The Lost Tribe: India's Jarawa People | 101 East

[Music] to isolate or to integrate that's the challenge the Indian government faced over the future of a tribe whose history dates back to the Stone Age the reclusive Joe our people live on the Andaman Islands but their lifestyle is threatened by poachers loggers and tourists I'm Kathy hone on this edition of 101 East we ask if India can protect an ancient tribe on the verge of extinction [Music] it's a privacy issue it's a wireless tech issue you're basically selling a chance to see other human beings I don't think that's right at all we are here to see the generous people the tribal people and we are excited to see them like like they are not civilized is a human being these are not animals in a zoo these are not some specimens [Music] unspoiled white sand beaches turquoise water and spectacular diving it's a holidaymakers paradise the kind of place travelers like to keep hidden for themselves but the economy is heavily subsidized and although the coconuts are local everything else is imported I've traveled to the Andaman Islands an archipelago of more than 570 small islands lying in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean less than 10% of this area is inhabited the rest is covered by vast tropical rainforests home to rare and exotic wildlife it's also home for several Aboriginal tribes protected for thousands of years by the isolation [Music] but as tourism develops this isolation is under threat to operator Mohammed Sajid runs a company called Andaman escapades he's a qualified engineer but says tourism pays better tourism in Andaman is still not an organized sector people who find an opportunity in doing a business or find an opportunity for getting an earning out of it everyone joined this tourism revolution in Andaman to rosada or upgrade our bread and butter for us we need to serve them but only up to an action up to where it's ethical and making the Sanskrit word Andaman means land at the naked people and refers to several groups of Stone Age tribes who populate the islands one of these tribes is the reclusive jarawa was only in 1998 they first made contact with the outside world they are believed to be the direct descendants of the first human beings that came out of Africa millions of years ago they still use a bow and arrows to hunt and gather seeds and berries to eat today they live in a 1000 kilometer square protected reserve in the middle of South Andaman Island they are totally different from ourselves and they are not developed as we are so I wanted to see how they are living and what is what are they doing here it's 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and tourist buses are lining up waiting to pass through the checkpoint into the reserve it's a chance for locals to earn some money selling tea and snacks the vehicles here must travel in convoy official records show about 250 vehicles pass through here daily most of them carrying tourists this is the Andaman trunk road it's the only road that links the whole of the island from the south to the north for a distance of about 300 kilometers the problem is for about 40 kilometers it passes through the Jarrah tribal reserve like the Indian law any contact with the tribes people is banned including filming or photographing memy but over the past decade tour operators have used the road to take convoys of tourists on human safaris a few two operators and a few people finally found it as a money-making opportunity to take people through these hours it was clearly maintained and told to people not to take photographs not to take pictures but hundred times you tell them still they go and take photos from inside from corner and now what a driver can do he how can he stop a person taking photos so would you say the tourists they know more at fault wasn't the tour operators with the tourists everyone is equally responsible anyone who travels on this particular stretch of fundament trunk road passing through the Java home it's involving a safari if they get a chance to click a photograph of each other to offer them food or offer them tobacco or things like that it's like looking at the Java as animals in a Safari Park they are humans like us they are not aliens they are not animal you just imagine if somebody comes to you and offer to you in fact not offering you it's like throwing some biscuits and throwing money and giving you tobacco making you dance - Gribbs pass through the Tarawih reserve on their way to visit the limestone caves and mud volcano of Baretta island but it's the Jarawa along the ATR who are the main attraction and at roughly $90 a passenger it's a lucrative business for the tour operators and an exotic adventure for the tourists curiosity curiosity there are the Jarawa the tribals we are curious about we have heard that the tribals who live here are just as they used to be there's no change in them that's why they are worth seeing I don't know how we stopped that it's you know big something to go home and say you know I saw this car was oh yeah it's going to be like that if we would like to see them but there are the tribes also which are there in different areas the problem with this particular tribe is that it is on half an island in January a British news report published details in a video that appeared to show police making Jarawa woman dance for tourists in return for food the footage provokes a stream of international criticism but the local police chief says the response is exaggerated a lot of it stems from the fact that it is sensational it is slightly titillated so and especially the media channels to town because we had very good PR piece for them and as a matter of fact if you noticed having every five minutes they were showing that nobody was encouraging when you meet a Java it is his natural reaction or her natural reaction to dance and naturally I mean it did come out of shampoo that the police made them dance naked then they're always naked and I don't think anybody was you know forcing them to dance or anything like that but to say that this is happening all the time and that you know I mean I don't think the police is that board on duty Hawk they the media abroad reignited a decades-old campaign to have the andaman trunk road or ATR closed to preserve the Jarvis privacy but for the Islands half a million other inhabitants closing the road is not an option many tracks use the ATR to transport goods across the island the idea is today the like son of the Andaman Islands 200,000 people living outside Port bear in North Andamans middle Andaman bharata's survive on it for their daily needs food medicine clothes cooking oil everything goes to that load so we really don't think we are in a position right now to really close the ATR on the Java area this is despite of 2002 ruling from the Supreme Court of India that ordered the road to be closed the Andaman Administration says it's still appealing the verdict the debate over closing the road has also triggered discussion over how the Jarawa treated when I was a child people used to tell stories about the Jehovah Janus Charles has spent