I used the following command to generate the project:
$ mvn archetype:generate
The error presented during build failure is:
INFO] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Using following parameters for creating project from Old (1.x) Archetype: maven-archetype-quickstart:1.1
[INFO] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Parameter: groupId, Value: com.man.gir
[INFO] Parameter: packageName, Value: com.man.gir
[INFO] Parameter: package, Value: com.man.gir
[INFO] Parameter: artifactId, Value: b-e
[INFO] Parameter: basedir, Value: /home/hduser/testing
[INFO] Parameter: version, Value: 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 37.798 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2014-11-05T18:38:43+05:30
[INFO] Final Memory: 12M/124M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:2.2:generate (default-cli) on project standalone-pom: Error merging velocity templates -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR]
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoFailureException
Check the file permissions on the target folder where the project will be generated. Make sure the user has permission to read and write.