unconventional, business units
including farmlands, and a
clutch of single-storey
residential buildings. The
defining feature of the town
ship is the Matrimandir, a
golden-domed meditation hall
that has a specially made
crystal ball, on which a heliostat
always focuses sunlight. The
beautifully landscaped area
around the Matrimandir has a
largish amphitheatre. In it's
totality, Auroville closely
resembles a university campus.
The real distinction, however, is
that nothing is owned by
anybody here. Every single asset
is owned by the community,
which is represented by the
Auroville Foundation, which, in
turn, is - hold your breath -
owned by the Ministry of
Human Resource Development,
Government of India, and
administered by a government
appointed retired bureaucrat.
BIKERS CLUB ® | MAGAZINE | PAGE 37
effectively taking over the
ownership.
The Foundation has a governing
board, an international advisory
council and a residents'
assembly. The board members
are eminent personalities, and
the incumbent chairman is the
Congress leader and Rajya
Sabha member Karan Singh.
The residents' assembly, assisted
by a working committee,
decides most matters, including
the construction of buildings or
issuing residence permits. It is
within this governing framework
that the experiment of 'spiritual
communism' is being carried on.
The Indian government entered
the picture by invitation.
When Auroville was first set up,
the Sri Aurobindo Society
legally owned all the assets.
However, after the Mother's
death in 1973, friction developed
between the residents and the
society. The residents appealed
to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
to intervene. The society tried to
fight off governmental
intervention - and lost. The
Parliament passed The Auroville
Foundation Act, 1988,
In a way, Auroville resembles a
command economy, but Deepti
Tewari, a resident of 43 years
who teaches there, says there is a
difference. Taking off from the
leitmotif of the French
Revolution, 'liberty, equality and
fraternity', Tewari reasons that
capitalism gives liberty but
destroys equality, while
communism gives equality but
destroys liberty.
Fraternity ensures both liberty
and equality. Auroville is a
'fraternity' where, instead of a
top-heavy structure thrusting
rules on the people, the entire
community decides what it
does for itself.
That also includes "an
understanding" that nobody
shall take a fellow Aurovillian to
court; disputes shall be resolved
internally. All serves the
community, and the
community takes care of them
all.
Electricity is free - the township
consumes around 35 lakh units
a year. Schooling is free, and
children are encouraged to
learn the subjects of their
choice at their own pace, and
there are no exams. Students
who want to go 'outside' for
higher education will
necessarily have to take an
open examination elsewhere,
and they usually do well in
them. Bala Baskar, a former
secretary of the Auroville
Foundation, says his Auroville-
schooled son is a successful
lawyer today. While the learning
methods appear conductive for
mathematics, humanities and
computer education, it is not so
for science education, as the
labs are "rudimentary", Baskar
concedes.
Water is not free yet in Auroville,
but basic medical facilities are.
For more serious cases, two
ambulances are on standby to
transport the sick to
Pudducherry hospitals.