many years fighting for the rights of the Jarawa I started feeling feeling for the tribe and the journey started for you back in 1999 so this was the first time when I traveled in underman trunk road I happened to meet some members of the tribe there I was really scared because my it was like a kind of notion in my mind that okay they will attack me they'll just lick the arrow and the shoot and it's a poison and people die and they are very hostile they caught people they kill people all these stories were there but when I personally the first meeting first interaction with them it changed my mind like I really felt like no they are quite simple and they are their brain is like almost like a teenager or little children so simple so clean so pure Denis is the editor reporter and publisher for a local newspaper called Andaman Chronicle every night he prints out copies to be sold around port play he always includes information about the Jarawa on the front page two years ago he also started up a small NGO aiming to raise awareness about the Jarawa he says the tour groups on the 80 are invading the tribes privacy but he also blames the police for teaching the tribe too big and accept bribes look at the behavior of the police they are men they are meant to be protecting the Jama by getting by being posted in that area and what have they done the Jarawa believed that the people who wear khaki and all they are very powerful because they have guns and things like that so they got really attracted to the police and in return what they got is like tobacco alcohol they were sexually abused by the police the police is always more visible and the first first thing you can criticize Phil the police but I think we have done a very good job till now there always will be the human the two or three boys would make a mistake one of them allowed himself to be shot on the same train I mean they have been taken to task very very severely and I think now they understood how serious this matter is otherwise for them there was just like any other woman we initially police downplayed the British news report saying the footage was old but as more details came to light they were forced to investigate police have arrested several people including two of their own and in early March were again embarrassed after a senior policeman specifically charged was protecting the Jarawa was caught organising a human safari for his relatives he wasn't charged on that area so that is why our people have made a big thing out of it he's been transferred now people are saying why wasn't he arrested why was did this he has not gone and taken photographs and putting them on the Internet right but he did take his relatives to go and see them okay that was that was elapsed I have nothing really to say about that because I think he's had enough of her reversal in his career it's not a minor thing to be sent back as head of the police what are you doing to protect the Jarrah at the moment well firstly the convoy system secondly we have our Java protection post you must understand that earlier we were protecting the settlers from the Jarvis that's why all these posts was set up to make sure that the Jarvis did not attack them because they use too till about the 1990s or so there were instances of them attacking the settlers coming out but now the purpose is to make sure that the settlers will not go into their area it is not possible really to into insulate them totally police chief SPS the old says the recent negative publicity has resulted in increased awareness the positive thing is that I have managed to use that as a handle and get off to the tour operators and really clamp down on everybody this policy of zero tolerance seems to be working convoys have been halved and policed now follow the cars to make sure they don't stop things have changed very drastically people still come people the number of more vehicles going through the convoy has been reduced drastically so this is very strict these days even people still are asking people to go everything boils down to that four thousand rupees you get for a vehicle a day if once it is stopped everything will stop we need to find very quickly we need to find alternative destinations alternative activities we really want to very careful how they interact with the outside world not because we feel they can't be trusted but the fact that that interaction can be misused misrepresented and would work the debt rule to the Jarrah was so right now to allow anybody with a camera or a paper and a pen to go in and start interviewing them and shooting them that I think for the timings will just not be possible the issue is now so sensitive that our crew was asked to stop filming to our statues outside the governor's house our statues in Port play have now been removed as the police clamp down continues local government head Shakti Sinha is implementing new policies to protect the Jarawa is the administration response too little too late no I don't think so the factory method is an evolving situation our lives fell in their laps and I talked quite divergent if you want to impose a health or an educational solution onto them or ideas onto their possible is actually to backfire and actually damage you try to walk a very fine line protecting them and yet not keeping them in isolation Dennis Charles is critical of the government's efforts this is the tribe risks being wiped out if we interfere more without a mind to help them out they'll be destroyed there are hardly four hundred people and one case of AIDS or HIV can make this tribe extinct within no time already they had measles malaria and such diseases because of us and one case of HIV or something it will destroy the tribe in 1999 and 2006 the Jarawa suffered outbreaks of measles a disease that's been responsible for wiping out other tribes worldwide the government says this is why the tribe needs to be kept isolated we're not very sure but we like to be careful we like to be very very careful because we really don't know we are separatist and in their medical status if involved not just a doctor but apologist also to understand their sister medicine and the fact is that most of these tribes have not been exposed to the illnesses that we are exposed to the antibodies that we have with us they don't have it Shakti Sinha says despite the threats the tribe is healthy our numbers are growing for the first time in over a hundred years if you go to see the Jada Walton and they move around the very large number of small children under the age of ten now that is a sign that it's a society much more comfortable with the outside world because a society under threat would not be having numbers going up to the weight is going up what are you doing to protect the drew our tribe one of course we have a very large area where the outsiders are not loud at all and in fact the area has been increased in 2004 directly we added about two hundred square kilometres to what is called the devil itself later on we have also added a further belt of five kilometers around the Java Reserve where they both buffer zone maybe we don't