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Chapter 1
Dawn of the
industrial age in Auroville
History of the local inhabitants
The history of local natives in and
around the region of Auroville is only 300 years old. The
ancestors of the local inhabitants were foot soldiers of the
Nayaks / Zamindars of bygone days, who had migrated to this
region. After independence, when the Zamindari system was
abolished. the local economy suffered a set back. The people
become gatherers and pickers and foraged on the wasteland
shrubs. There was no tradition of local arts and crafts, with
a few persons involved in making oils. According to an
Aurovilian, Kalyan, who had done research on Sociology and
Anthropology of Rajasthani tribes with late Dr. Ravi Mathai
(Director IIMA), he said that the social and anthropological
character of this area is very strange. The local settlers
don't have any traditional artifact or any traditional craft.
The area does not have tradition of weekly markets or hats,
which is a usual phenomenon in tribal and rural settlements
and which acts as an institution, where innovation,
information, knowledge and culture is shared apart from
material transactions.
Therefore none of the craft unit of Auroville have got any
help or managed to tap or revived any traditional skills.
There was a pool of labour available but basic craft skills
were not there. Each effort of handcraft in Auroville is the
endeavor of the individual entrepreneur in terms of learning,
gaining expertise and further training to workers and getting
quality products.
Local Geography, Afforestation
and Female empowerment
In the beginning, the land in and around
Auroville was basically wasteland and part of lateritic belt.
It was barren with few trees and shrubs and vast open expanse
of red earth scarred by network of gullies, carved out over
the years by torrential monsoon rains. This was the result of
more than two hundred years of deforestation, overgrazing and
bad land management practices by the local settlers. The land
was fallow and there was total loss of topsoil and acute
shortage of water. As per temple inscriptions and local
records, the area used to be a scrub jungle containing an
abundant variety of species of trees, plants and medicinal
shrubs and a rich fauna. No trace of bio-diversity had
remained apart from a few palms, few banyan trees. After
Auroville was founded, the pioneers undertook a massive drive
of soil and water conservation efforts, digging bunds,
ditches, check dams and plantation of trees with most of the
early Aurovilians involved in it. They started planting
trees--a type of Acacia, which the Mother named as "work
tree". This tree grows very fast, gaining maturity within
10 to 15 years, and provides enough shade so that other
durable species, local as well as exotic, can grow under it.
After maturity it can provide fuel and fodder. This formed the
basis of the afforestation programme. The local population
that were basically gatherers and pickers thus got an
opportunity to procure fuel and fodder nearby. Female folk who
earlier used to spend eight hours in a day gathering and
picking twigs for firewood, could achieve it within half an
hour. Afforestation empowered the female populace and they had
ample free time. This free female work-force became a resource
for the handcraft industries of Auroville and as per the
experience of every entrepreneur, females were found to be
more attuned for finer works like embroidery, design.
knitting, painting etc. than males. They were found to have
ample patience and perseverance to learn and they constitute a
major part of work-force in most of the industries other than
building construction in Auroville.
Thus in the context of establishment of handicraft industries
in Auroville, a linkage is established with the local
geography, people and resources.
Vision and Raison d'être of the enterprise
There were various views on the
establishment of enterprises in Auroville. Basically the
enterprises were set up because:
1) The Westerners did not want to
go abroad for six months, to money so they could then live for
six months in Auroville. To avoid this they began with small
enterprises based on their own liking and knowledge. For
example Filaure, a garment manufacturing unit was established
by Mr. Michael and Valerie in a keet [thatch] hut on a very
small scale, employing only two people.
2) The Westerners were attuned to
a certain quality which the locals were not, hence not
available. To fulfill the needs of the community,
food-processing enterprises were set up known as service
units. For example the bakery, jam-jelly and cheese-making
unit was established to provide for community consumption.
3) After the afforestation
program was completed, Aurovilians engaged themselves in arts
and crafts of their own interest and some of them established
enterprises. For example, Angad learnt and mastered the art of
pottery and later on established an enterprise called Mantra
pottery.
4) In the philosophy of
Auroville, business is included as a part of the Auroville
experience, the joy of working with one's own hands and
developing beautiful and quality items. Some enterprises were
established on the basis of these ideals. For example Abha
developed the technique of flower pressing, designed greeting
cards, lampshades and established Shradhanjali.
5) In some cases the vision was
specific like Matthias had the vision of making Auroville self
sufficient in energy and hence established an enterprise
making Inverters and Uninterrupted Power Supply [UPS] based on
solar conversion.
