Auroville is a continuing process and is in an evolutionary stage

Other States - Puducherry Karan Singh looking ahead for the next chapter of Auroville
Staff Reporter
He expects a positive movement for building the city and its infrastructure PUDUCHERRY:

“With the completion of Matri Mandir and the installation of Sri Aurobindo’s statue, one chapter of Auroville has come to an end. Now, we are in a new chapter of building the city,” Auroville Foundation chairman Karan Singh said on Sunday.
Talking about the path ahead of Auroville, he said it had taken 40 years to complete the first phase.
“Till now, we were basically building Matri Mandir and communities. Now, we have to start building the city, and it needs infrastructure, streetlights, sewerage and properly planned communities. In the next five years, we expect a positive movement,” he said.

Design
Describing the design for the prototype section of the Crown as “innovative and good,” he said electric vehicles would be operated. “With Auroville being strong on the environment, there will be green vehicles. The road has been beautifully planned and consists of a main road, pedestrian and cycle paths.”
On his term so far as the Chairman of Auroville Foundation, he said, “It has been an interesting and satisfying experience. Despite a number of conflicts, the community has come together. With the completion of the first phase, there is a definite sense in the community to work together to build the city.”
Roger Anger had completed Matri Mandir, and the new generation has to take over now, he said. “Auroville is a continuing process and is in an evolutionary stage. I think it is beginning to move forward.”

Call for solidarity
“The nation is in turmoil with bomb blasts. It is a difficult and dangerous period, and we need to mobilise outer and inner resources. We need to develop inner strength to meet and overcome the challenges,” he said.
“The nation should develop a sense of solidarity. There are several divisive forces, in terms of caste, class, religion and political parties. India should develop as a nation with a deeper consciousness,” he said.
“The government winning the trust vote is certainly significant. We can continue the development programmes and the 123 agreement,” he said.
On a few MPs’ wading out currencies in the Parliament, Dr. Karan Singh, who is the chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Rajya Sabha, called the incident unfortunate and shameful.
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There is nothing fantastical in Swami Dayananda’s idea that the Veda contains the truths of science

‘Islamic’ political assault on Arya Samaj-II By: V SUNDARAM vsundaram@newstodaynet.com Friday, 25 July, 2008 www.newstodaynet.com

Go back to the Vedas’ was the quintessence of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati’s timeless message. He said ‘I hold the four Vedas (the divine revealed knowledge and religious truth comprising the Samhita or Mantras) as infallible and as authority by their very nature’. He clearly stated in his Satyarth Prakash that the Veda contains the truths of science as well as of religion. Sri Aurobindo endorsed this approach of Swami Dayanand Sarasvati when he said

‘There is then nothing fantastical in Swami Dayananda’s idea that the Veda contains the truths of science. I will even add my own conviction that the Veda contains other truths of science which the modern world does not at all possess, and, in that case, Swami Dayananda has rather under-stated than over-stated the depth and rage of the Vedic Wisdom. Immediately after the character of the Veda is fixed in the sense Swami Dayananda gave to it, the merely ritual, mythological, polytheistic interpretation of Sanayacharya collapses, and the merely mateological and materialistic European interpretation collapses. We have, instead, a real scripture, one of the World’s sacred books, and the divine word of a lofty and noble religion’.

Swami Dayananda advocated Vedic Education for all the castes and communities, including the Sudras, Ati-Sudras and also those below the Mudras. Thus Swami Dayananda laid the foundation for the amelioration of the depressed classes. As per those Hindu lower classes and other Hindus who have been converted to Islam or Christianity, through force or inducement, he advocated ‘shuddhi’ or ‘re-conversion’. Out of the shuddhi movement there logically develop about the beginning of the twentieth century a campaign to recruit low castes and untouchables, with a ceremony evolve to invest the new recruits with the sacred thread, thus making them equal with the high-caste Hindus.

I fully endorse the view of Sandhya Jain:

‘The lasting legacy of Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1825-1883), for which he deserves the undying gratitude of succeeding generations, is that he told an enslaved and demoralised Hindu society to seek inspiration and rejuvenation in its Vedic civilisational roots. Whatever the merits of his own rather literal style of interpreting religious texts, the call to return to the Vedic Gangotri was an act of sheer genius’.

