Today, Special train No. 971 took 137 Covid patients to various northeastern Thai provinces. The Special train left from the Rangsit railway station.

A cabinet resolution earlier in the month decreed that the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public health were to arrange transportation to bring Covid patients back to their home provinces. Both ministries were ordered to cooperate with the National Health Security Office and the National Institute of Emergency Medicine.

The Special train is supposed to let patients off at Nakhon Ratchasima around 1:30 pm. Then, it will stop at the Buri Ram station an hour and half-ish later. Next, it will drop more patients off at the Lam Chi station in Surin about 40 minutes later. Then, it is on to the Nong Waeng station in Si Sa Ket about 20 minutes after 5 pm. Finally, it is scheduled to arrive at the Warin Chamrap station in Ubon Ratchathani around 6 pm.

The Covid patients are to be collected at the station by local health officials. From the station, they will be taken to hospitals.

A different, but still Special train, was supposed to depart from Bangkok yesterday with nearly 1,500 Covid patients bound for home. However, the train was cancelled when officials discovered Sunday that the patients had made other transportation arrangements. Todays train took the Covid patients that were unable to secure a non-special form of transportation. Officials cited insufficient passengers to make yesterdays train practical

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Special train takes Covid patients home to northeastern Thailand - The Thaiger

According to Mr. Le Ba Linh, a Vietnamese Thai who is Chairman of Pacific Foods and member of the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association, the 25 tons of agricultural products were transported by an express boat from Song Thuan Wharf in Tien Giang Province to Bach Dang Wharf in Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Cao Thanh Binh, Head of Department of Society and Culture of the HCMC Peoples Council said that the HCMC Peoples Council and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City will distribute the goods above to localities, field hospitals and isolated areas in Thu Duc City and 21 districts.

At the same time, they will send essential goods to beloved kitchen, zero dong market in the city. This is very meaningful and precious support for HCMC residents amid the current complicated Covid-19 pandemic.

On the same day, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City received 18 containers of vegetables, fruits, dried-fishes and essential goods from the Central province of Ha Tinh to support front-line forces at field hospitals and residents in lock-downed, isolated areas to prevent and control the pandemic in 21 districts and Thu Duc City.

By Manh Hoa, Hoai Nam- Translated by Huyen Huong

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HCMC receives 25 tons of vegetables from overseas Vietnamese - sggpnews

A vegetable handcart donated by benefactors arrived at the gate of the People's Committee of Nhon Duc commune of Ho Chi Minh Citys Nha Be District at 9 PM on July 23.

After a long day of work, officials in the commune had to unload and sort out vegetables so that they can deliver these goods to poor people in the blocked areas and rental houses.

According to Nguyen Phuong Toan, Chairman of Nhon Duc Commune People's Committee, administrators and staff members have done the work during prolonged social distancing. Since the city implemented Directive 12 of the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, the commune administrators had to work hard to hand essential goods over to residents.

Elsewhere in the city, District 7 reported 87 restricted areas and medical isolation areas with 13,800 inhabitants. District 7 Party Secretary Vo Khac Thai said the district has directed administrators in wards to prepare rice and instant noodles to provide to households, ensuring supplies of food in 14 days.

Along with that, the locality also distributed vegetables, fruits, and eggs donated by benefactors to each household in the quarantined area, medical isolation every three days.

The district in coordination with Co.op mart and Bach Hoa Xanh systems organized mobile vehicles to supply fresh food for blocked and medical isolation areas in the first seven days of implementing Directive 12. Women's groups will announce lists of available food items through Zalo groups summarizing each households demand of food, then deliver food to the doors of each household.

Authority in District 11 where has 128 blocked zones set up a hotline so that dwellers who need to buy something can phone to order essential items. After that, youth volunteers in the District will pick up goods at supermarkets and deliver to residents in blocked areas. Chairman of District 11 People's Committee Tran Phi Long said that the district set up a hotline for food and food supply for people, in addition to buying goods to help people.

Similarly, residents in District 1 can place orders of food through an app on their smartphones meanwhile the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in District 6 where has 88 blocked zones with more than 1,000 people also receives donations of food to distribute to locals. Last but not least, many unions and departments of District 6 have shopped to help people in restricted areas.

Meanwhile, Chairwoman of the District 6 People's Committeealso said that the district's community Covid-19 teams both reminded people to strictly observe the social distance rule and understood dwellers difficulties for timely support. The district also provided boxes of lunches to people in rental houses every day.

Le Thi Bac, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Thu Duc City, said that to ensure supplies of goods, Thu Duc City called up more volunteers. On average, Thu Duc City supports each family with five kilograms of rice weekly. Particularly, vegetables and fruits will be distributed to residential areas, ensuring people have fruits and vegetables during these days. The government in Thu Duc City will deliver ready-to-eat meals to public houses where lonely elderly people and people with disabilities are residing.

Furthermore, Thu Duc City will give each difficult household one gift including necessities and cash, medical treatment worth VND800,000 each. As of July 23, Thu Duc City has approved to spend more than VND1.8 billion to support approximately 2,300 households.

