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The Jarawa tribes are one of the four nomadic hunter-gatherer Negrito tribes inhabiting the Andaman islands. (The other three Negrito Tribes are ‘Great Andamanese’, ‘Onges’, and ‘Sentinelese’. ) Jarawas resisted contact with the outside world until mid 1990s. They mainly live off the forest by hunting animals with bows and arrows and also gathering honey. Their language cannot be easily deciphered. So little is known about them that the word ‘Jarawa’ is  what neighbouring tribes use for them. It means ‘the other people’.

Jarawa Tribes of Andaman. Image Source: http://www.rustylime.com

Their numbers are dwindling and various estimates put the number between 200 and 300. Main threat to their existence stems from encroachment of forest lands, especially construction of roads through the forest.

Ritu Sharma from Indo Asian News Service (IANS) narrates her thoughts on her recent visit to the Andamans. An excerpt:

As we drove from this capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands towards the Mayabandar forest reserve, four Jarawa children blocked the road with bamboo poles and demanded “paan” (betel leaf) and “biscut” (biscuits) in broken Hindi.

The blockade by the Jarawa children may be harmless by itself but is one of the many problems triggered by the contact of Jarawas with the outside world. They have become dependent on food handouts and have also picked up truck-drivers’ abuses in Hindi.

One of the drivers, requesting anonymity, told IANS: “Of course people like us and the security guards posted in the reserved forest area are responsible for their degeneration. Some of them have actually been taught to hurl abuses and other vices.”

As their population has dwindled, loggers, settlers and poachers have pillaged the forests, the environmentalists hold.

Lack of engagement by outsiders, and encroachment of forests are catalysts to the extinction of this tribe. You can read more here.