The Jarawa have been occupying the Andaman rainforests for years
Imagine you wake up and start going about your normal day. Your better half prepares breakfast for your children, and you get dressed for the office. As you open the door to leave to work, you spot a bus packed with tourists parked right on the street where you live. […]Would you feel violated and insecure? What if you were trying to go to work, and a bus stopped, and its occupants started making faces at you while throwing bits of food hoping you catch them. Would you feel like a lesser being? […]
Every now and then, bus-loads of tourists descend upon the quiet Andaman island. Talking in animated voices, they have come for the chief attraction. “People of the jungle”, the “wild tribes”, and other exaggerated adjectives have been used by wily tour operators, to sell this chief attraction – sightings of the Jarawa tribe. […]
Who are the Jarawa?
The tribe belongs to the Negrito group of tribal communities, including the Onge, the Great Andamanese and the Sentinelese living on the Andaman islands. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they have lived and flourished in the rainforests of the islands for about 20,000 years. […]
Source: “Is This Andaman Tribe in a Tourist Zoo? Time to Wake up and End This ‘Safari!” by Rayomand Engineer, The Better India 30 March 2018
URL: https://www.thebetterindia.com/136278/jarawa-tribe-andaman-stop-human-safaris/
Date visited: 28 April 2019
Who are the Sentinelese?
The Sentinelese, a negrito tribe who live on the North Sentinel Island of the Andamans, have not faced incursions and remain hostile to outsiders. The inhabitants are connected to the Jarawa on the basis of physical, as well as linguistic similarities, researchers say. Based on carbon dating of kitchen middens by the Anthropological Survey of India, Sentinelese presence was confirmed in the islands to 2,000 years ago. Genome studies indicate that the Andaman tribes could have been on the islands even 30,000 years ago. […]The Govt. of India issued the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 to declare the traditional areas occupied by the tribes as reserves, and prohibited entry of all persons except those with authorisation. Photographing or filming the tribe members is also an offence. The rules were amended later to enhance penalties. But restricted area permits were relaxed for some islands recently. […]
From 1901 to 1921 they were estimated to be 117 people. In 1931, the number dropped to 50, a figure used for the 1961 Census too. In 1991 their head count was put at 23. Census 2001 counted 39 inhabitants.
Source: “The Hindu Explains: Who are the Sentinelese?” by G. Ananthakrishnan, The Hindu 21 November 2018
URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-explains-who-are-the-sentinelese/article25560463.ece
Date accessed: 29 November 2018
The Jarawa have been occupying the Andaman rainforests for years
Every now and then, bus-loads of tourists descend upon the quiet Andaman island. Talking in animated voices, they have come for the chief attraction. “People of the jungle”, the “wild tribes”, and other exaggerated adjectives have been used by wily tour operators, to sell this chief attraction – sightings of the Jarawa tribe. […]
The tribe belongs to the Negrito group of tribal communities, including the Onge, the Great Andamanese and the Sentinelese living on the Andaman islands. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they have lived and flourished in the rainforests of the islands for about 20,000 years.
However, they are fast disappearing. From a population of 5000, 150 years ago, they number just around 250-300. The total population of the Andaman and Nicobar islands is around four lakh. The disparity speaks for itself.
There has been tremendous pressure over the years on these tribes just to survive. The reasons are manifold and include deforestation which erodes their habitats and settlements. The equation between the Jarawas and the outside world has changed.
The indigenous people don’t trust the mainstream. And why should they? […]
Source: “Is This Andaman Tribe in a Tourist Zoo? Time to Wake up and End This ‘Safari’!” by Rayomand Engineer, The Better India, March 30, 2018
URL: https://www.thebetterindia.com/136278/jarawa-tribe-andaman-stop-human-safaris/
Date visited: 17 April 2019
Find copies of Pankaj Sekhsaria’s books
Indian publishers and distributors | WorldCat library search >>
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
Up-to-date reports by Indian experts and journalists
Search tips
Combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community.
Add keywords of special interest (music, poetry, dance just as health, sacred grove and biodiversity); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the “Forest Rights Act” (FRA); and the United Nations “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, “women’s rights”, or “children’s right to education”.
Specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, bonded labour and human trafficking, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, hunter-gatherers in a particular region or state, prevention of rural poverty, water access).
For official figures include “scheduled tribe ST” along with a union state or region: e.g. “Chhattisgarh ST community”, “Himalayan tribe”, “Scheduled tribe Tamil Nadu census”, “ST Kerala census”, “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Jharkhand”, “PVTG Rajasthan”, “Adivasi ST Kerala”, “Adibasi ST West Bengal” etc.
In case the Google Custom Search window is not displayed here try the following: (1) toggle between “Reader” and regular viewing; (2) in your browser’s Security settings select “Enable JavaScript” | More tips >>
Note: hyperlinks and quotes are meant for fact-checking and information purposes only | Disclaimer >>
List of websites covered by this Google custom search engine
Academia.edu (platform for academics to share research papers) – www.academia.edu
Archive.org – https://archive.org
Centre for Science and Environment – https://www.cseindia.org
Current Conservation – https://www.currentconservation.org
Development and Cooperation (D+C) https://www.dandc.eu
Down To Earth (India) – www.downtoearth.org.in
India Environment Portal – www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
Harnessing Nature Magazine – https://harnessingnature.online
Mongabay-India – https://india.mongabay.com
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation – www.mssrf.org
Navdanya (protecting India’s biodiversity based food heritage) – https://navdanya.org
Third World Network (Penang, Malaysia) – https://twn.my
The Shola Trust (nature conservation in the Nilgiri region) – www.thesholatrust.org
WorldCat (“the world’s largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online”) – https://worldcat.org
Research the above issues with the help of Shodhganga: A reservoir of theses from universities all over India, made available under Open Access >>
Note: hyperlinks and quotes are meant for fact-checking and information purposes only | Disclaimer >>
Learn more
Tribal communities (Andaman and Nicobar Islands):
Ang | Great Andamanese | Jarawa | Onge | Sentinelese | Shompen
Anthropology & Anthropological Survey of India
Colonial policies Andaman | Independent India Andaman
Ecology and environment | Nature and wildlife
Particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG)
Primitive Tribes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Census 2011)
Up-to-date reports by Indian journalists and commentators
List of Indian magazines and web portals covered by the present Custom search engine
Tip: click on any red marker for details on endangered languages in a particular region of India.
Please note: the facts and figures cited (via hyperlinks) links call for updates and fact checking >>
Cultural invisibility – India’s 600 potentially endangered languages | Linguistic Survey of India (official website) >>