By staff writers - Translated by Anh Quan

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HCMC supplies foods, essential items to households in blocked areas - sggpnews

Utopias are not, by definition, found on this side of paradise. Yet that truth hasnt stopped visionaries and seekersnot to mention knaves and foolsfrom trying to build communities on lofty principles and quixotic aspirations. One such wonderland is Auroville, a commune in Indias Tamil south whose heady origins can be traced to the incense-and-raga days of the 1960s. Akash Kapurs Better to Have Gone (Scribner, 344 pages, $27) is a haunting and elegant account of this attempt at utopia and of his familys deep connections to it.

Established in 1968 by a Frenchwoman with a God-complex, Auroville is a place committed to human unity and fostering evolution. Its first residents comprised a few hundred people from France, Germany and the U.S. and a sprinkling of other Europeansmost of them hippie-refugees from Western materialismas well as like-minded Indians. Today, 53 years later, its population stands at some 2,500. Few intentional communitiesnow, or everhave survived that long, writes Mr. Kapur. The world militates against . . . anywhere that tries to play by different rules.

The word Auroville was derived from auroreFrench for dawnwith a convenient echo, also, of the name of Sri Aurobindo, an Indian guru born in 1872. Mirra Alfassa, the Frenchwoman-founder, became Aurobindos acolyte in 1920 and his spiritual successor when he died in 1950. Alfassa came to be addressed by everyone as the Mother, and there was even an Indian postage stamp issued in her honor.

According to the Mothers founding charter, this City of Dawn belonged to nobody in particular but to humanity as a whole. To live in Auroville, one had to be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness, and each resident was vetted personally by the Mother. Although she is still revered in Indiawhere obeisance is accorded much too easily to anyone with spiritual pretensesits hard not to regard the Mother as a charlatan. Auroville, in her words, was a place where the embryo or seed of the future supramental world might be created. And it was no secret that she craved immortality.

Mr. Kapur and his wife, Auralicea name given to her by the Mother, who asserted the right to name all children born to her flockboth grew up in Auroville. Auralice was born in 1972, Mr. Kapur two years later. Auralices mother, Diane Maes, was a woman from rural Flanders whod arrived at Auroville as an 18-year-old. Headstrong and flirtatious, she soon separated from the biological father of her daughter and took up with another Auroville man named John Walker, in many ways the books most compelling (and infuriating) character.

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Better to Have Gone Review: Dawn of a New Humanity - The Wall Street Journal

Isopanisad: An English Commentary. Nithin Sridhar. 2021. Subbu Publication. Rs 348. It is available for purchase on Amazon and the publisher website.

A study of the scriptures (svadhyaya) and teaching and disseminating (pravacana) them is enjoined as a very important activity in the Taittiriyopanisad.

The word svadhyaya deserves attention. Pravacana is also possible only by svadhyaya. The meaning of it is generally presented as sva-adhyaya reflecting upon oneself. But in a sanskrit-sanskrit dictionary Sabdakalpadruma (Vol 5, Page 5) the meaning of the word is given as follows:

() ()

A good/thorough, repeated study

Based on this, svadhyaya points to that activity where one has to carefully study the text (especially the Vedic text) over and over again and also with a great amount of focus and perfection. At the outset itself, let me state that the commentary of Nithin Sridhar on Isavasyopanisad is based on such a sincere svadhyaya!

The very structure of the book shows the great ekagrata one pointed focus with which Sridhar has approached the subject. The mantras of the upaniads are given, followed by a word-to-word translation, meaning and analysis and finally a summary of the discussion. The references to the textual sources pertaining to the discussion are given at the end of each of the mantras. It is in this format that each of the 18 mantras of Isavasyopanisad is presented. And the second part of the book is a detailed discussion on the salient teachings of the upanisad in four sections.

This interpretation follows the Advaitic philosophy and based on the bhasya (commentary) of Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada. Sri Aurobindos views are also quoted in the context of Mantras 9 and 16.

I thoroughly enjoyed the lucid flow of the commentary throughout the book. I will highlight and share my views on those elucidations that I enjoyed most:

1) The clarification on the term ekam used in Mantra 4 was insightful. The difference between the Abrahamic idea of one god and the upanisadic view of one god was a very fundamental clarification. It needs to be understood and remembered by one and all, especially in the current times when the cross currents from various religious thoughts are very intensely felt on Hindu minds.

2) I enjoyed reading the approach of Sridhar in dealing with the tricky portion of vidya, avidya, sambhuti, and asambhuti. Sridhar has not rushed through this portion. The idea of karma, devatopasana, karyabrahma and avyaktopasana has been discussed in a very detailed, systematic and clear manner. The samuccaya among these practices that has been presented by the upanisad and clarified by a commentary of Sri Sankara-Bhagavatpada has been presented with clarity.

With my background in study and research in Yoga texts the discussion on karyabrahma and prakrtyupasana reminded me of the parallels in yoga sutra. The self-same concepts have been presented by sage Patanjali in the sutra (1.19) where sadhakas, through the attainment of samadhi on indriyas and prakrti, become videhas and prakatilayas respectively.The upanisadic connect/inspiration to this yoga sutra becomes clearer to me by this.

