Land consolidation:
at what cost?
Since its inception, Auroville has made diverse efforts in the neighbouring villages and bioregion to weave together a common aspiration for human unity through community development. The aim is to bring together all sections of society, irrespective of caste, cultural background, gender and nationality, through a participatory and integral approach.
Auroville now anchors over 50 bioregional community development initiatives in the fields of environment, education, health, social enterprise, financial inclusion, infrastructure, capacity building, leadership and cultural preservation.
Development, planning, and the Master Plan
Over the last two and a half years, significant parcels of valuable Auroville land have essentially been given away by the Auroville Foundation Office (AVFO) at highly undervalued rates in ‘land exchange’ deals. The justification for these highly questionable and opaque exchanges is that lands within Auroville’s city centre must be consolidated urgently in order to implement an outdated Master Plan (formulated in 1999 and expiring in 2025), and to ‘build the Crown’, a conceptual corridor around Auroville’s city centre. These deals have caused enormous financial loss to the community – estimated at more than 240 crore rupees or US$28 million – and have upended lives, livelihoods, and active land use in productive farms and residential communities. Moreover, the land deals, along with the AVFO’s attempt to implement a questionable take on the outdated Master Plan, have bypassed all existing legal and community processes for land acquisition, land use and city planning.
Auroville is still missing 10% of land required for the City Area and over 50% of the surrounding Greenbelt, as outlined in the Perspective Master Plan. Land consolidation is indeed imperative to develop a unified township, and there has always been broad community support for this. Yet the AVFO’s actions over the last few years clearly diverge from Auroville’s commitment to collaboration, transparency and the objectives of long- term sustainability and best-practice urban planning.
What will be the outcome of such land consolidation? Should consolidation be done at the expense of Auroville’s ecological, cultural and spiritual legacy?
Historical context
From early on, Auroville’s founder, the Mother, encouraged Aurovilians to secure the land which would form the physical basis for the community and development of the city. The Mother and her chosen architect for Auroville, Roger Anger, had arrived at a galaxy design concept for the ‘city of the future’ in 1968, and land purchases were needed to realise this vision.
While much land was acquired – all through the generous offerings and hard work of residents and well wishers – funds were never sufficient to buy the required acres fast enough. From the start, the Indian government supported the vision of
Auroville, but has never funded any land purchases. After Auroville became a legal entity in 1988 through the Auroville Foundation Act, land acquisition slowed down. Although funds were generated by fundraising initiatives such as the 1 Million Dollar Campaign, Acres for Auroville, and GreenAcres, the community now had to adhere to stringent purchasing rules and practices. This led to missed opportunities, as external speculators bought strategic lands, and later sold them to Auroville at high profits.
Aim and development of the Master Plan
The Master Plan was therefore designed to secure official protection for Auroville’s physical development, and to safeguard greenbelt land from speculators while the city was being built. Through the 1990s, a working team of Aurovilians created a Perspective Master Plan – a broad policy framework that outlined a vision for the growth of Auroville, including general parameters and concept diagrams. It did not include detailed development proposals for the city area, and was therefore not a tool for implementation.
It was simply meant to be the framework for the next steps in urban planning: Detailed Development Plans, mobility plans and environmental studies. Given that the galaxy is an evolving concept, and that Auroville is an experimental city based on an evolutionary vision, the document emphasises that planning in Auroville needs to be flexible, and may involve trial and error. The Perspective Plan further specifies that it should be revisited every five years to assess progress and relevance:
“Although the Master Plan perspective 2025 provides a time horizon of 25 years, it will neither be traditional nor static and rigid. […] The present momentum in Development and Environmental activities will be strengthened through a participatory Environmental Management process which will be integrated within all development, planning and urban design elements.”
– The Auroville Master Plan (Perspective 2025) document, gazetted in 2010
This document was presented to the Residents’ Assembly in 1999. After this initial document received feedback from the community, it was then reworked by a small group into The Auroville Universal Township Master Plan (Perspective 2025) and approved by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2001. However, this revised document was never endorsed by the community, nor was it ever approved by the Tamil Nadu Government.
Although this version of the plan became official when it was notified (published) in the Government of India Gazette in 2010, there have been long-standing concerns in the community regarding its legality, its lack of comprehensive community approval, and the need to revise the plan to reflect present-day on-the-ground realities.
Where are we now?
As previously stated, Auroville is still missing 10% of City Area land and more than half of the planned Greenbelt land. This gap certainly underscores the pressing need for ongoing land consolidation to develop a unified township and protect essential resources like housing, water, forests, organic farms, and biodiversity.
While the community, in principle, appreciates administrative support from the government for land acquisition to build the city, the AVFO’s approach to land deals and urban planning have raised many concerns, some of which are explored here.
The community, via its Working Committee, has taken several actions to raise these concerns and address these issues, including: repeated appeals to the Governing Board, International Advisory Council and Ministry of Education; formal complaints to relevant authorities at all levels; legal notices sent to the District Registrar; engagement with the community; and the establishment of recommendations to ensure ethical land management.
