Centre in process of appoinment of Auroville Foundation chairman: Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan

PUDUCHERRY: The Union government is in the process of appointing a chairman for the governing body of Auroville Foundation, said Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The foundation had been without a chairman since the tenure of Dr Karan Singh ended last November.

The minister in reply to a question from Lok Sabha member D Ravi Kumar said that the government has recently appointed a full-time secretary of the Auroville Foundation and will shortly appoint the chairman. Jayanti S Ravi assumed charge as the secretary of the foundation on July 5.

The Education Ministry has allocated Rs 18.20 crores to Auroville Foundation as the Budget Estimate (BE) for financial year 2021-2022. A similar amount was allocated for  the financial year 2020-21 as the Budget Estimate (BE).

As informed by the Auroville Foundation, the pandemic has halted most of the projects, so there was no expenditure in the Capital Head and less expenditure in the General Head. "As a result, the Revised Estimate was Rs. 4.58 Cr for the financial year 2020-2021," said Pradhan.

For the development of Auroville Foundation, this Ministry provides guidance, advice & financial support in terms of grants to meet the recurring & non-recurring liabilities. The financial support from the Ministry along with the income generated by Auroville Foundation is used for meeting the objectives of strengthening the Auroville Foundation, he said .

Auroville is an international township conceived by the mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry and an experiment in co-existence by people of various countries in the world.