The political views and ideals of Swami Dayananda have received less recognition than his social and religious views. He did not approve of foreign rule over India and asked foreigners, ‘not to live here as rulers’, long before the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi on the Indian Political scene in 1915. Thus the Arya Samaj established by Swami Dayananada promoted nationalism along with Hindu revivals. It is no accident that one of the leading disciples of Swami Dayananda, Swami Sraddananda was assassinated by a Muslim in the middle 1920s. Another disciple of Swami Dayananda, Lala Lajput Rai died after he was badly beaten up during a lathi charge against a procession of protest which he was leading against the Simon Commission in Lahore in 1928. Swami Dayananda was a staunch advocate of indigenous rule (Swadeshi Raj) as opposed to foreign rule (Videshi Raj) and harked back to the Universal and presumably golden rule of Vedic Age.

Politics is about give and take, about deal-making and capturing, holding and perpetuating power

‘So what if we just had to stay in the picture?’ Jyotirmaya Sharma Hindustan Times: July 25, 2008 (Jyotirmaya Sharma is the author Terrifying Vision: Golwalkar, the RSS and India)

There has also been excess of sanctimonious verbiage around falling standards of Indian democracy. Politics in India has always been seen as morality play, and moral posturing is a national pastime.

Politics is about give and take, about deal-making and capturing, holding and perpetuating power. The question of ends and means is a contentious one, but it is not easily resolved by paying lip service to the Gandhian legacy.

The lack of morals in politics is not resolved by resorting to moral sermons but in helping to bring about good politics. In that arena, every single political formation is in favour of the status quo and against radical political and electoral reforms in the country.

+++

Cash strapped Rajdeep Sardesai Hindustan Times: July 25, 2008 (Rajdeep Sardesai is Editor-in-chief, IBN Network)

The law alone offers no solutions. Legally, there is no constitutional bar on Shibu Soren, who has had his life sentence in the Shashinath Jha murder case stayed, from being sworn in as a Cabinet minister for the third time in the last five years. But morality demands that he stay away from office till his name is fully cleared by the courts. Yet, even this is not enough.

What is actually needed is a bold new initiative to clean up the entire relationship between cash and politicians. Sunlight, it is said, is the best disinfectant and it is perhaps time that political parties openly acknowledge that our political system is linked to hard cash. Cash is needed to fight elections. Cash is needed to keep cadres loyal. So, how is this cash to be legitimised and the taint of ‘dirty money’ removed? ...

What will our politicians do? Close their eyes and insist on a phoney Mahatma-hood? Or will politicians put their heads together and honestly work out transparent, open and public methods of political funding. It is an urgent, indeed critical need. 4:03 PM

There are values of life and of the progressive spirit which must be nourished

Re: The relevance of 1857 in the context of India’s recent history—by Mubarak Ali
by RY Deshpande on Thu 10 Jul 2008 05:04 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link
Rich, There is no one cause for the 1857 and your observation of a “million mutinies theme” is quite valid and perceptive. The conclusion of a professional historian to summarise the findings as “a chain of very different uprisings” could be considered factual. But look at the paragraph from the earlier quote giving the narratives of the lives of "bird catchers and lime makers who have had their charpoys stolen by sepoys, the horse trader from Haryana looted by Gujars on the outskirts of Dehli on the way home from selling his wares,... Hansi the dancer who uses a British attack on Idgah to escape from the serai where she is staying with her husband and run off with her lover. Or Pandit Harichandra, who tried to exhort Hindus of Dehli to leave their shops and join the fight giving examples from the Mahabharat. Or Hazif Abdurrahman caught grilling beef kababs during a ban on cow slaughter who comes to beg for mercy from Zafar...."

What do we get from these documentary findings? Perhaps nothing, nothing much in proportion to the amount of research effort that goes into it. Is it not simply a picture of a society sunken in the depths of the mediaeval darkness? It seems the throbbing vitality of the nation had got buried in terrible inertia or Tamas of the age. There was the glāni as the Gita would say, the decline. Invasions by an alien civilization, robust and critically powerful, over the previous few centuries had uprooted the authentic traditions that had drawn nourishment from the foundational principles based on the spirit’s working. Foolish battles were fought for foolish gains and concerns of the larger society forgotten.

