The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier

For the first time in the past 150 years, a comprehensive dossier on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ history and geography, complete with maps and bibliography, has come out. The 212-page document, released in the World Biodiversity Year by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), gives a detailed report on the archipelago’s original inhabitants such as the Jarawas, the Onges, and the Sentinelese; their resource bases; the tribes’ strengths and weaknesses; the conflicts from 1885 onwards; the impact of economic activity; and the State’s developmental agendas.

The Jarawa Tribal Reserve (JTR) and the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) form the crux of the dossier. It also mentions an expert panel recommendation to ensure self-determination by the Jarawas. The rationale for it is: This has to be the ultimate aim of any process that will involve the Jarawas to help them negotiate with a rapidly changing, predatory world that exists around them. Unless this is done, the future can only be considered grim. A recommendation whose implementation no interested party on the islands is likely to facilitate.