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Auroville: A new way to live
Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Sat 05 Jan 2008 02:53 PM PST
Delhi, India
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2008-01-01 11:30:00 | |
By S Radhakrishnan Consisting of more than 100 settlements spread over 20 square kilometers, around 1900 residents from some 40 nations live together as one community in Auroville. Auroville was founded by the ‘Mother’, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo, in February 1968 as an international cultural township on the outskirts of Puducherry where a community of people of different nationalities, from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds, could live and work together in a spirit of mutual respect and collaboration. The true purpose of Auroville is a place for the realization of international understanding, peace and human unity in diversity based upon an inner discovery and transformation of consciousness, the way as shown by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Matrimandir For many Aurovilians, this sense of stability at the center is represented by the Matrimandir. The Matrimandir, a huge sphere which contains a white chamber in which sunlight pours down upon a glass globe, is both the geographical and spiritual center of Auroville. It is a place as The Mother described it, for individual concentration, for finding one’s true self. She called it “the soul of Aurovilleâ€. Environmental Sustainability Sustainability of the environment is an important term today. Restoration of the environment was taken up at Auroville by planting something like two million trees and shrubs whereby an environmental consciousness developed. Each major area of work in Auroville –education, afforestation, farming, village development, health care, town planning, business, arts and culture etc. - is organized by a group involved in that work. Auroville is a model of sustainable development which has evolved a way of living that sustains that which sustains us. Consequently water the first priority was fulfilled with wells dug by hand and fitted with primitive windmills to pump up water, a biological waste–water treatment plant [was developed], and food produced at the township is pesticide free. Till today, the things are simple and environmentally friendly. The Quiet community on the beach is a natural healing center. Auroville is also home to the largest concentration of renewable energy technologies in India. A fifteen metre diameter solar bowl – one of the biggest in the world - provides steam for cooking in a community kitchen. Similarly, an AV55 windmill and ferrocement biogas systems manufactured in Auroville workshops represent improvements upon existing designs. Other [sustainable technologies], like the wind generators or the ubiquitous solar panel (which is used for everything from pumping water to charging electric vehicles), provide domestic power. The Township is under the administrative control of the [Indian government's] Ministry of Human Resource Development since 1980 and is administered as per the provisions of the Auroville Foundation Act 1988, passed by the Parliament of India. As per the Auroville Foundation Act, the Foundation consists of a Governing Board, Residents Assembly and Auroville International Advisory Council. According to the provisions of the Auroville Foundation Act, the Central Government provides grants to the Foundation for meeting the expenditure on the establishment, maintenance and development of Auroville under Plan & Non-Plan grants. The Budget provision for the Foundation for the year 2006-07 is Rs. 327.00 lakh [$834,000] under Plan and Rs. 75.00 lakh [$191,000] under Non Plan. An expenditure of Rs. 200.75 lakh [$513,000] under Plan and Rs. 30.00 lakh [$77,000] under Non-Plan has been incurred so far during 2006-07. A major boost to the development of the city is proposed during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, through proper housing and infrastructure facilities in an environmentally friendly atmosphere. [One lakh = 100,000 rupees -> ~ USD $2,550.00, in Jan.08] “Auroville belongs to nobody in particular, Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole… .†runs the first line of the Auroville Charter. S Radhakrishnan is a Director (M&C) of Press Information Bureau, Delhi | ||
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