A tribe whose presence was confirmed in the islands to 2,000 years ago: The Sentinelese – North Sentinel Island (Andamans)

Is This Andaman Tribe in a Tourist Zoo? Time to Wake up and End This ‘Safari’!

The Jarawa have been occupying the Andaman rainforests for years

Rayomand Engineer, The Better India 30 March 2018 | Read the full article here >>

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’!
URL: https://www.thebetterindia.com/136278/jarawa-tribe-andaman-stop-human-safaris/
Date visited: 28 April 2019

G. Ananthakrishnan, The Hindu 21 November 2018 | Read the full article here >>
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?
URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-explains-who-are-the-sentinelese/article25560463.ece?homepage=true
Date accessed: 29 November 2018

Is This Andaman Tribe in a Tourist Zoo? Time to Wake up and End This ‘Safari’!
The Jarawa have been occupying the Andaman rainforests for years.
Rayomand Engineer, The Better India, March 30, 2018 | Read the full story >>
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: The Better India
URL: https://www.thebetterindia.com/136278/jarawa-tribe-andaman-stop-human-safaris/
Date visited: 17 April 2019

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