Andaman & Nicobar Islands News
2006
Petition presented to the President of India and Sonja Gandhi
by Survival
11 September 2006
Survival International has presented a petition with 50,000 signatures in support of the Jarawa tribe to the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, and to the Indian High Commission in London.
Buddhist monk Prajnalankar Bhikkhu presented the first 5,000 signatures to Sonia Gandhi's office in Delhi, and Survival's chairman Rafael Runco presented the remaining 45,000 to the Indian High Commission in London today.
The petition, signed by people from all over the world (including by us at the Andaman Association) calls on the government of India to close the road that runs through the Jarawa's land and to prevent poachers, settlers and other outsiders from entering the reserve.
Rafael Runco said 'The threat to the Jarawa is very serious. Local settlers are invading the reserve, exploiting the Jarawa and hunting the animals they depend on. Unless the government acts now to prevent this, the Jarawa may be completely wiped out.'
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Dr Manmohan Singh Date Dr Singh, I am extremely concerned about the Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands. Settlers are entering their reserve, hunting the animals they depend on, and bringing disease, violence and exploitation. If this continues, the Jarawa will lose their independence, and may be wiped out. The main principles of the 'Jarawa policy' must be upheld; that the Jarawa have 'maximum autonomy with minimum interference' in their lives, and that there are no attempts to bring them into the mainstream. Also, that medical treatment should be undertaken with the utmost cultural sensitivity, and all but the most severe cases should be treated within the Jarawa's reserve. Lastly, I urge you to ensure that outsiders are kept off the Jarawa's land, that the Andaman Trunk Road is closed in accordance with the supreme court's orders and that the Jarawa are allowed to make their own decisions about their future. Yours sincerely, |
Note:
In December 2007 the Andaman Trunk Road still remains open.
Conflict with Jarawa as poachers overrun tribal land
by Survival
July 2006
A man from the isolated Jarawa tribe has been beaten up by a poacher hunting illegally on the tribe's land. The incident comes in the wake of the Indian authorities' failure to prevent increasing numbers of outsiders invading Jarawa land, bringing disease and violence and hunting Jarawa game animals.
The poacher, from the town of Wandoor on South Andaman, has been arrested for poaching along with five others and released on bail.
'I think the Jarawa are very scared now,' said a local supporter of the Jarawa today. 'Poachers have made permanent camps inside their reserve.'
Survival and local groups have repeatedly urged the authorities to protect the 270 Jarawa and their land. In 2002, the supreme court of India ordered the closure of a highway that cuts through the Jarawa reserve.
However, the road remains open. Settlers on the islands are invading the reserve in increasing numbers, hunting animals, cutting down trees and bringing disease and violence. Earlier this year, the Jarawa were struck by measles, which has wiped out many tribal peoples worldwide.
A recent amendment to legislation means that imprisonment is mandatory for anyone caught poaching in the Jarawa reserve.
Jarawa Tribe stricken with measles epidemic
by Survival
May 2006
Doctors in the Andaman Islands have confirmed that members of the Jarawa tribe have been suffering from measles. The local authorities had earlier denied that there had been an outbreak of measles within the tribe, claiming instead that a number of Jarawa had 'heat rash'.
A large number of Jarawa children have been admitted to G. B. Pant Hospital in the town of Port Blair in the past month, with various diseases including pneumonia and eye problems - both common after-effects of measles. All have now been returned to their forest. Doctors told the BBC this week that the children were in fact suffering from measles.
When 108 Jarawa contracted measles in 1999, the local authorities also denied that the Jarawa had had the disease, but were forced to concede several weeks later following the testimony of doctors on the islands. Survival has repeatedly warned that the authorities' failure to keep outsiders out of the Jarawa reserve, and to close the road that runs illegally through the reserve, put the Jarawa at risk of potentially fatal diseases.
Diseases like measles have wiped out many tribal peoples worldwide. In the 19th century, the disease wiped out at least half of the Great Andamanese on one island and all those on another island. That tribe, once 5,000 strong, now numbers only 41 people.
India sends experts
India is sending experts to the remote Andaman islands amid warnings a reported outbreak of measles among the Jarawa tribe could wipe out the Stone Age aborigines, officials said Thursday. An eight-member team of health experts and members of the national Planning Commission was flying out to the Andaman capital Port Blair on Friday. "The sub-group on Jarawas would be in the Andamans to review the status of the tribe numbering 350," an official told AFP.
The team, which includes junior commerce minister Jayram Ramesh, set off amid allegations that local officials attempted to cover up the scale of the measles outbreak on the Indian Ocean archipelago. "Twelve confirmed cases of measles are in the G.B. Pant Hospital and five-six more patients from the Jarawas are expected today," said Samir Acharya, founder of the Society of Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (SANE).
"There are clear guidelines of the World Health Organisation on measles and it seems someone is out to cover up the outbreak," said Acharya of SANE, Andaman's largest NGO which works to protects five endangered tribes.
Addendum: in April 2007 the Measles epidemic had abated among Jarawa. The tribe numbering around 270 people at that time had suffered the loss of around 10% of its members. Bad, but not as bad as originally feared and largely due to the
Malnutrition and high childhood mortality among the Onge
by V.G. Rao, A.P. Sugunan, M.V. Murhekar and S.C. Sehgal
February 2006
A research article in Public Health Nutrition , 2006, vol. 9, issue 01: 19-25, Cambridge University Press, published in February 2006. The Abstract of the article has the following to say:
Ojbectives:
A study was conducted among the Onge tribe of the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands with the objectives of identifying demographic factors
responsible for the decline in their population and assessing their
nutritional status, which is an important determinant of child
survival.
Study design and subjects:
The study included estimation of indices of fertility and child
mortality, and assessment of nutritional status. All individuals of
the Onge community settled on Little Andaman Island were
included.
Results:
The mean total marital fertility rate was estimated to be 5.15 live
births per woman and the general fertility rate was 200 live births
per 1,000 married-woman-years. Although the gross reproduction rate
was estimated to be 2.2 female children per married woman, the net
reproduction rate was only 0.9 surviving female child per married
woman. The mean infant mortality rate during the past 30 years was
192.7 per 1,000 live births, and the child survival rate was found to
be only 53.2%. A mild to moderate degree of malnutrition was found in
85% of children of pre-school age and severe malnutrition in 10%. The
Onges had low intakes of iron, vitamin A and vitamin C. All the
screened Onges were found to be infested with one or more intestinal
parasites.
Conclusions:
High childhood mortality appears to be the predominant demographic
factor responsible for the decline in the Onge population. The high
prevalence of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency
disorders could be important factors contributing to the high childhood mortality.
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Last change 25 December 2006