Continuing with the same topic while very meticulously adhering to the interpretative framework of Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada Sridhar also carefully presents his views on vidya and avidya (verses 9-11, pages 73, 74), which seem to be very much in line with the upanisadic thought flow.

Further, the process of krama-mukti under this section has been very well explained without leaving any element of doubt. To be specific, the idea that krama-mukti should not be taken as liberation without atma-jnana, is clarified under footnote 10 (Page 72) and is worth noting. The footnote says that even the one in the path of krama-mukti will attain atma-jnana in satya-loka and only then attain liberation.

As I was reading this portion, certain yoga sutra inputs regarding krama-mukti flashed in my mind. In sage Vyasas commentary to sutra (YS 3.26) the various higher lokas are described where sadhakas, at various levels, journeying towards krama-mukti reside. The description of these lokas and the residents of those higher lokas and their sadhanas are described in the commentary to the sutra. The reference to the content therein, in a future edition of Sridhars commentary, may quench the thirst for knowledge of those who would want to know more about those higher lokas and what sadhakas do in their journey to krama-mukti.

3) The discussion on the meanings of the terms vyuha and samuha in Mantra 16, where the views of Sri Aurobindo at the psychological level are brought in by Sridhar, is worth noting. The commentator clarifies that the rays here are taken as citta-vrittis/thoughts that are to be regulated towards receiving the knowledge of the Satya Brahman.

On reading this discussion, I, as someone interested in poetry and, thereby, in imagery and symbols, started thinking about the upanisadic symbolism in this mantra where an upasaka in his death bed is praying to the Sun god. He requests the Sun to expand/spread or even take away/remove the rays (Sri Sankarabhasya ) and withdraw or unite the light (Sri Sankarabhasya I imagined many ideas regarding the purpose of such a prayer. Could it be:

Oh! Sun God, at your biological level you keep on doing your routine act of expanding and withdrawing of rays. May you be capable of fulfilling your duty for the cosmos well. But in my case death is approaching hence my routine and duties connected with this body is ending. So lead me to my desired goal of realisation of Satya Brahman.

Or is the seeker, by referring to the regular act of the Sun expanding the rays during sunrise and contracting rays at the sunset, wants himself to be engulfed by the expanding suns rays and then gathered through the suns rays and transported to the realm of Surya to directly perceive the auspicious Satya Brahman?

I was tempted to imagine all these by looking at the symbols and imagery. But Sridhar, unlike me, does not indulge in any such imagination. As a commentator, he keeps his feet firmly on the ground and presents his interpretation within the philosophical and psychological framework.

4) Another beautiful aspect about the commentary is the way in which the cross-references are presented by the author. Various Upanisadic texts, smrtis and other vedantic works of Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada are quoted. But the quotes are given to a specific end. Those references are not adduced merely to show the scholarship of the commentator. Quotes are brought in only to serve as explanation or clarification on the specific point under discussion. This shows how serious the commentator is about his job.

Many instances can be cited from the commentary in this regard. For example: The purport and purpose of the prayer to Pusan that is hinted in verse 15 of Isavasyopanisad has been put in perspective by bringing in the details of a suryamandaladaksinaksi upasana on Satya Brahman from Brhadaranyakopanisad (5.5). The details provided herein from the Brhadaranyakopanisad aptly clarifies the purpose of this prayer to Pusan of Isavasyopanisad (Pages 87-88). This to me is a classic example of quoting and referencing with a specific purpose in the task of interpretation. This is worth emulating and a good lesson for those desirous of writing interpretations and commentaries. This was about part one where each of the mantras was explained.

5) Part two of the work conveys the philosophy of the upanisad in four major parts, namely the theme of the upanisad, the pravrtti, nivrtti paths and the third path. The beauty of this section is that it's a succinct presentation of the entire Hindu way of life which comprises karma, bhakti and jnana, samskaras, yajnas, dharma, the samanya and visesa, varna and asrama system and the underlying thought behind it, and the three-fold upasana-puja-bhakti. All these concepts are discussed herein with textual references, with clarity of understanding and presentation.

As I was studying this portion, it occurred to me that the commentator could have included a brief note on dinacarya and rtucarya (daily and seasonal routines), though it could have been a slight digression from the vedantic and dharmasastric framework within which the commentator is explaining the concepts. But it is to be noted that the smriti texts do describe ideal daily routines dinacarya for a grhastha. Ayurveda, in which dinacarya and rtucarya are mentioned, is an upaveda. Based on the brief hint on dinacarya and rtucarya, an interested reader can explore more. If these two aspects are included, any seeker, inspired by the work and who would want to follow the vedic-upaniaadic way of life, will right away get a practical starting point in his day-to-day life.

