Auroville's Most Productive Organic Farm Threatened with Destruction for IIT "Sustainability" Campus

Points clés :

• Mother’s Vision Violated: The first lands were purchased during the Mother’s lifetime in 1965, with the intention that these lands would be used to produce food for Auroville.
• Food Security: Annapurna produces 30% of the food supply from Auroville’s farms, which includes high quality organic grains, and functions as the community’s central granary and processing over 90% of grains from a number of Auroville’s farms.
• 40 Years of Work marked for destruction: Although some farming activities were carried out in the 1970’s, the current incarnation of Annapurna Farm was established in the early 1980s and has become a model of regenerative agriculture on its 135 acres, with IMO Control (IMO IN) organic certification since 2005.
• False Claims: The Office of the Secretary, Auroville Foundation (AVFO), claims Annapurna uses only 35 acres, ignoring the complex ecosystem that is necessary for organic farming, which includes 20 acres of paddy, 25 acres of fodder/biomass plantations, 30 acres of animal grazing, 38 acres of forest buffers, extensive rain water harvesting ponds, and essential infrastructure, as well as 6 acres that hold 2 cow houses, cow corral, storage and drying areas, machine workshop, poultry house, duck house, compost areas, community kitchen, the residential area, and dairy and fruit processing.
• Contradictory “Sustainability”: The IIT campus will include an EV truck testing track, destroying productive farmland to test heavy vehicles.
• Employment Impact: The farm provides livelihoods for 17-20 regular employees as well as up to 20 seasonal workers from surrounding villages.

Auroville’s Residents’ Assembly was not consulted about this land transfer, violating the letter and spirit of the Auroville Foundation Act. While the chairperson of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, R.N. Ravi, has repeatedly criticized Auroville for not having achieved food self-sufficiency, his administration has taken a decision that will destroy the community’s most productive agricultural asset. As this follows a highly questionable land exchange deal of a substantial portion of AuroOrchard Farm and with another productive organic farm of Auroville under threat for a ‘VIP road’, Auroville’s food production is in danger of being severely diminished.

This represents the complete decimation of the ideal of a self-sustaining city, and it leads to Auroville becoming another urban space that extracts resources irresponsibly from surrounding areas.