|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Visit Auroville web-site: http://www.auroville.org "Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity." |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This was the first public message
on Auroville sent into the world in 1965. Three years later, at the inauguration
ceremony of Auroville on 28th February 1968, youth representing 121 nations
and 23 Indian states placed a handful of earth from their homeland in a
lotus-shaped urn. The creation of a new city, dedicated to international
understanding, peace and planetary transformation, had started. Over the past three decades, Auroville has implemented a wide range of development programmes, in many of which it has made impressive achievements. Programmes have been carried out in the field of: |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Universal City Envisaged as a universal city for 50,000 people, Auroville is at present an emerging township of about 1,800 volunteers from India and from some 35 countries around the world. Its residents represent an amazing mix of languages and cultures, and a wide spectrum of educational and socio-economic backgrounds. Living harmoniously together in a close-knit society and working closely together with the local population in a rural third world environment pose a major challenge. At the same time, it provides a unique testing ground for the realisation of an actual human unity that respects differences and diversity. Integrated Rural / Urban Development Located in an impoverished rural area of Tamil Nadu, South India, the Auroville township is surrounded by 13 villages with a population of approximately 40,000 people, of which 4,000 are employed in Auroville. The urban development of the city, as envisioned in its Master Plan, goes hand in hand with the well being of its rural neighbours. As such, Auroville is not only a challenging meeting point between different cultures and nations. It is also a unique down-to-earth experiment in North-South co-operation and joint development. R&D Station for the Planet Due to its location and character, Auroville is a micro-cosmos of all major problems the world is faced with today. Population explosion, environmental degradation, economic disparity, water scarcity, air, noise and traffic pollution, and declining human values are just a few examples of the present global crisis, which threatens the very survival of the human species itself. In this context, Auroville is a research station, a living laboratory, where experiments, replicable models and solutions are being worked out for the benefit of the surrounding area, India and the world. Voluntary Dedication Auroville's mission of international understanding, peace and planetary transformation is based on future-oriented ecological, social, economic and spiritual values. Its residents freely join this experiment as voluntary workers, who are dedicating their work and life to the vision Auroville stands for. All assets, such as land, houses, farms, businesses, etc. are held in trust for humanity as a whole. The Auroville residents are only stewards of the emerging township and have no individual property or inheritance rights. Support Base Auroville received the unanimous endorsement of the General Conference of UNESCO in 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1983. Governmental and non-governmental organizations in India and abroad have funded various development programmes. Donations have also been given by foundations in Europe and the United States, by Auroville International Centres and private well-wishers from all over the world. The Auroville residents themselves have made a major contribution of financial resources and energy to the Auroville project. Legal Status In 1988, the Government of India passed the Auroville Foundation Act to safeguard the future development of the Auroville International Township according to its Charter. Under this Act, an autonomous institution, the Auroville Foundation, has been established with a Governing Board and an International Advisory Council. In his presentation of the Act before Indian Parliament, Mr. P. Shiv Shanker, the then Indian Minister of Human Resource Development, said: "Auroville is to be looked upon as a vision which has a great potentiality and this can be of tremendous service to our country and the world at large." |
|
 |