allow any commercial activity really in the major since the term yes there are villages there they have the normal lives we don't want to affect that because we don't want a conflict between the villagers and the Jarawas but we do not want large-scale commercial development so no hotels no resorts no bars no entertainment parks nothing like that in that five kilometer zone the whole idea is to allow the Java enough space to develop in a manner that they want to develop but many on the island believe the buffer zone has come at a cost to local development we plan to run with the 6/10 for the first few years these are the platforms where the tents had come up so we actually had everything here and running and we ran it for a season summit sani was given permission to build a back to nature eco resort outside port play but he was forced to close it down after the five kilometer buffer zone was put in place around the reserve the bath works he says there's no real basis in law for the buffer zone and has challenges in court for over two years it's been a huge financial drain because running running a case in the Supreme Court is very expensive the government says Sumit's resort would encourage travelers to seek out the Jarawa and accusations summit denies there's absolutely no way we would encourage anybody going anywhere into the reserve in fact as a travel company we have never sold a package that takes you onto the ATR either leave alone from long before this became an issue as a policy we were the first company out here to say we will not to jar about Earth Summit says the administration has been haphazard about enforcing the rules and if they were serious and it would close down the ATR today's Resort stands empty but instead of ensuring privacy for the Jarawa local villagers come here every weekend to party leaving behind a trail of litter and noise sumit says the Chihuahuas are no longer as isolated as outsiders believe first of all I think preserve the Java itself is a loaded statement because what are you preserving them for and in what state are you preserving them in and what is it that they actually want which nobody is actually us one person who has asked the Jarawa what they want is Moe and how the a locally elected village leader Bowen says the Jarawa are facing problems with their food supply because poachers and loggers are destroying their habitat there are plenty of expectation from me actually whenever they are talking with me they're running the whenever they are getting to me they run to me and coming and first approach is that have you brought in a biscuit have you anything to for any food with me with you to put together to and to get so that I can fill my hungriness that is the first question it is very hard for me to change the topic he's concerned that the current police policy of sending them back into the jungle is pointless most of the time they are saying that we want to stay here in these villages but these police departments are coming they are saying you have to go right now you have to go in the deep jungle and police sending them in the 20 20 miles away and after that they are again walking 12 hours or 30 hours after that they are again in coming to the village so they are suffering so that's why they have the fear that the police department will send them in the deep jungles and they will they have to again walk 30 kilometres to come up in this area Bowen says many of the tribe now want the benefits of modern life a roof over their heads cooked food and protection from poachers they have first set up their mind to get everything so what the civilized persons are getting a few days ago they were demanding for the phone also that's why I again request into the Government of India that time has come up enough is enough let them civilize these peoples educate these peoples we get good Java healthy children's we get a better society there we make them permanent shelters for them in the deep jungles we make them village and in this way we can increase them from 400 to 10,000 in numbers Moen says the Jarawa policy urgently needs to be reconsidered he says the buffer zone is no solution as it stops the local villagers accessing employment opportunities visual educate the Jawas the time has come up to make them civilized to make them educate they have very strong remembrance power very strong intellectual ability they have they have very good strength of sporting abilities and they are very sporting and we should educate them and develop their communities so you're saying that the Jaro wants to integrate yeah they are very much eager and all the time they are requesting Pradhan G you help us we are in distress we want to help from you you talk to the higher authorities and you better make the system so that we can get food we get education we get clothes weekend everything every things they are demanding from me but I can go and says the modern world can also learn from the Jarawa and a strong relationship with nature especially traditional medicine every disease we suffering they are also suffering but they have their own vegetable vegetation medicines that is called Ayurvedic medicines I feel they have a strong sea of medicinal knowledge as in them activists are concerned that if the Jarawa are assimilated into mainstream society the jungle will no longer be protected and the tribe will be pressured by developers to sell their land without the jungle they way of life will disappear if they join the mainstream they will be made to come to Port Blair and work like laborers out here so it is almost like losing their land and we try to occupy that land we destroy the forest we destroy there we exploit the resources like anything we converted it into a settlement area and ultimately it will become a concrete jungle like what we are sitting here but the government says the Jarawa land is safe there's no question of reducing the Geneva Reserve the very fact that as recently as 2004 we added 241 square kilometers the question of their being squeezed is not on the cards anywhere they are no easy answers for authorities tasked with protecting this ancient tribe but the need to balance respect for their traditional way of life whilst acknowledging their rights and modernized will be crucial for their survival [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 1,626,074

Rating: 4.5058422 out of 5

Keywords: andaman, Extinction, tribe, Indian, Jarawa, ancient, kathy hearn, youtube, 101 East, 101east, aljazeera, human safaris, indigenous, aljazeera englsih, al jazeera, al jazeera english, The lost tribe, India's Jarawa People, Jarawa People, Lost Tribe, India, kashmir, tribe system, caste system, protected reserve, tourists, Andaman Islands, indian law, money making, al jazeera india, india jarawa, jarawa india, safari, volcano, exotic adventure, human rights, human rights violations

Id: 08N6cxH377U

Length: 24min 56sec (1496 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 20 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/Cat_tooth]

Very interesting, its good they included very different opinions on their preservation.