News & Notes 884:FAMC monthly report for May and June 2021

News & Notes 884 21 August 2021

Entity::FAMC monthly report for May and June 2021

The FAMC monthly report does not include regular liaison work with other working groups unless there is a final outcome, in which case the items may be reported in the reports of the respective working groups such as the Auroville Town Development Council (ATDC), Working Committee, Housing Board, Land Board, Auroville Council or the Budget Coordination Committee (BCC).

Please bear in mind that this is a report of decisions or events of a certain month and in the meantime changes, progress, or/ and collaboration might have occurred in any given subject.

Please note: Kalya resigned from the FAMC for personal reasons on 26.05.21.

Units and Trusts:

1. Nalan, a new unit under Auromitra Trust. Executives Mr. Babu Marie (aka Mathan) and Ms. Lousie Marie Overbeek (aka Loes). Scope of work is to perform various socioeconomic development interventions oriented towards sustaining ecosystems and improving wellbeing.
2. Hands for Earth, a new unit approved under Kattida Kalai Trust. Executives Mr. Raja Subbarayan and Mr. Vijayan Dhandapani. Scope of work is construction and workshops on low cost sustainable buildings with ecological concepts.
3. Saragam, a new unit under Team Trust. Executives Ms. Meera Natarajan and Mr. Umaramanan Umpathi. An outlet for farm produce from Auroville and the bioregion. The Auroville produce will be taken only from surplus or over-abundance.
4. Deepam Candles, request to change parent entity from Discovery Trust to Kattida Kalai Trust, was approved.
5. Wood Concept, a new unit under Kattida Kalai Trust. Executives Mr. Emmanuel Schmitt and Mr. Christophe Benesse. Scope of work is all kinds of woodwork – chalet, wooden framing houses, staircases, furniture etc. Also consulting for architects, conception and execution of plans and contracting.
6. Isai Ragam, a new unit under Auromitra Trust. Executives Mr. Ivar Jenten and Ms. Bridget Vink. Scope of work is to provide English, computer, Maths, music and dance classes to the children of the surrounding villages.

New Activities approved:

1. Arusuvai, an activity under AFA (Auroville Food Activities). Managers are Ms. Meike Heller and Ms. Nithiya Velmurugan. Scope of work is the manufacture and sale of jams from natural fruits from Auroville.
2. Tula, an activity under AVA (Auroville Activities). Manager is Ms. Nadia Labiod. Scope of work is consultancy in nutrition, diet, weight regulation, psychosomatic & biodecodage.
3. Grace’s Kitchen, an activity under AFA. Managers are Mr. Arunkumar Nagappan and Mrs. Grace Nagappan. Scope of work is preparation and delivery of homemade food to Aurovilians at their doorstep.
4. Synthesis, an activity under ASSA (Auroville Small Scale Activities). Managers are Mr. Constantino Corcione and Mr. Giacomo Colomba. Scope of work is sales, consulting, marketing, workshops, networking & business development.
5. It Matters, an activity under ASSA. Manager is Ms. Bhakti Mills. Scope of work is selling and exhibiting art from Auroville artists and curating art shows.
6. Tulita Sewing Upcycling, an activity under ASSA. Manager is Ms. Camille Delobel. Scope of work is service and sale of upcycled products, mending & transforming garments, and offering workshops.

Appointment, reappointment or resignation of activity managers, unit executives, and Trust trustees:

1. Natura, a unit under Team Trust. Reappointment of executives Mr. M. Harish and Mr. Tejas Joseph was approved.
2. Discovery Trust. Renewal of trustees, Mr. P. Karuna and Mr. Sundar Rajaman. They are encouraged to find a third trustee.
3. Imago, a unit under Auromode Trust. Reappointment for only one year, after the initial three year term, of executives Mr. Michael Gransitzki, Ms. Sindhuja Jagadeesh, and Mr. Louis Cohen were approved.
4. Kallialay Surf School, a unit under Auroville Export Trust. Appointment of Mr. Edgar Lopez as an additional executive was approved.

ATDC:

1. The ATDC made a budget request to the FAMC and BCC: A) to cover the budget requirements for creating a Land Use Plan. B) For more maintenance for members and staff. The FAMC and BCC reviewed the details provided and decided to allocate 13 full-maintenance in total (7 current and 6 new) to ATDC. The FAMC requested the BCC to follow the normal due diligence process for allocating maintenance (a name list with the roles and responsibility of the individuals).
2. The FAMC endorsed project approval for “The Sprout”: a restaurant and hydroponic farm.

BCC:

1. The FAMC selected new BCC members: Aurosugan, Cristina, Fabien, and Mathan. For more details about the selection, please see our post on Auronet: https://auroville.org.in/article/84876.