In my view, this second portion in itself can become a booklet that introduces the Dharmika Hindu way of life and the goals therein. The sections herein are crisp and well referenced. But it has to be mentioned that the final section of the book (Pages 183-191) on the third path the path to suffering jolts the reader and gives a reality check. The suffering that the unmindful way of life brings is presented vividly with references from various textual sources. Though the description of the sufferings in various narakas might disturb the unprepared mind, the author might have felt that such a shock treatment might be needed to urge the readers to take up the pravrtti and nivrtti paths enjoined in the sastras with all seriousness.

I have a few friendly suggestions to conclude.

a. On the conclusion, I have already said that the book ends with the description of the third path an unmindful way of life, a life swayed by the distractions of the senses and emotional upheavals of the mind. There could have been a reassuring conclusion after creating a sense of much-needed remorse and introspection in the reader by detailing the consequences of the tritiya marga. Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita where the Lord gives hope would have helped.

(4.36)

(Translation: Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt verily cross all sins by the raft of knowledge).

Further, the spirit of Swami Vivekanandas statement that each soul is potentially divine, and we are all offspring of immortality, , and not eternal sinners could have been adduced. This characterises the eternal optimism that Hindu dharma has in humanity. Thus this wonderful exposition could have ended on a more positive note.

b. In part one, at the end of each of the mantras, a few questions and scenarios from life or activities for thinking and reflecting could have been provided to make the reader engage more with the content of discussion.

c. In the future editions of the book, as an appendix, an alphabetical list of the set of concepts and frameworks such as arisadvarga purusartha esanatraya sadbhavavikara karma-prabheda (sancita, agami etc) that were beautifully discussed in the book could be added with page numbers in the commentary where they are elaborated.

d. A short glossary of oft-repeated samskrta terms such as paramarthika-dasa, vyavaharika-dasa, karmanusthana, pravrttimarga, nivrttimarga, etc, will also be a useful addition and source of reference to the readers.

e. A flow chart in the appendix that summarises the discussion on the three paths could help the readers develop a quick recap of the entire focus of the book.

With these suggestions, I conclude my review and I heartily congratulate Sridhar once again for this wonderful achievement of writing a lucid commentary on Isavasyopanisad to generate renewed interest among people in ever relevant upanisadic lore. Indeed, it is an elegant expression of svadhyaya.

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A Must-Read English Commentary On Isopanisad Which Is Also An Exercise In Svadhyaya - Swarajya

In 2015, South Korean professor Jaeweon Cho hit upon a plan to revolutionise economics by commodifying human excreta. Powders derived from poop, he suggested, could act as fertilisers and biofuel, supplying food to microorganisms. This was the basis of his dream of fSM or Fecal Standard Money, which would create a modern society not based on traditional money.

Four years later, Chos seemingly esoteric idea inspired a virtual currency experiment 6,000 kilometers in Auroville, the 3,000-person international township of communal, spiritual living in Tamil Nadu.

Since late 2019, every Aurovillian who downloaded a mobile application has received 12 auras. Three auras of this allotment must be utilised in a select network of other Aurovillians. To discourage hoarding and keep the currency in circulation, auras depreciate by 9% every day.

Its very much in the Auroville spirit, said S Venkatakrishnan, who works as a Tamil translator and is one of the 400 users of the app. He uses the app to exchange his gardening and kitchen supplies. Others offer gardening lessons, a trip to the beach with friends or homemade food.

The new currency has been viewed with both enthusiasm and disappointment. In some way, residents say, the aura is emblematic of the rocky economics of Auroville itself, a work-in-progress marked by numerous attempts at renewal.

Auroville was founded in 1968 when 200 people from 20 countries settled in an arid stretch of land in Tamil Nadus Viluppuram district, ten kilometers north of Pondicherry. Following the vision of Mirra Alfassa, a French associate of the spiritual teacher Aurobindo who they call The Mother, they aimed to create a community without private property or exchange of money.

Their philosophy emphasised collective ownership of resources and sustainable living. They planned to support the settlement through a range of small-scale enterprises. Traditional market and management theories were put to the test.

Money, Alfassa had said in 1938, is not meant to make money. She explained: ... Like all forces and all powers, it is by movement and circulation that it grows and increases its power, not by accumulation and stagnation ... What we may call the reign of money is drawing to its close.

Still, it was not going to be easy, she warned. ...the transitional period between the arrangement that has existed in the world till now and the one to come (in a hundred years, for instance), that period is going to be very difficult, she wrote.

Since the inception of the settlement, Aurovillians have undertaken several experiments at achieving a money-less society. They piloted free distribution centres for necessities, a communal pot of money dispensed by a central administration and a basic income provided for those who work in the town. For many in the community, the schemes either enabled a weak economic foundation or shifted the town further away from its dream of a cashless society.

Eight decades after Auroville began, settlement member Hye Jeong Heo heard about Chos idea of Fecal Standard Money on a South Korean media programme. In 2018, Heo met with Cho and his team to explain the ideals of Auroville.

Even though there are different characters, I thought there are commonalities between the Auroville [idea] of money and fSM, said Cho, an environmental engineering professor and director of the Science Walden Center at South Koreas Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology.

At the heart of Chos plan was a toilet that converts human waste into fertilisers and biofuel. By loading powders into reactors that supply food for microorganisms, people would receive Fecal Standard Money that could be used in a market system, perhaps in parallel to existing trading systems.