Renaissance and Industrial Revolution were unknown to the country. What else could then the decadent feudalism do? The only brief period of glory during those long and wearisome centuries was the reign of Akbar and the arrival of Shivaji-Ramdas on the national scene. The rest was frustration,—moral, political, economic, religious except for the exceptional Bhakti movement, educational, ethical, etc, etc. That all makes the 1857 more a reaction than forward march of a nation. ~ RYD

Reply by Rich on Thu 10 Jul 2008 07:55 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link
I tend to think that once history is stripped of its ideologies it speaks most meaningfully to us through stories. The lessons of 1857 are perhaps not only relevant to India as to they are to the world today. In an Article for Time magazine Dalrymple says:

The lessons of 1857 can be seen today on the streets of Iraq. No one likes being conquered by people of a different faith, then being force-fed improving ideas. The British in 1857 discovered that nothing so easily radicalizes a people or undermines the moderate aspect of Islam than aggressive Western intrusion in the East. The histories of Islamic fundamentalism and Western imperialism have often been closely intertwined—so much so that thinking of 1857, we might remember the celebrated dictum of Edmund Burke: that those who fail to learn from history are always destined to repeat it.

Reply by RY Deshpande on Fri 11 Jul 2008 05:11 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link
1857 on the streets of Iraq—how true! If I’ve to use my earlier phrase again, here was a foolish battle fought for foolish gains. The entire region including Afghanistan and Pakistan today is in turmoil which is not going to affect India in a small way. Oil—automobile, was that not the invention of the Asura, and that America got seized by its injurious al spell?

The slogan of the globalised Capitalism is: Elite of the world, unite to protect your consumer markets. Wheels of democracy move swiftly behind the banner of the Wealth of the Nations. But this has to go, the way the workers of the world could not assert themselves and disappeared—perhaps without throwing their chains. There are values of life and of the progressive spirit which must be nourished, values which could not be discerned by the 1857. But that began to happen not too long after that, in the New Birth of India.

In this New Birth the spirit of nationalism derived its strength from the spirit of the country, when the soul of India began to awake. It was the first movement to step out of the degrading Tamas with which it was overlaid for disappointing centuries. But it seems, today, we are falling into another trap, the vitalistic trap with the consumer model as the guiding principle, a model which will spell a greater disaster if we lose contact with the soul of India. Ditto for other nations and societies. ~ RYD

Among the modern Sanskrit lyricists, Harekrishna Meher has indeed earned much fame by virtue of his poetic merit

CONCEPT OF GĪTI AND MĀTRIGĪTIKĀÑJALI -KĀVYA
By: Prof. Dr. Abhiraja Rajendra Mishra Ex-Vice Chancellor, Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi.

In twentieth century, Sanskrit has gained all-round prosperity in comparison to other Indian languages. Numerous mahākāvyas, khaņđa-kāvyas, stories, novels and dramas etc. are being regularly composed in Sanskrit. In this literature, tradition of lyric poem is extremely rich. Though all the present lyricists have not engaged themselves in composing rāga-kāvyas, yet it must be admitted that Sanskrit poetry has become very popular only through lyric tradition. Nowadays through televisions and radios, Sanskrit poems are established in the society, and are intelligible and congratulated by all.

Among the modern Sanskrit lyricists, Harekrishna Meher has indeed earned much fame by virtue of his poetic merit. From his identity, it is known that he has authored several books in Sanskrit, English, Hindi, Oriya and Kośali languages. His genius is equally adept in churning critical scriptures, also in composing the flower-like delicate kāvyas. ‘Mātrigītikāñjalih’ (5) is one of the Sanskrit works of this brilliant poet of Orissa. This gīti-kāvya comprises twenty-five lyrics that are very graceful and based on various topics. Mind of the connoisseur gets extremely exhilarated with sentiments by reading these lyrics again and again. In these lyrics, various matters such as worship to Motherland India, universal well-being, eternal glory and greatness of woman, recognisation of Self, adoration to God Tryambaka, prayer to Gāyatrī, appreciation to poets and literary artistes, honour of love, praise of childhood, ten incarnations of God and the like have been delineated.

