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Governing Board
The Governing Board consists of seven members nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons who have,
- rendered valuable service to Auroville;
- dedicated themselves to the ideals of life-long education synthesis of material and spiritual researches or human unity;
- contributed significantly in activities that are being pursued or are envisaged to be promoted in Auroville, including activities relating to the environment, afforestation, arts and crafts, industry, agriculture, humanities, sciences and integral yoga;
and of two representatives of the Central Government itself.
The members, who do not live in Auroville, hold office for a period of 4 years. The Governing Board meets at least twice a year in Auroville.
The general management of the affairs of the Foundation is vested in the Governing Board. Its task is to promote the ideals of Auroville, to review and approve basic policies and programmes, to secure the proper management of all properties, to prepare the master plan and co-ordinate fundraising. Most of these functions are executed in consultation with the Residents' Assembly.
The present members
The Central Government, vide Ministry of Human Resource Development’s dated the 6th October 2021, nominated new members of the Governing Board.
S.O. 4093(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 11 read with Section 12, of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988 (54 of 1988), the Central Government hereby nominates the following persons as members of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation for a period of four years w.e.f the date of this notification:
CHAIRMAN
Shri R.N. Ravi
Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Ravi
MEMBERS
Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamilisai_Soundararajan
Dr Nirima Oza, Professor, D/o Oral Pathology, Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry
Shri Aravindan Neelakandan, Writer and Journalist, Tamil Nadu
Dr. Aravindan Neelakandan - profiles dt.09.10.21.pdf
Prof. Goutam Ghosal, Department of English & Other Modern European Languages, Visva-Bharti, Santiniketan, West Bengal
Prof. R.S. Sarraju, Former Head of the Department of Hindi and presently Head of Centre for Dalit, Adivasi and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad
Prof. Nandana Gurappa Basappa, Department of PG Studies in Political Science, Karnataka University, Dharwad
The ex-officio members are
Joint Secretary (ICC), Ministry of Education, Govt. of India
Joint Secretary & Finance Advisor, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India
Former members include:
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) & former President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations
Dr Aster Mira Patel, Member, The Residents’ Assembly, Auroville Foundation, Auroville
Dr. Prema Nandkumar, a famous independent researcher, translator, critic and author who writes in Tamil and English
Prof. Sachidanand Mohanty, Former Vice Chancellor Central University of Orissa and Former Professor and Head, Department of English, University of Hyderabad.
Dr. Anirban Ganguly, Director Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi
Dr. K. Parameswaran, Associate Professor of Law & Former Dean of Academic Affairs, Gujarat National Law University
Sri. M. Madan Gopal, IAS (Retd.), former Additional Chief Secretary Department of Forests, Environment and Ecology, Government of Karnataka.
Shri Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, Director, Vastu Shilpa Foundation, Ahmedabad
Dr Mallika Sarabhai, Director, Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, Ahmedabad
Ms Ameeta Mehra, Director, The Gnostic Centre, Gurgaon
Shri Y.S.V.S Murthy, Secretary, Sri Aurobindo Centre, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh
Shri Yogendra Tripathi, Ex-officio, Ministry of Human Resource Development
Shri Amit Khare, Representative of Central Government
Mr. Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, Maharaja of Puri;
Late Dr M.S. Swaminathan (ex-chairman), Chairman M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation;
Dr Malini Parthasarathy, Director, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy;
Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, former Academic Director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts;
Mrs Bilkees Latif, Chairman Andra Pradesh Social Welfare Board;
Late Mr Ajoy Bagchi, Director People's Commission on Environment and Development (PCED);
Mr N. Krishnan, former member of the executive board of UNESCO;
Sri Keshav Desiraju, I.A.S., Joint Secretary (UNESCO), Ministry of HRD, GoI, joined the Board in the beginning of 2006.
Late Prof. V. Madhusudan Reddy, Chairman of the Institute of Future Studies;
Late Mrs Shantadevi Malwad, writer;
Late Mr Roger Anger (Chief Architect of Auroville);
Lt. Gen. (retd.) Ashok Chatterjee, resident member of Auroville.
Representatives of the Central Government have included
- Mr Sudeep Bannerjee;
- Mr S.R. Tayal;
- Mr Sudhir Nath.
Late Mr Kireet Joshi (ex-chairman), former Registrar Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Chairman Indian Council for Philosophical Research;
Dr D.P. Chattopadhyaya, Chairman Centre of Studies of Civilisations, and former Union Cabinet Minister;
Late Dr. L.M. Singhvi, MP, eminent jurist and member of Indian Parliament, former Indian High Commissioner in the UK;
Dr Subhash C. Kashyap, former Secretary General, Loksabha;
Shri V.K. Pipersenia, IAS, Joint Secretary & Financial Adviser, Dept of Secondary Education and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development;
Shri C. Balakrishnan, IAS, Joint Secretary, (Planning & UNESCO) Dept of Secondary Education and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development;
Mrs Jyothi Madhok;
Late Prof. Meera Srivastava.