Feces, like gold, is limited and precious, he wrote in Edge, an avant-garde technology publication. Nobody can make more than a certain limit, and it can be converted to energy.

Cho thought of this as a form of Circular Basic Income, an echo of the increasingly popular idea of Universal Basic Income: a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement, according to the Basic Income Earth Network.

It was Heos daughter, 27-year-old Dan Be Kim who decided to push the idea of Fecal Standard Money in Auroville. She had left the settlement at 17 in 2011 because of a medical condition, but returned in early 2019 to begin a feasibility study on the new currency.

However, a high tech toilet was where we lost a lot of people, she said over a video call from Berlin, where she now lives. There was interest and hesitation, she said, but it was clear that Auroville wasnt ready for a copy paste of fSM. Her team of four re-molded the idea of Fecal Standard Money into the digital aura.

Aura takes its traits from fSM, Cho told Scroll.in in an email. It is, he said, a distinct unit of account, a rusting/disappearing money that depreciates at 9% a day and involves sharing a portion of the allotment with peers in the system.

...Both are twins with different names and separate platforms, but with the same origin and philosophy, he said.

Still, there were bumps along the way. During the research phase, questions were raised in the Auroville community. Why not just do a pure barter? Why do we need any exchange at all? Why have money at all?

It took moving mountains, said Kim.

In a presentation of the idea at Aurovilles Future School in 2019, the teachers, whose classes Kim had sat in long before, were among the most reluctant they told her that the aura wasnt going to work, that plenty of experiments had already been tried.

There is this syndrome because of a repeating pattern of experiments in Auroville where each time they think they are reinventing the wheel, said Kim. Everyone has their niche projects going on, a lot of pioneer groups, they think thats the way to move forward, and then they burn out from the burden of the past.

Kim began to reframe the premise of her project using the language of Auroville. Instead of using the words buy and sell, participants would offer and receive. Instead of products, they focused on the untapped, human collective potential of Auroville space, skills, time.

Its not a tangible value that you can touch, said Kim. Its a spiritual, collective value. We finally got to a point where we could explain that.

With a major launch at the end of 2019, the aura app, created by a team of Aurovillians and nearby volunteers, was available for any registered resident of Auroville, regardless of what work they did or didnt do.

Because the pricing of items, tasks and actions are determined by the users themselves, there is not consistent value. It has to be something ethereal, said 80-year-old Bill Sullivan, who was one of the first Aurovillians five decades ago and worked closely with Kim on the aura. You could give your motor bike for 1 aura or a mango for 100 aura. We have to break those fixed values. Things dont have a value in and of itself its all in the mind. We dont want to reduplicate old economic models.

Kim added: Aura is an alternative currency that does not strictly depend on market-determined prices It is a thought/social experiment to see how people will go about valuing their offerings on the platform when given the freedom with unconditional endowments.

This, she said, is one of the most interesting aspects of research that can be done on user-generated data: Do people value specific goods and services in a specific range when there is the absence of price comparisons or references?

A brochure for the app reads: The aura creates a space for a circular economy where things considered waste, or things that are not being purposed, can first be identified and then upcycled and repurposed.

It states: For money to flow, money must be a means and not an end ... Money as a tool is not intended for accumulation, but rather circulation, it states, echoing Alfassas ideas.

But just as congratulatory comments began flowing in, the application began crashing.

Its been a tremendous problem, said Sullivan, who is known in Auroville as B. At first, it was just for a day or two at a time, but in February this year, the application went down for two weeks.

Weve had a challenge with our developers so we have to focus on getting the app to work well, said Sullivan. We are hoping for more funding from Korea and then we can convince the market and stores in Auroville to use it.

Funded by Chos centre in South Korea, the grant has not been adequate to cover a full-blown technology overhaul so the team is looking for external funding for maintenance costs, Kim said.

When Kim was conducting her research on Auroville, many people told her that Aurovilles economy was unequal, overly bureaucratic with too much talking and not acting, tending towards capitalism, and unsustainable. While this sparked the idea to create an alternative system, the fragile foundations of the communitys economy may be the ideas very undoing.

The issue with Aurovilles economy is its not self-sufficient, said Kim. Its reliant on external sources. Its a problem that has plagued the settlement from its inception.

In its quest to create a settlement free from money, Auroville is a human laboratory. Whether it is nearer or farther from its ideals depends on who you speak to.

Auroville has always been trying to get rid of money, said Manuel Thomas, a chartered accountant from Chennai who co-wrote an economic history of Auroville titled Economics of Earth and People: The Auroville Case 1968 to 2008 and continues to be a consultant for the community. They keep experimenting, but in all these years, there has not been a no-cash economy.

At its inception, Auroville received a periodic Prosperity bundle of clothing, toiletries and other basic needs from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. After the Mother died in 1973, Aurovillians developed differences with the Sri Aurobindo Society. The Central government got involved, leading to a Parliamentary Act that handed over ownership rights to the Auroville Foundation.

