740 / 1424
740
The following discipline and agreement could be proposed for a period, say, of 5
years, after which it would be either extended, if it has been found useful enough,
or changed or adapted according to a further, truer understanding.
There are three major areas that are of immediate and permanent concern to the
Government: visas – and admission; finances – how to earn or receive the funds
needed for the development and maintenance of Auroville; and land – purchase,
use and management.
For each of these three areas, the Government could post an employee who would
act both as an observer and as a relay, a channel between Auroville and the Central
Government.
These employees would be the Government’s contribution to the work of Auroville.
They would have no control and no authority over the internal affairs of Auroville or
its general orientation. But they would be entitled to ask questions, to raise
objections, and any decisions in any of their areas would have to be open to them
before they would relay them to the Government with their endorsements. They
would be permanently based in Auroville, but their functions would be clearly,
unambiguously defined.
Our internal means of organisation would not have to be changed; we already have
them and if they are not satisfactory it is, as we well know, entirely our
responsibility – they can be sufficient if we make them so, by contributing… the
right attitudes.
It certainly would require from us discipline, dedication, self-commitment… But we
know that; and no external agency is about to pour these gifts on us.
In the first area, we know how we can formulate our necessities: that, in the
absence of an unquestioned spiritual authority, the only way to know whether
someone is able to stay in Auroville is by experience, and therefore this
probationary period after which a careful assessment can be recorded and
recommendation for admission be made.
In the second area, there are delicate issues that we must bring openly and
separately to the Government’s attention, such as: how on earth is Auroville ever
going to support itself if, by law, its residents are forbidden to earn the money
Auroville needs? And so it should perhaps be proposed that after, say, a couple of
years of residence, any individual who, being a “Foreigner” in India, feels inclined to
try and earn money for Auroville should be allowed to do so, provided that the
productive activity concerned is based in Auroville.
In the third area we meet the necessity to legally acknowledge certain facts that
are contingencies to the Charter of Auroville; as a Society, the SAS purchased so
much land for Auroville; when it reached its legal limits it bought more land under
individuals’ names, for Auroville; in our time also, we have purchased more land,
for Auroville, under other individuals’ names. This practice ought to be made legal
by the Government, given the unique aims and purposes of Auroville, and therefore
all land purchased for Auroville, under whatever name, could legally be considered
as one, and its management could be legally handed over to the actual residents of
Auroville. Members of the SAS as well as any individuals who have lent their names
in the purchase of land for Auroville would have no legal say in the management of