Are we waiting for the Jarawas to reinvent the wheel?

Are we waiting for the Jarawas to re-invent the wheel?

Debkumar Bhadra   |          Musings of an Islander                   |          South Andaman

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands which made headlines after the 2004 Great Sumatra Andaman Earthquake is once again featured in the national as well as international media following release of a video clip featuring Andaman’s Jarawa tribe by a section of British media. Immediately other y other NGO’s, media houses, activists and their likes switched to campaign mode releasing reports, reviews, comments, commentaries and updates almost on a day-to-day basis, many of which are drifted miles away from truth.

What it emerges out of the campaign launched by some NGO’s at the international level supported by national as well as few local counterparts and activists is in-reality an attempt to project the Great Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) as the sole culprit and generate an anti-island rhetoric which eventually would ensure their survival in the quest for bread and butter. Sadly some intellectuals, NGO’s and activists having sound knowledge and fair understanding of island conditions too had gone blind to the fact that Jawaras had been co-existing with settlers peacefully for the last more than six decades and that the ATR is not used by tourists alone but by islanders as well since ship route is highly uncertain and marred by inclement weather conditions prevalent almost the year through.

The whole world is made to believe as if the ATR is exclusively used by tourists for the so called human safari! Whereas the fact is the 343 KM ATR (NH # 223) constructed in 1970’s, running from Port Blair to Diglipur connects four main inhabited islands namely South Andaman, Baratang, Middle Andaman and North Andaman, facilitating movement of peoples, health care facilities, essential commodities, goods and services round the year.

On an average, a days traffic on the ATR comprise of around 2200 peoples and about 22 public transport bus, 200-250 four wheelers and 100 goods vehicle. Of this traffic across ATR, only 500-600 are tourist, rest of the traffic is islanders travelling to or returning from Port Blair; not for sight seeing but for one or the other survival need.

Another startling fact is Jarawa reserve along the ATR starts from Jirkatang in South Andaman and extends upto Parlobjig Camp No 15 in N&M Andaman, covering a distance of about 130 Km. But Jarawas are seen only at few points along the first 49 Km of the ATR between Jirkatang and Middle Strait. Why is it so? Why is it that Jarawas do not show up in other parts of the ATR beyond Baratang?

The reason cited is tourists frequent this stretch of ATR. Hence major emphasis of the campaign revolves around this popular belief and ends up suggesting a plethora of academic and impractical solutions, not to mention all ending up suggesting closure of the ATR.

Incidentally, Jarawas come out of jungles in other part of the islands which are neither frequented by tourists nor the ATR pass through such places. Tirur and Tusnabad are such place where Jarawas are increasingly venturing out of jungles and seen roaming in the nearby revenue village.

Ironically the self proclaimed guardians of the tribes, select group of NGO’s and activists who have been vociferous in making a case against ATR never bother to report these sightings of Jarawas inside revenue villages of rural South Andaman. Why this discrimination?

Perhaps the answer is simple - None of the self proclaimed guardians of the tribes, the select group of NGO’s or activists and pressure groups are aiming at reaching the root cause of the issue, but rake up the issue for vested gains. Obviously they seem to be guided by the survival needs of the-self and the organization they subscribe to. They want to hog the limelight, hence report only those aspect of the issue which help them generate a prejudiced opinion, catch media attention at the national and international level and ultimately ask for donations.

Unfortunately efforts made by the island administration to strike a balance between welfare of the tribes and developmental needs of the logistically constrained far flung islands, seems to hurt their sinister designs. Hence such groups resort to planting mis-communication in the media in a bid to malign the reputation of the island administration in particular and the entire country in general. This is highly condemnable and must stop immediately.

Let me quote the “Battle of Aberdeen” which perhaps would help us understand the role of external forces vis-à-vis welfare of island tribes. The Annals speaks that on May 17, 1859 the tribals attacked the (pre-alerted) British at Aberdeen. The tribal bows and arrows were hardly a match for the fire power of the forewarned British garrisons. The Andamanese were slaughtered in thousands and their attack repulsed. The loss of lives was so huge that a considerable part of the Andamanese race was wiped out in one single day in the Battle of Aberdeen which eventually resulted in consolidation of colonial power in the archipelago. Tribals who survived the massacre, retreat into the jungles, never to be seen again.

It is for this piece of history, atleast I am in no mood to subscribe to the sentiments expressed by the descendants of the British in the guise of NGO’s and rights activists, in matters relating to welfare of our island tribes.

The general islander and the island administration are seized of the issue and are committed towards welfare of the tribes. This is evident from the fact that the Jarawa tribes who were 240 in 2001, grew to 376 in 2011. Is it not encouraging that Jarawas registered a positive growth rate of about 56% whereas non-tribal islanders recorded 6% growth during the same decade (2001-2011). This has been possible largely because of various welfare measures and safeguards put in place by the island administration. However, few sporadic contacts still take place with Jarawas along the ATR and elsewhere, which is nothing but criminal trespass; violation of law. No one including the island administration approves such unsolicited contacts. Therefore such offenders should be dealt with appropriate provisions available under the law.

It would be pertinent to mention the ATR during its four decades of existence, apart from replacing Ship as the life-line of North and Middle Andamans, served as a window for the tribes to glance the world outside the jungles. A complete generation of Jarawas has grown up with ATR in their life. It is this generation which unknowingly had set their foot on the path which homo sapiens took after originating from Africa some 200,000 years ago. In the absence of a trail, it took homo sapiens 50,000 years to achieve full modernity. But for Jarawas, path to modernity could be far short with settlers in and around them. At this juncture, the tribes need to be empowered with right kind of knowledge so that their future course of journey could be smooth and take place at a pace conducive to their growth and well being.

The fear of cultural shock, contacting life threatening diseases and a range of unforeseen fears are mere perceptions, if not exaggeration. For the last more than six decades, they have been exposed to outside way of life, despite this, their population registered a positive growth. Therefore the mis-communication that the Jarawas are facing threat of extinction is not only exaggeration of facts, but nothing less than a deliberate attempt to misguide the masses on the issue.

If we are not able to complement the Jarawas in their march towards modernity, do we have the right to create roadblocks in their path? My answer is no (in bold and capital letters).

The post was carried simultaneously in Echo of India and Andaman Chronicle dated Feb 18, 2012 and in the web edition of Andaman Sheekha dated 19/02/2012.