The Auroville Foundation owns most of the land, buildings and assets, as Thomas book notes. The community has an international advisory council (similar to a board of directors), a governing board (a top management team appointed by the Indian government) and a residents assembly.

The introduction of the Maintenance system in 1983, which is still in place today, proved to be one of the most controversial moments in the communitys history, said Suryamayi Aswini who did her PhD thesis at Sussex University about the township.

Aurovillians who work in specific jobs receive a monthly stipend in their individual account. One third of Maintenances are received as cash credits that can be exchanged for rupees, while the rest acts as a local currency only usable for goods and services in Auroville. Some Aurovillians receive up to Rs 20,000 per month as a Maintenance, while half of Aurovillians dont receive any money because they determine themselves to be self-supporting.

The settlements major earnings come from micro and small enterprises (known as units) that are mainly involved in handicrafts, textiles, clothing and food. One of its largest employers and economic contributors is Maroma, a fragrance and body care products brand. Other major units include Sunlit Future, a solar grid system, and boutiques such as Kalki and Mira Boutique.

A Central fund (now called the City Services Budget) collects government grants and individual donations as well as earnings from Auroville units. Residents pay a standard monthly contribution, which started at Rs 200 in 1989 and grew to Rs 3,150 in 2018. Volunteers in Auroville have to contribute Rs 900 a month. An additional 20% of visitors accommodation fees is collected in the common budget.

Most of it is allocated to city expenses, the bulk of which goes to Maintenances and education. Aurovilles turnover in 2016-17 was Rs 337 crore. City services receipts for 2016 to 2017 amounted to Rs 19.5 crore, said Thomas, while Rs 51 crore was from grants and donations,.

The monthly City Services Budget, published in Aurovilles News and Notes Letter, stated that the town had a monthly loss of Rs 53 lakh in June 2021. Its internal contributions amounted to Rs 1.3 crore (the majority of which came from its commercial units and services) and its payments amounted to Rs 1.8 crore (of which Rs 34 lakh went to education).

In the early 1990s, those disappointed with the Maintenance system created Seed, a common account in which a small group of residents compiled their Maintenance and private funds to be disbursed back out by an administrator. This grew to other groups and became known as the Circles experiment. It started out full of people, idealism, enthusiasm, but failed to successfully take root, Aswini wrote.

In 2006, another experiment was attempted with Prosperity, a fund that acted more like insurance for times in need. But that fell apart as well.

In 1999, Thomas and a team set out to gather income and expenditure statements and balance sheets to be consolidated into a database, a task that was not only more arduous than assumed but also illuminated the dire state of Aurovilles affairs.

In 2002, the team released a White Paper showing that the contributions of Aurovilles commercial units per capita had dipped significantly in the previous decades. The paper encouraged the settlement to invest more into its commercial sectors to bolster income generation.

Manuel, who is currently updating his account of the settlements economic history, said that Aurovilles dependence on grants and donations seems to have reduced. Even though every experiment runs up against reality, he sees progress.

Basically, the aura is another experiment coming out of the Circles experiments a no cash philosophy, Maneul said. In the end, its still a medium of exchange and a form of informal money. But you are likely not to become an aura millionaire. Its the negative aspects of money that they are trying to avoid.

Henk Thomas, who lived in Auroville three decades ago and Manuels co-author, had a more sceptical take: Its high ideological content without solid thinking. In my view, its not very important or interesting because it covers such a small part of the economy. Henk said the aura is yet further evidence that the township never took heed of the advice contained in his book with Manuel.

There are endless experiments in Auroville and they all fail because in the end, there is a deficit, he said. The same questions come back again and again without new answers. I find it a tragedy that there is so much talent there, all kinds of people thinking from scratch and it dies out because there is no economic authority.

In 2017, Sullivan, who had helped Kim with the virtual currency programme, attempted an economic innovation of his own. He created physical notes out of waste paper with one note valued at Rs 100, exchangeable at Aurovilles Financial Service (which holds the individual financial accounts of Aurovillians and manages the Maintenances). He called one note an aura.

It was his attempt to revise the whole economy, but no one took it seriously, he said. ... Still, maybe [the first aura] broke through something that was a little bit stuck. Maybe those events helped prepare people for this aura.

Sullivan firmly believes that the critics will be proven wrong. In Auroville, you can find someone against everything, he said. This is a quantum leap to something totally different. Weve crossed a threshold and were committed. Weve tried all these other big things. The common pots, the circles. I was a part of them and they didnt really take off.

But the smartphone, he said, is the revolutionary leap that Auroville economics needed.

Manuel is among those keenly watching the aura experiment. He said: The thing with Auroville is it doesnt give up.

Karishma Mehrotra is an independent journalist. She is a Kalpalata Fellow for Technology Writings for 2021.

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In quest for utopia, Auroville hopes that it can create a society without money using an app - Scroll.in

Auroville is an intentional community founded in 1968 by a French woman named Mirra Alfassa, known as the Mother, an occultist and tennis enthusiast, and the closest disciple and confidante of the Cambridge-educated, Indian freedom fighter turned spiritual teacher Sri Aurobindo.

