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© Salomé/Survival |
Outsiders are invading the reserve of the isolated Jarawa tribe in the
Andaman Islands, India, and stealing the game on which they depend for food.
There are also increasing reports of Jarawa women being sexually exploited.
Despite a Supreme Court order to the islands' administration to close the
highway which runs though the reserve, it remains open, bringing disease and
dependency.
The Jarawa are one of four 'Negrito' tribes who are believed to have
travelled to the Andaman Islands from Africa up to 60,000 years ago. Two of the
tribes, the Great Andamanese and the Onge, were decimated following the
colonisation of their islands – first by the British, and later by India. The
population of the Great Andamanese tribe fell from 5,000 in 1848 to just 41
today. Both the Great Andamanese and the Onge are now dependent on government
handouts. The Jarawa resisted contact with settlers from the Indian mainland
until 1998. The fourth tribe, the Sentinelese, live on their own island and
continue to shun all contact.
The Jarawa are hunter-gatherers, and number around 270 people. They use bows
and arrows to hunt pigs and monitor lizards, and catch fish and turtles. Now,
hundreds of Indian settlers and Burmese poachers are hunting and fishing along
the road and the coast, depriving the Jarawa of vital game. The problem has
become so acute that in some areas the once abundant wild pigs and fish are now
scarce. The Sentinelese tribe are also experiencing the theft of their food
sources, particularly of lobster from the rich waters around their island, North
Sentinel, and the Onge tribe say they cannot hunt enough pigs as these are being
stolen by outsiders.
The main highway which runs through the Jarawa reserve, known as the Andaman
Trunk Road, is also bringing exploitation of the Jarawa. There are numerous
reports of poachers and other outsiders sexually exploiting Jarawa women, and
outsiders are introducing alcohol, tobacco and alien food items on which the
Jarawa are starting to depend. Those entering Jarawa land also bring outside
diseases to which the Jarawa have no immunity.
The tribe has already experienced one measles epidemic – prompt action by the
authorities helped prevent a catastrophe.
The Administration of the Andaman Islands is making some attempt to restrict
contact between the Jarawa and users of the road. This is a step in the right
direction, but will not alone be enough to secure the Jarawa's future.
Participants in a recent Indian government seminar on the future of the Jarawa
concluded that intervention in the Jarawa's lives should be minimised, and that
their development should be at their own pace and in the direction they
themselves choose. However, some within the establishment still favour forcible
assimilation. The then-Minister for Tribal Welfare said in 2003 that his
ministry planned to 'reform the tribals and assimilate them with the mainstream'
because 'it is not right to leave them as is.' Until the Jarawa's rights to
their land and to make decisions about their future are respected, they remain
in serious danger.
Lichu, one of the few surviving Great Andamanese, fears for the future of the
Jarawa. 'I think what happened to us is going to happen to the Jarawa
too… lots of settlers are hunting in the Jarawa area. There is not enough game
left for the Jarawa. Their fish are also being poached. Public interaction with
the Jarawa should end. The Andaman Trunk Road must be shut.'
'The outsiders are bad men… They abuse us… The jungle is better.
Even if
I have to stay outside for a few days, I would like to return to my
family in the jungle.' – Enmei, Jarawa man
See How you can Help the Jarawa.