6) Some business units had been
started as an exclusive support unit for a social program; for
example, a toy factory in Kottakarai is the support unit of
the Auroville health center and health program, with all its
profits being pumped into it. Similarly, a gemstone shop is
dedicated to the green belt and afforestation program. Some
business units are dedicated to a cause - for example a
hammock and cloth bag manufacturing unit is dedicated to the
development and education of the girl child, with the
proceedings being funneled into the cause.
7) In the beginning all of them
were involved with research and developing new products and
were driven by exquisite quality and beauty. The Auroville
enterprises did not have a normal business approach in which a
market was studied first and demand for the product was
assessed and then a product was launched. On the contrary, it
was the personal interest of individual entrepreneurs which
was the basis of innovative and aesthetic products being made.
The units had a passive approach in tapping markets, relying
on the clients' word of mouth. In all the cases, high
consideration is placed on the quality of product, minimal use
of chemicals and development of environmental friendly
processes etc.
Entrepreneur's background and role
All the entrepreneurs were personally
involved in the design, development and production of the
quality products. Since most of the products are based on
research and experiment the credit of developing it goes to
the ingenuity of the entrepreneur. Not all entrepreneur had a
background which is linked to the kind of work he/she is
involved in; those in which the prior education and experience
of the entrepreneurs have been useful in setting up the
enterprise include Namrita, a fashion designer by
qualification, of Aditi, the appliqué making unit which she
estabalished.
Prema of Auromode (garment export unit) trained as a garment
designer in Paris.
Jan's knowledge of Carpentry helped him in establishing a
woodwork enterprise.
Matthias' education and work experience as an electronics
engineer helped him in establishing a unit of solar grid
connected inverters.
In some cases, the entrepreneurs learnt and mastered a craft
out of their own interest and irrespective of their previous
experience.
Angad, of Mantra pottery, is basically a mathematics student
of Oxford. He studied pottery for three years at the Golden
Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry and developed many new glazing
techniques and did research on clay and tile manufacturing.Now
he has his own successful unit, Mantra.
Abha of Shradhanjali (flower pressed greeting cards) was a
student of philosophy and a self-taught artist of flower
pressing techniques; she now runs a successful business.
Tency of Center of Scientific Research (CSR) is a sociologist
by education but now runs a building research center, which is
at the forefront of innovative and low cost technology.
Views of entrepreneurs on the success of enterprises
The involvement and personal interest of
entrepreneurs in the production, quality control, design
development is in line with the philosophy of Auroville i.e.
the joy of working with your own hands and generating
employment and money for Auroville. Though according to
Michael, one of early settlers and masterminds behind the
process, it is not true that Auroville attracts lots of people
with entrepreneurial abilities. Even after 30 years, the
situation is not very encouraging in terms of the number of
units making profits. Out of 100 odd units. 25% are run
successfully, another 25%-50% of the units are running to
provide giving employment and generate some profit for
Auroville, and rest are struggling to break even. In their
defence, he also says that earning profit is not their main
motive but rather creating an exquisitely beautiful and
quality product.
As per Clemens, a long time Aurovilian, the main concern is
that the industries or the manufacturing sector contribute
only 30%-40% of the requirements of Auroville (finance,
maintenance, projects etc.); the remaining 60% is from
services (Aurovilians engaged in service sector), external
grants etc. This is still a long way from being a
self-sufficient town. There should be greater contribution
from manufacturing sector, if Auroville aspires to be a
self-sufficient town.
Existing Potential
(Land, Labour, Linkage, Capital, Market)
Land
The land for the industries has been
provided as per the industrial zone proposed in the landuse
plan for Auroville. An individual who aspires to begin an
enterprise is required to fill in an elaborate form, which
includes not only the physical and financial requirements of
the industry but also environmental characteristics,
production process of the industry etc. Having submitted this
in Aurofuture, and after having the project vetted, land is
allocated in a suitable location in the industrial zone.
Labour
As there were no traditional arts and
crafts existing, skilled and semiskilled labour were not
available. On the positive side, a large pool of workers was
available as hardly any economic opportunities existed. The
entrepreneur's had to train these workers from scratch. Since
most of the units are craft based requiring stitching,
knitting, painting, embroidering skills etc. gradually females
were more successful than males. In some particular type like
leather craft, factory trained labour pool was available in
Pondicherry but it was of little use in Auroville since the
emphasis was on handicraft rather than on machines.
Market
There was no potential in the beginning
in the local market. The population of Auroville was really
small and there was no chance of market amongst local tribes,
the nearest market was Pondicherry. Since most of the products
were craft based and innovative, the local awareness was not
there. For example especially in case of leather garments, the
trends and fashion were determined after launching the
product. Hence the focus of marketing shifted to the national
and the international level. At the same time, being near to
Pondicherry, which was a tourist place, Auroville had a small
clientele, who could buy their product. Tourists visiting
Pondicherry used to visit Auroville and the boutique as well.