Carved out on a desolate plateau near the southern Indian town of Pondicherry, and founded on the principles of the integral yoga devised by Aurobindo, which envisioned a cellular transformation of mankind, creating a supremental race of men and women, Auroville was designed to bring together people from all the worlds nations, united in the cause of universal harmony a tower of Babel in reverse as the Mother had it

It is now a thriving community of some 3,500 people from 59 countries arguably the most successful reforestation effort in India, Akash Kapur writes, and a global model for environmental conservation.

But it wasnt always so. Akash Kapur, whose father is Indian and mother American, grew up in Auroville, left to attend boarding-school in America and later went to Harvard, before returning to live in Auroville in 2004. This beautifully written and thought-provoking account of the communitys earliest days, a study of idealism and naivety and the conflict between reason and faith, follows the fortunes of three characters.

John Walker was American, the son of John Walker III, the director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and Lady Margaret Drummond, the daughter of Sir Eric Drummond, the first secretary to the League of Nations and British ambassador to Rome. After getting mixed up in the Timothy Leary LSD experiments at Harvard, and moving through Catholicism and Zen Buddhism, John arrived at Auroville in 1969.

It was there that he met Diane Maes, the daughter of a house-painter from a small town in Belgium, who, having rebelled against the constraints of her Catholic education, moved back and forth between Europe and India before finally settling in the community.

The third is the French writer Bernard Enginger, a former member of theFrench Resistance and a concentration-camp survivor who, after making his way to Auroville, became the Mothers most ardent disciple, taking the nameSatprem.

The modernist architect Roger Anger, who drew up the initial blueprint for Auroville, envisaged skyscrapers, moving sidewalks, an airport, a world trade centre a utopian city that would require $8bn to create and which, of course, would never be forthcoming. At ground level, the new settlers, mostly Western spiritual seekers, laboured without any mechanical equipment, digging out wells, irrigating saplings with jugs of water, and excavating an expanse of land in readiness for the building of the Matrimandir, the spiritual heart of Auroville, a massive sphere 118ft across and 97ft high, encrusted with gold discs and containing a huge, marble-lined meditation area the Divines answer to mans aspiration for perfection, as the Mother put it.

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Denunciations, beatings and book burnings: when a utopian dream turned sour - Telegraph.co.uk

The Air Force is encouraging airmen and guardians to take a vacation by allowing them to accrue additional time off in the next two months, then spend those days anytime in the next three years.

Over the last 18 months, the coronavirus pandemic wrecked travel and other personal plans for many who out of caution or necessity opted to stay home and continue working. Now the military wants to give people more opportunities to take a break after a stressful and unusual year.

Rest and recuperation are vital to morale, unit and personal performance, and overall motivation for airmen and guardians, acting Air Force Secretary John Roth said in a July 21 memo. The [Department of the Air Force] recognizes the importance to provide opportunities for its service members to use their earned leave in the year it was earned and provide respite from the work environment.

Active-duty airmen and guardians may accrue 60 to 120 days of leave by the end of September, and spend it by Sept. 30, 2024. If a service member was already allowed to build up more than 60 days of leave, this new flexibility will not apply to them, Roth said.

The policy also applies to Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members who would roll over leave from one active-duty tour to the next. They can accrue up to 120 days of leave by Sept. 30 and carry that balance until September 2024 as well.

Airmen and guardians typically have until the end of a fiscal year to use or lose as many as 60 days off. But the Air Force wanted to offer a few years worth of leeway so leave wouldnt expire while travel restrictions are still in place, or while job requirements could keep someone from taking time off in the remaining two months of fiscal 2021.

DOD let service secretaries craft their own updates to the special leave accrual policy first set in April 2020, and Roths change goes further than Pentagon officials were mulling earlier this summer.

The Air Force and Space Forces decision is not limited to service members in certain units or areas with travel restrictions, such as Japan and Europe, and allows troops to carry over leave for one year longer than previously allowed under pandemic-era rules.

It is important members manage their leave balances throughout the year, Roth said. Commanders will continue to encourage and provide members with opportunities to use leave in the year it is earned.

The Air Force said it will release more details on the issue later.

Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), the Washington Post, and others.

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Need a break? Air Force offers 2 months of extra leave valid for three years - AirForceTimes.com

BLAINE, Minn. -- Cameron Champ was struggling mightily through the first half of this year, a frustrating series of performances that pointed him back to his state of mind more than any mechanical flaw.

Like many newlyweds, the 26-year-old was distracted by the delicate balance of passionately pursuing his career while still trying to carve out a healthy personal life at home. He found himself becoming much too upset by a bad round.

There sure wasn't much for Champ to be mad about at the 3M Open.

Champ fended off dehydration and crisply putted his way to a 5-under 66 on Sunday, winning by 2 strokes for his third career victory.

"I just took a complete 180 in how I'm waking up every morning and how I'm reacting to certain things and adjusting to certain things," said Champ, who had five birdies in a bogey-free round to finish at 15-under 269 at TPC Twin Cities.