Overview of concerns
Disregard for required procedure
Serious questions about the non- transparency and wisdom of recent land exchange and acquisition practices by the AVFO have been raised by the representatives of the community and by other important stakeholders, such as members of the International Advisory Council, the Auroville International Board, and both local and national elected Indian officials.
Auroville lands valued between 4.4 to 8.7 crore rupees per acre (with market value of up to 13 crore rupees per acre) have been exchanged at significantly lower rates. Land parcels have effectively been given away at 1% of market value (at 7 lakh rupees per acre), resulting in losses of over 240 crore rupees (US$28 million) to Auroville.
The land exchanges carried out by the AVFO over the last 2.5 years have been marked by complete opacity, lack of proper process and due diligence, and lack of consultation with the community and our neighbours. The deals have also bypassed and contravened the processes for independent land valuation implemented by the previous Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, Mr. Mohan Chunkath.
They further contravene the Auroville Foundation Rules of 1997 that require the AVFO to consult the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly. Moreover, it appears the AVFO does not even have the necessary permission from the Finance Ministry for property sales by autonomous bodies.
The blatant disregard for established procedure damages Auroville’s reputation and the goodwill it has built up in the region, and globally, over the last 56 years. It is a sign of disregard towards all those who have contributed, in whatever capacity, towards the acquisition of these lands, and it may damage the trusting relationships built up over the decades between Auroville and donors.
The need to reflect on-the-ground realities and issues
Many land parcels within the projected 20 sq km Auroville Township are still owned by local neighbours, with whom Auroville has built respectful relationships as the original and ongoing inhabitants. Other parcels have been acquired by speculators, driving up land values. Disposing of Auroville lands, and implementing large-scale projects without updating the almost-expired Master Plan or preparing Detailed Development Plans, contradicts the Perspective Master Plan and paves the way for a chaotic form of development.
Rushed and poorly planned development also inflates land prices, making acquisition even more challenging. The market price of land along the Crown increased significantly due to the AVFO’s emphasis on rapid completion of this element of the Master Plan, at all costs. Additionally, external speculators who bought strategic lands over the last years have recently exchanged these lands with the AVFO and reaped huge profits.
The need for flexible and collaborative planning
Effective planning for the exemplary community that Auroville strives to be needs a flexible and participatory approach, which integrates economic, social, institutional, physical, ecological, and spiritual elements. Auroville’s own experts have conducted and collaborated on studies over the years which have examined urban design, water management, sewage systems, transportation infrastructure, as well as social and economic development. However, these have not been included in the present rash developments. The AVFO’s appointees have not undertaken present-day mobility and ecological studies, which complicates the completion of infrastructure projects like the Crown and poses a significant challenge to Auroville’s development.
Prior to the change in administration in 2021, community involvement was understood to be a cornerstone of Auroville’s planning processes, and a goal in itself. The Residents’ Assembly, consisting of all adult residents, plays a crucial role in initiating, leading and approving various development initiatives. Such a collective system can slow down decision-making. Yet community participation ensures that planning processes reflect the diverse needs and aspirations of Auroville’s residents to arrive at a functional synthesis, and align with Auroville’s broader goals of human unity and collaborative living.
The community’s capacity for forward-looking collective urban planning has been demonstrated in initiatives like ‘Dreamweaving the Auroville Crown’, which brought together a sizeable group of Auroville architects, residents and urban planning experts in collaboration with the Vastu Shilpa Foundation, under the guidance of renowned architect Shri B. V. Doshi. [See Voice of Auroville, Issue 02.] The 2022 initiative drew on the demonstrated expertise and practical experience in the community, to integrate the galaxy concept and Master Plan framework in a way that emphasises best-practice urban design, while being sensitive to local and environmental conditions. Although the final presentations of the expert group’s outcomes were well-received by all stakeholders, the AVFO never took the proposal forward.
Finally, Auroville is not an island. Whether all the intended lands have been acquired or not, Auroville and its founder, the Mother, have always encouraged a relationship of respect and mutuality with neighbouring communities impacted by Auroville’s development. For example, water is of utmost importance: responsible urban planning should build upon Auroville’s existing water harvesting and management measures, to address water security for the community and the region. This necessitates flexibility and inclusion of bioregional stakeholders in the development process.
Going forward
On the whole, the current AVFO’s rigid interpretation of the Master Plan (Perspective 2025) seems both counter productive and tone deaf. While much-needed land consolidation should continue, vital questions remain. Shouldn’t the Master Plan be updated as a matter of urgency? Does the need for land acquisition trump principles of transparency, consultation and good planning with the entire bioregion in mind? And ultimately, isn’t there a way to achieve a unified township through collaborative urban development in a manner that upholds Auroville’s vision of human unity and sustainable development?
Extracted from Voice of Auroville, Issue 07, November 2024
