Prof. V.P. Gupta,Director, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, New Delhi – Jaipur – Bengaluru
This article caters to the Indian Society and Social Justice section of General Studies-Paper I & II and Essay
Paper in UPSC Main Examination
The death of an American tourist who illegally visited the isolated North Sentinel Island has drawn the world’s attention to the small island’s reclusive inhabitants. Sentinelese are one of the few mostly “uncontacted” groups left in the world. The reason for their isolation is twofold—first is geography—North Sentinel is a small island, off the main shipping routes, surrounded by a shallow reef with no natural harbours—second is partly due to protective laws enforced by the Indian Government, and partly due to their own hostility. In addition to Sentinelese, the islands of Andaman and Nicobar are home to 5 other aboriginal or primitive indigenous tribe namely Onges, Jarawa, Andamaneses, Shompen and Nicobarese.
History of the Sentinelese
North Sentinel Island lies west of Port Blair, part of the archipelago made up of about 200 islands. According to the 2011 Census effort, and based on anthropologists’ estimates, there are probably somewhere between 80 and 150 people on North Sentinel Island. After the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, many feared for the population on the island, but an aerial survey showed that the islanders had survived, maybe owing to their ancient knowledge of sea and winds.
On the basis of genetic pointers, research scholars suggest that the earliest people in the Andamans came about 35,000 years ago, though it could have been much earlier as well. They are thus believed to be descendants of the earliest humans to migrate out of the African continent i.e. of the Negrito descent. Scholars theorise that during the ice ages, when sea levels were considerably lower, it was possible to cross shallow waters in primitive canoes from the Sumatra, Malay and Burma coasts which are not far from the present-day islands.
Policy towards tribals
The fate of the primitive societies has always been a matter of debate. While some anthropologists suggest integration into the current system, others may push for a complete isolation. The stereotyping of tribes as primitive, backward, savage, less advanced is a colonial construct. Pre-Independence, the society had dealt with them by incorporating them in the social structure, in the Jati-Varna model. Some of them were even “peasantised”. But in general, their rights, customs, way of living were accepted, or at least not interfered with.
The British rule marked a watershed in the tribal issue. The relative isolation of the tribes was ended and they were brought into the mainstream administrative set-up. Almost all tribal areas came under the direct rule of the British. In some tribal areas, the tribal chiefs became the tax-collectors or the agents of the British Raj. The British had also tried to tame the ‘uncivilised’. The British policies had led to the breakdown of the tribal mode of production. Introduction of taxes, alien land, forest laws and system of justice had disrupted the tribe’s relation with the forest. Even in areas of ‘non-interference’, some areas were open to moneylenders, traders and land-hungry peasants. In 1874, they brought in the Scheduled Area District Act of 1874 which kept the tribes outside the application of general laws. The Government of India Act of 1919 had given the tribal backwardness a formal recognition and a basis for special treatment. In the 1930s, there was a debate on the continuation of this policy. The nationalists argued that this was another divide and rule policy. Gandhi had also opposed the isolation policy. The nationalists in the Constituent Assembly had also pressed for more radical assimilation policies.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s Tribal Panchsheel strategy was seen as a balance between the two extremes—integration and isolation. Five principles spelt out in 1952 have been guiding the administration of tribal affairs. They are:
1. Tribals should be allowed to develop according to their own genius.
2. Tribals’ rights in land and forest should be respected.
3. Tribal teams should be trained to undertake administration and development without too many outsiders being inducted.
4. Tribal development should be undertaken without disturbing tribal social and cultural institutions.
5. The index of tribal development should be the quality of their life and not the money spent.
Constitutional provisions
Scheduled Tribes are those which are notified as such by the President of India under Article 342 of the Constitution. The President considers characteristics like the tribes’ primitive traits, distinctive culture, shyness with the public at large, geographical isolation and social and economic backwardness before notifying them as a Scheduled Tribe. Seventy-five of the total 698 Scheduled Tribes in India are identified as Primitive Tribal Groups considering they are more backward than Scheduled Tribes. They continue to live in a pre-agricultural stage of economy and have very low literacy rates. Their populations are stagnant or even declining. The Andaman tribes are amongst them.
Some of the provisions related to the Scheduled Tribes are –
ê In Article 15(1), there is a prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. However, there is an exception in Articles 15(4), 16(4) for the empowerment of the Scheduled Tribes.
ê Article 15(4) empowers the state to make special provision and to reserve seats for STs in educational institutions. Article 16 provides special provision regarding opportunity in matters of public employment for STs.
ê Article 275(1) speaks of grant-in-aid from the Consolidated Fund of India every year for promoting the welfare of STs and administration of scheduled areas.
ê Article 335 provides the claims of the members of STs in the appointments of services and posts consistent with the maintenance of efficiency of administration.
ê Article 338 (A) provides for the National Commission for STs.
ê Article 342 has provision for the list of STs, which Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of STs specified in a notification issued.
ê Articles 330 and 332, speaks about rights of Scheduled Tribes of India, acts, commissions and recommendations, reservation of seats for STs in Parliament and State Assemblies.
Andaman tribes—to be integrated or kept isolated ?
In addition to these provisions, the tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are also covered by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation (ANPATR), 1956. This Regulation protected the tribals from outside interference, specified the limits of reserved areas and said that no land in a reserved area shall be allotted for agricultural purposes or sold or mortgaged to outsiders. Those violating the land rights of the tribals were to be imprisoned and fined. But despite this, there continued to be constant interactions between the tribals and settlers/ outsiders.
Further, an expert committee recommended a policy on non-intervention in 2003. The committee was set up by the SC after a petition was filed in 1999 proposing to bring the Jarawas in mainstream. The committee recommended protecting the Jarawas from harmful contact with outsiders, preserving their cultural and social identity, conserving their land and advocated sensitising settlers about the Jarawas. Despite this all, the Andaman Trunk Road was constructed cutting right through the settlings of Jarawas. For the Jarawas, this led to the spread of diseases, sexual exploitation, and begging. Despite the laws, videos of commercial exploitation of the Jarawas in the name of “human safaris” were widely reported in the media. Following this, ANPATR was amended in 2012, creating a buffer zone contiguous to the Jarawa tribal reserve where commercial establishments were prohibited, and regulating tourist operators. Despite all these amendments and provisions, there continue to be numerous reports of civilian intrusion into the Jarawa tribal reserve.
The government in August relaxed the Restricted Area permit for 29 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar, including North Sentinel Island. As per the permit, prior pass/permission of authorities was needed to visit these areas. The decision of the government sadly points to its intention to eventually ease these restriction and if this happens, it could have an adverse impact on indigenous population in the long run. Commercialisation of tribal spaces could lead to encroachment of land, as we see in other parts of the country.
Conclusion
Due
to the government-sponsored migration during the colonial period and
post-Independence, the tribes have suffered immensely. Attempts to interaction
have meant epidemic outbursts. Flourishing tourism in the recent years has also
meant and will mean more hardships for them to survive. The people who were
once scattered across the island have now been confined to a small area. Not
only have they been displaced, but they have also been equated with monuments.
The privacy of these tribes should not be sold for profit or tourism.
The previous experience of these tribes with the outsiders has made them
more apprehensive of the government’s intentions and they have time and again
conveyed their wish to remain isolated. Though integration of tribal
communities into mainstream society is essential from many perspectives, yet
the fact that these aboriginal tribes might be the last remnants of an ancient
descent warrants the need to
further protect their culture and leave them in isolation. Respecting their
wish to remain isolated which invariably is also their need, is the right way
to go about it. Integrating or assimilating them would certainly strip them of
their culture, if it does not strip them of their lives first.