Composed with very simple lucid words capable of expressing exact emotions, these lyrics are really endowed with the above-mentioned significant specialities of Gīti, that are ‘Geyatva’, ‘Manohāritva’, ‘Lālitya’ and ‘Bhāvānvitatva’. The noble-minded connoisseurs are real judges in this regard. Almost all the lyrics are marked with original thinkings... Posted by Dr. Harekrishna Meher at 12:48 PM Reader & Head, Department of Sanskrit, Govt. Autonomous College, BHAWANIPATNA-766001, Orissa (India). * Phone : +91-6670-231591 * Mobile: +91-94373-62962 *** Email : meher.hk@gmail.com * * * * URL : http://hkmeher.blogspot.com/

Mahabharata war was fought out in or about 1190 B.C

Home » Articles on Hinduism The Date of the Mahabharata War
By Pradip Bhattaacharya Published 06/3/2007 Category: Articles on Hinduism Foreword

In "Vyasa and Valmiki" Sri Aurobindo refers to a “recent article of the Indian Review” on the date of the Mahabharata war praising it as “an unusually able and searching (or almost conclusive) paper”. It was Velandai Gopala Aiyer’s “The Date of the Mahabharata War” published in Vol. II, January-December 1901 of this monthly journal (Indian Review) edited by G.A. Natesan.

Sri Aurobindo was obviously fully convinced by Aiyer’s arguments, because elsewhere he writes, “It is now known beyond reasonable doubt that the Mahabharata war was fought out in or about 1190 B.C.”Aiyer had published a previous paper in the same journal fixing the date of the beginning of the Kaliyuga from four different sources... Articles Scriptures Meditation

Sri Aurobindo carved out a brand of radicalism

Home page > 2008 > June 28, 2008 > The Power of One
Mainstream, Vol XLVI No 28 The Power of One Monday 30 June 2008, by T J S George

In Kerala, which is bracketed with Bengal over the politics of communist power, the leaders came up through revolutionary struggles, often bloody. E.M.S. Namboothiripad was a lone exception in that he was the scion of a landlord family. But he too turned to communism through the social revolution that sought to end the feudal-reactionary traditions that plagued the Namboothiri community.

Bengali communism, on the other hand, was shaped by leaders who came up through academic study rather than struggles at factory gates and paddy fields. It could be said that the flames of revolution were lit in Bengal by sparks brought from Oxford and Cambridge. A family had to be not just well-to-do but fairly rich to send a young member to England in the 1930s and 1940s. Many rich Bengali families did that. And many of the bright young men turned unexpectedly to radicalism in repudiation of their class background.

Aurobindo Ghosh and Subhas Chandra Bose might have carved out a brand of radicalism all their own. But a host of others like Bhupesh Gupta and Jyoti Basu and Hiren Mukherjee and Arun Bose and Mohit Sen and Indrajit Gupta returned from Oxbridge as Communists—as did Nikhil Chakravartty and his wife-to-be, Renu.

It will be invidious to draw a distinction between peasant communism and university educated communism, but the intellectual conversance of the early leaders did give Bengal’s communist movement a sheen its parallel streams in Kerala or Andhra did not have.

A decade ago we campaigned against power mongers within Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

DRAVIDA PERAVAI 01 Jul 08 UNESCO SHOULD NOT SUPPORT AURO VILLAGE By nandhivarman
Categories: Open Debate Tags: aurobindo ashram, auroville, CBI, dravida peravai, GOI, HRD ministry, IB, nandhivarman, unesco APPEAL TO UNESCO AND INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO RECONSIDER FUNDING AURO-VILLAGE

The Other side, journal for Socialist Action and Thought Volume 17, Number 9 of October 1997 edited by Comrade George Fernandes published my interview titled Aurobindo Ashram Takeover by Central Government Demanded and a sub title Dravida Peravai General Secretary Speaks, wherein the editor gave his introduction as follows: “There has been a persistent demand for the take over of the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry by various individuals and institutions. In the forefront of this campaign is the General Secretary of the Dravida Peravai N.Nandhivarman.

Nandhivarman has over years been exposing for public view the unsavory goings on in the Ashram, which have brought this once hallowed place into disrepute. We are publishing here below a question answer report which is an interview with Nandhivarman. We hope the authorities will take note of this report and take action in the matter before it is too late to stem the rot.”

Aurobindo Ashram is a religious institution. The demand of various political parties for take over of the Trust by the Government amounts to interference in religious matters. What is your comment?

In the Shirur Mutt Case [AIR 1954 SC 282] the convention is laid down. “The Court noticed that while cl[b] of Article 26 guaranteed religious denomination to manage its own affairs in matters of religion, other clauses of the Article dealt with the right of a religious denomination to acquire and own property in accordance with law. The administration of its property by a religious denomination having thus been placed on different footing from the right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion [page 290 of AIR]. The latter is a fundamental right which no legislature can take away, whereas the former can be regulated by laws with legislature can validly impose.