Housing Board/Service:

1. Maitreye I residents requested to revert a Newcomer flat into a permanent residence. The community members also voiced their support for the newcomer family living in this flat who were to become Aurovilians once they find permanent housing to continue to live there. FAMC agreed to the request to convert the flat to a permanent residence. It is noted that this is a reversion back to its original purpose.
2. Housing Board, due to lack of quorum and/or conflict of interest, requested the FAMC to handle two housing allocations:

• In Dana (formerly Roma’s house). This was offered under the designation, “Housing against Recognised Work”. FAMC reviewed the eligibility criteria of the three shortlisted candidates provided by the Housing Board, conducted the interviews and consolidated the inputs of the community residents concerning the applicants. The FAMC after a thoughtful discussion decided to allocate the house to Juan & Camilla.
• In Inspiration (former Krishan Meyer flat). This was offered as a pro-bono allocation. The FAMC reviewed all material provided by the Housing Board and the various support letters for the two candidates. It was agreed to allocate the flat to Velu & his family, who was also one of the applicants for the house in Dana.

The FAMC conveyed their decisions to the Housing Board for implementation. Implementation of both decisions was kept pending due to an appeal which was filed against the FAMC decision wrt the Inspiration flat.

3. The FAMC started the selection process for the new Housing Board members: 5 community-at-large members and representative members from the ATDC, Housing Service & FAMC. The process and selection of the community-at-large members was started with the support of the Auroville Council.

Auroville Council:

1. On request from the Auroville Council the FAMC shared its nominations of the four members from the community at large for the Land Board Selection Committee.

Working Committee:

1. The Working Committee requested the FAMC to review financial details of Serendipity following an allegation by an Aurovilian dismissed from said unit. Then the FAMC requested the Funds & Assets Resource Group (FARG) to conduct the review.
2. The Working Committee requested the FAMC to have two members join as the financial liaisons to help with issues related to finances and asset management. This topic was initially raised due to the passing of Werner Stoff and his legacy pertaining to the funds and assets left behind by him in Prayatna.

Land Board:

1. The FAMC sought clarity from the Land Board to understand the Land Board’s internal process with regards to funds allocation for fencing both in general, and specifically to one fencing matter in Eternity. This was in relation to a query raised about a Government of India (GoI) capital grant received and spent by the Land Board. The query was settled.

Miscellaneous:

1. Final signed hard copy of the GOI budget requests 2021-22 were prepared and submitted following the soft copy submission.
2. Helen and Manjula presented to some FAMC members their interim research findings on “Exploring Auroville’s Capacity to Flourish.”
3. A joint task group of the BCC, FAMC and Working Committee regretfully informed the community that the Solar Kitchen would be closed from June 1st 2021. The reason for closure was that running the Solar Kitchen had become economically nonviable under the present management, due to various pressures related to the Covid-19 crisis that started in March 2020. The BCC along with the FAMC and Working Committee looked at the next steps for restructuring the Solar Kitchen and its management with a new vision, scope of work and a broader team so that the Solar Kitchen would continue as a central community service well into the future.
   A subgroup proceeded with the retrenchment of the employees with details provided by the resigning executives of Solar Kitchen.
   With input from the Solar Kitchen subgroup, the new Solar Kitchen ‘management parameters’ were formulated.
   In June 2021 the FAMC formed a small group to look into the allegations raised by workers of the Solar Kitchen. The findings of that review are still pending.
4. After reviewing the material provided, the FAMC endorsed the PTPS management / advisory group document on request by the Auroville Service Trust trustees.
   The Auroville Service Trust will lead the process as described in the document and an FAMC member joined a subgroup during the selection process. This Advisory Group will advise the executives, and monitor the running of the service.
5. Auroville received a generous donation to create a ‘worker relief’ fund linked to the covid 19 crisis. The donation will be disbursed via MERA, and follow the administration and accounting practices set up for such emergency donations. The guiding principles of MERA – who is MERA, what kind of projects are eligible, how are funds received, disbursed, reviewed and accountant for, how will MERA communicate its work, were reviewed and approved.
   MERA, a unit under Health and Healing Trust, scope of work: “To receive and disburse funds during an emergency in an accountable fashion; to approve projects to relieve said emergency.”
   Executives are appointed on a yearly basis. Mr. Dhruv Bhasker, Ms. Nina Mahi Zadrozny Pereira & Ms. Aneeta Pathak each resigned, and Ms. Suryamayi Clarence-Smith, Mr. Hemant Lamba & Mr. Stephan Himmer were appointed as executives. Mr. E. Rathinam was reappointed.
6. The FAMC approved guest houses in Hospitality Trusts to regain access to the billing system to issue vouchers, track payments etc, as this billing system is the forerunner of the Dashboard booking system and both originated from the Guest Facilitation Coordination Group work. These systems are meant to serve the whole guest sector in Auroville.

Other:

Errata statement to April FAMC report: the resignation of Mr. Emanuele Scanziani as executive of Naturally Auroville, under GNP Trust, was in principle agreed to. However implementation is pending until Mr. Jean- Francois, the only other executive, finds a replacement which is approved by the FAMC.

Errata statement to April FAMC report: pertaining to the proposed City Center Canteen, point D: “The Canteen building was created without the No Objection Certificate (NoC) of TDC” – To be more precise: the conversion of a storeroom into a canteen and the extension in the front area was done without a NoC (No Objection Certificate) from TDC.

~ FAMC