Another video of Jarawa being exploited has come to light, followed by the usual government statement ordering a probe and promising to protect the tribe. Ten years after the Supreme Court ordered closure of the Andaman Trunk Road, which traverses through Jarawa land, violating their right to a peaceful life, the Union territory’s administration claims to be looking at alternative routes to connect Greater Nicobar with Andaman, implying that it has coolly ignored the order of the highest court in the land so far.
The larger question is how mainland India could build such a long highway in the area and lay the foundation for exploitation of the tribes on these remote islands. By further promoting tourism there, the government has converted their lives into reality shows.
At least we Indians, who suffered centuries of imperial rule and the imposition of foreign cultures, should have known better than to do something like this.
It is one thing to protect these primitive tribes from external forces, quite another to influence their mores through unwanted interaction. The ‘civilised’ world cannot arrogate to itself the right to judge these tribes, much less destroy their lives and habitat. Let’s face it: it was not the Jarawa who wanted us there; we have transgressed into their territory without so much as a by your leave. Describing their lands as part of our country and disturbing them in the name of our laws is nothing but colonisation in disguise.
If the tribes in the Andamans are indeed full Indian citizens, the government must exert itself to ensure that they are allowed to live freely the way they want without being disturbed by outside forces.
If the only way to do that is to evacuate all the interlopers living there, so be it.
Comments