The different ways in which the industries established their
market are described below:
1) For
service units like Bakery, Jam-Jelly-Marmalade unit, demand
existed within the community and they used to supply to Pour
Tous (a collective food-distribution and sales point).
2) In most cases the product was
new, a novelty unknown to the market. Since there were no
advertisements for the product, it took time to catch on. For
example making appliqué from waste cloth pieces to produce
bed sheets, table cloth, etc.
3) For leather and pottery,
abundant local market and demand existed because leather and
pottery units existed in Pondicherry. The Auroville products
were better by virtue of their innovativeness and exquisite
quality.
4) Most of the units marketed
their products abroad and eventually became export oriented.
The products included garments, incense, solar converters,
toys, woodwork etc. Auroville and Pondicherry have potential
linkage with all major nodes and cities in the region.
Accessibility to Madras is a potential and all exports are
done from there. Though some of the units depend on raw
material available locally, most units depend on import of raw
material from other parts of the State, other parts of India
and abroad.
Major teething problems
and how they were transcended
Availability of Finances
In the beginning there was nothing in
Auroville and Aurovilians worked together to create
infrastructure. After the afforestation drive, some
Aurovilians due to need and interest, endeavored to establish
enterprises. The major problem that they faced was of finance.
Most of them being foreigners, banks were reluctant to give
loans at the beginning, hence in most cases capital was put up
by personal savings, friends borrowings etc. Due to resource
crunch most of the units were started on a very small scale.
Most of the westerners did not benefit from government schemes
and the bureaucracy and red tape involved were so overpowering
that in a few cases it discouraged others to approach the
bank. Eleven out of eighteen cases stated capital finances as
the major teething problem. In one particular case [Mantra
pottery] it was a policy decision not to borrow. In another
case a unit managed to get a loan of Rs.10,000 twice by an NGO
(Village Action Group).
Training and Communication
Another major problem is that of
training and communication with the local populace (six out of
eighteen cases expressed this problem); the units being
garment, furniture making, ferrocement and precast structures,
carpentry etc. Particularly the units engaged in export had to
develop the skills of their workers to bring their work up to
export quality. In most cases, the training is given 'on the
job'; according to the interest or inclination an apprentice
may show in different fields, he/she is encouraged to pursue
that field. Apart from 'on the job training', system of
special training for the beginners was found in two cases. One
has a three-week training course in appliqué work and other
has a few weeks specialized training in Center for Scientific
Research (CSR) in developing skills needed for the building
trade.
Marketing
Marketing being a problem was stated in
three cases. Technological know-how, gap and problems in
technological transfer were stated as teething problems by
leather industries, furniture industries and specialized
carpentry--toy making, utensils etc. The lament is
non-availability of export quality accessories in Indian
market, procedural difficulties in technological transfer for
small-scale industries etc, which affect the quality of goods
for export.
Legal Hassles
Legal hassles, licenses, fees and
lethargic bureaucratic procedures were also mentioned by two
units, both being major export-oriented companies, one which
makes UPS based on solar conversion and other which makes
incense and aromatherapy products.
Other problems
Lack of basic infrastructure, especially
power and water supply, were mentioned in two cases. The
problem is lack of planning efforts in centralized
infrastructure. At present Auroville is highly decentralized.
Communities and units are scattered all over 2400 acres, so it
is difficult to provide centralized infrastructure.
Establishment of Local and Export markets
As far as establishment of export market
is concerned, each case studied is unique. In most of the
cases, the market was Europe with France and Germany in
particular. Only in the case of Maroma do we find that
products have a worldwide market. Generally orders were small
to begin with and gradually grew bigger with time.
Some of the export units established their market through
their previous acquaintances in Europe,wWhereas others
developed a foreign clientele through tourists who visited
their boutique in Auroville and placed orders. Some units send
free samples and their catalogue to import houses in Europe
and thereby obtain orders. Karuna, the entrepreneur of
Discovery, sent free samples to the import houses of Germany,
and having liked some of his products, they placed their
orders. In only a few cases do we find a sustained marketing
strategy with products displayed in fairs, as in the case of
Maroma, or an exclusive exhibition such as Aditi put up.
Auroville products have become a trademark for their quality,
exquisite craftsmanship, innovation and environment-friendly
manufacture, and entrepreneurs claim that not a single product
has been rejected so far. The entrepreneurs ensure the quality
and delivery in time.
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