Louis Oosthuizen, Jhonattan Vegas and Charl Schwartzel tied for second. Keith Mitchell was fifth at 12 under, and behind him were five players tied for sixth.

Champ joined Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as the only under-28 players to win in each of the past three seasons on tour. He jumped from 142nd to 49th in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 qualifying for the playoff opener.

This month has brought quite the turnaround for the Texas A&M product, after nine missed cuts and one withdrawal over his first 16 starts of 2021. The best finish in that stretch was a tie for 17th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Champ hit the reset button after missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit three weeks ago though, and emerged with a tie for 11th at the John Deere Classic in Illinois.

"After Detroit, I just took a step back and said, 'You know what? This is enough. I can't keep going on this way. I'm not enjoying the game,'" Champ said.

His wife, Jessica, was surely happy to hear that.

"It's more so realizing what I want to do in the game of golf and then who I want to be at home," Champ said. "It's a balance you have to find, and if you don't, it can really haunt you and it can cause a lot of issues. So I just feel like the last two months I've been in a lot better head space."

During another 90-degree day, Champ was far from his physical best. He felt some dizziness along the back nine, putting his hands on his knees at one point as he hung his head to try to regain some composure. He had plenty of it on the last hole, after his safe strategy with the tee shot to stay away from the lake landed way left in a trampled, sandy area directly behind a clump of trees.

Champ managed to chip out onto the primary rough, then scoot up the fairway. His approach was a beauty that landed perfectly and rolled back toward the pin. He sank the easy par putt and had enough energy to pump his arms in celebration of his first top-10 finish since last October.

"The Gatorade definitely helped, I think, keep me going," said Champ, who won the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2019, the year he turned pro, and the Safeway Open in 2020.

He had the best putting performance of the 3M Open field, with an average of 8.48 strokes gained.

Oosthuizen shot 66 too, in a much stronger finish than the previous weekend at The Open, where his 54-hole lead turned into a tie for third after a fourth-round 71.

Playing six pairs ahead of Champ, Oosthuizen birdied three of the last four holes to give himself an outside chance. His approach to the 18th green almost yielded an eagle on the PGA Tour's hardest par-5 hole, but the ball lipped out. Oosthuizen made a 2-foot putt for birdie instead and his fourth runner-up finish in seven starts. Schwartzel, his fellow South African, posted a 68 to match Vegas in the final round.

"We had a good time here this week, and I'm just trying to see if I can go one better than all these seconds and thirds," Oosthuizen said.

Cameron Tringale, a 1-stroke leader after the third round, took a triple bogey on the par-3 13th hole right after consecutive birdies had brought him back into contention. He shot 74 and finished 6 strokes behind Champ, leaving PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson as the only 54-hole leader or co-leader to win in the past 13 tour events.

Matthew Wolff (2019) and Michael Thompson (2020), the first two winners of the 3M Open, each finished in a tie for 39th place at 5 under.

Newly minted Olympian Patrick Reed tied for 34th at 6 under, before heading home to Texas to get ready for Tokyo. He found out Saturday he'd been added to the U.S. team after DeChambeau tested positive for COVID-19.

"Once I start an event," Reed said, "I'm definitely going to finish the event."

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Cameron Champ fends off dehydration to win 3M Open by 2 strokes - ESPN

By Oil City Staff on July 26, 2021

CASPER, Wyo. 138 participants finished either the 8- or 16-mile course at the 9th annual Skunk Hollow Sneaker ChaseSaturday. Participants completed either one or two course laps on the Casper Mountain Trails System.

Molly Olsen won the 16-miler for the second year in a row with a time of 2:11:23, followed by Steven Armstrong and Justin Kinner. 32 runners did the 16-mile course.

Ethan Bauer was first of 106 finishers on the 8-miler, finishing with a time of 1:03. He was followed by Amber Thielbar and Jarod McDaniel.

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Top finishing times were a bit slower this year. Mike Diesburg, the race director, said that may be due to the course direction. Every year, the direction alternates. He said the clockwise direction means punchier, steeper climbs.

Mike Diesburg is founder of the 307 Running LLC, and is also active on the Casper Ultra and Trail Running Society. He said hes particuarly happy with the roughly equal mix of men and women who compete in his event.

In some high-profile ultra-distance events there are as few as 15 women out of 150 competitors. The Skunk Hollow turnout this year was 56% women and 44% women: Thats something were kind of proud of.

He noted that, as race distances become longer, gender and age tend to factor less in who finishes well.

They know their bodies better, Diesburg said of older runners. They know when to push it and not push it. They know how to train better.

Women, he noted are less prone to blast off at the start line: they ease back and theyre so consistent.

MikeDiesburg was encouraged to hear that people who attended just to support family and friends were inspired to take up running again: It kind of motivates them, so thats a positive.

Diesburg said the key to success in distance running, beyond training and nutrition, is attitude.

If you have a positive attitude and good mental strength, youll do well.

Read more about the event and Caspers running scene here. More photos are available on the events Facebook page.

Report a correction or typo.

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Olsen and Bauer win 16-mile, 8-mile Sneaker Chase on Casper Mountain Saturday - Oil City News