Mr. F.S. Nariman argues that Aurobindo Society was registered under Societies Registration Act 1960, and purely a religious society could not have been registered under Societies Registration Act. Section 20 of Societies Registration Act provides what kind of societies can be registered under the Act. It does not talk of religious institutions. Of course it includes a society with charitable purposes. The Memorandum of Association does not talk of any religion.

The Society professed to be a scientific research organization to the donors and got income tax exemption on the footing that it was not a religious institution. The Society has claimed exemption from income tax under section 80 for the donors and under section 35 for itself on that ground. Aurobindo Ashram was different from Auroville. The Ashram Trust had applied for Income Tax exemption and got on that very ground. The teachings of Aurobindo only represented his philosophy and not a religion.

It is evident from the excerpts of the Supreme Court judgment in the S.P.Mittal vs. Union of India [AIR 1983], that the teachings of Aurobindo are not religion. Hence we cannot be accused of attacking religion. Tax exemptions were obtained for specific purposes and we are within our limits in demanding the Government to oversee whether the exemptions availed is put into proper use. And if found contrary, cancellation of exemptions and take over of the trust is demanded.

Further Aurobindo in his writings categorically states: “An ashram means the house or houses of a teacher or master of spiritual philosophy. All depends on the Teacher and ends with his life time, unless there is another Teacher who can take his place. The Ashram is not a religious association [16th February 1934]

After Aurobindo and the Mother there is no Ashram. The Ashram ceases. The question before us is concern about mismanaged trust and its tax evasion. The responsibility of the Government to monitor conditions is a political affair and parties are within their rightful limits in raking up issues pertaining to Ashram…… so Nandhivarman continues the interview in The Other side. Like commercial break in TV serials, let us take a break here to know tampering of Aurobindo’s lines quoted above by two Americans.

Let me quote from OUTLOOK dated 15th March 1999 titled Editing Aurobindo: The Trustees of the Aurobindo Ashram are accused of tampering with his original works.

“SAAT was formed in 1956, six years after Aurobindo’s death and the copyright was obtained much after the death of the author, and hence SAAT has no authority to tamper with the original versions. The main grouse though is in the deletion of a sentence that actually calls for the ashrams winding up. Pranab Bhattacharya, the ashram’s physical education director, points out in his book I Remember “The editor must have thought, himself to be very clever in avoiding one line and bringing changes perhaps thinking that it could change the Ashram’s fate. The line in question is in The Teachings of Sri Aurobindo and Sri Aurobindo Ashram” first published in 1934. In that Aurobindo explains his concept of an ashram. “An Ashram means the house or houses of a Teacher or Master of spiritual philosophy in which he receives and lodges those who come to him for the teaching and practice. An ashram is not an association or a religious body or a monastery, it is only what has been indicated above and nothing more. Everything in the Ashram belongs to the Teacher. The sadhaks [disciples] have no claim, right or voice in any matter. They remain and go according to his Will. Whatever money he receives is his property and not a trust or fund, for there is no public institution. Such ashrams have existed in India for centuries before Christ and still exist in large numbers. It all depends on the Teacher and ends with his lifetime, unless there is another Teacher who can take his place. By deleting the last line, which actually means the ashram’s rationale for existence ended with the passing of the mother, the trustees, say opponents are sustaining an institution against the teachings of Aurobindo. They point out that till the 1972 birth centenary celebrations; there has been no tampering with Aurobindo’s works. [Courtesy: outlook]

So far we have dealt on our party and other 10 political parties joint demand for takeover of the Ashram Trust, please note not the Ashram but Ashram Trust. We are not going into the debate whether ashram exists or not, as debated in OUTLOOK and later in Courts of this land up to Supreme Court. As public we know there is a samadhi, which attracts his followers. It has been the practice in Tamilnadu over the burial places of Siddhars; idols of Gods will be installed and made into temples. In famous Palani Murugan Temple, the samathi of Bhogar, one of the 18 siddhars of Tamilnadu remains. Over that samathi the idol of Lord Muruga, made out of a combination of 9 poisons, known as navapashanam, was installed by that Siddhar. The idol contained medicinal properties, the blessed water cured diseases, people say. Nearer to Aurobindo Ashram in the famous Manakula Vinayagar Temple beneath has the samathi of Thollaikathu swamigal . So we are questioning the existence of samadhis, temples and its worship.

