Auroville:
The Union Government has referred a range of complaints in Auroville to the appropriate bodies and agencies, the Minister of State for Education has said in Parliament recently.
- Auroville was founded by Mirra Alfassa, known as the ‘Mother’, the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo on the 28th of February, 1968, as an international cultural township.
- It is the largest and oldest surviving international intentional community in the world.
- It is located on the outskirts of Puducherry, in the Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu.
- 3300 people from 58 nations, including India, live together as one community and engage themselves in cultural, educational, scientific, and other pursuits aimed at human unity.
- It has flourished from a barren desert to a 3,000-acre township and bioregion in which more than 3 million trees have been planted, home to rich biodiversity, 9 schools, multiple social enterprises, etc.
- UNESCO endorsed the project of Auroville through four resolutions in 1966, 1968, 1970, and 1983.
- The township has been under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education since 1980 and is administered as per the provisions of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988, passed by the Parliament of India.
- According to the provisions of the Auroville Foundation Act, the Government of India provides partial funding in the form of grants to the Foundation for meeting its expenditure on the establishment, maintenance, and development of Auroville.
