1.11       FUNDING OF TOWNSHIP ACTIVITIES

1.11.1     The activities of Auroville are financed through contributions from residents, grants and donations from India and abroad, income generated by Auroville units and Government of India grants. These activities are co-ordinated through various working groups.

1.11.2       Auroville Fund is the official receiving, disbursing and accounting channel through which Indian and foreign donations for various projects reach units and projects in Auroville. The expenditure on account of the Auroville Foundation Secretariat is met by the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, by way of annual grants. Income and expenditure statement for the year 1998-1999 given in Appendix III gives an idea of general sources of revenue and major items of expenditure.

1.11.3         In the past ten years, Auroville generated Rs. 150 crores for its activities of which Rs. 100 crores were generated internally. The balance of Rs. 50 crores, was raised through donations from abroad (46%), donations from agencies and individuals within India (38%) and grants from the Government of India (16%).

1.11.4        The Financial Service was started in the seventies as an attempt to do away with cash transactions in Auroville by keeping accounts of the cash holdings of Aurovilians. Since then, nearly all transactions between units and Aurovilians have been done through transfers using these accounts.

1.11.5        The Central Fund was started in 1989 as a system to provide collective support to Auroville's services and other responsibilities and to provide maintenance allowances to the Aurovilians who do not have private resources. The Central Fund is financed through the income generated from commercial units, which contribute varying percentages of their profits; contributions from guests; projects; interest on deposits with the Auroville Fund by individuals; and donations by individual Aurovillians. Apart from this, each unit pays Rs 1,000 a month for each Aurovilian working for that unit. Since July 1995, the Central Fund has successfully increased its income on deposits, by asking Aurovilians to transfer the amounts they had in low interest-generating bank accounts to their Financial Service accounts, and to forgo interest on these accounts. This has resulted at present in a total capital of over 4 crores. The interest of this capital is now mainly used to finance the monthly budgets of the Central Fund.

1.11.6        The Central Fund distributes its income of approx. Rs. 35 lakh per month to more than 40 activities and services. The Central Fund accounts are published each month in the Auroville News. The Economy Group is responsible for administering this Fund. Over the past two years there has been a marked shift in emphasis from the services to the individual. The Central Fund budget specifically for the maintenance of Aurovilians receives a great deal of attention. As of today, the allocations for the basic subsistence of about 370 Aurovilians and their families is under intense observation to secure a strong base for the well being of each one. In August 1999, the Auroville Maintenance Fund / Financial Service introduced a new software which provides for the possibility for each Aurovilian to have both a cash and a kind account. This is meant to be a tool to help Auroville to move into an internal economy where there is no exchange of money. It is hoped that the needs of Aurovilians who are now covered either by themselves, by projects or by the commercial units for whom they work, will progressively be covered in a different way through the combined resources of the community.