We are attacking the mismanaged Trusts. Let us go back to continue from the break of the earlier part of my interview in The Other side.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Trust Board is trending the wrong path, inmates lament, and any comments?

Nandhivarman: Lawrence Marshal Pinto son of Lawrence Belarmino Pinto is 90 years old. On 18th December 1967, he was instrumental in floating Sri Aurobindo Ashram Harpagon Workshop Trust, which now is known as Sri Aurobindo Udyog Trust. All business units of erstwhile Aurobindo Ashram come under this umbrella organization. Still at 90 he wants to cling to the managing trusteeship of Udyog Trust. Apart from this he is also a Trustee in Honesty Engineers and Contractors Trust. [The word Trust will become lackluster in its usage. At the Ashram every activity needs only the suffix trusts] List of positions headed by the dreaded 90 year old L.M.Pinto alias Udar Pinto is endless.

In Pre-cast Concrete work Trust also he holds a position. The complete control of the major businesses by an old man who refuses to retire proves the power craziness of the Ashram ruling clique. Oriya writer Manoj Das for undisclosed reasons resigned from the post of Aurobindo Ashram Trust. But he remains Trustee of Udyog Trust. Mr. Manoj Das Guptaji is against one-man one-post principle. He is the scheming Trustee who has his eyes on the coveted Managing Trustee’s post. He is also the Registrar of the Aurobindo International Center for Education. He is Chairman of Agricultural Coordination Committee in charge of all farm lands and agricultural activities of the Trust. He is in charge of Shantiniketan at Bengal. Das Gupta is also a Trustee in Auro Travels Trust. He is the Chairman of the Technical coordination Committee, even the president of USA has only 2 terms. Lifelong positions for Ashram Trustees only. Auroform Trust, Aurofurn Trust, Fragrance and Perfume Trust and numerous Trusts are there. In all a handful and their coterie will rule the roost. Manoj Das Gupta controls all farm lands. [Break]

This is in 1997. Currently he is the Managing Trustee of Aurobindo Ashram Trust, wherein the President post occupied by French woman Mirra Alfasa is kept vacant. So a decade ago we campaigned against power mongers grabbing positions and multiplicity of sub trusts within Aurobindo Ashram Trust first initiated by Lawrence Marshal Pinto, a Goan. Now we see similarity in Auroville Foundation too. The information provided to us under Right to Information Act is given below, so that you can arrive at your own conclusions.

1. Artisana Trust: Mr. Michael Hutin and Ms. Mariam Isaac
2. Ankur Trust: Ms. Abha Tewari, Ms. Suzane Sabatier
3. Filaure Trust: Ms. Valerie Anne Tait, Mr. Michael Tait
4. Free Flow Trust: Mr. Frederic Laurent Codonnier, Ms. Martina Anna Maria Lj, Mr. Oliver Hetzel
5. Toujours Mieux Trust: Mr. Robert Leo Trunz, Mr. Jan V.D. Dikkenberg
6. Auromics Trust: Ms. Roberta Keeping, Mr. André Deplechin
7. Auroville Export Trust: Mr. Jan Imhoff, Mr. Hemant Lamba
8. Health and Healing Trust: Ms. Hilde D’Hiedt, Mr. Albert Zwaan, Mr. Jacques Verre
9. Auroville Service Trust: Mr. M.Ponnusamy, Mr. Ulrich Wolfgong Bretschneider
10. Arvinda Trust: Mr. Paul Pinthon, Ms. Laura Reddy
11. Kalki Trust: Mr. Paul Pinthon, Ms. Laura Reddy, Ms. Adelina Intanno, Mr. André Hababou
12. Altecs Trust: Mr. Clement Gruttman, Mrs. Christa Gruttman, Mr. Bernard Grenier
13. Guest House Trust: Ms. Simonette Smits, Ms. Srimoyi Rosseger, Ms. Afsaneh Bader
14. ABC Trust: Mr. Carsten Michelsen, Mr. Marco Feira
15. Kattida Kalai Trust: Mr. Moreno Jean Marc, Mr. Herrea Carlos, Mr. M. Palani
16. Discovery Trust: Mr. P. Karuna, Mrs K. Uma, Mr. Jean Francois Bertaux
17. Mereville Trust: Mr. Ragnetti Gianfranco, Mr. Pratap Chatterjee
18. Auromitra Trust: Mr. Peter Clarence Smith, Mr. E.Rathinam, Mr. Joss Brooks, Ms. Dee Decew
19. Inside Trust: Mr. Klaus Onken, Ms. Shama Dalvi
20. Auroville Village Action Trust: Ms. Dee Decew, Mr. M.S. Subhashchand, Mr. Alain Bernard, Mr.D.Selvaraj, Mr. L.Dhanapal
21. ADPS Trust: Ms. Van Der Vlugt, Mr. Franz Fassbender, Mr. Bobby Patel
22. Aurore Trust: Mr. Hemant Lamba, Mr. Theo Hekena Baetens, Mr. Gilles Alex Andre Guigan, Mrs. Suhasini Ayer Guigan
23. CSR Trust: Mr. Gilles Alxe Andre Guigan, Mr. Theo Helena Beatens, Mr. Hemant Lamba, Mrs. Suhasini Ayer Guigan
24. Aurosarjan Trust: Mr. Wolf Pfeifer, Mr. Stephen Himmer
25. Auromode Trust: Ms. Adelena Intannio, Mr. André Hababou
26. New Engineering Trust: Mr. Pierre Elouard. Ms. Joy Choudry
27. For all Pour Tous Trust: Ms. Francoise Gabelle, Mr. Oliver Hetzel
28. Swagatham Trust: Ms. Judith Robinson, Mr. Jean Francoise Bertaux
29. Sangamam Trust: Ms. R. Meenakshi, Mr. Joseba Martinez Burdaspar, Mr. Sanjeev Agarwal, Mr. M. Ponnusamy
30. Animal Care Trust: Ms. Shivaya Ruth, Mr. Kalyan Nag, Ms. Bhavana Dee Decew
31. Palayam School Trust: Mr. V. Gunaseelan, Mr. Jurgen Putz, Mr. Anto Keulaars.

APPEAL TO UNESCO and INDIA’s HRD MINISTRY TO INTROSPECT:

These are the sub trusts under Auroville Foundation and its Trustees. We have nothing personal against any one of them with clean records and service record to people. While I was discussing this with a BJP leader, he wondered, how come all Trusts have Christians as Trustees, and to him I told it surprises me why your Murli Manohar Joshi backed up these Christians and gave approval for the Master Plan, which will make Tamils or Indians second class citizens in Auro-village of 1619 citizens. If for 1619 people there are 31 Trusts, what for, what purpose it serves for, why a Government of India organization under Human Resources Ministry should keep under its umbrella so many trusts, and do they have any relevance to the Integral Yoga of Aurobindo or any of his teachings? It is crystal clear, that as in Aurobindo Ashram Trust where in 1967 a Goan Christian, if that will be a word nice to the ears of next ruling aspirant party in Union Government, here also creation of sub trusts are for tax exemption and nothing else. These are commercial enterprises, said bold officials of Income Tax department and waged legal battles against Ashram sub trusts in various courts, before decades Courts gave favorable verdicts in favor of the Income Tax department.

Dravida Peravai demands abolition of so many trusts under Auroville Foundation. There is no need to have so many sub trusts; they can be managed by Auroville Foundation as ONE DEPARTMENT under Human Resources Development Ministry. UNESCO and other donors, who get carried away by the beautiful language of Aurobindo and his teachings, should not encourage the set up of an international city in Indian soil. If an international city is to be set up, for just 1619 people it is criminal waste of public money which no way benefits local people. Let UNESCO spend money on the poorest of poor in Zimbabwe or African nations. Let donors around the world fund projects that will convert all coastal fishermen villages as modern mini towns with all infrastructures. Let world bodies fund Government of India to make all colonies of dalits better places to live with hygiene. If this mushroom growth of Trusts under the umbrella of Auroville Foundation is encouraged further, someone will come forward to create more and more sub trusts with high sounding words and phrases, which has no relevance to the teachings of Aurobindo or for betterment of the Tamil villagers under the clutches of poverty.

It is high time Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh takes note of this Social Injustice, and order for a high level probe into the working of these sub trusts, in order to abolish them and merge them under Auroville Foundation, which will have government control and accountability to Indian public, and I am exercising my birthright as Indian to appeal to Indian Government, and no foreigner can snatch that right from indigenous people in any country of our civilized world

N. Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai
AUROVILLE FOR 1619 PEOPLE IGNORING LOCAL TAMILS
« TAMILNADU GOVERNMENT STOP PATRONIZING AUROVILLE
AUROVILLE RENAMED AUROVILLAGE